Copper Mountain brings superpipe to Colorado

by Kraig Becker on

Much to the delight of snowboarders everywhere, Copper Mountain ski resort opened the first 22 foot Superpipe in the state of Colorado last week, paving the way for future Olympians to hone their skills on its massive walls. The addition of the new pipe further bolsters Copper’s reputation as a great place to learn how to snowboard and ski, with unprecedented facilities that aren’t found anywhere else in the country.

This newest attraction on Copper Mountain is just one more reason the resort will be a popular destination for winter fun. With over 2450 skiable acres and 125 total runs, Copper really does have something to offer skiers and snowboarders of all ages and levels of experience. The resort has also seen more than 40 inches of snow already this fall, which means they have a great base heading into the prime ski season.

The opening of the Superpipe comes just in time for Copper Mountain to play host to the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix snowboarding and freeskiing competition next week. That event, which runs from December 5 – 10, will pit some of the best skiers and riders in the country against one another as they begin to tune-up for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Sochi, Russia.

For those of us who can’t make it to Copper at the moment, or would prefer to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground, there is an awesome webcam aimed directly at the Superpipe to keep us entertained. Watching snowboarders zip through the pipe on the cam truly gives you a sense of the scale of this monster. Check it out by clicking here.

Photo of the day – Lego man hearts Tel Aviv

by Meg Nesterov on


They say all art is subjective, and no artform is more contentious than graffiti. Some might say even a detailed mural is defacing public property, while others might consider a bawdy limerick on a bathroom wall to be social commentary. In recent years, artists like Banksy have elevated graffiti to public art. This Lego fellow cleverly rendered in 3-D shows his love for the city of Tel Aviv, taken by Flickr user mjlacey, as a great example of fun and positive street art.

Submit your favorite street art to the Gadling Flickr pool and we may use it for a future Photo of the Day.

Artists make childhood dreams a reality with an interactive land submarine

by Jessica Festa on

While this submarine may not go underwater, it certainly has a lot of features. Five Ton Crane, a San Francisco Bay Area collective arts group, has created a life-sized vessel called The Nautilus in West Oakland, California, that not only has built-in iPad technology, a library, GPS navigation, hydraulic drive controls, a night vision periscope, and a full bar, but also the ability to defend against enemies with a Harpoon gun water cannon that shoots up to 13 gallons per minute.

The retro-futuristic art installation was built in line with the idea of steampunk, meaning that the submarine is a design of the past with the future in mind. Alan Rorie, one of the Five Ton Crane artists who also happens to have a Ph.D in Neuroscience from Stanford University, explains it perfectly by saying, “Let’s imagine that technology was a little bit more advanced in the Victorian and Edwardian time. What would that be like?”

While there is an emphasis on technology, the artists also make sure to focus on craftsmanship, creating a look that appears hand-built (because it is) instead of machine-made.

This isn’t the first big kid’s toy that Five Ton Crane has created. Other pieces include a gigantic tree house and the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, which is currently on display along San Francisco’s Embarcadero waterfront. If you dreamed about it as a child, chances are Five Ton Crane will make it a tangible reality.

For a better idea of the project, check out this video:

The Nautilus submarine from Oakland North on Vimeo.

Buy elite miles on Delta, cheat your way to elite status

by Grant Martin on

The trump card when going toe to toe with the airline industry has always been elite status. Once you’re silver or gold or whatever color is associated with frequent travel, many of the airline fees go away, upgrades start to sneak out of the woodwork and travel becomes slightly less miserable. That’s why many people carefully plan their annual travel to make sure that they reach a special status, sometimes even going as far as taking a mileage run to earn the right volume.

The problem with earning elite miles at the last minute, though, was that it was usually a waste of time, space and carbon. But airlines wouldn’t sell elite miles because then non-frequent travelers could game the system.

This week, Delta has partially fixed that conundrum by actually selling elite miles. They won’t sell you many, but if you need a few extra miles to make it to the next tier then it can be actually worth your time.

2,500 points, for example, will cost a traveler $295. But once that tier has been reached, a traveler can expect a whole host of fees waived plus free upgrades, preferred seats and priority checkin. For that price, it may be worth the investment.

You can learn more about Delta’s plan to sell miles over at their site. You can buy up to 10,000 miles.

[flickr image via sacra-moneta]

New restaurant in Mexico City combines unique architecture and experiential dining

by Jessica Festa on

Tori-Tori, a new Japanese restaurant located in Polanco in Mexico City, Mexico, has recently finished completion. The project began in 2009 as a joint venture between the Mexico-based firm rojkind arquitectos and the design company Esrawe Studio, with the aim to create a unique contemporary space.

While the restaurant serves Japanese cuisine, the ambiance is more cosmopolitan than many other Japanese restaurants on the market. Imagine an interior full of open spaces, a bar, and terraces that always keep the guest close to natural vegetation.

The inside is actually an extension of the outside, where the facade seems to grow organically from the ground in a mass of steel ivy. You can see through to the restaurant and vice versa, and the pattern on Tori-Tori’s outside controls the ambiance on the inside by filtering light, shadows, and views.

As for the food, guests can expect an array of options, including salads, curries, pastas, fish dishes, beef, chicken, sushi, sashimi, nigri, and more. For more information, click here. Or, to get a better idea of the design of Tori-Tori, check out the gallery below. All photos are courtesy of photographer Paúl Rivera.

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