Yardbarker: Skiing

Dobro Session

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:53:48 -0500

This short documentary takes an intimate look into US Ski member Bryon Friedman's, exploration of his musical career. The scenes in this film are taken from an unreleased documentary tentatively titled, Untracked: The Bryon Friedman Story.

Heal The Snow

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:11:11 -0500

Just wanted to share a short documentary on Heal The Snow with everyone...my music is actually featured in it too so let me now what you think.

Heal the Snow...

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:22:03 -0500

LOGLINE: A short documentary about a non-profit organizations endeavors to educate on the issues of Global Warming and sustainable living. Running time: 06:59

The Shred Wagon

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:55:57 -0500

Hey everyone...I wanted to tell you about a really cool organization that is dedicated to helping ski areas and companies within the industry become more environmentally friendly. The organization is called Heal The Snow, and their first project was the Shred Wagon. I will attach photos so you can get a better idea, but the Shred Wagon is basically a mobile hostel powered by solar energy and bio diesel. It's purpose is to travel from resort to resort and provide affordable lodging for ski bums who can't swing resort prices, all the while keeping it environmentally friendly. It's a great alternative for young skiers and the Shred Wagon followed a lot of Freeride and Big Mountain competitions throughout the winter. It even came to my last race series in Mammoth, California where I got a chance to hang out and play some music for a couple hours. Their website is www.healthesnow.org, so check it out and let me know what you think!

Two for Two

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:17:48 -0500

Well...the season is finally over and I'm happy to say that I won another Downhill in Mammoth, California, my last race of the season! The conditions were great for being Spring, the snow was rock hard, the sun was shining, and the wind was calm. It's great to end my comeback year with a win...hopefully it will set the tone for next year. It feels like the Winter swept past me without warning but I'm excited to take a break. It's time to put the skis away, pick up my guitar, get on my surf board and enjoy some time off snow. I will be posting more pics and videos from the season soon, as well as some from our spring and summer camps. Have a great weekend...

Spring Series Win

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:10:43 -0500

Hey all...just wanted to let you know that I have been skiing fast and won my first downhill of the season in Mammoth, California. It was a two run downhill, which is quite unusual as they are usually only one run, but I won both runs and secured the lead by over half a second. Believe it or not, half a second in ski racing is a lot so I was pleased with my performance! It's great to be skiing fast again and I hope that my results will be proof enough the the National Team that I am rehabilitated and ready to get back onto the World Cup full time next season!

Good News from National Championships

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:04:45 -0500

As I write, I'm sitting in my hotel overlooking "Narrow Gage," the run we are racing on this week at our National Championships in Sugarloaf, Maine. Although Sugarloaf is considered a big mountain on the East coast, it's fairly small compared to what we see in the West. Regardless, "Narrow Gage" is a great run for racing and has us going 70 to 80 mph in the Super G and Downhill. The course has a lot of flat sections mixed with terrain as well as two steeper sections and a long flat that takers you to the finish. The most intimidating section of the course is called "Headwall" where the run drops into an icy bowl as the hill falls away and eventually spits you out of a gully and into the fastest section where we are clocked at upwards of 80 mph. Even with a great course set and ready to go, the races were off to a shaky start due to bad weather. We sat around in our hotel rooms 4 days straight wondering if we were ever going to get chance to race. After getting pounded by snow, rain and wind the weather finally cleared and the temperature dropped considerably, which set the snow up perfectly for the speed events. Now here comes the good news! Although its been a long and at times frustrating season I can finally say I've turned the corner and found the speed again! In skiing there's a fine line between skiing well and skiing fast, and I'm fired up to say that I'm skiing fast again with a 2nd place in the Super G at the U.S. National Championships. It was a tight race as I was only .11 of a second behind the winner Kevin Francis and just ahead of world cup winner Marco Sullivan. It would have been nice to win another National title but I'm pleased with the result and can't wait to find more speed in the Downhill tomorrow.

Bode Miller wins the Overall World Cup title again!

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:49:48 -0500

Once again Bode Miller has proved his critics wrong. After leaving the U.S. Ski Team to pursue his racing career privately, Miller arguably posted his best season to date winning the Overall, Super-Combined, and placing 2nd in the Downhill standings. He has won more World Cups than any other American skier and has shown that it's possible to be the best without the National Team's resources. As a former teammate I'm proud that he won on his own terms and is enjoying his career more than ever. The only accomplishment that alludes Miller's trophy room is an Olympic Gold...where he will have a shot in Vancouver 2010.

Bode Miller speaks out!

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:12:14 -0500

With only 3 races to go in the World Cup season, Bode Miller is leading the overall World Cup standings and has a good chance to win it all for the second time of his career. Unfortunately race organizers cancelled the last Downhill of the season in Bormio, Italy, which puts Miller at a disadvantage to maintain his lead. He was not very happy about the organizers' decision to cancel the race, and claimed it was strategy on the parts of the Austrian and Swiss coaches in order to give their athletes a better chance to overtake him for the overall crown. Both Didier Cuche of Switzerland, and Benjamin Raich of Austria are vying for the title as well. Check out what Bode had to say and the decision!

Lanzinger Loses Leg

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:36:03 -0500

Austrian skier Mattias Lanzinger crashed into a World Cup Super G while skiing in Norway recently, and had a terrible accident which eventually called for an amputation of his leg. Reports and a personal blog by a member in his camp state that the amputation could have been avoided, had a helicopter been on site to fly him out of the mountains. A helicopter not being there caused him to wait for hours, only to experience massive swelling and cutoff of blood to his lower leg. Though it's already been expressed – I can't believe how an obvious thing like having a helicopter on site wasn't included in the skiing competition's safety measures. Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V28GKbLN3pE My knee has been in pain recently due to Patellofemoral Syndrome (Runner's Knee), and it pisses me off that my running ability is slowly weakening. I can't begin to imagine what I'd do if my leg was amputated. Check out my scene: www.sportsfly.com, v2thaj.blogspot.com *Read more articles, Get the daily buzz, play casual sports games and earn prizes.

Austrian racer loses leg

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:26:51 -0500

I have some disturbing news regarding Austrian skier Mattias Lanzinger. For those of you who haven't heard, Lanzinger crashed in a World Cup Super G in Kvitfell, Norway and broke his left leg severely. The injury was so severe that it required immediate surgery, but there was no helicopter on site (a major mistake on Kvitfell's organizing committee), and he was forced to wait hours until he was finally transported to a hospital in Oslo...those few hours proved to be critical. During the delay he experienced massive swelling, which cut off the blood flow to his lower leg and caused poor circulation. Upon arrival he underwent emergency surgery but the doctors couldn't restore circulation to his leg and were eventually forced to amputate. This hits a little to close to home for me as I had a similar injury 3 years ago but was flown to the hospital quickly where my doctors performed surgery right away and saved my leg. Although it took me two years to recover I didn't realize how lucky I was until now. It breaks my heart and makes me sick to my stomach that one of my competitors can no longer walk on his own two feet due to the ignorance, not only of the Kvitfell Organizing committee, but of the FIS (Federation of International Skiing). One of Lanzinger's doctors was quoted saying that if he was brought to the hospital right away the amputation could have been avoided. This is clearly a breach of safety regulations and has caused a great deal of controversy in the Alpine Skiing world. I certainly hope someone is held accountable for this tragedy as Lanzinger deserves some answers! Out of respect for Lanzinger I am not going to post his crash but if you would like to view it here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V28GKbLN3pE

Skier breaks leg

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:40:42 -0500

These super giant downhill skiers must have some screws loose in their heads. When they fall they fall hard - here is a video of Matthias Lanzinger breaking his leg on one run. How fast he was going I am shocked he didn't kill himself. I will stick to skiing the bunny slopes thank you very much.

Top ten finish!

