ESPNAction Sports

Mike Basich is well-known as one of the most DIY riders out there. Why? Well, he built his own ultra-custom house in the Sierras and has been known to mill his own cores (with Smokin' Jay) out of deadfall on his property, Area 241. He also built a tow-rope at Area 241 out of car parts. "Create or die" might well be Mikey's motto and his creations are typically earth-friendly, functional and highly entertaining.

The following video has Basich building legit -- and essentially free -- snowshoes out of a "deadfall" street sign, pennies and tie-downs. "Street signs are made out of aluminum which is expensive and light: perfect for making snowshoes," says Basich. "Plus, it made me feel like I was getting my money's worth out of my taxes this year. I don't encourage people to go pull down street signs; I found this one on the ground. I think someone ran it over. I swear it wasn't me..."

Now that he's had these "street shoes" running for a while he says, "I have actually been improving my shop here at 241-USA, so I can go full-throttle with some pretty rad snowshoes. I've got a couple designs in the works... My first pair of street shoes is still treating me well. I would make my straps out of something a little more fitting than tie downs [next time]. Old backpacks make great parts for straps..."

The American invention of snowboarding has been exported to nearly every snowy locale around the globe. But unlike the odd pop can or recycled pop culture t-shirt, snowboarding is a lifestyle that comes with a much higher price tag. The gear, the lift access, and the snowboard parks that Westerners take for granted are in many places either unreachable commodities, or have only just now started trickling in.

Pre-1990, access to snowboarding in most former Communist countries didn't even formally exist: all you could get were black market decks, bindings and magazine scraps smuggled in from "free" European countries. Having visited Romania myself on a whirlwind snowboard tour in 2008, I can attest that the residue of economic and cultural isolation still lingers after generations of Communist rule. At the same time, the contemporary snowboard scene in Eastern Europe is strong. In many ways it's more real there than it was decades ago here in America. Snowboarding in Eastern Europe is not a counter-culture symbol like it is in the playgrounds of the affluent -- it is about as robust an outlet of personal expression and freedom as you can get. They don't just "get it," they truly live it.

Rene Eckert of the German film and photo production company Blickinsfreie is quite familiar with this, having produced documentaries on Poland, Slovakia, Romania. His new film about the Bulgarian snowboard scene, "At Equilibrium" as about to be release, so ESPN.com caught up with Eckert to talk to him about his drive to document Eastern snowboarding, the love for the sport, and the future of European snowboarding.

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Gigi Rüf was at the Volcom warehouse picking up some fresh socks, boxers and belly shirts yesterday. After the world premier of his movie "9191" on Wednesday night he bounced to show the movie off on a world tour. Before he split we grabbed him and asked the legend-in-his-own-time to he share some of the highlights from his year, and how it all came together. Here's 9191 according to Gigi.

Ben Girardi/SASSSierra Nevada College's Admissions guru Jeff Corrado gets his learn on in Laguna.

True to mythological lore, a fateful force in the cosmos or a crazy little thing called global warming, I landed in Argentina for five days during their biggest storm of the year. The Santa Rosa came in quick and dirty and left behind an amount of snow that can only be measured in meters and power outages. I'd like to say it was the most snow I'd seen all year, but I got broke off in February and haven't really been able to ride since then. Remember November?

It began dumping in Bariloche as soon as I got off the plane Wednesday evening. It didn't let up Thursday or Friday. It's hard to say how much it actually snowed considering no one pays attention in Argentina, but Snow Forecast was claiming 20 inches overnight Friday, and lifties were saying three meters at the top. The resort was closed except for one lower mountain lift Friday. And then along came Saturday. Cómo se dice bluebird?

Azulejo. It was go-time. When I've never been to a mountain, I find it best to shadow the dudes who know it blind and hang on. I followed SASS guides Chris Coulter and Skylar Holgate for first tracks off the top of the gondola and dropped into some Baker-thick, hip-deep undulating awesomeness, followed by some misty moss-covered Dr. Seuss trees. A crawl-track, rather than a boot pack, lined the traverse between upper and lower mountains, and postholing meant losing precious seconds.

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It's snowboard video premiere season down in Southern California, and Landvik and I have decided to trek down from Washington to check some of them out. The People crew kicked off what's sure to be a wild week of parties last night at the post-apocalyptic-looking Oakley headquarters with the world premiere of "Cheers." The fact that they have yet to release a teaser added to the already high anticipation for the movie. Apparently they haven't had time to make one yet. A quiet, and somewhat spun-out looking Pierre Minhondo said he was still editing the movie up "until about five hours before the premiere." Co-director Justin Eeles says the teaser will be up on the Internet any day now, though.

Before the party started I stopped by the Volcom warehouse to meet Landvik who was there delivering a table to Wooly (Richard Woolcott, Volcom head honcho). Check this thing out.

