Women's Burton Molotov Binding

Price: $260

Key Feature: A winged highback for added lateral support and leverage.

Pros: The flex, combined with the height and the wings, allowed for endless nose- and tailpresses. Comfortable foot beds, handy gas pedals, and plush straps seal the dea.

Cons: Snow sticks to the denim accents, and at times the buckles are a little sticky and hard to release.

Verdict: These bindings are super comfortable. And aside from their trick-maximizing traits that had me pressing like a champion. They’re sleek, super fun, comfortable, and responsive.

This review was found on the Transworld Snowboarding website.

Men's Ride Contraband Binding

Price: $199

Key feature: One-touch in-and-out V-Strap single ratchet.

Pros: This binding is a little faster to strap into because you only have one ratchet.

Cons: These bindings are hard and time-consuming to set up. The Contraband and the ankle strap were equally as tight, which causes too much pressure on the toes.

Overall Verdict: It may be worth the extra couple of seconds to strap into two straps, because then you can have one tighter than the other. Also puts pressure on the toes all in one spot.

This review was found on the Transworld Snowboarding Website

“I’ve wanted to make Bonfire boots for a long time,” said Bonfire Founder Brad Steward. “The colors, design details are on point – and the fit and performance are exactly what you would expect from a collaboration with Salomon’s Italian boot team.”

Women's Bonfire Geometric Boot

Modern materials meet retro style in the Women’s Geometric boot. The Geo will retail for $229 and has all the bells and whistles including a soft feel liner designed around a women’s specific last.

Women's Bonfire Flame Boot

The Women’s Flame goes glam with snake skin detailing, and subtle colors to compliment any kit. Retailing for $199, the Flame has extra thick EVA foam outsoles to cushion feet on any terrain.

“Bonfire boots have been in the pipeline for several years and now with our 20th anniversary in 2009, we’re ready to launch,” said marketing manager Amy Eichner.

Men's ThirtyTwo Ultralight

Key feature: Lightweight.

Pros: The boots are really light and comfortable. The lacing system is really solid, too. If you like a soft-to-medium-flex boot—these are them.

Cons: The liner, which makes the boots so light, is hard to get into—the material on the inside is really grippy. The sole has good tread for traction on snow, but it’s a little slippery on other surfaces. If you like medium-to-stiff-flex boots, they these are probably too soft.

Overall Verdict: Good if you like a softer boot. They are comfy and nice to have such a light boot on for hiking.

This review was found on Transworld Snowboarding Website.

Me Helping Misti Get Her Boots On

We got up to Crystal, got all of our gear on and took the shuttle up to the lodge. Misti tried to fit in my size seven boots but she wears and size nine and it didn’t work out too well. So we had to go to the rental shop and get Misti some boots that fit. We decided to buy tickets just for the Discovery, the beginner lift. Strapping in was a challenging task for Misti and Clarissa since they had never done it before. But getting on and off the lift was an even more challenging task. After doing it several times they started to get the hang of it though.

Girls On The Lift

We spent the entire day on the bunny hill. I helped teach them the basics including carving heel side and toe side. The snow was pretty icy and firm at first but as the sun came out it softened it up. This made falling a lot nicer. As the girls were slowly progressing I worked on riding switch. We ended our day around three thirty. Misti and Clarissa had a blast their first time snowboarding and can’t wait to go up again this season.

Misti Learning How To Balance

The Girls at Crystal Mountain

It was spring break last year and the end of snowboarding season was slowly creeping up. I usually go home and work on all of my breaks from school but this spring break my mom decided to fly me to Utah to spend a few days riding with my brother at Snowbird. This meant I wouldn’t be working during the break so I decided to try and get in as many days of snowboarding as possible.

I started my break by flying down to Salt Lake City and riding three days at Snowbird. I flew back home during the middle of the week. The following day I drove a few hours up to Stevens Pass to ride with some snowboard friends from WSU. The Saturday before heading back to school I decided to take two of my best girl friends (Clarissa and Misti) up to Crystal for the day. Neither had been snowboarding before.

Clarissa got a board, boots and bindings for Christmas and hadn’t got to use them yet so she was stoked. Misti had grown up skiing but always wanted to try snowboarding so I let her use all of my old gear. I usually ride with all guys or mostly guys so I was excited to spend a day on the mountain with two of my best girl friends.

Crystal offers many deals on season passes that are worth considering:

• Gold Full Season Pass – gets you unlimited access to Crystal Mountain and Gold Boyne Benefits including 10 free days of riding at any of the other Boyne Resorts. The adult price for the Gold Full Pass is $799 through October 31 and $899 from November 1 on.
• Silver Midweek Pass – gets you unlimited access to Crystal Mountain Monday through Friday and 5 free mid-week days of riding at the Summit. The adult price for the Silver Midweek Pass is $599 through October 31 and $699 from November 1 on.
• Boyne Unlimited Pass – gets you unrestricted access to over 17,000 acres of riding by going mountain hopping with the Boyne Unlimited Pass. This pass gets you unlimited access to Crystal Mountain and the Summit at Snoqualmie as well as other Boyne resorts including: Big Sky, Montana; Brighton, Utah; Cypress Mountain, British Columbia; Sunday River, Maine; Sugarloaf, Maine; Loon Mountain, New Hampshire; Boyne Mountain, Michigan; Boyne Highlands, Michigan; The Inn at Bay Harbor, Michigan. The adult price for the Boyne Unlimited Pass is $1799 through October 31 and $1899 from November 1 on.

Keep doing those snow dances!

Stop number 9 on the 2009 Peanut Butter Rail Jam was at the Summit at Snoqualmie. Features for 2009 included a pole-jam to down box (zone 1), a corrugated down pipe (zone 2), and a gapped flat box to down box (zone 3). This provided each division a playground to throw down a plethora of tricks.

Contestants of the PB and Rail Jam at The Summit

More than 185 eager competitors registered for the event. Then everyone made their way out to the contest area to get some hits in before the contest began. The 15 and  Under Division was first to go. Shortly after, it was the 16 and over divisions turn to make good things happen. Some of their crowd pleasers were gapping 270 over the flat-box to the down-box, and smeary 180 tail presses 180 outs on the corrugated pipe. The girls division was next. The crowd watched on as these girls threw down switch front boards on the flat-down, and gapped off the pole-jam to nose press on the down box, and tail slide 270’s out.

The Features of the Rail Jam

The event was a blast for participants and spectators. I hope to make it to Snoqualmie for the PB and Rail Jam this year which will be

For six years the Summit has been stoked to be the only stop in the Northwest on Volcom’s Peanut Butter and Rail Jam tour. Jeff Arnold and the Volcom crew always bring a great show to Snoqualmie. The annual event includes jibs, lights, pro-judges, great prizes, heavy-metal playlists and free sandwiches.

Flyer for 2008-2009 PB and Rail Jam

In another clip from DC Mountain Lab 1.5 Ken Block takes his Subaru WRX on to the mountain to do some tricks with the other DC riders.