PSIA-AASI

6.17.2010

SnowPro Update: Ski Pipe Gold, CO Instruction Initiative & RIP Arne Backstrom

Antalya, Turkey (PSIA-AASI) - Holy ski style, Snow Pros, we could be watching ski halfpipe as a full medal Winter Games event by February 2014 when the Sochi Olympics hit.

According to U.S. Ski Team, “A U.S. and French proposal to submit ski halfpipe to the International Olympic Committee for consideration as early as 2014 was approved without dissent as the International Ski Federation concluded its biennial FIS Congress Friday in Antalya, Turkey.”
 
But don’t hand the gold to Tanner Hall or Simon Dumont just yet. We’re still waiting on a vote from the IOC, which could be made as early as 2011. What is sure bet is that at the same congress, “snowboard slopestyle and team snowboard cross were also unanimously adopted on the program of the FIS Snowboard World Championships.”
 
Ski halfpipe has been included in FIS World Championships since 2005 and is already on the program for the 2012 Youth Olympics in Innsbruck.
 
Colorado’s Instruction Initiative
 
Denver (PSIA-AASI) - In very hopeful news on the kids instruction front, Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) announced the addition of a major new component to its popular 5th grade passport program: one complementary ski lesson, including rental equipment, for 5th grade passport holders who are new to the sport.
 
Lessons will be provided during the month of January as part of January Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month. Parents of 5th graders signed up for the Colorado Ski Country Passport will be provided with information about the opportunity for their child to learn to ski and can choose from among Colorado Ski Country USA member resorts where to have their introductory experience on snow.
 
“Now kids who grow up in Colorado will not only enjoy free skiing when they are in 5th grade, but for kids who haven’t learned to ski or ride by this age—Colorado Ski Country resorts will teach you how,” says CSCUSA President Melanie Mills.
 
Skier Down: RIP Arne Backstrom
 
Peru (PSIA-AASI) - More terrible news from the big mountain freeskiing world as yet one more young man has fallen in his prime. Arne Backstrom, reigning Canadian Freeskiing Champion and recent film star in ski segments for Warren Miller Entertainment and Matchstick Productions, died in a fall in Peru while reportedly training for a descent of Artesanraju, a 5,999-meter peak in the region. He was 29.
 
Backstrom’s parents are ski patrollers at Crystal Mountain in Washington, where he grew up skiing. He is the brother of freeski star Ingrid Backstrom, and had recently moved to Tahoe, California, to ski Squaw with her and their brother, Ralph, a snowboarder.
 
Arne’s death adds to the terrible cycle of loss that the community has felt in a little more than a year with the deaths of local freeskiing legends Shane McConkey and CR Johnson. Backstrom was filming with up-and-coming snow film company Sweetgrass Productions at the time of his death. You can click here for the poignant blog about the accident and the immediate reaction: http://sweetgrass-productions.com/blog/