I slapped myself silly 10 times over , before I realized I was awake and was glaring at what seemed to be the most dreamy quarter pipe setup that anyone could imagine.

Looking over the Oslo township and beautiful harbour the Holmenkollen Arena has an all new inspiring view, it’s called the Oakley Arctic Challenge. 10.2 metres of pure transition perfection. The SIX(6) STAR Swatch TTR event is shaping up to be a highlight on the tour once again.

After 16 days of construction, we caught up with the man in charge Claes Högström as he nears completion of the quarter pipe where we may just see that magic 10m mark broken if not smashed out of the ball park.

When did start shaping quarter pipes?
“Ive been shaping since 1999, starting with the first Arctic Challenge in Trestles, here in Norway..and Ive pretty much been doing this since.”

Claes also shapes the 6star O’neill Evolution Quarter pipe and the 5star Billabong A&S in Innsbruck and when asked “Have you made something that will allow riders to break that 10m mark?” he said:

“According to the calculations that we made, I did a design and we took that design to a simulator .. it says, if you go from the top here and your about Terje’s size and weight and have his technical skills… your going to be able to do about 12.5 metres ….if you go full speed….so I would say that the chance of going 10metres is better this year , because you don’t need as much speed as you have before”

Do you get to ride your own quaterpipes?

I could pretty much drop in right now..because no ones going to stop me, I dont see any fence down there - hahah.

How did you feel when saw terje go 9.8m last year?
“Actually i didnt see it, i was at the hotel , home sleeping”

Understandably from a man that works 16hrs a day for 2weeks straight to make the progression of this sport possible. I do hope he gets paid well.

With the 4 of the Top 5 swatch TTR ranked riders here to battle it out, and what almost seems to be a race to break the 10m mark. I would stayed tuned if i were you… watch it live on www.ttrworldtour.com and check the video and blog updates as the week progresses.

all images (C) Andy TTR