After three days home in New York, I am now in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the inaugural Quiksilver Natural Selection snowboard contest, an all-mountain freestyle contest hosted by pro snowboarder Travis Rice. These rider-inspired-and-run contests seem to be a blossoming trend in action sports, and mostly, I believe, out of necessity.

When the industry isn't responding to trends quickly enough, established athletes ask their sponsors to get behind a forward-thinking contest or event. It's a way for an enterprising athlete to push the sport in a way that is beneficial to all athletes. And because they are conceptualized by athletes, they tend to be extremely athlete-friendly, well liked and attended. This event is also surprisingly well attended by the mainstream media.

When the women's surf tour had to drop a couple events two years ago due to a lag in sponsorships, seven-time world champion Layne Beachley organized the Beachley Classic in her hometown of Sydney, Australia, and helped save the season. She even bankrolled a portion of the event. The Aussie government funded the remainder.

Peruvian surfer and former world champion Sofia Mulanovich worked with the Peruvian government for nearly four years to establish the 2007 Mancora classic, the first WCT ever held in Peru.

And this April, Gretchen Bleiler will hold a women's-only snowboard contest in her hometown of Aspen. The goal of the event is to provivde women with a legit halfpipe contest that's all about them (read: no guys to steal their thunder—or powder). Each woman will be partnered with a photographer in hopes of getting her images out into the magazines—and getting her paid.

Here in Jackson Hole, 17 of the best freeride snowboarders in the world were invited to take part in two contests held over six days on natural-terrain courses constructed throughout the mountain. Today's contest was held at Dick's Ditch, during one nasty snowstorm. Various storms have brought snow to Jackson during the week, including 21 inches in the past two days—and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down any time soon.

The winner of the first contest will be announced tomorrow, and then pick up a $75,000 check. Not bad.

The best part of today's event actually happened last night (which I missed). Rice decided the best way to determine today's start order was with a mechanical-bull-riding contest at the Jackson Hole Playhouse. Local rider Mick Carter, a real rancher, won. Rice, also a Jackson local, held on for second second.

This should be fun.

Those of us who cover action sports don't need to be reminded how much these sports are growing, both in popularity and coverage. This weekend at the Natural Selection, writers from Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, Outside, Men's Health, and of course, ESPN The Mag, showed up in Jackson Hole to write about the contest (and take some powder turns, of course). That wouldn't have happened a few years ago.

Also, coverage of our Winter X Games preview is still going strong. In the Feb. 5 issue of the Denver Post, writer Scott Willoughby talks about how Bleiler told the mag she is done showing skin simply because that's what's expected of female athletes. The full story is below, along with links to several other stories on our decision to put the first female action sports athlete on the cover ...

Bleiler Bucks Trend, Baring New Ideals - Denver Post, 2.5.08

X Games Halfpipe Queen Bleiler Flying Higher - USA Today, 1.23.08

Winter X Games: Sandy Native Turns Heads - Salt Lake Tribune, 1.24.08

Winter X Games Just Keep Growing - The Gazette, 1.24.08

Piling Up A History - Rocky Mountain News, 1.24.08

Winter Wonderland - Chicago Tribune, 1.25.08

Winter X Games Report - Rocky Mountain News, 1.26.08

And a few fun radio hits ...

News Channel 8, KOLO-TV CH 8 (ABC) Reno
"The 2008 Winter X Games are underway in Aspen, Colorado. And as always our area produces some of the top athletes in the X Games. The latest issue of ESPN The Magazine features 17-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident Jamie Anderson and Gretchen Bleiler ..."

Good Day Colorado, KDVR-TV CH 31 (FOX) Denver
"Gretchen, she’s the hottest snowboarder in Aspen, just at the X Games, won a bunch of stuff, only the fourth woman ever to be on the cover of ESPN The Magazine. Rick Riley and Gretchen in ESPN The Magazine. Excellent."

