Archive for the ‘Event Report’ Category

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE 8TH NANSHAN OPEN CREW PART 1

Posted by Da Bossmann On January - 28 - 2010

Nanshan Open Photo Selection

As organizer of basically all things rider related for the 8th Red Bull Nanshan, I had a reasonably busy week for this competition! Follow my day-to-day madness, headaches and good times at Asia’s largest snowboard competition on the Swatch Ticket to Rider World Snowboard Tour.

Day 1- Arrivals
A relaxed day for the riders, but one of the most stressful for me. Basically the whole day is spent on airport pickups. (starting at 7am and finishing at 9pm), Thanks to some recent snow and general awesomeness of air carriers, almost none of the flights arrive when scheduled, messing up my whole transport schedule. I make a few changes, and luckily have some girls helping me out which takes some of the pressure off. As the invited pros come in it’s awesome to see some familiar faces from last year, and we greet each other like old friends. I head back to the hotel with a big group of them, and while they get to check-in and rest, I meet up with big boss / event organizer Steve Zdarsky and setup for a Press Conference that evening in the hotel bar.
Fast forward a few hours past the really exciting press conference, we get to relax with one of the best dinners of the trip – all you can eat and drink teppanyaki. Just as I’m enjoying myself, I hear one of the late-arrival riders still hasn’t been seen at the airport. Uh-oh. Meanwhile, we have a few drinks, get to know each other and are reminded of that ‘school trip’ feeling from back in the day. A relaxing group foot massage follows, and mid-massage I hear the missing rider has arrived – but his boardbag hasn’t. I decide to sort it out tomorrow. Finally by 1:00am I drop a few guys off at a nearby club to continue partying, and head home for a little bit of sleep.

Day 2 – Sighteseeing
I join the guys for an awesome buffet breakfast at the Hilton. I’ve got to make sure all the guys are checked out, bags packed by 11:00am, but I’m not surprised when by 10:30am there’s still no sign from last night’s ‘clubbers’. I get their room number from reception and pay them a visit – as expected, they’re still in bed, with some uneaten room service in the doorway.. haha.

We board the bus and head straight to the Olympic’s Bird’s Nest Stadium to check out the snow-world-park-thing they have going on there. It’s actually a pretty solid effort! Snow had been blown throughout the stadium, and just outside was a ski slope made out of scaffolding. Some of the riders opted to ski with hilarious results, a few hungover riders slept on the bus and some just wandered off. I make a call to the airport’s lost baggage claim to try and track down the missing boardbag. They’re not too sure about it, but tell it’s still in San Francisco and might arrive tonight.
A few hours later, and we’re on our way to the ski resort. The hotel is expecting us and we’ve made sure they pre-heat the rooms this year, the weather is freezing! It’s pretty funny watching the first-timers see the man-made ski resort for the first time, and you can feel everyone getting more excited.
A delicious and cheap Chinese dinner with the local crew allows everyone involved in the competition to bond and familiarize themselves. We have some hassle trying to get an official receipt for the meal, and they tell us to come back tomorrow. I wish I could relax sometimes!

Day 3 – Practice day
Ah.. today I don’t have quite as much to worry about. The riders are left to themselves for a full day of practice, however every 10 mins there’s another question. “Where can we use the internet?” “Can I get my board waxed?” “What time’s lunch?” Despite all this information being in the rider’s booklet I so thoughtfully prepared and handed to them on the first day.. I send them in the right direction. There’s still no sign of the missing boardbag, so I make another call to the lost baggage department. Apparently the bag missed its flight last night (bags can be so unorganized!) but is on its way now and will be delivered to the ski resort that night. I politely emphasis how important this bag is… the rider’s been forced to practice on a borrowed board in borrowed pants, boots, and gloves
Another good local dinner is followed by more desk work. I sit down with the head judge and we develop an excel file that will streamline tomorrow’s judging process. Thankfully my girlfriend has come up to join for the weekend, so after a long day I finally get to lie down next to her! I get a phone call at 2:00am letting me know the bag has arrived and will be delivered in an hour. I try to sound enthusiastic about this.

