BIG-WAVE SURFER GREG LONG RESCUED AFTER 3-WAVE HOLDDOWN

Greg Long has just made a very good argument for inflatable wetsuits. The big-wave charger “got pounded after taking off deep behind another surfer on a big one” on Friday at Cortes Bank off the coast of California, according to Billabong XXL, and was held under for three massive waves. Long eventually blacked out, but was rescued by two other surfers, then flown via U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to the University of California San Diego Medical Center. There’s no word whether Long was wearing a safety device like the inflatable suit developed by Shane Dorian. Organizers of the Billabong XXL are known for their breathless pronouncements, but calling this “one of the hairiest big wave incidents of all time” might just be right. Via Billabong XXL.

IN-BOUNDS SLIDE CATCHES TWO AT SQUAW

Well, this certainly isn’t going to help relations between snowboarders and skiers (no, kidding, really). With a storm bringing three feet of snow in little more than a day, three boarders triggered an avalanche on KT-22 at Squaw Valley yesterday, catching two skiers who were below them. The slide was seen and reported by a patroller who was riding KT, and two more trollers responded within in a minute. Both skiers were treated at the Squaw clinic, and one was taken to the Truckee hospital with a shoulder injury. But then came the search, always troublesome when a slide takes place at a ski area and there’s no way of knowing if people are buried. Squaw brought seven avie dogs and more than 100 people to run a probe line, which turned up no victims. Via KOLO TV.

FRESHWATER SEA MONSTER FOUND IN HUNGARY
Bigfoot lives! No wait, sorry — the Loch Ness Monster lives! No wait, sorry — it’s quite not Nessie, but scientists studying fossils found in the waste dump of a coal mine in Hungary have discovered the first freshwater sea moster, a 13-foot beast called a mosasaur. The giant reptile lived 84 million years ago and was the “crown predator” living in lakes and rivers. Well, yeah, something that’s a cross between a crocodile and a whale darn well should be the crown predator. Mosasaurs are known to have lived in oceans, but this is the first known example that lived inland. The paleontologists were especially psyched because the site had mosasaur fossils of juveniles as well as adults. “What’s really cool is we have a place where they were living, and living at all stages in their life cycle,” Caldwell said. Via National Geographic.

CAPE EPIC BANS DOPERS FOR LIFE

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice ain’t gonna happen at South Africa’s Cape Epic mountain bike stage race. One of the world’s premier off-road events, the annual competition announced that dopers will be booted from the event for life. No namby-pamby two-year suspension (yes, UCI, we’re talking to you) — you’re outta here and don’t come back. And not just if you’re caught cheating at the Cape Epic, it’s if you’re caught cheating anywhere. And you won’t be allowed to race as an amateur or even have a non-race connetcion, such as team manager. “This is harsher than what is required currently by any federation,” organizers said, “but is our considered opinion of what should be enforced even on a wider scale with regards to event participation of convicted dope cheats.” Yeah! The bike world needs more zero tolerance. Via Whistler Mountain Bike.