All Things Snowrider in PDX and OR

Last night’s raffle at the Portland premiere of Powderwhore Productions’ new flick Flakes was a success. The Snowrider Project raised just south of a grand and the 2009 Stellar Dendrite award was given to Portland’s Crag Law Center. The Stellar Dendrite Award is given annually to an individual, group of individuals or organization that demonstrates good stewardship of Mt. Hood and the surrounding region. We will follow up soon with a story about Crag and their Mt. Hood work.
Big thanks go out to the Powderwhores, The Crag Law Center, Black Diamond, Next Adventure, Lanny Shuler, Steven Lenhart Photography, Cobra Dogs, the Kennedy School and every single one of you who purchased a raffle ticket. Merci beaucoup!

Howdy Folks,

This is a friendly reminder of the upcoming Portland Premier of Powderwhore Productions’ dope new film Flakes. Read a nice review of the film on Andrew McClean’s blog. Please come early, enjoy some brew, buy some raffle tickets and swill some free heel snow stoke brought to you by the Howell brothers aka. Powderwhore Productions. The show’s at Portland’s Kennedy School located at 5736 NE 33rd Ave in NE Portland and starts at 7:30pm. The kidlets must be left at home as this show is for those age 21 and above.

The Snowrider Project will announce it’s annual Stellar Dendrite Award winner as well as conduct a tasty gear raffle. One of the hottest raffle items is a pair of Black Diamond model 09-10 Justice boards.

We’d like to thank in advance Powderwhore Productions, Black Diamond LTD, Resource Revival, Kennedy School, Lanny Shuler, Next Adventure, The Mountain Shop, and Cobra Dogs among others for helping out.

Cheers,

Michael

Portland’s Snowrider Project is proud to present a Portland showing of Nils Larsen’s documentary Skiing In The Shadow of Genghis Khan-Timeless Skiers of the Altai:

When: Wednesday, March 4th @ 7pm(doors at 6:30)
Where: Solstice Outdoor 2415 N. Ross Ave., Portland, Oregon
What: Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and juniors under 16. The film will start at 7pm, is 46 minutes long and will be followed by a Q&A session with Nils. Extracto Coffee and a limited-edition Voodoo Doughnut will be served.
Why: To learn about the origins of skiing in the Altai Mountains of western China and to raise funds for the Portland chapter of the Surfrider Foundation’s Snowrider Project.

Seating is limited to 60 people. We hope to see you and yours next Wednesday night!

On February 5, 2009, the Crag Law Center will be sponsoring a movie night at the Hollywood Theater to benefit the Madrone Wall Preservation Committee. Come out and join other folks from the climbing and outdoor recreation community to support local activists working to preserve one of the Portland area’s premiere climbing spots.

Representatives from Mt. Hood Meadows will be on hand during intermission to discuss avalanche control, backcountry access and uphill travel within the ski area. Many people have contacted us over the past year with questions on these issues, so this is your opportunity to hear from Meadows about their management of the ski area and to let them know what you think.

We hope to see you next Thursday evening at the Hollywood Theatre.

Bad News: Due to circumstances beyond our control tomorrow night’s fundraiser screening of Nils Larsen’s documentary on the origins of skiing in Central Asia’s Altai Mountains has been postponed. We will announce a new date and venue very soon.

Good News: Nils is heading to the Altai Mountains in 2 weeks and will have even more information to share when the Portland screening and fundraiser is held either this winter or spring.

Please spread the word if possible. We feel terrible about the abrupt postponement but rest assured Nils’ film will screen in Portland in 2009, he will be in attendance and Terminal Gravity beverages will be served.

Thank you,

Snowrider Project Oregon Team

The Snowrider Project is pleased to announce it will host a fundraiser and showing of Nils Larsen‘s documentary, Skiing In The Shadow Of Genghis Khan – Timeless Skiers of the Altai ,  Thursday, December 4, 2008 at the offices of Wend Magazine located at 1847 E. Burnside St. in Portland. Doors will open at 6:15pm and the film will start at 7pm. Tickets will be available only at the door the evening of the show for $10. DVD’s of the film will be available for purchase from Nils directly. Terminal Gravity Brewing of Enterprise, Oregon is the evening’s official malted beverage sponsor. We hope to see you there!

Ski ya later,

The Snowrider Project

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In 2005 Nils Larsen, Dave Waag, and Naheed Henderson journeyed to the Altai Mountains of NW China to document the indigenous use of skis. Nils followed this first trip with two additional trips into this remote region and what he found was a rich culture that still builds and uses skis in ways that date back thousands of years. ‘Skiing in the Shadow of Genghis Khan’ takes you on a tour of both place and people, showing you how they build and use this ancient style of skis as well as live in this harsh but beautiful part of our world.

Nils Larsen lives in Curlew WA located in the mountainous northeast part of the state near the BC border. He works as a consultant in the ski industry, with a focus on backcountry skis and equipment as well as teaching freeheel skiing and backcountry skills around the country. He has produced 3 previous films about backcountry skiing and has skied in remote ranges around the world.
In 2004 Nils developed a keen interest in researching the possible roots of skiing in Central Asia as well as documenting the remnant use of traditional skis in this part of the world. He has traveled to the region four times, three in the winter. He is continuing his research into the ancient roots of skiing in the Central Asia/ Siberia region.
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The Snowrider Project Powderwhores raffle fundraiser was a smashing success. We raised some serious coin; no easy feat in this gloomy economy. Thanks to the following Snowrider volunteers: Pete, EJ, Jocelyn and Matt! And thanks to Ralph of the CRAG Law Center for briefing the audience on the progress in negotiations with Mt. Hood Meadows over their expanded avalanche control program.

We also must thank our raffle sponsors:

Jeremy Rooper at the The Mountain Shop
Dan Tiegs at Solstice
Lanny at Shuler Surfboards
Black Diamond

Muchas, muchas gracias amigos!

The Powderwhores will be in Portland October 10th at the Kennedy School in NE Portland with their newest and bestest Tele flick, The Pact. The movie starts at 7pm. Show up early; the place will be PACKED. Mitch Weber of Teletips offers up a nice review. Click here for a high bandwidth peep show of The Pact. If you would like to purchase tickets in advance click here. See you at the show!

All proceeds from the evening’s raffle will benefit the Surfrider Foundation’s Snowrider Project. Thanks again Porderwhores! Be sure to purchase raffle tickets the evening of the show. We will have some neat surf/snow/skate items that we’ll blog about in the next few days. We’ll also be handing out the first Stellar Dendrite Award, an annual award that honors the good local mountain citizen(s) of the year. The actual award is donated by the good folks at Resource Revival. Thanks again Graham and Jim.

Stay tuned…Ciao amigos!

This Friday night September 12 at 7:00pm we’ll be at the Hollywoood Theatre for Absinthe Films‘ Sphere of Influence Tour. Ian at Wend and Josh at Switchback PR were instrumental in hooking up Surfrider/Snowrider Project with a generous donation from Absinthe. We can’t urge you enough to show up Friday evening and see this cool movie.