GallagherDo you have any idea how hard it is to make something like this? Try it sometime.

"Woodworking is kind of passion for me, and I thought it'd be kind of a challenging project to do," says Lando. "I thought it'd be sick to make a Volcom table, but I didn't really want a Volcom table at my house or anything. So I figured that it'd be an awesome gift to give Wooly and the whole Volcom family as a sign of appreciation for all the help they've given me over the years."

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Courtesy of Skylar HolgateSouth American Snow Slash. Sky getting sass-y in the backcountry of Bariloche, Argentina.

South America Snow Sessions co-founder Skylar Holgate is about as close to a mountain man as you can get. Born and raised in Durango, Colo., he spent his early days bouncing between his job as a mountain guide in the rugged San Juans of Southwestern Colorado, working a terrain park in Telluride and being an all-around Leadville-based Summit County rider. When Silverton Mountain went into operation in 2002 and needed guides, Holgate was a perfect fit. At the time, he was tiring of the jib-focused tiddlywinks of Breck and was happy to move back to his home turf to help pioneer what has become one of the more unique lift-accessed ski hills in the States. He is "the man" in that region and has a list of accolades to prove it.

Shortly after he started big-mountain guiding in Silverton, a chance encounter in Argentina brought about the idea to start a snowboard camp in the Southern Hemisphere. The idea turned into South America Snow Sessions, possibly the most unique shred camp of its kind. SASS now boasts more than 500 campers and an experience unlike any other, with the most enticing perk being able to ride full-blown powder in August!

And in between Colorado and Argentina, Holgate spends the shoulder season guiding in Alaska. Add that up and you got a lot of days on snow.

Courtesy of Salomon"With the long nose kick and the tapered tail it feels a bit like a fish, but it's not [so fishy] that you can't ride switch. It has a good tail and handles a centered stance really well." --Wolle Nyvelt

A deep day on a proper pow board will make you wonder how much of your life you wasted riding short, non-floating park boards that dive for the bottom like it's The Hunt for Shred October. As pow-inspired planks go, this Sick Stick is one of the best of the bunch: easy on the earth, easy on the eyes, easy to ride.

East coast ice master wonderkid turned west coast backcountry slayer, Jake Blauvelt reflects on how a mellow Vermont upbringing helped shape him into the man he is today.

FentaCraig Beaulieu, cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Much like the El Niño of '09-'10 in the Northern Hemi, much of the Southern Hemi has been getting skunked this season. Valle Nevado in Chile has a 20-inch base, with their last snow on Aug. 7. In Argentina, Las Leñas has been afflicted with much of the same: 38 inches up top, with one whopping inch having fallen since Aug. 15.

Brutal.

By some divine wonder, however, down south in Patagonia, at a little place called Catedral Alta, 20 inches of snow fell Wednesday. Thursday ... well, Thursday is anyone's guess. They shut the hill down early on, and it got progressively more socked in throughout the day -- so much so, in fact, that it snowed in town, at 3,000 feet -- a phenomenon on the same footing as stray dogs being cuddled (chalk it up to one more Argentine wonder for the books).

But this leads us to the question: Considering 99 percent of North Americans don't get the opportunity to snowboard when it's not actually winter, what does one do when they arrive at winter, only to be shut down on their first day of the "season?"

One rallies. And surrounds themselves by fellow rally-ers. But where on this green earth does one do such a thing? Let's ask the Roxy team in its entirety. They got up on the hill for a meter-plus of fun times briefly this morning. Or ask Jeremy Jones, Jussi Oksanen, Mikey Rencz, Jamie Anderson or MFM. They're all at South America Snow Sessions outside Bariloche, currently the center of the snowsliding universe, where rumors are brewing faster than clouds can keep up of every shred en route down South changing their tickets to get to there to chase the storm of ... um, August.

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Snowboard movie soundtracks have evolved on a rowdy trajectory. In the early history of VHS releases movie makers would simply run a track without worry of licensing, but now, in the current era of snowboard films, music budget is a huge concern. The quality of the music has been evolving over time too, mostly for the better. The constant, however, since the part-driven film became the standard snowboard movie format, is that every pro wants to dial in the right song to make his or her part as banger as possible.

Volcom has taken things a step further with Gigi Rüf's movie "9191," bringing on British Producer and DJ Baron to create a full-length original soundtrack -- a first in shred film history. Baron, who created the soundtrack to Flip's "Extremely Sorry" skateboard movie, is known for working with a range of famous artists, including Dave Lombardo of Slayer and members of the band A Place to Bury Strangers. The soundtrack is now up on the 9191 site, so ESPN.com grabbed Baron to rap about how action sports influence music and what it's like to score music for one of snowboarding's most dynamic riders.

volcomBaron, contemplating the connection between a Gigi Rüf pillow line and a Slayer-inspired Dave Lombardo drum roll.