The business of action sports just got more extreme today when X Games announced an expansion from three competitions to six starting in 2013. Named Global X, three new cities will be chosen the host the contest via a bidding process similar to the Olympics. Winning cities will be given the right to hold Global X for three years. The existing venues in Aspen, L.A., and Tignes, France will remain.

The open bidding means Canada could potentially see a full scale production of an X Games event for the first time, if any cities apply. In 2003 Whistler was home to the winter portion of a one-off X Games event called X Games Global Championship. The summer portion was held simultaneously in San Antonio, Texas. The new Global X Games bidding site makes a strong case for the benefits of hosting the four day event, as does this video from CNBC International.

The question, of course, is whether a future focused so heavily on competition is really the best for action sports. On one hand, it creates massive exposure for the sport and the athletes, giving them far higher earning power. And why shouldn’t action sports athletes be compensated fairly for what they do?

On the other hand, main stream exposure and the involvement of corporate sponsors run the risk of diluting the punk attitude of action sports that made them so attractive to youth. Action sports have carved a place out by refusing to conform to the norms of other sports and by celebrating individual expression and style above all else. In a spin-to-win environment will this emphasis on style still exist? And as more action sports athletes become household names, will the sports maintain their appeal or will kids move on to the next new thing?

What do you think?

Read the full story on ESPN here: http://sports.espn.go.com/action/news/story?id=6553598

See ESPN's bidding site here: http://www.bidxgames.com/

With poor snow conditions at home in Quebec, Alex Cantin, Frank April, who is filming for the new YES movie, Videograss filmer Hayden Wrench, and SBC Senior Photographer Oli Croteau headed to Toronto earlier this week to take advantage of the recent snowfall and find some new spots.

The crew hooked up with PeachHat-ers Tyler Ashbee and Alex Beebe who were down to share some spots and give the boys a place to crash in Ashbee’s mom’s basement in Pickering. Don't ever say that the life of a pro snowboarder isn't glamorous.

Beebe and Ashbee on the left, Frank and Cantin on the right.

Cantin's home away from home.

On Monday morning I drove from my Toronto to Pickering to spend the day with them and, in typical snowboarding cluster-fuck fashion, as soon as I arrived, we all drove back to Toronto.

Apparently someone knew some spots, but instead of heading to them we decided to drive around, hoping to stumble upon something new. Toronto is a huge city, and it seems like there should be spots everywhere, but the same sprawl that potentially holds dozens of new rails also keeps them hidden within the seemingly endless mesh of streets.

We inched through traffic for hours without finding a setup that would work. Moral was getting low by the time 1:30 p.m. rolled around and we still hadn’t found anything. The crew had got shots on the two previous days, but today was looking like a bust especially since Hayden was hopping a flight out West at 5:30 p.m.

Toronto traffic sucks. The city has the worst commute times out 19 international cities surveyed including L.A., New York, and Barcelona.

"The real voyage of discouvery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." --Marcel Proust, French novelist. Ashbee, Beebe, Frank, and Cantin on the hunt for new spots.

Along the way Hayden entertained us with his inverted penguin impression.

Fortunately a call to SBC filmer Nate Laverty about an unrelated matter resulted in a tip about a kink rail close to us that hadn’t been hit before. Nate has a deep list of spots from across the country saved on Google maps.  

Beebe, Hayden, Cantin, and Frank were hyped that we found something to hit.

The rail turned out to be legit, the only hitch being a crack between the first down bar and the flat. But with a little T.L.C. from Frank and Alex’s tool kits the rail was good to go.

Danger Bay.

Frank literally dropped a hammer.

Beebe buffed it out...

And the crew got down to work. Keep an eye out in the new Videograss flick Retrospective, the YES movie, and the new PeachHat to see what went down.

Oli and Hayden. Peace!

Ex pro shred turned real estate agent turned DJ Chris Brown posted a commercial for Black Snow snowboards on his Facebook profile yesterday. The video is circa 1987, so for those who don’t know, Black Snow was one of the first price point board brands. Available at Canadian Tire and Sears the boards were made of plastic and, if memory serves correctly, some combination of fiberglass. The cheapest in the line, the Mogul Monster had grooves in the base where the straps from the bindings attached. There were no binding backs. The Mogul Monster sold for around $90.