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:41:27 -0500

As some of you may already know I've been on the sidelines injured for nearly 3 years and started to make my comeback this season. Well I have good news...it's moving in the right direction! I have been on the Europa Cup tour, which is basically like the Minor Leagues of skiing one step below the World Cup. Our last competition was in a small Northern Italian town called Sarntal where I finished 8th in the last Downhill. This was a big step for me considering I haven't raced much in the past 3 years, and it showed me that I can still ski with some of the best skiers in the World. This result gives me a better starting position in the next Europa Cup, which is next week in Chamonix, France. I hope to bring you more good news then. Here's a pic from the start of the downhill...not a bad view from my office!

Who can possibly claim ski jumping is not exciting?

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:38:27 -0500

Here's a petition to start ski jumping as its very own category here on Yardbarker. A sport that the Finns are good at, and therefore worthy of attention. To whet your appetites, here's an article about the greatest ski jumper in the world, Janne Ahonen, making history by winning the Four Hills tournament for a record-breaking fifth time. I'm expecting a lot of support here...

Scott Macartney's Crash

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:24:43 -0500

For those of you who don't know skiing very well today was the Hannenkahm Downhill, which is known as the Super Bowl of ski racing. It is held every January in Kitzbuhel, Austria and is considered the toughest course in the world. Unfortunately once again it has shown just how tough and dangerous it is. One of my closest friends, teammate, and college roommate Scott Macartney lost control off the finish jump going about 90 mph flying 30 feet in the air and landed on his head. It's one of the gnarliest crashes I have seen in a long time and is tough to watch so I will leave that at your discretion. I wouldn't post the video unless I knew he was doing well. I just received news that he is in stable condition at a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria and will make a full recovery. After he came to his first question was "how fast was I going" and "are my knees ok?" Scott is a true competitor!

Bode Miller wins Lauberhorn

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:17:19 -0500

World class skier/partier Bode Miller took the Lauberhorn Downhill title this weekend, his 27th World Cup win.

- Bode Miller gets 27th win-

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:10:20 -0500

I know all eyes are on football right now including Tom Brady and his record breaking season, but Bode Miller is about to break a major record of his own in Skiing. Today Bode Miller won the 27th race of his career by over a second to beat out Swiss racer Dider Cuche. For those of you who don't know skiing very well, one second is a lifetime in ski racing, which confirms that Bode is still in top form. The real benchmark however, is that Bode is now only one victory away from beating the American record for World Cup wins held by Phil Mahre (now tied with Bode). This was Bode's second decisive victory this season as he continues to impress the World with his unorthodox and aggressive style of skiing. Although he is no longer with the U.S. Ski Team (by his own accord) all of us are happy for him and excited to watch him break Mahre's record this season. Ok...go watch football now, if I weren't in Europe I'd be doing the same.

Heading to Europe...!

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:06:35 -0500

After a short holiday break, a couple days of waist deep powder, and two concerts, its time to get back to business and head to the heartland of ski racing...Europe! For the next two months we will be traveling through Austria, Germany, Italy, and France racing the World's toughest mountains and get another taste of what the European Apres Ski scene has to offer! The stop I'm most looking forward to is Chamonix, France where I sustained a near career ending injury 3 years ago. It's time to face my fears and get revenge on the course that nearly took the sport of skiing away from me. As a downhiller fear is ever present, but it's also something that helps us realize what we're made of and gives us an adrenalin rush that puts smiles on our faces. For a long time I've been deprived of that rush but it's around the corner and I'm excited to share it with you soon! In the meantime I feel compelled to show you my crash from 2005 where I sustained a tib/fib leg fracture and a broken hand. I was going about 70 mph when I crashed and ended up cartwheeling into the safety netting on the side of the course. I was immediately flown to the nearest hospital where I underwent the first of 8 surgeries to repair the damage. On the bright side of things I have a killer scar to prove it!

Sue Everybody!

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 19:13:16 -0500

AP: Boy, 8, sued in ski crash A 60-year-old man is taking an 8-year-old boy and his dad to court, claiming the third-grader caused a ski-slope collision that left the older man with a shoulder injury.

