All Things Snowrider in PDX and OR

Powderwhore’s newest film Breaking Trail is coming to Portland’s Kennedy School Thursday, October 13 @7:30 pm. Come early and purchase pockets full of raffle tickets to benefit Portland’s Snowrider Project.

Raffle items this year include a pair of 176cm Black Diamond Drift skis, a Mt. Hood Fusion Pass and a pair of G3 Onyx alpine touring bindings. Other sponsors include Mt. Hood Meadows, The Mountain Shop, Next Adventure, Voodoo Doughnut, Cobra Dogs, Shuler Surfboards, Patagonia, Cilo Gear and Resource Revival. We thank all of our sponsors and look forward to seeing you at The Kennedy School.

Tickets may be purchased in advance here.

Absinthe supports both the Snowrider Project and Protect Our Winters. C’mon down to the Clinton St. Theater in SE Portland for one of two shows or both at 7 & 9 pm.

How ’bout you?

Snowrider is pleased to award the Crag Law Center with the 2009 Stellar Dendrite Award, given annually to an individual or organization that demonstrates strong stewardship of the Mt. Hood region. Crag is highly deserving of the award due to its influential work in the expansion of the Mt. Hood Wilderness. H.R. 146:The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Obama March 30, 2009. The 127,000 acre expansion of Mt Hood Wilderness was approved as part of a hard-fought bill protecting over 2 million acres of wilderness throughout 9 states, which also includes the designation of 80 miles of river in the Mt Hood region as “wild and scenic”. The wilderness designation provides the highest level of protection status available for public lands and intends for the land to be preserved for the “use and enjoyment in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness.” The status prohibits operation of vehicles or mechanical equipment as well as the construction of new roads or structures.

Crag’s founders, Chris Winter and Ralph Bloemers were instrumental in bringing together key stakeholders during the negotiation process to develop an amenable bill and lobby on its behalf to protect land along Mt Hood’s Cooper Spur. Mr. Bloemers stated that Crag’s success is a product of the tremendous efforts of their clients, supporters, and community groups. In specific reference to the Mt Hood Wilderness success, Mr. Bloemers credits the Cooper Spur Wild and Free Coalition and Mazamas for coalescing support of the outdoor recreation community to lobby for the wilderness area, as well as other stakeholders representing interests in watershed stewardship, timber sales, and ski industry.
The Crag Law Center is a non-profit organization, founded by Bloemers and Winter in 2001, representing over 60 organizations and subsistence native peoples throughout Oregon, Washington and Alaska.  The three program areas under which Crag focuses its actions are Livable Communities, Clean Water, and Public Lands protection. Some of their current projects include assisting native peoples in the protection of their subsistence fishing grounds from oil development along Alaska’s North Slope; halting illegal pollution on the Tualatin, Willamette, Columbia tributary systems in Oregon and Washington and recovering penalties to fund clean up and restoration; and working on behalf of local citizens, conservation groups and public lands advocates to defend roadless areas and old growth forests in Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

By awarding Crag with the 2009 Stellar Dendrite Award, Snowrider brings attention to the tremendous services Crag Law Center provides in preserving and protecting wild lands and watersheds in the Northwest. Snowrider recognizes Crag as an invaluable asset to the winter recreation and outdoor mountain community and hopes to continue its productive working relationship for protecting the pristine recreation areas of Oregon.

-Michael Harrison

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!

Thanks to Mike McCann and the Snowrider Project Seattle Chapter we’ve got some new stickers:

Click the thumbnail above to see a larger picture. Let us know if you’d like some–> snowriderpdx[at]gmail[dot]com

Or look for us on Mt. Hood.

Jeremy of the Mountain Shop just emailed to announce the confirmed dates for Tele Tuesdays at Mt. Hood Ski Bowl: January 13th, February 3rd & March 3rd.

Be there or be a trapezoid. Tele Tuesday’s are a ton of fun and a great time to check out new gear be it tele skis & boots and/or alpine touring skis, boots, and you name it. If you’ve never telemarked before this is a great place to start with the fun atmosphere and super friendly folks. Think of this as the antithesis of paddling out at Seaside Point. There are fun races(uphill & downhill) and tele clinics galore taught by some of the hottest pinheads this side of Trondheim. Snowrider will be there too tabling and carrying on and possibly even skiing.

The Snowrider Project’s 1st annual Stellar Dendrite Award 2008 winner is the Mazamas. The Mazamas received the award in recognition of their Beacon Basin avalanche transceiver training facility adjacent to the Mazama Lodge in Government Camp:

Jay Stagnone was in the house at the recent raffle to receive the engraved Resource Revival wall clock that now hangs in the Mazama Portland lodge.

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!