Author Archive

Check out the Flying Finns going to America. Riders include Ville Paumola and Ville Uotila, who just nailed the 4Star Grandvalira Total Fight Title for the fourth time in a row. The boys are having fun shredding park and waist-deep powder in the backcountry.

With riders from 18 nations and many special programs the 4Star Protest World Rookie Finals couldn’t start better! Ischgl presented a great snowpark with 7 obstacles each run, special guests from USA and a unique arts program.

After a season of qualifing events all around the world, the best youth snowboarders from all over the world are finally in Ischgl for the end of season “Gran Finale” where incredible prizes will be awarded.

Snowboard legends from USA joined the Protest World Rookie Finals: Bob Klein, Mike Ranquet and Terry Kidwell shred Ischgl’s slopes with the rookies and enjoyed the unique mood of this event.

In addition to previous editions the Protest World Rookie Finals included also an Art Workshop with riders and “special people” to create a limited series of hand-painted snowboards. Watch today’s video: you will get stoked!

On saturday the 9th april the WSF World Rookie Champions 2011 will be crowned and incredible prizes will be assigned.

The World Snowboard Federation (WSF) in collaboration with New Austrian Snowboard Association (N.ASA), are happy to invite you to the International Clinic in Snowboard Park Construction in Zell Am Zee, Austria, from April 8th to 10th 2011. The first International WSF Clinic in Snowboard Park Construction was arranged in the beginning of 2010 in Livigno, Italy, and we will now repeat the success for the third edition.
Snowboard parks are the new “attraction” for many small and large mountain resorts. The clinic will provide an introduction to planning, construction and maintenance of snowboard parks. The clinic is open and recommended to anyone involved in the organization, operation and construction of mountain resorts.

About the Clinic
It is important to build a park that meets both the needs and riding level of your customers. Black, red or blue park? Black, red or blue park lines? Regardless of the Park level you are intending on building, the clinic will provide you with information on how small and large parks are built and maintained.
Practical parts will be held in the Rome Park Schmitten www.schmitten.at
The goal of the clinic is to provide park builders and resort organizers with the knowledge required to build and maintain safe, varied and exciting parks for their users. In addition, the clinic also provides some background on the financial aspects of park construction and management.
Learning facilitator for the clinic will be Lars Eriksen. Lars is currently the Park Manager for Hemsedal Resort in Norway, and the man behind the ‘Blue Park Concept’. Among the many contest arenas, Lars has built parks for the Burton European Open, several photo shoots and he works’ as a ski resort consultant. In addition to his present work, Lars is also the author of a new park construction manual which will be distributed to the participants.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
April 8th- Arrival day April 9th & 10th – Clinic days (see below for details) April 10th – departure
Clinic day 1:
Theoretical Session:
The park concept – history Customers’ needs and requests. Park Elements: Short Introduction Location of the park – considerations and consequences How to build fun boxes and jumps
Practical Session at Gentlemens Park in Val Senales:
Building an element with Cat Marking and securing of element Inspection of the park area

Clinic day 2:
Theoretical Session:
Setting up rails Safety and responsibility Daily maintenance Group assignment

Registration form/attendee details must be sent by e-mail to annika.bodemar@nih.no within April 1st 2011.

The fifth and last qualifier of the Quiksilver Wir Schanzen took place on the 19th of March 2011 far away from the Alps and riders as well as visitors were completely stoked. 50 participants from Germany, Austria and Great Britain showed their talent on the last bit of snow in Thuringia in super relaxed atmosphere.

Last year´s big fun was topped on this day. Green is all around you while driving to Thuringia and actually all the lifts are already closed. Only the Snowpark Heubach opened its doors for the Wir Schanzen and managed to prepare a considerable park on the hillside – this was made possibly with the hard work of the Orange Jungle Shapecrew and the Eiszeit lift operator. All the snow of the slope was brought into the park and so a diverse setup was formed which did not allow any boredom. In a relaxed setting and great atmosphere the participants showed awesome tricks and provided pure entertainment. Sunshine, deck chairs, doner on a jumbo spit and cool music from the Red Bull truck perfectly completed this contest.

At 11.45 the kids first had the possibility to present their skills. Snowboard rookie Tjark Fritsch (GER) came out as winner of the day. In the following laps the girls could show what they are made of. Martina Zollner (GER) stood right on top of the podium. The “stronger sex” made it not easy for the judges as everybody showed his very best. Snowboarder Toni Kurschat (GER) dominated the finals. Beside prizes of Quiksilver, Ride Snowboards and many more the riders for the last time got Wir Schanzen points to qualify for the final.

After the Slopestyle Contest the stage was given to the Red Bull Best Trick Session. The riders were still highly motivated and proved this on the up-box. Amongst the snowboarders it was Philipp Kirsch (GER) with his cab 270 to fs boardslide to bs 450 out to wrap this session up. Afterwards there was only a short time for styling left before the afterparty in Eisfeld started. Everybody could look back on a great day and the winners were celebrated till the early hours.

So, that was the last qualifier! On 9^th of April 2011 it is time to make your way to the Moreboards Stubai Zoo, where the Stubai Jam, which is this year´s final will take place. There are not only cool prizes waiting for the winners, but also Swatch TTR ranking points. But what would the Stubai Jam be without a legendary afterparty? Therefore the Blue Chip in Innsbruck will again be the place to be and to celebrate the Quiksilver Wir Schanzen overall winners. The Beats of Parker and the Wax Wreckaz – who of course will be on the ground at their resident-club – guarantee a decent party.