- On the Edge of Crazy -

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:26:09 -0500

To be fast in Downhill, especially on the World Cup Tour, you need to ski out of your comfort zone. You need to test the limits of what your body and mind are capable of, and find the edge between sanity and craziness. Andrew Weibrecht, a young up-and-coming Downhiller on the U.S. Ski Team, showed us just how close to the edge of crazy you can go without taking a big spill. His run from the World Cup Downhill in Beaver Creek, Colorado is one of the most talked about runs in skiing right now and will continue to impress those that get a chance to watch it. I asked Bode Milller what he thought of Weibrecht's skiing, who we call "Warhorse," and he said it's his favorite guy to watch on the World Cup now. That's and impressive comment coming from the guy who is one of the most exciting skiers to watch in the history of the sport. Warhorse's on-snow intensity is impressive, his technique is incredible, and his sanity....well, questionable. Here's the clip from his run down the Birds of Prey course so you can check it out. Keep in mind this is one of the most technical downhills on the World Cup circuit with high speed turns (up to 80 mph), huge air (120 feet out and 15 feet up off the Golden Eagle jump), and rock hard snow. "Warhorse" finished 10th in the race, his best career World Cup result to date.

The ultimate guide to training for Ski

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:24:20 -0500

A list of articles, tutorials and videos to explain the best skiing training exercises.

Back in -20 Canada!

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:18:21 -0500

As luck would have it we have seen all the elements over the last few days here in Lake Louise. Snow storms, wind, a little rain, and tomorrow they are calling for -20...brrrrr. Not only that, but we had a hellacious travel day getting up here. It was painfully slow but laughable at the same time so I had to write a song about it just to stay sane. I will give you the poetic version of "Just Another Travel Day" which started off in Beaver Creek, Colorado and ended in Lake Louise, Canada. I use some nicknames in the song but the storyline is true. Hope you enjoy! -Just Another Travel Day- we left a little early from the birds of prey the weather was a coming so we made our getaway 19 was in the middle petite demage took the rear while swampy's sweating bullets hoping the roads were free and clear we pulled up to the counter at good old DIA carrying ten bags a piece...and most were overweight did our best sweet talking but it wasn't sweet enough another sixteenhundred dollars and we were on our way up north sat out on the runway in the freezing rain when the de-ice machine man noticed a dent in the plane the captain on that speaker said it shouldn't be too long it was two hours later when we finally left the ground slipped through immigration and to the carousel to claim our bulky luggage and get on to the hotel a few came up missing so we checked all our tags to find the missing pieces left on DIA's tarmac waiting at the curbside for the truck to show the battery had died it was a chill 20 below then we piled all our gear into a couple mini vans three were sitting shotgun and i was pressed up against the dash rolled into the husky for a bite to eat where a trucker told us a joke through his four remaining teeth our waitress turned and smiled her face was shining red the joke directed towards her saying their romance was dead woke up in the morning to a day that seemed to care about our destination and the answer to our prayer to load up on groceries and get an early start but the check out machine went crazy and declined our credit cards swampy's card said rearick, 19's was low on funds so we cut the bill in half and threw it on Becky's mom's stuffed into the mini where for hours we would sit caught a road block in canmoore and storm that wouldn't quit the winds were strong and biting which caused our late arrival we pulled up to the inn roughed and tired short of smile welcome to louise we're pleased you made it safe but you're rooms aren't quite ready so you'll just have to wait

The Golden Age Is Coming, All Hail Roper!

