Archive for the ‘Behind The Scenes’ Category

We just came across a cool day in the life edit of British shred starlet Aimee Fuller on a typical day in her extraordinary life as a snowboarder.

Aimee is in Kaunertal, Austria for the British Snowboard Test along with Czech rider Sarka Pancochova and Roxy super grom Katie Ormerod. The girls get their shred on before hijacking somebody’s back garden for an après trampoline session.

Aimee Fuller – A Day in the Life from gonzilla.tv on Vimeo.

TTR’s brand partner Volcom is known to rock it and apparently now breeds young rockstars as well… Every wonder what it’s like to spend spring break ruling the park? No recess, no homework, just straight shredding. Have a look at Volcom’s groms and how they gripped it and ripped it during their time out from school. For spring break 2011, they had Norwegian upstart, Markus Kleveland join the US crew of Cody Warble, Brock Crouch and Jack Herald.

TTR brand partner Nike 6.0 is shining a new light on halfpipe riding by the looks of a teaser released today. With a release date of June 2nd “The Chosen” will feature TTR World Snowboard Tour Champ Peetu Piiroinen as well as Louie Vito, Mason Aguirre, Greg Bretz and more.

Head over to the Nike 6.0 Facebook page to get updates on the project.

It’s the end of the Northern Hemisphere winter season, and before we turn heads to the south, lets recap the qualifications for the World Snowboarding Championships 2012. It has only been a few months since the announcement of the qualification criteria, and already 24 riders from 10 nations are qualified for the event in February. These riders qualified by winning TTR 6 star events, winning national championships and by national quota from their WSF federation.

The roster is a great mix of established superstars such as Peetu Piiroinen, Mark McMorris, Jamie Anderson, Kazuhiro Kokubo, Eric Willet, and upcoming talents from all over the world. Not to forget the winner of the WSF Rookie Finals: Emil André Ulsletten.

The global reach of snowboarding becomes very clear this early in the qualification process with riders coming from USA, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Finland, Norway, Great Britan, Canada, Czech Republic and Italy. Once the qualification is done, 240 riders from 30 countries will be battling it out for snowboarding’s most prestigious titles in Oslo in February 2012. With a qualification process which takes into consideration all kinds of snowboard events and organizations, this will be a powerful demonstration of competitive snowboarding and the winners will be true world champions.

As a reminder, there are 5 ways to qualify:
– Winning TTR 6 star events
– Placing in TTR top 50 men or Top 30 women after Burton European Open 2012
– Receiving a wildcard
– By national quota (each WSF member nation can qualify 1 male and female rider for each discipline)
– TTR World Tour Champions of the last three seasons are automatically qualified

All participants must be among TTR Top 500 men and Top 250 Women by the end of Burton European Open 2012. It’s a fair and open rider entry protocol with equal opportunities for all. The wild card portion is below 5% of the starting field.

TTR has created a 52 weeks rollover discipline ranking starting and ending with European Open, which serves as the main qualification tool. It is published both on the TTR website and on www.wsc2012.com/riders . Here you will see the riders that currently have made the cut marked in red. The challengers marked in grey. As the TTR ranking is becoming more and more relevant, it will be a qualification drama peaking at the Burton European Open 2012. Compared to previous years, it now requires solid results to make it into TTR top 50. Yale Cousino, currently holding the 50th position on the slopestyle rank, has only posted 4, 5 and 6 star results. Number 30 on that same ranking, Sven Thorgren, has a 8th place in the 6 star Burton European Open as one of his results.

The ongoing qualification will be a great sports drama, and the intensity is expected to increase over the course of the upcoming season.  Doing good in 5 star events such as the New Zealand Open will be crucial to determine riders ranking positions. All events up until the European Open will count, so don’t miss out on your opportunity to become the true champion of snowboarding!

“We Are Snowboarding” is a riders union comprised of competitive snowboarders who wish to have their voice heard. W.A.S. is the voice of the professional athletes that are looking out for the best interests regarding the future of snowboarding. This video explains the very beginning and the growth of the movement and gives a glimpse of what’s been happening so far. This is something to watch out for as it could be a real game changer in snowboarding. Watch Chas Guldemond gather friends and supporters on three continents and at three major snowboarding events for what’s known as the creation of W.A.S.

The making of W.A.S. from Reel Theory Productions on Vimeo.

Norwegian ripper Torstein Horgmo has been battling it out with riders throughout the season in his signature “Game of in Your Face”. One rider calls a trick that the other rider has to stick. If you don’t stick it you get a strike, two strikes and you get sprayed in the face. This time Torstein picked fellow norwegian Gjermund Braaten and the two threw down some serious tricks. See for yourself…

Game Of In Your Face: Gjermund Bråten from torstein horgmo on Vimeo.

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.

Did it seem things in snowboarding were starting to wind down? Oh no, my friends. They’re just beginning. Sebastien Toutant landed a backside triple cork 1440 this morning at a private Red Bull park session at Squaw Valley, California. The Winter X 15 Slopestyle gold medalist is now officially one of only three snowboarders in the world to land a triple cork, and the second to ever land a triple cork 1440… Read the full ESPN article here.

But that’s not all… as this quick post was in the works, another video hit the net… Pat Burgener sticks switch backside triple cork 1440

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.