Snowboarding

Imagine standing at the top of a mountain, a snowboard underfoot, a foot of fresh powder all around. You're ready to rip it up, only your pants are falling down--again. That's because until recently they were made just for guys, forcing women who bought into snowboarding's anti-status look to duct-tape over the rolled-up waistbands and sleeves of men's extra-small sizes. Or perhaps improvise with a nice belt of twine.

This post has been updated, as indicated below. Last weekend's big storm in the Sierra gave the spring ski and snowboard season a huge boost. Mammoth Mountain received between 4 and 6 feet, bringing the total so far this year to 17 feet.  Closer to Los Angeles, Mountain High -- in the San Gabriel Mountains near Wrightwood -- received nearly 2 feet from the storm and will be open into April. At Lake Tahoe, resorts are calling it “Miracle March,” with upward of 11 feet of new snow reported at Squaw Valley.  Alpine Meadows got a similar amount.

I found your March 23 article, "As Snowboarding Soars, So Do Injuries," interesting, since I suffered broken ribs due to being hit by a snowboarder this month while skiing in Big Bear. As I discovered from the ski patrol and hospital staff, my experience is becoming more and more common. In fact, later that same day, my friend was also struck by a snowboarder while skiing. He suffered an injured knee and damaged ribs! In your article the parents of the young girl who has been in a coma since her snowboarding accident are quoted as saying that it would never have happened if she was wearing a helmet.

It's February and the weather outside is frightful - for ski resorts. With unseasonably toasty temperatures in parts of the Southland, skiers and snowboarders who would normally head for the slopes at this time of year are instead visiting the beach. "It's hard to think about skiing when it's like 80 degrees in town," said Wendy Brennan, an avid skier who helps organize two ski clubs based in Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach. "It's particularly hard to get people away from the beach and up to the mountains.

The weather on Venice Beach was typical for a Sunday afternoon in August: The sun was out, there was a slight breeze, the thermometer registered 74 degrees. So, naturally, it was the perfect day for snowboarding. In a patch on the boardwalk amid wandering tourists and crispy beach bums, a snowcapped mountain had been erected out of scaffolding, plywood and massive bricks of ice chipped into a wintry powder. It was built just for the day for the Supergirl Jam, a women's competition in snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing.

Danny Davis wasn't alone on his history-making halfpipe run here the other day, his journey on the board bolstered by the vibe of a close friend, almost riding shotgun. Nor was Hannah Teter truly running solo when she steeled to take on the icy pipe, preparing to drop in and chase a spot at the Olympics in Vancouver next month. Kevin Pearce wasn't in Mammoth. But the severely injured and hospitalized snowboarder has found a safe place, deep in the hearts and minds of his friends and colleagues in the tight snowboarding community.

Search and rescue teams braved strong winds and snow Saturday night to look for a 14-year-old snowboarder missing since the afternoon, authorities said. About 30 searchers from the Antelope Valley, Montrose and San Dimas looked for Jeff Thornton, of Brawley, who was last seen at the Mountain High West ski resort about noon, said Sheriff's Lt. Steven Fredericks.

A 34-year-old snowboarder who was rescued after wandering for a week in the cold was in serious but stable condition Thursday at the Grossman Burn Center, a spokeswoman said. Eric Lemarque of Los Angeles is suffering from frostbite, which often requires medical care similar to burn treatment. Lemarque, who apparently strayed off a snowboarding track Feb. 6 in Mammoth Lakes, was found by rescuers seven days later in the backcountry.

One way to look at the 12.2 national rating CBS got for Saturday night's coverage is that it is the lowest prime-time rating for the Winter Olympics in 10 years. But CBS was putting a different spin on it. "It's the highest rating ever for snowboarding and freestyle skiing," quipped Dana McClintock, the network's director of Olympic communications. CBS got killed when the men's downhill got postponed on the first day of competition. Same thing happened to ABC in Calgary in 1988, and it got a 9.

Australia's Gary Elkerton had just finished winning a preliminary heat during a surfing contest last summer in Huntington Beach, but his mind was in the Alps. "Snowboarding is an excellent sport," said Elkerton, the second-ranked surfer on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals tour. "It's pretty easy for a surfer to catch on to and it's something real fun for us to do in the winter." Terrific.

Snowboarders and skiers may share the slopes, but the injuries they sustain are different, a study finds. Researchers set out to find whether injuries suffered by skiers and snowboarders are similar, whether trends in injuries occur over time, and whether the introduction of terrain parks increased injury rates compared with standard slopes. The study, published online recently in the American Journal of Sports Medicine , included skiers and snowboarders who were injured at a Vermont ski resort over 18 seasons from 1988 to 2006.

Dominant online video site YouTube has launched a lineup of sports channels featuring some of the biggest names in action sports — including pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, snowboarder Shaun White and surfer Kelly Slater. The four channels seek to tap into the rising popularity of action sports — especially among teens and twentysomethings — by offering clips, commentary and live events on YouTube. The original content represents another step in the site's efforts to augment its user-created videos with more professionally programmed offerings.

Ski resorts - and their patrons - from the Sierra to the Rockies are cursing La Niña. Up in western Canada, however, they're singing its praises. This weather phenomenon, and a resulting high-pressure ridge in the eastern Pacific, is being blamed for pushing the moisture-bearing jet stream north. That's bad news for mountain ranges from California to Colorado but good news for the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. At Whistler Blackcomb, in British Columbia, more than 17 feet has fallen.

ECUADOR Slide show Tour guide Summer Davis presents photos and anecdotes about Ecuador's lesser-known Sierra, jungle and coastal regions. When, where: 7:30 p.m. Monday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220. ATLANTIC OCEAN Slide show Mort Loveman will present the Bermuda Triangle When, where: 1 p.m. Wednesday at Roxbury Park Community Center, 471 S. Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills.

Seventh in a series of occasional stories. Mark Mayer calls them "the hard times," the weeks and months when his teenage daughter would simply disappear for days on end. "I wouldn't sleep at night," he remembers. "I just didn't think she was in the right place. " Mayer has spent most of his adult life entertaining kids as a toy designer for Mattel. But raising them was an entirely different matter as he found out when his three daughters came to live with him in a two-bedroom apartment in Woodland Hills after his divorce.

Skiing and snowboarding are seldom a steal, but resorts are waving around all sorts of lodging and lift ticket deals this season. Here is a sampling of some of the most promising offers, from free birthday passes to discounted season passes. Note that mid-December and late January are good times to find value and that the best offers — and shortest lift lines — happen midweek. Restrictions almost always apply: Jackson Hole, Wyo.: Until Dec. 23, buy a two-day lift ticket at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort for $74 a person a day and receive two free nights of lodging, based on four people in a one-bedroom condominium in the Aspens.

No to caskets, sanitary napkins and rolling papers. Yes to snowboards, skateboards and wine. After closely guarding their music and logos for decades, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead are significantly increasing their merchandising and licensing deals. The pioneering jam band's music has appeared in at least four movies since April, and over the last several months, the number of licensees has increased 20%, including new deals with Burton snowboards, Dregs skateboards and Wines That Rock.

The weather on Venice Beach was typical for a Sunday afternoon in August: The sun was out, there was a slight breeze, the thermometer registered 74 degrees. So, naturally, it was the perfect day for snowboarding. In a patch on the boardwalk amid wandering tourists and crispy beach bums, a snowcapped mountain had been erected out of scaffolding, plywood and massive bricks of ice chipped into a wintry powder. It was built just for the day for the Supergirl Jam, a women's competition in snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing.