All talk, not nearly enough action

Another generically named action sports site that teases visitors with a wide offering of services and features, Boarderzone.com fails to land the trick as advertised. Developed in New Zealand, and exhorting visitors to “think local, ride global,” the site covers new gear and Kiwi snowboarding well enough but lumps the rest of the ridable world into two categories: ski resorts in Colorado and Canada. And, gee, the site is sponsored by ... resorts in Colorado and Canada.

It gets better, but worse. Snowboarder commingling with the camcorder mob is several years on now, and any fool can post a cool image or video clip of the latest trick, which Boarderzone.com will host for free. You can also ask any question you want on the site’s message board, and you might get a thoughtful answer. It all sounds egalitarian, but there’s nothing stopping someone from posting a fake image or taunting as girlie a questioner on the message board -- a common theme, judging from a quick perusal of postings.

-- Emmett Berg