Snowsports – Page 3 – Alpine Shop Blog

October 17, 2011

Tent Goes Up. Get Your Used Gear In. Swap Starts Friday!

For 17 years, Alpine Shop has always had two distinct Swap Celebrations: a Spring Swap dedicated to bikes, boats, camping gear and all warm-weather pursuits, and the Winter Swap devoted to all things done outside in the cold including skiing, snowboarding and playing in the snow. So for the 18th year, of course, we threw all of that out the window.

Welcome to the 18th Annual Winter Swap.

Bring all of that stuff in this time. If the gear meets our standards, we’ll sell it out of the Swap tent and put some cash or store credit in your pocket. (Or if you’re at our Columbia location Swap, we’ll do the same thing without the tent!)

As of Monday, October 17 at 10 am, Alpine Shop Kirkwood and Columbia are ready to accept your used items into the Swap. Bring them in early to avoid the line. If you prefer to leave things until the last minute, please note that ALL used gear registration needs to be finished by 5 pm on Friday, Oct. 21. More than likely, this means you need to be in line at 4 pm at the latest to check-in your gear. As we continue to improve the Swap to make sure our lines don’t stretch back for hours on Friday night, that same technology has forced us to make some changes in how we do some things. Check-in is one of those things.

We’ll still open the tent at 7 pm on Friday night. We’ll still have people tailgating for the tent opening hours before then. You’ll still find the tent filled with great prices on used and clearance items. (Or, you’ll still see the money coming in from the items you’re selling!)

You will find a few changes inside our stores, however. All of our new-gear sales will begin when we open our doors first thing in the morning in Kirkwood, Chesterfield and Columbia (or on-line at alpineshop.com). If you’re just interested in new gear deals, you no longer have to wait until the 7 pm starting time anymore. Also, we’ll have Early Bird and Night Owl deals on new gear on both Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22-23 and Sat. and Sun., Oct. 29-30. You can find those limited time specials on page 3 of our on-line new-gear sale catalog here.

Used gear sales are open in Kirkwood and Columbia on Friday, Oct. 21 from 7 pm–11 pm; Sat., Oct. 22 from 9 am—9 pm and Sun., Oct. 23 from 11 am—6 pm.

See you soon!

October 23, 2009

Skiing Icon Helps Women Skiers Find Perfect Fit in St. Louis

Jeannie Thoren didn’t set out to revolutionize the skiing industry. She just wanted to ski better. Now, she has become the driving force behind women-specific models of skis and ski boots. On Friday, October 30, Thoren will visit Alpine Shop in Kirkwood to offer her expertise in fit and function to women skiers in the St. Louis area. For the rest of the weekend, she will sit down for private appointments with individuals to help them find the right fit for them.

Named “One of the 100 Most Influential Skiers of the Century” by SKI Magazine, Thoren spent over 30 years observing and analyzing the way women ski. The result of that research was “The Thoren Theory” – simple remedies that could radically improve women’s techniques.

“It seems so obvious now,” she says, “but when I started, biology wasn’t even in the equation. Now it rules because we’ve realized that women are built differently than men. They have a lower center of gravity and it’s harder for them to get enough weight forward onto the tips of their skis to turn efficiently. A little fine tuning can open up a whole new world of fun!”

Thoren will begin her weekend at Alpine Shop with a free presentation on Friday evening, Oct. 30, at 7 pm. As part of her “Get Winterized” Tour, she will explain The Thoren Theory and how she can help nearly every woman skier.

“Our Get Winterized seminars are all about fine-tuning your equipment,” says Thoren. “It doesn’t matter if you’re an occasional recreational skier, a weekend racer or an Olympic hopeful, your equipment can make or break your experience.”

Following the free presentation, women can sign up for free private consultations on either Saturday, Oct. 31 or Sun., November 1. During these personal appointments, Thoren individually analyzes each participant’s technique, pinpoints the problems and offers on-the-spot solutions. It may mean a minor adjustment to existing equipment or a complete replacement of outdated boots or skis; but the results are the same: ladies who join us for these appointments end up skiing in control and end up knowing every day on the slopes will be fabulous fun.

Jeannie Thoren’s Women’s Get Winterized Tour
What: Ski Icon Jeannie Thoren helps women skiers get a better fit from their equipment
Where: Alpine Shop Kirkwood, 440 North Kirkwood Rd.
When: Seminar and Reception on Friday, Oct. 30 from 7 pm – 9 pm
FREE Private Fit Appointments on Saturday, Oct. 31 and Sunday, November 1
Call to book appointments at 314-962-7715

For more information visit alpineshop.com or jeanniethoren.com.

About Jeannie Thoren
Named one of the “100 Most Influential Skiers of the Century” by SKI Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Most Influential Skiers of the Last 25 Years” Skiing Magazine, Jeannie Thoren is a crusader for women skiers everywhere. She is the recipient of the prestigious Carson White Golden Quill Award in 2003 for her “Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Snowsports.” Thoren’s research and experience on the slopes led to the development of women’s specific skis and boots from nearly every major manufacturer. She was named one of the top 100 Ski Instructors in the country for 2000, ‘01, and ‘02 by SKI Magazine and she is a Veteran Women’s Ski and Boot tester for SKI and Skiing magazines.

About The Alpine Shop
The Alpine Shop began life in 1973 as a small climbing shop. Today, through its three locations in Kirkwood, Chesterfield and Columbia, Mo., it serves almost every type of outdoor enthusiast—be they backpackers, campers, cyclists, hikers, paddlers, skiers, snowboarders or climbers—with a friendly and knowledgeable staff, cutting edge products and a wide variety of how-to clinics for all activity levels. Alpine Shop is the only SKI Magazine Gold Medal Ski Shop in the state of Missouri and has earned that distinction each of the past three years. The Shop has also been named one of Outdoor Magazine’s Top 25 Independent Outdoor Specialty Retailers for the past two years. Alpine Shop is the only retailer in the country to earn both honors.

April 2, 2009

Banff Mountain Film Festival – First Night

I’ve been hosting the Banff Mountain Film Festival for Alpine Shop in St. Louis for quite a few years now and there’s always something amazing each and every time we do this.

A lot of people think we get to see all of the films beforehand and hand pick which ones we think will work best. Well, there’s some truth to that; but the whole truth is a lot more interesting. You see, we get about two minute clips of each of the films. So, you can imagine with a film like Red Gold last night, it’s impossible for us to tell whether or not an hour-long feature film will be any good based on that clip. It’s kind of like a film critic writing reviews based on trailers instead of the actual movie. No, what’s great about Banff is that I’m seeing these films for the first time alongside everybody else. That’s not to say that there isn’t work done by a bunch of people to select which films we think will go over best; but we just never know until the lights go down each year.

The Red Helmet kicked off the show with the tale of a youn,g timid boy coming to grips with his fears after he finds a red helmet in the forest. After experiencing the lives of a number of adrenaline sport athletes (kayaker, climber, mountain biker, etc.) through the helmet, the little man faces his own fears and takes the plunge, literally. Good start to the show.

Papiroflexia (Spanish for origami) was an animated feature. Dealt with the dream to get rid of all the noise and pollution of our lives and get back to nature. Will it be the most popular animated film of the year? We’ll have to wait till tonight to see The Cable Car to find out?

Now for the most controversial topic every year at the Banff Mountain Film Festival… did the feature film live up to your expectations? Red Gold dealt with a proposed mine at the headwaters of two of the largest remaining sockeye salmon runs on the planet near Bristol Bay in Alaska. I’ll just say that I loved the film. The cinematography was gorgeous. The story resonated with me. I know there were people that thought it was too long. But I’d be interested in what some others thought. What did you think of Red Gold? (For conversation’s sake, I think the best feature we’ve ever shown was Alone Across Australia during the 2004 tour.)

The Sharp End: Eastern Europe was hands down the funniest movie of the night. “We don’t drink a lot, a lot. I mean 8-10 beers a day is standard.” That pretty much sums up this group of Checzk climbers’ philosophy. Not that this film was all drunken play. Some of the climbing was pheonmenal. A little humor never hurts, though.

One of the fascinating things about this festival is an almost 50-50 split among our audience as to why they’ve come to the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Half of them come strictly for the adrenaline. The other half are there for the culture and nature. Maybe I’m generalizing that a little much, but I can tell you each year I hear from numerous people after the fact “Why didn’t you show more of this?” or “Why did you pick that?” and it always has to do with the cultural/adrenaline split. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if half of our audience loved Shikashika and half hated it. This was the story of a Peruvian family that climbs into the Andes, hacks enormous blocks of ice from the mountain glaciers and brings them down to the valley on the backs of mules to shave off and sell as snowcones (or as they call it- shikashika). Can you imagine the TroMo kids having to bring down the blocks of ice from the mountains to give Kirkwood it’s snowcone fix? That’s what I kept thinking anyways….

The last two films, Under the Influence and Seasons, both showcased the adrenaline rush with two of the best production groups in the business today. Teton Gravity Research’s Under the Influence had some absolutely unbelieveable powder footage from last year’s massive storm system in Jackson, Wy. Seasons comes from a group called the Collective. Every year that they have a film in the tour, I’ll pick it. They’ve been on the cutting edge with their style in all three films they’ve produced starting in 2004 with their self-titled DVD, The Collective, and continued with ROAM and now Seasons. Their work features some of the most innovative use of zip-line cinematography, super slo-mo and helicopter footage you’ll ever see. So, in the future, just so you know, don’t miss a mountain biking film from the Collective.

So that was night one. Tonight, our feature film is Journey to the Center, and we’ll move from sockeye salmon to BASE jumping. That’s Banff for you. It’s why I love the festival so much and look forward to it all year round.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did last night. All of us at Alpine Shop have loved hosting this festival for the past 20 something years and look forward to doing it in the future. Leave a comment on what you liked or hated…

By the way, funniest Banff Mountain Film Festival ever: Xtreme Tramping II: Lord of the Springs.