Music While Snowboarding?

In the latest poll readers were asked if they listen to music when they are out on the slopes. The question was inspired by the fact that I had one iPod stolen a year ago and then this season lost its replacement, and have since not brought myself to purchase yet another; so I spent the end of this season riding without a personal soundtrack for the first time since I first started riding I'd say. Anyway, my experience with life outside of tiny speakers was interesting and prompted some poignant observations:

What I noticed in my days sans-iPod was a powder day is just that much more epic when ridden in subtle silence and the scrape of your snowboard up to the lip of a kicker and the moment when sound and time stops as you fly through the air is pure magic. I noticed that communicating with other riders when queued to hit a feature makes things not only safer and way clearer, but a bit more entertaining as well.

To my surprise, the majority of readers said they listen to music while shredding at all times. This means when you're with friends, when you're cruising an epic powder run, when you're hucking through the park, when there's a really busy day... regardless of the what the day hands you, your headphones are on. I'd say I would fit into this category as well if I still had an iPod.

Without musical accompaniment, I found out that bringing a friend that listens to music at all times when riding fucking sucks! There is nothing more awesome than silent lift rides (or realizing you've been talking to yourself the whole time) and screaming directions at your oblivious friends as they turn down the wrong runs--that's my experience anyway, and personally I bring friends along hoping to vibe, learn some new tricks and just get stoked on snowboarding.

I've come to the conclusion that music while snowboarding has its time, place and purpose. For me, on an insanely busy day--or contest, if you a contest kid-- where there is a lot to tune out, some music is definitely called for. Of course any solo-day is fair game (incidentally this was the runner-up in the poll). I don't think I will ever listen to music while riding with friends again after my experience on the other side. I guess the bottom line is just the next time you find yourself strapping in at the top with your music blaring, consider the question,"What does snowboarding even sound like?"... or something inspiring and meaningful like that.

Snowboard Injuries You Wouldn't Know Happened

I've been experiencing a bit of pain around my right knee since I miscalculated the speed off of a feature at Copper and landed F-L-A-T as fuck... PLOP! The only reason I haven't been to a doctor yet is I have had such a hard time identifying and describing the problem, until a couple of nights ago. I finally found a website which attributed my legs feeling of instability to an ACL tear, a dreaded injury for any athlete, but particularly a winter athlete who battles Mother Nature and cannot afford to lay out for sustained periods of time (or at least doesn't want to). The thing is, ACL tears usually occur as the direct result of a jerking, twisting motion to the knee and I had only taken an abrupt impact no nastier than other flat landings I have endured in the past:

I'm starting to suspect my hamstring, which is notorious for injury caused by impact, as the contributing factor since I can pivot and twist my knee far too well--and pain free--so that's awesome, but the whole thing had me wondering: Is it possible to tear the ACL when there is no twisting motion present at the time of injury? A quick search revealed the answer...

"Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in snowboarders are rare. However, in expert boarders landing big jumps, ACL injuries are occurring more frequently.

We identified 35 snowboarders with an identical injury mechanism. All these patients were landing from a jump. All described a flat landing on a flexed knee with significant knee compression. In 31 of 35 boarders, it was the front knee that was injured. Only two riders felt there was any twisting component to their injury.

We postulate that the ACL rupture is due to maximal eccentric quadriceps contraction, as the boarder resists a compressive landing. Internal tibial rotation of the front knee in the snowboarding stance results in preloading of the ACL predisposing to injury."

-- Source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/p7210j58108m2662/

This is another example of just how elusive an injury in snowboarding can be. The human body is comparable to an intricate machine built of synchronized gears and gizmos; in order for each component to function several gears and gizmos must be put into motion simultaneously. Thus, you can damage an entire array of smaller pieces to the human puzzle without even realizing.

Another awesome example of a snowboard injury you wouldn't even know happened was described by Nurse Greg, camp doc at High Cascade. Snowboarding deals with such enormous forces; most of the time when we land a textbook trick or see a pro huck a huge booter to a perfect landing we don't pay attention to the hundreds of pounds of force these actions exert on our bodies.

Nurse Greg's story: It is not entirely impossible to throw a perfect trick with the softest, cleanest landing possible and end up completely shattering your back. If the force of the landing translates in just the right way it could transfer up your body into your spine and...game over. This is highly unlikely, but it's one injury that makes you realize just how unavoidable injuries in our sport really are.

I'm definitely not an encyclopedia of injuries and the medical history of snowboarding, so I was wondering if any readers had similar injuries worth mentioning? I'm sure there are all sorts of ways to mangle things you didn't think you could mangle, so by all means post those up and I am going to just make sure once and for all that my knee is perfecto.

Grip Grand - Brokelore

From a strictly musical standpoint, the majority of hip-hop and rap tracks available simply don't vibe well with snowboarding. Most are too aggressive, too obnoxious, and to...tally don't synch up to footage very well at all. Even if you do find a diamond in the rough, that's usually all that can be squeezed from a CD of more than ten tracks. This CD, Brokelore by Grip Grand, might be the first hip-hop album I've heard where every track is built to shred.

Right from the get go with "Showtime", Grip Grand takes you back to the glory days of hip-hop with a hooked up beat and intelligent rhymes that will have you bobbin' your head before you know it. Further listening provides more of the same; I was surprised when I had gotten to the 5th song without having to skip a single one, and even more so when silence ensued and I realized the CD was over already. Brokelore is a classy hip-hop album through and through.

Mellow beats and tasteful instrumental accompaniment also make this album powder approved... yes, hip-hop and powder! There are several songs that beg you to cut some freshies and let Grip Grand help set the mood. To round things off, there are a couple of jib anthems on the CD including the track "Handle That", which would fit great in any FODT movie. That makes Grip Grand's Brokelore the ultimate all-around snowboard hip-hop soundtrack in my book. You could literally make an entire snowboard movie--powder, parks, pipes and rails--using just this one CD.

Did I mention there's a sweet sample from House of Pain's "Jump Around" ("But Anyway")?

Grip Grand - Brokelore
5/5 Cacti