The qualification period for the 6 Star TTR WSC direct qualification spots have ended! The riders ranked in the top 50 men or women on the Halfpipe or Slopestyle Points List as of January 23rd, 2012 are directly qualified for the event. The top ranked riders will be seeded into the qualifications or semi-final round of the event and all qualified riders will have to re-confirm their spots within the next 7 days.

Check out the lists below to see who qualified!
Make sure you go to the TTR event page for more info and check TTR News for updates.

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!

Are fishermen running surfing ’cause it is on water? Are skiiers running the swedish rally ’cause it runs on snow? Is the volleyball federation organising tennis tournaments ’cause they have nets? Well the World Snowboarding Championships and the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour want snowboarders to run the show.

So, if your a current or former pro snowboarder then the World Snowboarding Championships needs your help. They are establishing a Snow Board; not a lame committee to make them look good, but an influential board to give them advice on sports formats, rider services and presentation methods for the sport.

So if you want to contribute to the a World Championships for snowboarders, by snowboarders:then let us know by posting on this facebook page . Also if you have a suggestion for a candidate then don’t hesitate to post!

Download (right click) or listen to the song right here!

Track Name: On Tour Again

Album: No Album

Artist: Henning Andersen & The Killing Machine

Listen to last year’s performing band at the Oakley Arctic Challenge, the “Kristoff Anderson Band”, right here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC01WCu5ft0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2ezIivxVlo&feature=related[/youtube]

After almost a 20 hour drive starting in Austria, making our way through five countries and a dark, all-consuming fog, the rest of the TTR crew safely made it up to Norway just in time for the warm up and training sessions at the SIX(6)STAR Oakley Arctic Challenge.

Tuesday was the first day of practice. Greeted with some good weather to start things off, riders were liking the transition going head first into the testing phase. Some Big Airs were stomped along with some more technical tricks including some fresh 9s from Risto.

Today, things were toned down a bit due to some intimidating fog that took the visibility down to pretty gnarly levels. For those watching down by the Quarterpipe itself, the only signs of a rider dropping in were the sounds of boards and edges scraping on snow, that is until they came into view booking it straight towards the carefully sculpted transition.

Fredrik Scuderi of Norway seems to be carrying his momentum from his win at the THREE(3)STAR DnB NOR Arctic Open last weekend that qualified him for the SIX(6)STAR Oakley Arctic Challenge. Scuderi was going huge with some more-than-stylish chuck flips and solid airs. Expect some big things from him in the qualis.

© – Rich/TTR

Most of the riders took things easy however going with simple 3s, 5s and BS Airs to get a better feel for he Quarterpipe. Some McTwists where thrown by KP along with some nice methods from Terje and Nico. Hopefully the weather lets up so the riders can bring out the big guns for tomorrow.

After the session, everyone gathered in the animal-fur-laden, wooden teepee for some tasty organic food around a crackling fire. It’s pretty cold up here and everyone was grateful for some hot and scrumptious food in a toasty atmosphere.

© – Rich/TTR

With qualifications coming up, keep in mind that the Arctic Challenge is a crucial point on the tour, as one of only two remaining SIX(6)STAR events where riders can cash in on big prizes but most importantly earn some vital TTR ranking points. The TTR Top 4, Risto Mattila, Kevin Pearce, Peetu Piirionen and Andy Finch are all present and ready to destroy the quarterpipe here in Oslo. All four of these guys are Top Transition riders meaning the Arctic Challenge is going to be a close one. We might even see a new TTR World No. 1!

The Swatch TTR SIX(6)STAR Oakley Arctic Challenge will be featured on www.freecaster.tv and www.ttrworldtour.com for online viewing in case you’re unable to make it up to Norway. Keep checking the video player and the blog for updates as the competition continues.

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

Coming up soon on the TTR Tour is the SIX(6)STAR Oakley Arctic Challenge. Last season, Terje Haakonsen broke the world record, hitting 9.8m, which still stands to this day. Recently however, Terje made the record books again, claiming the title of “Best commercial appearance by an action sports athlete.” Nothing can really prepare you for this, so it’s probably best to let this speak for itself:

Thanks to Tacky World for the video…

In all seriousness, it’s good to support the consumption of organic goods, whether it’s for health or climate reasons. Terje actually runs and owns his own organic shop in Oslo, Norway, so if you’re in Oslo for the 2008 Arctic Challenge, drop in for some tasty treats.

For the full story, log on to check out the Tacky World article and read up on Terje and his healthy omega-3 Smartfish Juice!

PS: I know you are all dying te see some <sarcasm>hilarious</sarcasm> fish puns so just for the Halibut, i’ll take the Bait. Have a good evening, and Cod bless, wherever you are.