FrontLipped: the Canadian snowboard blog

As I can see, this site still has the odd person roll through to see what’s up. While I have been keeping this site open as a more opinion-based outlet, I’ve moved on to another blog full time.

FrontLipped: the Canadian snowboard blog is a place you can go to find everything you want about your favourite Canadian pros, and learn about some of the lesser-known figures in Canadian snowboarding. At FrontLipped, we don’t discriminate  between the top tier and the amateurs. As we say, “If it’s Canadian and sliding sideways, you’ll find it at FrontLipped.”

Hater kids need to learn their history

You know what really grinds my gears? When kids who know nothing about snowboarding start hating on something because it’s not what everyone else says is cool.

Take this for example. Transworld posted this Stepchild Saturday and here are a few examples of the comments that have been made about the video.

At 5:45 AM, 2008-07-19, fdp said:
i’m sorry to say, but jp’s got wack style. arms all over the place

Good observation, JP does keep his arms high when he rides. Who says that constitutes bad style though? Did you write the bible on snowboard style? Where can I acquire one of these “so called” style bibles? Open your mind and realize that that is JP’s personal style, and it’s also what sets him apart from anyone else in the industry.

At 1:53 PM, 2008-07-19, dirty n stinkin said:
has jp walker ever been addressed about his bad steeze? wonder what he would say. i agree that he is a legend tho

JP’s “bad steeze”, as you choose to call it, is what sets him apart from everyone else. When you see a picture of JP, you immediately know who it is because of his style. That’s right dumbass, it’s his style. I’m sorry that it’s not the cookie cutter image of what you picture every rider looking like, but that’s just too damn bad. 

At 4:01 PM, 2008-07-19, anonymous said:
JP needs some arm control son

And you need to look closer, son. JP’s arms are in control while he’s riding. Every move is deliberate. The high arms with the fingers spread apart is what makes JP, JP.

At 6:54 PM, 2008-07-22, anonymous said:
JP Walker had probably the worst style ive ever seen. Sorry.

I’m sure you just need to see a video of yourself. As I’ve been saying, at least JP has style. He may not look like everyone else when he rides, but there’s absolutely no way that you’ll confuse him with any other fake food-court gangster on a snowboard (not saying that JP is a food-court gangster, the only person more legit than him is MFM) when you see a video or a photo of him.

All I’m asking kids, is that you open your minds to all the possibilities and opportunities that snowboarding gives you. It gives you the chance to do great things and perhaps come up with a style of your own that is as recognizable as JP’s.

While the first people to make up new tricks and define style in snowboarding will always be remembered, the first people to hate on trends and people will always be forgotten.

B.C. – Kelowna day

On one of our last days in B.C., Kate and I took a day to go visit the city of Kelowna. We spent some time wandering the lakefront, strolling the streets and checking out one of the largest malls in the interior of B.C.

One of the nice views from the boardwalk on the lakefront.

This hotel had a moat and a lock system to access the private parking lot (lake?) for boats, seriously. This place was no joke.

Dolphin statue in front of one of many condominium buildings.

This sign made me laugh.

We stopped in at a nice little deli for lunch and, before we knew it, we were back on the road heading home to Vernon.

B.C. – Silver Star and Revelstoke what’s up

On Tuesday we made the trip up to Silver Star Resort so I could meet with Resort Services. If you’ve never been or seen pictures of the village here, you’d be amazed at some of the colour combinations that are used on the lodges.

It turned out that the guy I was supposed to meet with didn’t come in that day, so we toured around the village for a bit before heading for home. (note: I did end up meeting with him later in the week when he took time out of his Saturday to stop by and chat. Thanks Robin!)

We took it easy on Wednesday and got ready to head North to Revelstoke on Thursday so I could meet with the lady in charge of PR at the resort.

They were so many gorgeous sights along the way and my meeting at the resort’s head office went really well, so Kate and I decided to make a few tourist stops on the way back to Vernon.

Sketchy Enchanted Forest theme park.

We left the creepy theme park and stopped in at the location where the last spike of the CPR railway was driven in (I chose this tourist location, Kate chose the sketchy theme park).

On the way back through Sicamous, Kate made sure to grab a picture of this house boat place. Some of them were three stories tall with twisty water slides mounted on the back.

Epic. jp.

B.C. – Our weekend

This past weekend we travelled North to Salmon Arm to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins on their farm. We hung out for a little while and my cousin Gavin did some backflips before we left for dinner.