Elliot In The Morning, WWDC-FM 101.1 Washington, DC
"Who is the - I’m not sure how old the magazine cover is, I don’t know if it’s current one or if it’s back an issue or two - who is the hot as hell snowboarder on the cover of ESPN The Magazine? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you off the bat, but I could do some research and call you back if you want. Some blond chick, who is on the cover of ESPN The Magazine, oh my god."

So I've got a few hours to kill. The snow storm that brought me the most fun six days of snowboarding I've had in my life is now holding me hostage inside the Jackson Hole airport. Scheduled departure time: 1:22 pm. Time at posting of this blog entry: 8:22 pm. I might be sleeping here.

Since I have a bit of time to kill, I thought I'd tell the story of this week's trip through photos ...

Starting with a shot from the contest site, the Casper Bowl. On Saturday, there was a natural halfpipe contest at Dick's Ditch (which is maybe the most fun in-bounds run anywhere, especially after the snowfall we had earlier this week). Tuesday's contest was held at this natural terrain park. I took this photo from what I thought was the best spot to watch the event. The cliffs at the top of the photo are where the riders dropped in. It was like watching a great big-mountain video—in person.

While I was taking powder runs (and working very, very hard) in Jackson Hole, Miss Berra drove from Jersey to D.C. to accompany the Anaheim Ducks to the White House. Here's her account of the day ...

I HAD NEVER been to the White House, so when my editor Mark Giles got a call from a Bush staffer asking if we were sending anyone to cover the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks’ visit with the President, I happily obliged. And all I had to do was send them my D.O.B. and Social Security Number for security clearance. Shockingly, it’s a lot harder to get a U.S. Open tennis credential.

A short 30 hours after my scheduled flight out of Jackson Hole, I arrived at Tamarack Resort in midwestern Idaho for the second stop of the U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix. I thought no place on earth could have more snow than Jackson Hole. I was wrong.

For most of the two-hour drive from the Boise airport to Tamarack, the snowpiles on the sides of the roads reached 10- to 20-feet tall. Houses were blanketed to their second stories. The condos at the resort were covered in puffy white mushroom tops that looked weighty enough to crush in the rooves. It was like walking around in one of Alice's wonderlands. And it was beautiful.

I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to the snowless concrete of New York City. Actually, yes I do. I'm going to fall into seasonal depression. Or watch a lot of snowboard and surf videos.

The weeked was a lot of fun, and now that the new ESPN The Mag website is launching today, I have another outlet for my thoughts and observations. I spent the weekend working on blogs for the site, but since our new fancy site didn't launch until this afternoon, they were too late to post. So if you care to read them, click HERE or on the "continue reading" link at the bottom of this story. I'll leave this entry with a photo I took from the top of the halfpipe during snowboardcross finals.

You know the saying, and the song ... a whole heck of a lot happens in a New York minute. As the theory goes, time here in the Big Apple flies by at warp speed. Blink, and Monday is Thursday. Unless, of course, you are me, and it is this week, and I am all too aware that it has been more than 48 hours since I've had a snowboard strapped to my feet, seen snow, or scared myself dropping into an area marked with a caution sign. No, Herald Square doesn't count. It's close, but ...

So to cure my sports fix, I've attended a couple Olympics events and chatted up some of our biggest U.S. hopefuls. It got me excited for this summer ...

My article on San Diego triathlete Matt Bigos is out, in the March issue of Men's Fitness. Check out a PDF of the story on my ARTICLES page (It's the top story).

A bit of backstory on Bigos ...

Matt, a former motocross racer, was paralyzed in a 2003 car accident. Travis Pastrana was driving the car. This summer, Pastrana gave me a call and asked me to talk to Matt. He said he was doing well and ready to tell his story. I flew to San Diego to meet Matt last August and couldn't believe what I saw. Not only had he fought his way back to two feet, he was training for the Florida Ironman triathlon in early November. I knew this was a story I had to tell.

