This winter has been a rough one. The conditions across the Northwest this season have collectively convinced us that we'll be riding spring-like conditions throughout the whole season. Roxy Refreshments' latest episode goes along with this theme, featuring park rat Erin Comstock taking laps in slushy snow and clear, sunny conditions.

Watch Erin throw down at resorts all over the Northwest below.

Snowboarder Magazine is coming at us with helpful new pointers in their exclusive series I Ride Park City: Trick Tip Thursdays. Cruise with different pros in Utah as they stomp various tricks and walk you through a step-by-step process on how to dial them in yourself. Yes, it's somewhat of a cheat sheet.

Watch the first three videos from Snowboarder below:

Bode Merill and One Footers:
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/i-ride-park-city-trick-tip-thursdays-one-footers/

Dan Brisse and Frontboards through a Kinked Rail:
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/i-ride-park-city-trick-tip-thursdays-front-blunt-270-2/

Stevie Bell and Front Blunt 270s:
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/i-ride-park-city-trick-tip-thursdays-front-blunt-270/

Following the second year of the Real Snow urban video contest that coincides with the Winter X Games, ESPN announced the addition of the Real Snow Backcountry video contest to kick off at the 2012 European X Games. Eight of the world's most prestigious and fearless big mountain riders will submit individual 90-second video parts. The prize? $50,000 and an X Games gold medal. Additionally, there's $10,000 up for grabs for the Fan Favorite of the contest. The voting for Round One began February 21 and will run though February 28.

The masses better prepare themselves to witness snowboarding at a whole new level. To watch the Real Backcountry edits and cast your vote head HERE.

Words: Mary Walsh

After lapping and learning Sunday morning, the afternoon was spent in the OPS park, perfecting tricks and building upon lessons from the rest of the weekend. The private park is always a highlight of OPS stops, as it gives the participants a place to comfortably practice their favorite tricks on a variety of park features. It also is pretty dang cool because it isn't very often that a group of ladies get a roped-off, just-for-them place to ride. Oakley took the Le Massif park experience to the next level, too, when the Oakley Canada staff brought in two of their snowmobiles and shuttled women uphill when they wanted a break from hiking. Talk about VIP status!

"It was so fun," said Kim Lamarre, "Making the girls smile and making sure they had fun was the goal of my weekend, and just seeing the girls smiling the whole time, it was amazing."

Head Coach Christine Savage was helping girls on a jump in the OPS park when it was time for everything to close down. "Our park was pretty close to where the lodge was, but in order to get back up to the building, you had to ride down and take a chairlift up," said Christine. "The lift closed at 3:30, so they announced last call in the park. The girls that were hiking the jump with me were like, 'we want to keep hiking; we'll hike back up to the lodge, if that's ok.' So, we stayed, kept sessioning the jump, and then hiked all the way back to the lodge, just so the girls could get four more hits each. That was dedication."

The OPS awards ceremony capped off the weekend. Women were given prizes from Oakley for learning, trying new things, overcoming fears, and possessing positive attitudes. Oakley Progression Sessions' top honors, the "You've Got Skills, Girl" award, was giving to Helen, a snowboarder who had been riding for only a few years and defined what OPS is all about: an incredible passion for riding, an infectious positive attitude, and the ability to keep a huge smile on her face, whether she had stomped a new trick or had taken a spill.

As OPS: Le Massif wrapped up, smiles, hugs, and high fives were shared amongst everyone. The incredibly special atmosphere of Oakley Progression Sessions had affected a whole new group of women in the first-ever Canadian OPS stop.

"I think it was a really good stepping stone for skiing and snowboarding women in Canada," said Dom Vallee, who has been involved in the OPS program since it began last year. "Le Massif was my favorite OPS stop yet."

In March, Oakley Progression Sessions goes to Copper Mountain in Colorado, Mammoth Mountain in California, and Loon Mountain's "Droppin' In" in New Hampshire.

The Winter Chosen Crew Video Contest kicked off on December 1, 2011. In 10 weeks, over 550 crews from 12 countries submitted their videos for the world to see.

All of videos were filled with creativity, style, originality and progression. Many thanks to all the crews who took the time to share their creative vision with the world. These videos were made with lots of blood, sweat and tears, so without further delay let's see who made it into round 2.



Round 2 takes the Chosen to a whole new level. From now on it's all about votes. To win, crews will be hustling to get as many votes as they can from across the world.

The 3 crews with the most votes win a trip to the Chosen Sessions in Austria and the opportunity to battle it out for the ultimate prize-- living like a Nike pro.

You have until 6 pm PST on March 5 to cast your vote at nike.com/chosen.

Start Voting!