That night, we went out for dinner at this little place called Lorenzo’s outside of Enderby. The food was great, the music was awesome and there was an outdoor bowling alley behind the restaurant. So what if the place looked a little sketchy, I’d definitely go back.

Lorenzo’s back patio (the bowling lane is right outside the back door. you may be able to make out the three bowling balls, one was bright pink). The owner lit us up a flaming sambucca for bowling a strike, and I found a ridiculous picture in the men’s bathroom.

Flaming drinks.

Insane photo from a zoo in China (no photoshop here, that hand belongs to a zoo attendant). We took it easy that night and rented a movie. Saturday I went golfing with my uncle, Gavin and another guy named Dennis (he was French and really funny). We also made friends with the new colt on my cousin’s farm (he would gallop around randomly and then try to jump on his mother’s back, he was probably funnier than Dennis).

 

On Sunday, before we headed back to Vernon, we took trip on the boat to spend the day out at my cousin’s lake house.

They lived here year-round up until a few years ago when they bought their new property outside of Salmon Arm. My uncle felt the need to hit the water and go slalom skiing. I have a video, but I don’t have the energy to post it up in here.

It was a good day of hanging out on the beach and soaking up some sun before we had to make the trip back to the boat launch, and head for home.

The past couple days I’ve been relaxing and arranging meetings with PR people from resorts. I’ll have photos from Silver Star and a trip to Revelstoke up later this week. jp.

B.C. day one

So it has been a busy week here, but I’ll toss up some photos that sum up our travels on the first day.

We woke up at 4:30 a.m. on May 1st so we could make our way to the airport in Toronto. We had a departure time of 7:25 a.m.

We made it through customs without any problems and posted up for a little over an hour to watch them load our plane for the flight to Vancouver. It was snowing in Calgary but the weather cleared up for a little bit before we hit the coast.

The prairies meet the mountains.

We chilled in the Vancouver airport for half an hour before we caught our flight back into the interior.

We made it into Kelowna, but unfortunately our bags had been lost along the way in Vancouver. We left the airport sans bags and drove to Vernon to get settled in to our temporary home.

Our bags got dropped off later that same afternoon. We were pretty stoked about that. This past weekend we spent with my aunt, uncle and cousins in Salmon Arm. I’ll throw some pictures up later tonight. jp.

Vacation

I feel bad for not keeping this updated, but I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to getting my other blog off the ground.

Never fear though, I’ll be heading to B.C. for 11 days starting May 1st and I’m hoping to post some updates along the way.

lates

New Blog

I have started a new blog that I chose to call FrontLipped. On it you will be able to find all the news concerning Canadian snowboarding in one convenient place.

Blogroll it, Bookmark it, and let me know what you think and what you want to see added to it as I develop it.

Find it at www.frontlipped.wordpress.com

Where Am I Going With This?

All right readers, I have an idea and, in turn, a few questions for you.

I’m thinking about starting a new blog. A blog where you would be able to stay up to date on EVERYTHING that is happening in Canadian snowboarding; a blog that would not discriminate between amateur and professional riders; a blog that would give you everything you wanted to know about Canadian companies, sponsorship changes, contest results, events and media coverage.

I’ve realized that it can be hard for bigger media outlets to focus on the little things so many Canadian snowboarders want to know about, and that’s okay. They’re busy giving us the feature interviews and travel stories about our favourite shredders that we love to read.

Will this work? You tell me. Leave me a comment about this idea, then copy and paste the questions below into that comment (after you answer them).

Please help me out. Thank You. jp.

Age:

Home Province:

Home Resort:

What other snowboard sites do you read?

What type of stories do you want to read?

Who is your favourite Canadian rider?

Optimistic?

 Is this the greatest snowboard movie of all time? Probably not, but I can say one thing for sure, Absinthe Film’s production Optimistic? made me want to say farewell to jibs and rails forever.

This movie features some of the most creative minds in snowboarding using natural backcountry terrain to get their shred on. I guarantee you, some parts will blow your mind. MFM’s step-up to back lip on a cornice, Mikey LeBlanc’s “tobogganist” antics, Matt Beardmore’s tree tap reverts and absolutely everything Gigi Ruf and Nicolas Muller touch with snowboards attached to their feet.

If you haven’t seen it yet, grab yourself a copy or, at least, try to find some clips on YouTube. It will change the way you look at the mountain (or your local resort).

Keep an eye on the Absinthe website for updates on a 2008 release and to check out some behind-the-scenes features from all the movies. jp.