A father and daughter discover

the soul of skiing in Sun Valley

By Matt Boxler

SUN VALLEY, Idaho – If there exists a fountain of youth, surely it flows in Sun Valley.

Here, time has a wonderful way of not mattering. These mountains, these people, have the power to bridge generations in a shared sense of all that has been – and still is – possible.

Rich ski history resides in mountain towns all over this country – including New England – but no place on earth celebrates its heritage like Ketchum and Sun Valley.

I was introduced to this storied place for the first time last week with my 12-year-old daughter, Catie, during the annual meeting of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association. For two New Englanders from two generations who love the sport of skiing, arriving here felt as though we were landing at the epicenter of the sport’s universe.

More importantly – in typical Sun Valley fashion – arriving here brought a father and daughter closer together.

(Read full story at New England Ski Journal).

Rossignol's MagTek is the 'One'

By Matt Boxler

Magne-Traction plus Amp Tek equals MagTek.

What, you may wonder, does all that mean? It’s Rossignol’s formula for the future of snowboard technology and it’s in the new board that retailers and riders are already talking about – even though it won’t be available in stores until the 2010-2011 season.

Introduced in January at the SIA Snow Show in Denver, Rossignol’s MagTek snowboard combines AmpTek reverse camber and Magne Traction sidecut technologies. By blending these innovative functions into a rockered deck, the result is a snowboard that provides unparalleled control on everything the mountain has to offer.

(Full story)

Snowboarding's gender gap widening

By Matt Boxler

Oakley pro Marie-France Roy is one of the crop of talented female snowboarders who will be coaching at Loon’s ‘Droppin In’ snowboard camp for women (Photo by Jordan Manley).Many of the most popular athletes competing at the Winter Olympics this month are American female snowboarders. Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, Gretchen Bleiler, Lindsey Jacobellis … the list of quality role models for young girls in the sport goes on and on.

So, how can it be that the sport of snowboarding in the U.S. has a gender problem?

According to statistics from the National Sporting Goods Association, the number of men participating in snowboarding dwarfs the number of women by nearly two-thirds. The NSGA research shows that of the nearly 6 million snowboarders in America in 2008, 72 percent were male.

Furthermore, NSGA research shows that the overall level of female participation in snowboarding has dropped more than 6 percent in the five-year period between 2003 and 2008 – from 2.2 million to 1.6 million.

Houston, do we have a problem?

(Read full story in the March 2010 issue of New England Ski Journal.)

Story Archives