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:07:45 -0500

As any avid Duck fan would understand, the beavers have one of the premier defenses in the nation. They remind us every chance they get. And after Dennis Dixon went down, the taunting got even worse. I got elbowed in the ribs more times than a game of backyard rugby. Since I'm a duck all the way, I thought that maybe Brady Leaf could lead us to a miracle victory. Than came UCLA. After he sprained BOTH of his heels I had lost all faith in the ducks. I was near tears when they placed Cody Kempt in the game, he was worse than Peyton Manning against the Chargers. Finally after being blindsided by a Beaver, Kempt went out with a concussion and in came Roper. Next play, touchdown pass. At that point I was jumping up and down faster than Raider fans before the draft, Roper might actually be good! Not only was Roper good, he was incredible. The statistics don't serve Roper any justice whatsoever though: 51% rating with 144 yards and two TD passes, plus that one interception. The sad part is, he placed the ball where they always needed to be, its just that Dickson, Williams, or someone else would just drop the ball (Or get the crap blown out of them by Joey Laroque) Its not like he had much time in the pocket either, he was facing a whole line of bulky Hawaiins, each looking for another sack to add to their already stuffed list of hits. After one second a three hundred pound lineman would be flailing his arms in Roper's face, but what would happen? Roper would throw a pass for 6 yards. Everyone thought Lyle Muoevo (Or however you spell his name) was the far dominant quarterback in this game. Here are three reasons why this isnt true. 1. He had unlimited time in the pocket. 2. His recievers held on to the ball 3. He was playing the Ducks defense. Enough said. Perhaps the biggest surprise about Roper is that he was just a redshirt coming into this game. Yet he seemingly man handled the linebackers and safties, as if he was playing against Nebraska. I predict that one year from now, the Oregon Ducks will have recieved a bid to play in the Rose Bowl against Michigan. With Roper at the reigns, and its gonna be 2007 all over again. Oregon 39 - Michigan 7

World Cup Woes

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:29:44 -0500

Only one week into the season and we've already seen a handful of ups and down. Lets start with the bad news first. In the first race we lost one of our most promising young teammates, Erik Fischer, in the Downhill at Lake Louise. He was skiing well on his way to the best performance of his young career when he flew off of the finish jump, landed on the tails of his skis and couldn't recover. He was going about 70 mph when he fell and tore his ACL, thus ending his season. Erik undergoes ACL reconstructoin surgery tomorrow. Secondly, we lost the overall World Cup champion, Aksel Svindal, yesterday in a Downhill training run in Beaver Creek, Colorado (the second world cup on the tour). Aksel sat back off of the biggest jump on course, which propels you 150 feet down the moutain 20 feet in the air. He landed on his back, went into the safety net, and ended up cutting himself badly on one of his skis. He also broke a few bones in his face and will likely be out for the season. This is an unfortunate reality in our sport. Onto the good news!! Marco Sullivan, one of my best friends on the team scored his first World Cup podium as he was 2nd in the Downhill last Saturday. He just returned from training injury this fall when he broke his heel off of a big jump in Portillo, Chile. It was a great way to start off the season and I'm looking forward to joining him on the podium soon! Check out some pics from Lake Louise....

The White Circus...

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:34:18 -0500

The prep period is finally over and it's time to race! The worlds best skiers arrived today in Lake Louise, Canada for the first World Cup Downhill of the season. From now to March the "White Circus" will continue almost every weekend and hit nearly every country with snow in Europe. It goes like this: Canada, the U.S, France, Italy, Austria, Swizterland, Slovenia, back to Austria, back to Canada, Germany, Norway and back to Italy. There are only a few one-week breaks in between the hustle and bustle hence why they call it the "White Circus." The weather forecast looks good for a while so we should have a nice weekend of racing. Unfortunately there will be no turkey and gravy on our thanksgiving, only skiing at 80mph down an icy slope in freezing cold temperatures. The forecast is calling for 0 - 20 degrees this week, which is actually warm for Lake Louise this time of year...last year it was -30! To prepare for the first race of the season we like to put on the finishing touches by testing our quiver of skis to find which pair is running the fastest. In skiing sometimes hundredths of a second can separate the winner from the runner up so we do our best to leave no stone unturned. I wanted to share a video clip from one of our testing days in Colorado last week. This test track is used to determine how fast our skis are so we can choose the best pair for race day. We usually take about 9-12 runs in the track on 3-4 different pair of skis so it's a pretty tedious process even with snowmobiles to tow us back to the top of the track. Check it out!

Recovery at 11,000 feet...

