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The crevasse was approximately 70 feet deep. Two of the three climbers were killed, including Ruby, age 31, while another was seriously injured and taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital. At the time of the accident Ruby was acting as guide to the group of climbers, a role she's been exploring ever since her retirement after the 2006 Turino Olympics in Italy. She was expected to finish her Mountain Guide training within a few weeks. Besides winning the gold in Snowboarding's Giant Slalom at the 1998 Olympics, Ruby also took silver in dual Giant Slalom in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT. Ruby is a World Champion six times over, with two titles in Giant Slalom, one in parallel Giant Slalom, and three in Boardercross. She enjoyed 67 wins and 127 podiums on the World Cup circuit. She also finished second in the 2004 Winter X Games Boardercross at Aspen. "I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the news and boggled by how fast a vibrant life like that can end," says former World Cup and Olympic Alpine Snowboarding competitor Lisa Kosglow. "[Ruby] was such an amazing athlete and such a go getter. She wasn't one to sit back and rest on her laurels with her success. She was never a slouch when it came to pushing her limits." Casualties Mount Early in Billabong's New Event Format TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Monday, May 11, 2009) ' " Dane Reynolds looked to be in command during his Round One heat of the Billabong Pro. Entering the third event of the season the second-year tour star was hoping to recover from his early exit at Bells Beach, in Australia. Americans have pinned their hopes on Reynolds taking charge this year, especially after his solid rookie season, but his fans were dealt a serious punch to the gut Saturday when the kid from Ventura, Ca, was overtaken late in his heat by European star, Aritz Aranburu, who dropped into the set of the heat with just a couple minutes remaining and slammed the door shut on Reynolds. Channels: Surf Americans Make the Most of 6.0 Lowers Pro San Clemente, CA, -- The 6.0 Lowers Pro wrapped over the weekend at Lower Trestles, with Hawaii's Fred Patacchia, 28, taking out defending champion Ben Bourgeois, 30, of North Carolina, in glassy 4-foot walls. For Patacchia, this 6-star PRIME WQS event served as a nice exercise. Though the ASP World Tour star has very little need to surf qualifying events this year (he's in little danger of missing the world tour cut in his current number four position) Patacchia took the opportunity of a break in his schedule to sharpen his blade in preparation for The Hurley Pro, the ASP's only stop in Mainland U.S., which takes place right back here at Trestles in September. "It's a good warm up," says Patacchia. "I just want to stay in contest mode. I'm having a fairly decent year this year so I just want to keep it going." For Bourgeois, who fell off the ASP World Tour last year, this was a solid step back to the big leagues should he decide he wants that. But the 30-year-old California transplant is busy working on a handful of other surf related projects this year, and getting back to the top, while certainly tempting, doesn't seem to be his first priority. "I'm doing a boat trip to Panama later this year, and just cruising at home in Carlsbad." So the real drama at Lowers was down in the trenches of the WQS rankings, among those trying to break through for the first time to the next level. There were a number of Americans hoping to make the most of the huge points on offer at this 6-star PRIME event. Dusty Payne entered Lowers in the number 16 slot' The young Yeomans has been enjoying plenty of success in WQS events of late. He became the first WQS surfer ever to threepeat at last year's Oakley Newport Pro. But unfortunately, none of those wins netted Yeamans many points, since they were only 2-Star events. He earned just 500 points for each of those 2-Star victories. In 6-Star PRIME events surfers who finish = 97th earn 525 points. That illustrates just how important these events are, and why Americans have been begging for an event of this weight on mainland shores for years. This was the first ever 6-Star PRIME event in California. "It's about time," says Bourgeois, last year's winner. "I'm really stoked Nike stepped in and turned this into an event that really matters this year. This is one of the best venues you can possibly have for a contest, so it should be." Another U.S. hopeful looking for a solid result was Brett Simpson of Huntington Beach. Simpson narrowly missed the world tour cutoff last year, something he's desperately trying to avoid this season. Entering the event ranked 4th on the WQS, it was so far so good. But Simpson had the unfortunate luck of running into super freaks Dane Reynolds and Rob Machado in Round of 48. Though his = 37th finish was a setback, the results on the rankings don't reflect it yet. He remains in the Top 5 for now, but the foundation