Best to see on a Tuesday afternoon: The One Life Crew riding Breckenridge and having a great time. This cute video makes everyone want to go out, go riding and meet up with friends.
The new One Life Crew webisode shows everything snowboarding stands for… having a great day with your friends!
It is so nice to see the pro snowboarders enjoying their time on the mountain … laughing, singing, dancing and for sure riding the park! Keep on going girls … you definitely know what snowboarding is all about!!!

BoardsportSource is holding the seventh Snowforum from the 27-29th of April in St. Anton, Austria. This years annual conference will be the platform that brings the industry together to discuss the snowboard market and its unique issues.
The Ispo opening dinner on Wednesday evening will be followed by two days of seminars and workgroups. This years opening dinner speaker is Henning Andersen CEO of Arctic Challenge and World Snowboarding Championships who will be looking at the state of the snowboarding competitive scene starting with an impassioned video introduction by Terje Haakonsen.
On Thursday night at the Snowball evening the European Snowboard Industry Awards will be presented and funds will be raised for environmental causes.
Join and help share the industry at Europe’s snowboarding conference, obtain knowledge that will enable you to make better business decisions while networking with snowboarding’s key players.

This Friday evening “The Jam” went down at the 6Star Burton US Open in Stratton, Vermont. The fun jam session saw a sweet setup and awesome riding. This jam did not have TTR points to collect…Check out the full story…Congrats to the winners Charles Reid and Kjersti Ostgaard-Buaas! 

The weather cleared and a big crowd came out tonight for The Jam at the Burton US Open, presented by MINI, with Kjersti Buaas (NOR) and Charles Reid (CAN) claiming the top spots and $10,000 cash. 43 men and 14 women threw down in a super unique setup never before seen in competitive snowboarding. With features like a bridge and tunnel combo, double quarterpipes, an urban wallride and plenty of rails, the riders had all kinds of ways to get creative.

For 90 minutes, riders like Ethan Deiss, Zak Hale, Yale Cousino, Danny Davis, Charles Reid, Jason Dubois, Sebastien Toutant, Jamie Anderson, Gabi Viteri, Kjersti Buaas and Spencer O’Brien dropped into the course as many times as they wanted. The festival vibe of this year’s US Open was in full effect with a big crowd cheering for the riders as they pulled off a huge variety of tricks like Cab 50-50s, a huge backside air from Jack Mitrani, McTwists, methods, switch backside rodeo 7s, laid-out backflips, boardslides to 270 out, alley-oop front 7 rodeos and more. Even the announcers were speechless because so much was going on at once. Charles Reid took the lead halfway through with a front flip over the cannon gap, and he hung on to the number one slot throughout The Jam.

“I’m super stoked on the event,” said Charles Reid. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and I’m really happy that I did as well as I did.”

Kjersti Buaas took the lead towards the end of the event with a backside alley-oop stalefish. Kjersti said the event was amazing because there were features for everyone – from riders who like to ride pipe and street rails to hips and transitions.

Right after The Jam, Flosstradamus capped off the night with a free live show.

Tomorrow, the pinnacle event goes down at the US Open with the men’s and women’s halfpipe finals followed by a live show by ‘The Sounds’. Also tomorrow, the 2011 Burton Global Open Series Champions and TTR World Snowboard Tour Champions will be crowned.

If you can’t make it to Stratton, check out replays of tonight’s event and a live webcast of tomorrow’s halfpipe finals at burton.com or metacafe.com. The US Open, presented by MINI, will also air on ESPN2 on March 13 at 4:30 p.m. EST.

2011 US Open Competition & Entertainment Schedule
Saturday, March 12 – Halfpipe Finals & FREE performance by ‘The Sounds’
Sunday, March 13 – Junior Jam

Men’s Results: The Jam
1. Charles Reid (CAN) BURTON
2. Jason Dubois (CAN) ANON
3. Yale Cousino (USA) SHRED OPTICS

Women’s Results: The Jam
1. Kjersti Buaas (NOR) ROXY
2. Jamie Anderson (USA) BILLABONG
3. Spencer O’Brien (USA) NIKE 6.0

The “180 Snowboarders Charter” was launched at the 6Star Oakley Arctic Challenge, where riders decided to stick up for what they believe in to create a better future for the sport.  The talk of the town is the Olympic qualifications and pushing for a better solution for the snowboarders already super busy competition agendas. Check out this article in the New York Times where the author looks into how snowboarders are coming together in order to have a say in the way competitive snowboarding is developing and the brewing of the snowboarders union.

READ ARTICLE HERE.

“We Are Snowboarding” is a riders union comprised of competitive snowboarders who wish to have their voice heard. WAS is the voice of the professionals athletes that are looking out for the best interests regarding the future of snowboarding.
We are the riders who make television happen.
We are the riders that attract big money to events.

We are the riders who promote sponsors on our backs, boards and helmets.

We are the individuals risking it our health and life for the sport.

www.wearesnowboarding.com

The construction is well on the way for the 4Star Ride Shakedown taking place in a few days time in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany. Entry is free for all spectators, so dress up warm, get in the party mood and grab all your friends and make sure you don’t miss any of the action this Friday and Saturday!

MORE INFO

It’s gonna be Big!

Click for a video on the 4Star Ride Shakedown construction