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:09:22 -0500

Hey all. Just wanted to post a quick update from our Colorado camp as it comes to an end. We've been training hard, usually two sessions a day, getting up at 5:30am, on the hill by 6:20, and skiing through to the early afternoon. All of the guys are skiing well so it's going to be exciting to see how we measure up against the rest of the world next weekend during the first World Cup Downhill race of the season! On a different subject, because we are training at such high altitudes, our sports science department likes to make sure we recover properly after skiing. They really go the extra mile as you will see in the clip that I added below. They bring oxygen tanks, bikes, and recovery foods to the mountain for us almost every day, which is pretty cool! Olympians Marco Sullivan and Stacey Cook, as well as Travis Ganong are shown taking advantage of what our sports science has to offer. Let me know what you think...

The Yardbarker Headcam...

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:18:18 -0500

So far we've had great training conditions here in Colorado. There's not a ton of snow but there's enough for us to train. Today we had an early morning session from 7 to 9 and another from 10:30 to 1:30 so it was a long day on the hill, especially at 11,000 feet. At the end of our second session a lot of the guys were fatigued from the lack of oxygen, which made for some good crashes. I promise to post them as soon as I download the video from our coaches. One of the young guys on the team, Chris Beckman, crashed pretty hard and carwheeled off course, over the safety netting, and into the rocks. Fortunately he was ok but ripped through his suit and shirt and has a nice cut on his back to show for it. Check it out! As far as some ski vid here's a glimpse of one of my warm-up runs before our training session. I fastened the camera to my helmet so it's a little shaky but a cool perspective!

Rocky Mountain High!

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:19:23 -0500

And so it begins...after checking 7 bags at the airport this morning (3 ski bags, 2 duffles, a pole bag, and my guitar) I'm now sitting at a Fox Sports Sky Box bar/restaurant in the Phoenix airport waiting for my delayed flight into Denver, Colorado. With first World Cup Downhill only a few weeks away this is our last chance to get on snow training before the upcoming season! I know it sounds odd that we are already skiing this early in November but at 9,000 to 10,000 feet in Summit County, CO it has been snowing for weeks, most of it man-made. This camp is our last chance to dial in our technique and equipment before the World Cup Tour begins in Lake Louise, Canada. I personally travel with 9 pair of skis, and 3 pair of boots, all of which I will put through tests throughout the camp to find which setup is the fastest. In a sport determined by hundredths of a second this is standard practice and can make or break a race or even the entire season. The majority of our training will be between Copper Mountain and Keystone's North Peak. We are fortunate enough to have North Peak to ourselves, so we can train there exclusively without any disruptions and get the most out of our on-snow sessions. Our first day of training is tomorrow so I will be sure to post some pictures and video of what's going on with some of the best skiers in the world! Stay tuned...

Crash Footage...

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:20:34 -0500

Just wanted to show everyone a clip of what happens when things go wrong at 70mph. This is clip of Jono Brauer, who skis for the Australian National Team...miraculously he walked away uninjured but extremely sore. Enjoy...!

Welcome to my yard!

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:29:37 -0500

Welcome to my Yard! Bryon here...this is my first Yardbarker post so here's a little about myself for those not familiar with ski racing. I race the speed events, Downhill and Super G, which are really fast—upwards of 80-90 mph—with big air (check out this video from our training camp last month in Portillo, Chile to get a sense of the air and speed we get). I have been on the U.S. team for seven years and raced on the World Cup Tour for four. Most of our races are in Europe so I spend most of my winters overseas, which is cool because that's where most of our fans are. We're trying to change that here, though. My life basically consists of skiing and playing music as much as possible...not a bad gig. I just moved to LA, which will be good for music, but I'm a mountain man at heart. I grew up in Park City, Utah skiing with my friends and started racing when I was 10. I finally had the time to record my first album "Road Sodas" last year-- check it out at http://www.bryonfriedmanmusic.com or http://www.myspace.com/bryonfriedman. I'm excited to bring the sport and lifestyle of ski racing — intertwined with some music — to your doorstep. I'll post our best race (and crash) videos, pictures of life on the road, and get you acquainted with some of fastest, and most hilarious, skiers in the world. If you have any questions I'll be more than happy to answer...for now, check out my yard. Bryon