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Some Archived News
Stories of Note:
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 SIA Begins Tracking Online Sales... With Interesting
Results.....
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A Look At Jarden Inc., The New Owners Of K2
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No Big Surprises in Alexa Rankings Of Snow Sports
Media Web Sites
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BD's "Holy Grail" Binding: Details Emerge
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Commentary on the Demise of Couloir
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MORE...
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Notes On The Demo Tour and Introduction of Rottefella's
NTN Binding, Feb. 2007
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Rottefella breaks years of silence on their New
Telemark Norm (NTN) in this exclusive Telemarktips interview.
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Rottefella officially announces its new NTN system
(with photos):
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The Battle of the Titans, How We Got Here &
What To Expect...
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The Battle of the Titans Begins: Black Diamond
To Build Tele Boot & Binding System In NTN Showdown
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Black Diamond To Build Tele & AT Ski Boot Line..
(and maybe an "NTN" type system of their own?).
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Telemark News & Commentary
by Mitch Weber
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- 8/29-- The issue over the
availability of medical marijuana
has heated up in ski towns over the summer. In Colorado, where
54% of voters passed a law legalizing the use of cannabis for
medicinal purposes nearly a decade ago, it has been left up to
local governments to regulate the dispensaries where patients
obtain their medicine. The result has been a pastiche of local
regulations, and the opportunity to ban medical marijuana sales
entirely. While officials in Vail recently decided to ban medical
marijuana dispensaries, one year ago Aspen welcomed its third
dispensary to town, and last spring Aspen hosted the first annual
Western
Slope Cannabis Crown, an event that included the "crowning"
of the best, most potent strain of weed out of dozens provided
by competing vendors.
In Breckenridge, where last fall
72% of voters passed a largely symbolic law legalizing marijuana
straight up, Town Council, including Councilman Jeffrey
Bergeron (aka "Biff America" to Backcountry Magazine
readers and his radio show audience... reportedly himself a medical
card holder), recently voted to allow dispensaries, but with
fairly strict regulations. For example, shops will not be permitted
to display marijuana leaf signs, and they won't be able to locate
on the town's main street.
At around the same time, the Vail
Town Council voted 5-1 to bar dispensaries from opening within
the town's limits. A majority of council members made clear
that they felt medicinal pot shops have no business operating
in a destination ski resort town. Mayor Dick Cleveland explained
his no vote asking: “We've spent how many millions promoting
this town? It seems this kind of flies in the face of the tone
we've tried to set in this community.” Councilwoman Margaret
Rogers, the lone dissenting vote, urged her colleagues to instead
regulate dispensaries, limiting them to specific parts of town,
and to collect taxes on sales. Rogers cited the city of Boulder
in her argument, claiming that Boulder officials expect to collect
an estimated $250,000 in sales tax revenues from dispensaries,
this in just their first year of operation. “That's a lot
of money, and we are always looking to generate revenue without
having to increase sales taxes and lodging taxes and real estate
taxes,” said Rogers.
Further west, at our home mountain
of Mammoth, California, the Mammoth Lakes Town Council decided
to avoid making a possibly controversial decision on the matter,
and instead chose to submit the issue to voters. A movement in
favor of allowing two medical marijuana dispensaries in Mammoth
Lakes, led by respected local businessman and snowboard
freeride legend, Steve Klassen, gathered momentum going into
election day last June. Five of six town council candidates also
came out in support of the proposed ordinance, and "Measure
M" passed with 861 votes in favor, approximately 56% of
the total vote. After the vote, summing up the feelings of many,
failed Town Council candidate and dispensary backer Tony Barrett
told his supporters, "to everyone who supported Measure
M, I personally thank you. Measure M was extremely important
to me and to our community," wrote Barrett. "We demonstrated
once again that our community is a community of compassionate,
level headed people."
Humorously, it is believed that
Klassen is going to open his dispensary in the former home of
the town's long-defunct Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.
