Snow fiends, rejoice….if you live in California, you shall see snow in the month of September. If you’re like me…you’re antsy as shit. Summer is dying down, then comes that pointless season, Fall, where all you do is run around your house in your outerwear, watch last season’s snow videos/this year’s teasers, and stalk outside video premieres just to simply live vicariously through the screen.

Well – I’m not promising winter early but I am promising a crap ton of snow dumped on to Venice Beach, CA on September 6th. Have the snow gods answered my prayers and brought snowflakes to Los Angeles, you ask? Hate to break it to ya but…no. It’s the 3rd Annual Supergirl Jam – an all female action sports competition presented by ASA Entertainment aiming to inspire and recognize all the bad ass chicks out there. The Supergirl Jam is represented by a Host Committee of 4 “actionistas” (is that a word?) that act as spokespersons for the event and is made up of Lauren Perkins, the 2008 Supergirl Jam Skate Champ, Chanelle Sladics, world class snowboarder, 7 time X Games Gold Medalist, Fabiola da Silva, and surfer Kassia Meador.

It begins this weekend, August 15-16th in Oceanside, CA where the surf portion of the contest goes down, the Supergirl Pro Junior. From there, it cruises up to Tehachapi, CA (props to you if you know where that even is, I just Google mapped it) to Woodward West (North America’s leading action sports camp) where they will host the Supergirl Pro-Am Jam skate street competition where the top female amateur skater will advance to the last stop in Venice Beach, CA. Here comes the part about the massive amounts of snow.

On September 6th in Venice Beach, a few steps away from Muscle Beach mind you, 80,000 pounds of snow will be dumped on the beach for the women’s snowboard rail jam. Also, temporary ramps will be brought in specifically for the SuperGirl skate competition that will also be taking place. Top athletes will be swarming the scene including the likes of Chanelle Sladics, Raewyn Reid, Desiree Melancon, and Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins. This day is going to be a good day. I’m going to get my fix of snow in September, I get to keep my summer tan, and I get to check out some Muscle Beach eye candy (hah).

Basically, if you’re in the area, stop by and show these ladies support. It’s going to be rad. C’mon; it’s the best of both seasonal worlds! What have you got to lose? I know you’re itching for winter, even if it’s only for a day.

Supergirl Jam Event page: 3rd Annual Supergirl Jam

Photos by Phil Erickson courtesy of Burton

The first few days of any of the Burton Global Open Series stops are brutal. They have to whittle fields of hundreds of riders down to just 10 men and 5 women. They do this for the men with a pre-qualifier (25 men get in) and then a qualifier (the 25 dudes compete against each other for the 10 spots.) The 45 women vying to even make it in the even don't get a pre-qualifier. They cut them down from 45 to 5 in one foul swoop. Harsh.

They do this in two days. One day for Slopestyle, and one for Halfpipe. They are long-ass days. Take it from me, I've been at plenty of them- including a couple in New Zealand.

They are even longer when the weather is crappy. And insider reports claim that the weather was not only crappy on the first day during the Slopestyle knock-out rounds at Cardrona Resort, but that it was downright shitty. And, as fate would have it, the shitty weather got shittier after the men finished competing, just as the girls stepped up to the plate. Poor darlings really got the blunt end of the stick this day.

The girls took their first run and the weather got so bad that they postponed the second run until the next day, a rare occurrence at any snowboard competition. The girls are slated to battle out the final run on Friday morning. The top five will go straight into Finals that afternoon.

Here are the Men's results from Slopestyle Qualifications. These lucky few will go on to compete against the riders that are previously qualified from last year's BGOS rankings for Semi-Finals (Semi-Finals and Finals happen this weekend), and the fields are STACKED. The mens start list is boasting riders like Torstein Horgmo, Chas Guldemond, Antti Autti, Danny Davis, Peetu Piiroinen, and Tim Humphreys. On the Women's side slopestyle slayers like Chanelle Sladics, Jamie Anderson, Silvia Mittermuller, and Spencer O'Brien. It's gonna be a good one.

Slopestyle Qualification Results

MEN
1 Atsushi Ishikawa JPN Flow
2 Sergey Tarasov RUS Burton
3 Christian "Hitch" Haller SUI Burton
4 Tore Holvik NOR Sweet
5 Arthur Longo FRA Volcom
6 Sage Kotsenburg USA Quiksilver
7 Eric Beauchemin USA DC
8 Gjermund Braaten NOR DC Shoe Co USA
9 Johann Baisamy FRA Billabong
10 Jye Kearney AUS Burton


Check back for more results and other random crap from the 2009 Burton New Zealand Open.

Unarguably surfing's Rochelle Ballard and snowboarding's Chanelle Sladics top the charts when it comes to successful action sports female athletes with talent. It's fair to say they are both "easy on the eye", but it isn't only paddling out everyday or hiking the backcountry that keep these two friends riding, and looking, their best.

Both covergirls share the common passion of Yoga to keep their minds and bodies in alignment with the demands of their respective sports, and this summer they've put forth a collaborative effort to create the ultimate Yoga DVD geared towards surfers and snowboarders.

The girls brought on filmer and director John Roderick who was fresh off working on the Oakley "Uniquely" all-girl film project that featured skate, surf and snow. Roderick, who came with plenty of experience working with females, brought another level of passion, commitment and quality to the fledgling project, and it quickly took on a whole new beast.

"It started as a simple project, but once we all got into it we saw the potential of it. We had the talent of Rochelle, Chanelle and Rochelle's brother Hoku (who is a Yogi and certified health facilitator) and Rochelle called in some of her resources and we got Jack Johnson, Donavon Frankenreiter, and Jon Swift behind it (for music)." Roderick explains.

"More than anything we are all super passionate about what we do. None of us were about to produce anything that was only half way. We're all really proud of how it came out."

And proud they should be. Unmatched visual aesthetics, perfectly toned music and multiple different levels of Yoga sequences to choose from (from easy stretching to advanced core building), all of it geared to benefit anybody who rides goofy or regular on whatever kind of board, make this a truly unique and valuable DVD to have in the collection.

Take a look at the teaser, and some of the behind the scenes photos taken during production down in Hawaii. You can find more information about the movie, or even make the leap to purchase it (highly recommended) over at www.surfintoyoga.com





As the success of the DVD grows the idea of producing more and growing it into a series hasn't escaped Rochelle, Chanelle and Roderick. "We're all really stoked on how it came out. We want to continue to work together as a team and possibly put together more Yoga DVD's that promote this conscious lifestyle." says Roderick.

Hey, with a couple of girls who have street cred and good looks walking us through Yoga sequences that are going to help our riding, we're not complaining. Bring it on.


Find out more over at:
www.surfintoyoga.com
www.neuproductions.com