Day 4 – Competition, Day 1
I wake up, half excited and half stressed. Today will be non-stop madness, but at the same time I’ll get to witness and help run the largest Asian snowboard contest on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour… which still stokes me out.
I get about two minutes to make a breakfast sandwich from the buffet selection before having to rush off. I get briefed on what the day’s plan of attack is, draft today’s press release, set up the judges booth for scoring and do a hundred other things that come up. The weather is great, there’s no wind, and eventually I get together with the judges to check out the practice runs. We’re all impressed by the level of riding and the vibe today is super good! My good friend Eric is doing a wicked job at MC’ing the event in Chinese, and the crowd is obviously hyped.
As the competition gets under way, I’m quietly proud that the judging system we made last night is working flawlessly. I’m even more stoked to see fellow Kiwis Nick Hyne and Nick Brown make it through to tomorrow’s finals – especially as it was Nick Hyne’s bag that was missing! Tobias Karlsson, however, injures himself on his second run, and as the scores are tallied up we’re left with quite the predicament. Tobias’s first run was good enough to qualify him, but with a suspected broken rib and no word back from the doctors, it seems unlikely he will compete tomorrow. We decide to bring through the 13th placed rider, which by chance is Chinese rider Wang Lei. The media and Chinese fans are ecstatic, and it’s great to have a local rider in the finals.
No time to see the announcement though, as we’re under tight deadlines! The second the qualified riders are announced, I head straight to the office to write up the press release on today’s results. I’m halfway through, and suddenly realize I can’t remember what the first placed qualified rider’s run consisted of! I hunt down the head judge, and he goes over the tricks with me. One hour and three-hundred rewrites later, and I send the draft to Steve – he gives it the OK, my colleague Jess translates it to Chinese, and we blast it out to the media – only 2 hours after the competition finished! Jess and I high-five, we’re a good team.
There’s still lots of work to do – as the riders head for dinner, we stay in the office; going through pictures, updating the judges sheets, sending out our own newsletter, drafting tomorrow’s press release, it seems to never end! However by the time the crew gets back from dinner with leftovers, we’re finished, and have a quick snack and beer before calling it a night.

TO READ THE FULL STORY CHECK BACK TO THE TTR BLOG THIS WEEKEND – THE SECOND PART UP AHEAD :)

RCJ_blog_topimageIt’s a foggy Wednesday afternoon in January. The Intercity Express train to Saalfelden, Austria is packed with girls travelling with boardbags and big backpacks. At the train station they get off with their luggage and enter several busses that are waiting for them to take them up to Saalbach-Hinterglemm. They seem a little tired from the long trip, but look relaxed, happy and smile in anticipation when they get off the bus in Hinterglemm to check into their energy efficient hotels. There is very tasty organic, locally produced food for dinner, which powers them for the three long days of hiking the park that lie ahead of them! Those girls are the world’s best female snowboarders and they are traveling to the Roxy Chicken Jam — 2020.


“Don’t destroy what you came to enjoy!” – credo of the Quiksilver Foundation


We write the year 2010 and only very few of the organizers, media or riders came by train and public transportation – among them Kjersti Buaas and Chanelle Sladics. The North Americans and riders from other continents had to take long-haul flights. Food was mostly not organic; overheated hotel rooms and diesel-guzzling snowcats far from energy efficient.


At least no cars had to be used for the duration of the event as hotels, snow park and parties were all walking distance from anyone’s accommodation. After all there were some first very important steps towards a greener Roxy Chicken Jam. It’s called going carbon neutral! And it’s about taking initiative and starting somewhere. Read the rest of this entry »

INTERVIEW WITH SARKA PANCOCHOVA

Posted by Vi-YO-la On January - 22 - 2010

sarka_DSC0823_SM_c_Barbora Berdychova

We received this interview from our media partners at Lime girls magazine and Freeride.cz/girls. Sarka Pancochova is currently in the Swatch TTR World No.1 ranking, and it will be exiting to see if she will keep her lead till the end of the season! If your language is Czech you can follow this season unfolding on Freeride.cz/Girls.

Interview with  Šárka Pančochová

“Sharki” is so short you may stumble over her by mistake in a line for a lift and you won’t even notice it. This girl gets up first in the morning, leaves the hill last and can party hard all night long, riding different tricks than other girls and always speaks her mind. Being a little girl doesn’t mean having little energy.

Šárka comes from a small town in the Czech Republic which lies 200 metres above the sea level. She lives out of a boardbag and is travelling the world while her parents live in the UK.

Being a little girl doesn’t mean having little energy when you do the things you want to. “I’m loving it! I love snowboarding” responded Šárka in the darkness of the car when we were coming back on the highway from the Burton European Open.

We are sitting in your apartment in the Rockresort at the beginning of the Burton European Open but you are not riding today. Why? The main reason is because I’m tired. The second reason is that we filmed with Karkys for a new documentary about me and Martin Černík.

Why are you tired?
I’m tired because I rode three big events in the last five days - O’Neill Evolution, FIS World Cup in Kreischberg and Roxy Chicken Jam.

How is riding FIS World Cup? Is it fun?
Pretty much so, I know most of the riders. But the BEO is much more entertaining!

How was listening to the national anthem after winning the World Cup in Kreischberg?
It was really a big surprise! I didn’t expect it at all.

Was it emotional?
For sure! I listened to the Czech anthem for the first time in my life because I had accomplished something. I was actually singing.

What differences do you see between TTR and FIS?
INCOMPARABLE! FIS doesn’t respect the riders, listens to trainers only, the rider is on the last place. Even the weather is horrible during the event!

Do you think the level of girls’ riding has changed?
The level of girls’ riding has gone a long way in the previous year. Both here in Europe and in the USA. In the semi finals of Roxy Chicken Jam there was nearly nobody who would not do a seven.

What were you plans for BEO?
Doing my run well!

Did it?
Yeah, I was stoked from my runs but judges didn’t really like it but sometimes it is like this. I’m happy anyways!

Would you like to be a queen of the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour at the end of the season 09/10?
Yes, that would be great. I’m after it! But we are only in the middle of the winter.

Text: BeeBee
Photo: BeeBee
beo10_sarka_DSC0046_SM_c_Barbora Berdychovabeo10_sarka_DSC0354_SM_p_Barbora Berdychova

beo10_sarka_DSC9104_SM_pc_Barbora Berdychova

http://www.vimeo.com/8669363

The Swatch TTR 6Star Burton European Open Snowboarding Championships 2010 went down last week in Laax, Switzerland. 08/09 TTR World Snowboard Champion Peetu Piiroinen won the slopestyle with style and consistent runs, closely followed by Norwegians Mikkel Bang and Gjermund Braaten. Scandianavian podium dominance could only be stopped by Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov. Check out the photos in the slideshow above and keep your eyes glued to www.ttrworldtour.com to find out what happens next at the 5Star Canadian Open, the last big TTR Event before the Olympic Winter Games 2010 in Vancouver go down.

Read the rest of this entry »

Roxy Chicken Jam 2010 Slideshow

Posted by A.Dawg On January - 10 - 2010

A little collection of photos from the Swatch TTR Women’s 6Star Roxy Chicken Jam 2010. Some sick riding went down in Saalbach Hinterglemm and Sarka could still defend her Tour Lead against Cheryl, while Enni Rukajärvi surprised judges, fans and media with solid riding. Video content from the finals is coming soon!

All photos (C) Andy Juegelt

Very good coverage of the Mammoth Grand Prix by our friends over at GrindTV.com. It’s also touching on Kevin Pearce’s injury and all the support from the FRENDS crew.

All of TTR staff’s hearts are with you as well KP!

If you haven’t joined the facebook group ‘Well wishes for Kevin Pearce’ yet – here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Well-Wishes-to-our-Frend-Kevin-Pearce/232366118918

To watch some action from the qualification day you can visit our frends over at snowboardermag.com: http://fresh.snowboardermag.com/video/olympic-halfpipe-qualifier-2-mammoth-mtn-video/

Mammoth GrandPrix Snowboardermag Video

Mammoth GrandPrix Snowboardermag Video

CHICKEN JAM GOES CARBON NEUTRAL

Posted by Da Bossmann On December - 17 - 2009

Roxy Chicken Jam goes carbon neutral

Not only thousands of people in Kopenhagen care about our planet. You can also find initiatives and people who care among those many snowboard companies and riders out there. Beside Drew Stevenson and his Breath Foundation, also the Roxy Chicken Jam is making a strong effort to keep our planet the same as it is now. The event, a Swatch TTR World Snowboarding 6Star event, scheduled for 8th to 10th of January in the Austrian resort of Saalbach Hinterglemm has set out on a mission to add Carbon Neutrality to its cash prize of $50,000. Then first Woman’s event to pick up the mantle of adding a deep respect for the nature surrounding the event, they have teamed up with the Suddenrush Atlantic Rainforest Institute that already has other conscious internationally renown snowboarder ambassadors such as Terje Haakonsen(NOR) and Nicolas Mueller(SUI) representing the dire need for preservation of one of the worlds threatened biodiversity hotspots. Outside of setting an example for other events, the commitment from the Roxy Chicken Jam will ensure reforestation and preservation of forest for 100 years.

Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Slideshow from 6Star Billabong Air&Style Innsbruck

Posted by A.Dawg On December - 12 - 2009


Last weekend’s Swatch TTR 6Star snowboard mega-event, the Billabong Air&Style Innsbruck 2009/II was one of the highlights of the 09/10 Season for sure. The double cork factor has changed snowboarding in a groundbreaking way and there is no end in sight in terms of variations. We made a little slideshow about the Rider’s draw on Friday and Saturday’s event night with focus on the riders for you to enjoy below.
To watch all the great video content including individual runs from pretty much every rider in the contest go to: http://freecaster.tv/ttrworldtour

For all the infos and results about A&S go here: 6Star Air&Style TTR Event Bio Read the rest of this entry »

INTERVIEW WITH CURRENT TOUR LEADER MARKO GRILC

Posted by Da Bossmann On December - 9 - 2009
(c) Carlos Blanchard

(c) Carlos Blanchard

The first 6Star event of the season, the Billabong Air & Style in Innsbruck,turned the spotlight on Slovenian rider Marko Grilc, who has been constantly successful on the Swatch TTR Tou but never had the big breakthrough at 6Star contest. To watch him talking about his win, check out TTR’s latest video right here

If you’re from Slovenia, what are the odds that you’ll win the TTR 6-star Air&Style event one day? Hell, they are pretty low even if you are from one of the snowboarding strongholds like the US or Finland! We caught up with Marko Grilc, who has just been crowned the new Billabong Air&Style winner, after pulling off an amazing bag of tricks, including a switch back 10 late cork. Read on to learn the secrets of his success, how many text messages he received after his victory, and why Travis Rice is still crazy…

Hey Grilo, congratulations on this great success. Tell us, at what time into the contest did you realise that you might win it?
It wasn’t until the last jump that I really thought about that. Before that I had too many other things in my mind. First I was just happy that I was in the starting field. When I made the top 8 I thought ‘Wow, I will get an invitation for next year’s event!’, and even when I was in the superfinals I always focused on my next jump. So when I landed my last jump I realised ‘Cool I could win this!’ – and I did!

To read the full interview go to www.onboardsnowboarding.com

THE PHOTO ALBUM OF PLEASURE JAM 2009

Posted by Da Bossmann On November - 17 - 2009
ELIAS ELHARDT

ELIAS ELHARDT

It was a great weekend among friends at the Dachstein glacier. Like every year, the atmosphere was friendly, the park amazing and the nights…well…long. But, as we are a hardworking crew at TTR and NEVER party (lol), we were not able to upload any party pics but you surely find some on the Pleasure Jam website. In case you didn’t make it to the Pleasure Jam, check out the images below and make sure you get your b..t down there next time ;)

A  rider, that has not made the press releases but is definitely worth keeping an eye out for is 12-year old Ty Walker from Stratton, Vermont/USA. Such a small girl that did not go for the small kickers once…the way to go girl! You will find more about her in one of the upcoming blogs – promised!