he'd built up has weakened. Tanner Gudauskas and Dusty Payne, on the other hand, capitalized. Both advance all the way to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by world tour stars Tim Boal and Patacchia respectively. Gudauskas now finds himself rounding out the Top 10 on the WQS, while Payne is clawing even higher, all the way to number 7 in the rankings. Of course, Yeomans performance was the real justice served at Lowers. By beating stalwarts like Rob Machado and C.J. Hobgood en route to his semifinals appearance, he delivered when he had to. His equal 3rd place finish netted him 2625 points, rocketing him all the way into the number 6 slot on the WQS rankings. Post Lowers Pro, there are now three Americans in the Top 10, with Patrick Gudauskas and Austin Ware playing back up to them in the Top 20. While the season ahead is long, the American hopefuls can (and should) be content with their defense of the home front. Consider this battle won. 6.0 Lowers Pro Heats Up Things got interesting at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro today, as the field of top surfers was reduced from 48 to 8 in the biggest World Qualifying Series (WQS) event to ever hit Mainland U.S. shores. Even while conditions deteriorated amidst the onset of a small storm hitting Southern California, the surfers kept things hot. Several interesting showdowns took place today, with a couple resulting in big upsets. The biggest upset was local boy Nate Yeomans, a diehard WQS competitor, taking out ASP World Tour star Dane Reynolds in the Round of 16. Yeomans has been tearing up WQS events on the U.S. Mainland for years, but unfortunately none of his victories carried a whole lot of weight in the ratings department, as they were always the 2-Star and 3-Star variety. With Lowers being a 6-Star Prime this year, the highest weight on the WQS scale, this result will play a significant role in Yeomans' 2009 campaign to qualify. Going into this event he was rated 21st on the WQS. Another upset was Hawaii's Dusty Payne, who took down Chris Ward, another local boy who is also an ASP World Tour veteran. Another local boy doing well is Tanner Gudauskas, who defeated Australia's Jay Thompson and advanced onto the quarterfinals. The final heat of the round C.J. Hobgood continued his tear, taking out Rob Machado, who up until that point, looked like a major threat to take out the event. The quarterfinals have now taken shape, with some stellar duels on tap for Saturday. Quarterfinal 1: Fred Pattacchia (HAW) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW) Quarterfinal 2: Tim Boal (FRA) vs. Tanner Gudauskas (USA) Quarterfinal 3: Adriano De Souza (BRA) vs. Ben Bourgeois (USA) Quarterfinal 4: Nathan Yeomans (USA) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA) Channels: Surf 6.0 Lowers Pro Attracts 6-Star PRIME Talent Lower Trestles is sacred ground for surfers. The wave itself is one of the best in the world for highlighting state of the art high performance surfing. That's why victories here, at any level, carry a significant degree of prestige. While Lowers plays host to a variety of surfing tournaments each year: the NSSA National Titles, a World Qualifying Series (WQS) event and an full blown ASP World Tour stop that brings the world title race into play. In years past, the WQS event has been the least publicized of the three. That's due mainly to the fact that it didn't carry a whole lot of weight in the overall meaning of things. The WQS, which is surfing's version of the minor leagues, is comprised of hundreds and hundreds of surfers all vying for a shot at making the cut for the ASP World Tour. But unlike Minor League Baseball, where players are broken into segregated leagues, like Single- A, Double-A and Triple-A, in surfing the climb is a bit more complicated. Surfers with enough points can enter any contest they wish on the WQS schedule, which is comprised of roughly 40 events. Those events are broken into a tier system, ranked from 1-Star, which have very little points and prize money, all the way to 6-Star PRIME, which provide top dollars and enough points that they are basically can't miss events for any surfer hoping to make a serious run at the ASP World Tour. 6-Star PRIME events are rare birds indeed. There are only eight in 2009. And the only one on the U.S. Mainland, the 6.0 Lowers Pro, is underway this week at Trestles. Because 6-Star PRIME events are so important, several of the surfers who enter are ASP World Tour surfers aiming to protect their coveted spots by requalifying through the WQS again just in case they don't make the big league cutoff. So how do the surfers feel about having such an important event at Lowers now? "It's about time," says Ben Bourgeois, last year's winner. "This is by far the best wave in California for a surf contest, so it's nice to have something on the WQS level that really matters. I think we're going to see a lot higher level this year." If the first few days of action are any indication, Bourgeois is right. Channels: Surf |