Meanwhile, back in Colorado, voters
in the town of Fraser, adjacent to Winter Park, will also soon
be asked to decide on the issue of dispensaries. Town Manager
Jeff Durbin told Sky-Hi
Daily News why the board chose to allow voters to decide
the issue, “In the board's initial discussions, (trustee)
Peggy Smith was vehemently opposed to allowing anything related
to marijuana anywhere near Fraser,” he said. Other board
members were reportedly "a bit more open to the issue."
Fraser voters will also decide whether to allow the town's board
of trustees to to collect a tax on the sale of medical marijuana,
should the dispensaries receive voter approval.
As this issue heats up in ski towns
across the country, it's interesting to note that Colorado Governor
Bill Ritter, who originally opposed the state's medical marijuana
law as Denver's district attorney, has decided to tap into Colorado's
Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund to help solve the Centennial
State's budget crisis. With more than 700 dispensaries state-wide,
and and an estimated 150,000 registered users paying nearly $100
per year to the state, that fund has grown significantly, to
the point that Ritter was able to take $9 million from the fund
to help deal with a current $60 million budget deficit.
Governor Ritter recently told the
Denver
Post, "I was not in favor of medical marijuana, but
I'm also a lawyer and the governor, and I believe in the law.
And it's the law in this state. Truly, we find ourselves in difficult,
difficult budget circumstances." Post reporter Tim Hoover
points out that although Ritter says tapping the pot fund is
a "one-time solution," this is actually the second
year in a row officials have used weed money to help balance
the state's budget. Hoover reports that last year, when the smoke
cleared, the fund provided $3 million to help balance that earlier
budgetary shortfall.
Proponents
of medical marijuana, and of legalization generally, have been
quick to point to Governor Ritter's use of marijuana licensing
fees to fund the state's deficit as a "major tipping point
for marijuana acceptance in the United States."
For our part, we have watched with
dismay as this whole issue has become so highly politicized.
No matter how one feels about the use of marijuana-- medically
or otherwise-- all of the above serves to forcefully remind that
at the end of the day, this is a human health issue, not a political
one.
- 8/13-- We have sad news to
report out of Utah today... E.J.
Poplawski, a tele athlete who lost a leg at the Crested Butte
freeskiing comp a few years ago, was stopped by police early
this morning for reckless driving. E.J. is said to have pulled
over, then sped off. Officers declined to chase him, instead
they tracked Poplawski to his suburban Salt Lake home in Cottonwood
Heights.
Arriving out front, police say they
spotted E.J.'s silver Toyota Tacoma truck in the driveway, with
a gun laying on the ground next to it. Officers then "made
contact" with Jason Ray, one of Poplawski's roommates, and
report seeing drug paraphernalia in plain sight. Wait, it gets
worse. Police say Poplawski refused to come out, and the SWAT
team had to be called in, reportedly launching at least two canisters
of tear gas into the home before he finally gave himself up after
a four or five hour hour standoff. Telemarktips has learned that
officers then searched the home, allegedly finding several more
firearms and a "large amount" of marijuana. Roommate
Ray, allegedly already on federal probation for a previous conviction
of some kind, was also arrested.
It would appear that E.J. has more
than few demons still left to fight, and we hope that if it's
help he needs that he gets it. We just saw E.J. at Mammoth this
past spring. He was in town as a guest of Disabled Sports Eastern
Sierra's Wounded Warrior program. He gave a well received motivational
speech, and we skied together the next day. He seemed to be doing
great then... not so much today.
(The information above came from
our sources and from Salt Lake's ABC4.com)
UPDATE:
Salt Lake's Fox affiliate is reporting that police are saying
they found at least two pounds of marijuana during a search of
the home.