I told my editors at MF, when I pitched this story, that the word "inspirational" is thrown around to damn much. It should be reserved for people like Matt. I believe that even more today.

Check out his website HERE.

As I sit here in an uncomfortable (yet ergonomic!) chair, at my desk, in an office, under flourescent lighting, Lindsay files this report from a cafe in Monaco. I am having a hard time finding pity for her travel woes ...

Some days, it can be so easy to hop all over the world. But on the days when the travel gods throw you a curve ball, that thing really falls off the table.

I took an over-nighter from Newark to Amsterdam, then had an hour and a half between my arrival and my departure for Nice. When I got to Amsterdam, I went to the KLM transfer desk to get my new boarding pass and the two women behind the counter told me to run, run, RUN to gate B29 and they would have them hold the flight. Right in the middle of this rather long run, there was a random security check which slowed me down considerably. When I got to the gate, I was told that despite the fact that my flight did not leave for another 15 minutes, I had missed the last bus – yes, the bus – to my plane and would have to go back to the transfer desk to re-book. When I complained that they had made me run to the gate, the women there told me I never should have even tried to make the flight, as it is TWO KILOMETERS from the transfer desk to gate B29. That is 1.2 Miles! And my surgically repaired hip and I are not supposed to be running at all.

So I waited four hours in Amsterdam, then flew to Lyon on a flight full of boisterous Manchester United fans; Man-U is playing in Lyon tonight. I spent two lovely hours there, then finally flew on to Nice. Alas, when I arrived, my bags did not (for the second time in as many trips to Europe in the last two months). So, being that I was now nine hours behind schedule and without clothes and the cab ride from Nice to Monte Carlo, my final destination, is 70 Euros and takes 40 minutes, I decided to travel like the rich and famous. Or, in this case, the fairly thrifty.

My ride ...

A helicopter ride to Monte Carlo is only 100 euros and takes just six minutes, which beats the heck out of a cab. Plus, I figured the day had been long enough already. So I took the chopper and arrived in Monte Carlo, where I will be meeting Australian Open Champ Novak Djokovic for an interview (he, like many European tennis players and Formula One drivers, claims Monaco as his primary residence for tax purposes).

My day may have been like an episode of The Amazing Race, but when it comes down to it, I’m in the south of France. My balcony overlooks the Mediterranean and I get to scope out the casino where Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond gambled in GoldenEye. Pretty cool, eh?

So, what have we learned?

1. An hour and a half is not enough connection time when flying through Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.
2. No matter how long it takes to get there, the French Riviera is way more interesting than sitting on my couch in Jersey.
3. And for God’s sake, pack a change of clothes in your carry-on!

It's hard to write a travel blog when you're not traveling. So I spent the week looking at New York as a traveler (and celebrating my birthday over and over and over again). A few things I learned ...

No one actually wants to take your photo when you ask them on the street:
Friday night, on my actual birthday, I went to Cipriani with a couple friends. Good food, great atmosphere, superb people watching. As we were leaving, we asked a group of very fabulous French girls who were standing outside smoking if one of them would take our photo. "Sure," one finally said. She took a puff, took a shot, looked at the back of the camera and began gushing about how cute the photo was. "Oh, you look so good," she said, hoping we wouldn't ask for another. She handed the camera back, we got in a cab and were on our way. Then, we looked at the photo.

New York is beautiful when it snows, which it did Friday morning. Since I moved to NY almost nine years ago, it has snowed almost every year on February 22.

For those of us who believe in magic, and especially for those of us who believe in magic and are super nerds, this place is as close to the Hogwarts library as you're gonna get ... the Conjuring Arts Research Center on 30th Street and Fifth Avenue. Check it out. Check out a book. Check to make sure you still have your wallet on the way out the door.

And, finally ... A week in the city ain't so bad. Especially when you're leaving for Puerto Rico at the end of it.