?The Flying Tomato' throws it down

by Amy Maestas

Blog Last Updated; 11/19/2009

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?The Flying Tomato' throws it down

Last winter, the tiny town of Silverton was abuzz because professional snowboarder and Olympics gold medal winner Shaun White was in town to film a video at Silverton Mountain Resort. It was part of Red Bull's Project X. After White gets helicoptered to Silverton, he sets down on some virgin snow. He then attacks a halfpipe that was sculpted exclusively for him at one of the West's favorite gnarly mountains. White did what he said are an invention of new tricks that would change the sport of snowboarding forever.

Because Silverton doesn't have a halfpipe in place, the buildup was intense. According to Project X, it took two months and 30 heli-bomb dropped avalanches to get enough snow to build the feature. Add to that: 7,200 foam blocks were used to fill the foam pit; it took 300 hours to build the foam pit; and 25,000 cubic yards of snow were moved to make the half pipe.

White and Red Bull plan to debut the video this season. But for those of you who want to see a teaser, it's now available. Check it out here: http://www.shaunwhite.com/projectx/?fbid=gt2Y-7nSZXn

Easy tracing

Earlier this summer, Inside/Outside brought to you a story about Taos, N.M.'s 40th anniversary celebration of counterculture film "Easy Rider." The town has been abuzz the last several months as it put on its Summer of Love. The national and international press gave it plenty of ink. But this week, Slate, an online magazine, has been retracing the path of the filming of "Easy Rider." Writer Keith Phipps took a road trip this summer and has thoughtfully shared his views and history of the making of the film. The tromp through the Southwest has been giving the Four Corners a pretty good representation. Today's entry is about Las Vegas, N.M., but it's best to read Phipps' account from the beginning. You'll find a lot of talk about familiar landscapes and culture.

To start from the top, click here: http://www.slate.com/id/2233176/entry/2233171/

Culture in danger

No one likes to hear about dangers to a cultural site. But the L.A. Times recently did a piece about this very thing. Among them is the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. The pueblo is on of the few remaining 13th and 14th centuries Puebloan settlements. The World Monuments Fund releases a list of endangered sites every two years. The 2010 list has only nine places in the United States; the others are scattered throughout the world. To read about the threats to Taos Pueblo, visit the WMF site here: http://www.wmf.org/project/taos-pueblo?more=1

And there's more bad news from the climate side. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization recently put out a report that says climate change is threatening 25 national parks. Among them is Mesa Verde National Park, outside Cortez, Colo. "National Parks in Peril: The Threats of Climate Disruption" says "the changes in landscapes and ecosystems are harming plants, trees and wildlife, but also threaten human activity in the parks and manmade structures. The factors include a loss of ice and snow, including melting glaciers; a loss of water, especially in the West; and higher seas and stronger coastal storms, which leads to flooding in coastal areas."