A $150 would get you some plastic molded highbacks that were T-nutted on the Legend. The highbacks were pretty flimsy, but at least they added some support to your Sorels. The board was 125cm and you only got one stance option—zero degrees on the back foot and about 25 on the front. This was my first board, picked out of the Sears Christmas catalogue. I had never seen a snowboard before, had no idea what it was, but thought it look cool, so I took my Christmas money that my mom had saved for me from my relatives over the years and bought it. I was nine at the time. 22 years later I’m working at a snowboard magazine and still thinking snowboards are cool Go figure. 

For the $200 range you could step it up to the Legend SE Edge with metal edges. It was the closest thing to a legit board even though it didn’t have sidecut a separate topsheet or core.

Ah, when snowboarding was young. Here’s the commercial. I’m not sure why the “legendary snowboarder” has Predator-like abilities to turn invisible, but I’m staying the fuck away from Black Snow Mountain.

What was your first board?

Snowboarding has always attracted creative types so it’s little surprise that four of the eight finalists from the 2010 TWSSF 72 Hour Filmmaker Showdown have notable riders involved in some part of the process. Here’s a look at the films and the people behind them.

Long time filmmaker and the force behind Fire Truck Earrings, Robjn Taylor, could have easily picked up a sponsor years ago but has always opted to hold it down on the soul tip. The closest he’s come to being pro is the pay cheque he collects for coaching at Camp Of Champions. His quirky films have earned him some local celebrity over the years and column for the last two years in Snowboard Canada Keep an eye out for the Robjn’s one of a kind wit in the 2011 Buyers Guide issue late this summer.

If you’re a fan of the Alterna snowboard flicks then you’re probably already a fan of Bryant Bell. Bryant has been filmimg and editing the Alterna movies for years. He also works as Creative Director at his design company The Rogue Muse. Check out the new Alterna film Hello World out this fall. Bryant directed First Sight.

Fanny Pack, stars Ontario shred Dan Pitts in the role of a nerd-on-the-verge. Dan has graced the pages of Snowboard Canada numerous times over the years.

This year’s People Choice award winner The War Of 1910 and/or 1924   features up and comers Chris Rasman and Wiley Tesseo as extra. Chris and Wiley are both filming parts for Alterna’s new movie. 

That’s right bitches the Grenade Games are back, and chunks are guaranteed to get spewed. If anything last year’s event only primed peeps as most shreds seem to have spent the last week getting shit canned. So, not that the party needs anymore hype, but I thought I’d share an experience from Grenade Games 5.

In my teen years the Whiskey movies and Big Brother and Blunt magazines heavily influenced me. That meant lots of getting wasted and trying to break bottles over my head (a trend I’m kind of surprised hasn’t returned with all the renegade partying going down, not that it necessarily should but that’s a different issue). That also meant lots of puking the next day. I’ve spent some vicious hangovers on my knees barfing barley sandwiches on the side of runs (I wonder if Ullr—a name oddly reminiscent of the sound someone upchucking makes—considers this a form of praying, or perhaps something like a sacrificial lamb?). But never in that time had I puked off a chair lift. In the 18 years I’ve been partying and shredding at resorts I’ve always made it to the top before I had to heave leftover hops—call it a source of pride.

Then came that fateful day riding up Jersey Cream. Maybe it was the faint swaying of the chairlift or the warm breeze swarming around my face. Maybe it was the stench of B.O. from not showering for five days. Most likely it was the fact that we had been partying for ten days straight, so I’m going to blame this one all on the Grenade Games (who takes responsibility for their own actions these days anyway, right?).

I tried my damndest to hold it down. My eyes peeled back. A sweat broke on my brow. Someone beside me farted. I knew it was all over, a sort of violation of the last high and holy place I had not defiled over the years.  Then the wretch, the stomach clench, the vile stench spiraling earthward. Look out below ye unwary skiers. And then I felt much, much better.

It’s Tuesday at 4:47 and I’m three beers deep. See you at the Games. --Gerhard Gross.