- 8/12-- Switzerland's Mammut
has announced the sale of its Toko brand,
including all Toko
activities and products, to a new subsidiary of Norwegian wax
and ski tool maker Swix,
effective September 1, 2010. Swix says it will take over the
entire Toko team and operate the Toko business out of Altstätten,
Switzerland, Toko’s former home. When Ulf Bjerknes left
as president of Rottefella to run Swix, this after successfully
getting Rotte's long-stalled NTN project off the ground, he told
me, "I'm the kind of guy who does his best when faced with
the challenge of turning a company around, fixing what's not
working and growing the business quickly." Ulf went on,
"I'm not a long-haul type, my five year contract at Rottefella
is up and now I'm looking forward to working on similar challenges
at Swix."
So it's been with some interest
that we have been watching his progress at the Lillehammer based,
privately owned Swix. Clearly, the acquisition of Toko, a dominant
brand in Europe (outside of Scandinavia), is a triumph for Ulf
and for Swix.
According to a recent press
release, "Toko will maintain its Swiss identity and
Swix Sport AS will pursue a two brand strategy, with separate
product portfolios and distribution channels. Both brands, Toko
and Swix, will benefit from collective investments in product
development, production and logistics."
Ulf is also quoted as saying, “Toko’s
leading position in central Europe and strong presence in alpine
markets, together with our nordic focus, is a perfect match in
order to offer new and superior products in the future."
- 8/5-- Rottefella will offer
a $100 cash rebate to purchasers of NTN boots and bindings during
the 2010/2011 season, according
to information we received from Scarpa CEO Kim Miller, in a video
interview we shot at the Summer OR trade show this week. Details
are still being worked out, but according to Miller, customers
will likely just need to cut out the UPC codes on the product
boxes, and send them in to receive the rebate.
"We've been seeing consistent
sales growth across our entire telemark boot line, and exponential
sales growth in our NTN boot lineup, " said Miller. "We
want to build on that growth this coming season, and we are very
happy to join with Rottefella and the rest of our NTN partners
in offering this special rebate program."
From our conversation, it would
also appear that Rottefella has additional, aggressive plans,
far beyond than those we have seen in the past, to get more tele
skiers out on the NTN system. Watch for the video, coming in
the next few days, for more details.
- 8/2-- Last year, at the age
of 46, Charlie Dresen returned to telemark racing, earning a spot on the U.S. Telemark Ski
Association’s national team after a several years-long hiatus.
Dresen, at least two decades older than the average team member,
recently learned that he has made the team once again, and will
compete in next season's Telemark World Cup races, including
the marquee event in Norway. Joining Dresen on the team are eleven
other Steamboat Springs Colorado locals, including 19 year-old
Lorin
Paley, already a tele world cup veteran, and Jeffrey
Gay, moving up from the B team this year.
Although little noted in the United
States, even among most diehard freeheelers, the Telemark World
Cup is a big deal worldwide. Last year's cup races in Steamboat
drew fifty-three racers from eleven countries.
Charlie Dresen is probably best
known to the Telemarktips community for his excellent documentary
film, Telemark Racing, that
he made during his break from competition. Off the site for sometime,
we have re-rendered his film for higher quality and for better
continuity. Gone are the five separate parts, you can now watch
it as Dresen originally intended, end to end. Dresen did a great
job and it's a privilege to have Telemark
Racing back for your viewing pleasure.
- 7/28-- R.I.P. Scott Murray...
He was always my favorite
guy to watch at the tele comps. Scott Murray skied fearlessly
at each and every event he entered, raising the bar for everyone,
and doing it all with as big of a smile on his face as I've ever
seen. He was the kind of guy you just want to be around. You
know, in the hope that maybe a little of his great spirit and
joi de verve, might somehow rub off.
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Murray took significant but carefully
calculated risks, and yet he was the kind of cat that you always
expected to land on his feet, ultimately if not literally. He
competed in the comps from the earliest events back in the 90s,
through around 2005, when he told me he had had enough, and felt
like he had dodged the bullet for as long as he could. Scott
calculated that it was time to hang it up, and that's exactly
what he did, despite the fact that he was just then finally getting
the recognition he deserved and hooking up with sponsors. |
Photo: Mitch Weber
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That Scott Murray died pushing the
envelope in an adventure sport did not surprise me at all. Apparently
he went ahead and went kite surfing-- a sport he had reportedly
just picked up a year earlier-- in the ocean, on a gnarly weather
day, with overhead sets rolling in and gusty, big-time wind.
His kite collapsed, and in the heavy surf Scott is said to have
been dragged down under by a line wrapped around his ankle. Other
kiters nearby, along with lifeguards, rescued him and emergency
room personnel were able to restart his heart and respiration,
but the damage had been done, and Scott quietly passed a couple
of days later. A nurse reportedly was heard to say, "I've
never seen so many friends in the ICU," and this doesn't
surprise me either, Murray was that kind of guy.
He was Telemarktips' first and last
sponsored skier. There will never be another Scott Murray. Rest
in peace our friend... rest in peace.
- 7/28-- From the "where
are they now" file... He
once designed and manufactured freeheel bindings, now he's trying
to free some of the poorest people in the world from crushing
poverty. Russell Rainey brought us the Superloop in the 90s,
and the Hammerhead in 2001 before selling his creations to 22
Designs in 2004. His company, Rainey Designs, was known for innovation
in the world of telemark bindings, so it comes as no surprise
that Russell has come up with a creative way to "confront
poverty with opportunity." What was a surprise was to learn
that Russell and and his wife Cheryl recently packed up their
belongings and moved to the central African country of Rwanda,
where the former Wyoming residents have started a faith-based
organization with the goal of supporting local entrepanuers,
and helping Rwandans help themselves.
“Confronting Poverty with Opportunity
is our strategy to help people work their way out of poverty,
transforming their lives, their children’s futures and their
communities," say the Raineys on their new Web site, musanzeinc.com. To this end,
Russell has been investigating some of the local home building
techniques and feels he has found a way to help Rwandans work
their way out of impoverishment.
"Most Rwandan homes, new and
old, are made of mud in one form or the other." Russell
wrote recently. "The vast majority of new construction,
and there is a LOT of it going on, is being built using mud bricks
with mud mortar. Unfortunately, these mud homes deteriorate with
the first couple of years of rain, and even the best built homes
feature very little concrete and no reinforcing steel. One small
earthquake and many are reduced to rubble."
Russell continues, "Rwandans
work just as hard to provide a home for their family as anybody
I have ever seen, and they pour the bulk of their limited income
into their homes. Rwandans either rent, or they own substandard
homes which will not last even one generation. Therefore, the
bulk of Rwanda’s current income will never transfer to the
next generation. And it’s the transference of wealth from
one generation to the next, through real estate, infrastructure,
education, etc., that allows children to have more health, education
and opportunity than their parents."
"I see no bigger lever to help
Rwanda work its way out of poverty than to help them transfer
prosperity to their next generations," Rainey concludes.
"We don’t get to encourage them to put almost all of
their hard earned money into their home. They’re already
doing that. What we do get, is the opportunity to help that money
bless their children and grandchildren because it’s being
invested in something that has generational value." Russell
tells the story in a lot more detail and with a bunch of interesting
photos that are worth clicking over to check
out.
I had a good time visiting the Rainey's
site and catching up with what they've got going on. The video they
made to launch their new venture was fun to watch too, and much,
much shorter than the nearly two-hour epic on VHS tape that Russell
made to send out with his original HammerHead way back when...
a binding that, by the way, was the best performing 75mm binding
we ever skied, and remains so to this day.
They certainly made a difference
and left their mark on telemark, perhaps they'll do the same
in Rwanda. We wish for nothing but the best of luck for Russell
and Cheryl in their latest life adventure.
Telemark
News story index & archive.
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