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

After a great Halloween we decided to take a moment to recap some of the best costumes sported by TTR riders. We searched high and low across the internet to come up with the top three pictures from Halloween ‘09.

In 3rd place with this shockingly poor effort is Kjersti Buass, Lisa Wiik and Helene Olafsen. At least you made the effort girls.

In 2nd place with this Cartoon character affair is Michelle Zeller and Moe Takeda.

And last but not least, 1st prize goes to Shaun ‘Wendy’ White for this rather fetching outfit. Thank you Tony Hawk for posting this, thank you very much.

Shaun White’s double corks wrote history this Saturday, August 15th, in the Snowpark NZ halfpipe during the 5Star Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships. Despite sick, stylish and high runs, some of them also including a double cork (e.g. Vito’s) no one could get past Shaun in the pipe finals. The Mitranis, Kazu, Mason, Antti and even current Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion Peetu Piiroinen all watched Shaun laying down the pipe run of the year (if not the century) which might make history again later this season, if no one can step it up. Only 2 years after David Benedek brought double corks to competition at the Air&Style and Travis Rice mastered them in the backcountry they entered the pipe stage – Halfpipe Snowboarding has reached a new level!Don’t miss to watch the TTR Special on Shaun’s double corks and check back early next week to get the TTR lowdown from the NZ Open with the latest ranking developments and behind the scenes content.Link to the video section: http://www.ttrworldtour.com/multimedia/video.html

Never has the Swatch TTR 5Star Burton NZ Open seen such a rider list for the Halfpipe Finals that will go down in Wanaka tomorrow morning. With Shaun White, Peetu Piiroinen, Jamie Anderson, Kelly Clark and Cheryl Mass no less than 5 former and current TTR World Champions will be competing in the pipe besides halfpipe legends like Danny Kass, Masion Aguirre, Scotty Lago, Antti Autti, Danny Davis and many many more. Even riders like Torstein, Seb Toots and Charles Reid that usually prefer booters to transition riding are on the start list. A Swatch TTR Season has never started with such a fulminant battle – here are the chances of the attending riders to shake the world ranking.And don’t forget to check the

• NZO event bio page
• and the Live Webcast page

for further information. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the seasons over, the snow is melting and the champions have been crowned. Are you having withdrawl symptoms too? Just incase TTR has decided to air its 26 minute Television show wrapping up the entire season exclusively on ttrworldtour.com. From Chas’ knock out down under, amazing double corks in Japan and Canada, as well as the clash of the titans at the European and US Opens. Read the rest of this entry »

History went down today on Stratton Mtn., Vermont as Danny Kass won the 5th USO Halfpipe title of his career. But the man of the day was without a doubt… no, not Shaun White – he was forced to watch from the sidelines with an ankle problem – …Peetu Piirionen. The calm pal from Finland managed to land on the podium once again this season and thus took home the Swatch TTR World Title and $50.000 a day earlier than expected. The official crowning ceremony will still be held tomorrow though. http://www.vimeo.com/3796291 Read the rest of this entry »

The 6Star US Open has been the final stop on the TTR Tour for 4 years now for the men and it’s never been this exciting.2006 – Tour Champion Mathieu Crepel (FRA): It all came down to Risto and Mathieu battling it out in the HP final in Stratton – Mathieu finished 5th and Risto 6th in the pipe after both messed up in the slopestyle. The Frenchman had only 5 points more and won the first ever Tour title!2007 – Tour Champion  Shaun White (USA): After Travis won the snowy slopestyle and Shaun only managed to come 3rd it came down to the pipe! Shaun won, while Travis got injured breaking his collarbone bailing on the last hit after a sick run and Mr. White became the first ever American TTR Champ. Antti Autti finished just outside the podium in both formats and held on to World Nr. 2 while Kevin Pearce finished in World Nr. 4 and earned his entry ticket to ride in 07/08 TTR events!2008 -  Tour Champion Kevin Pearce (USA): After an incredible season winning 2 Air&Style rings of glory, the BEO HP, TAC – it was one simple gust of wind that almost cost Pearce the title against Shaun. Even though Shaun won both USO formats, Pearce could hold it together and came 3rd in the pipe. Due to 1 result missing on Shaun’s list of results he couldn’t capitalize and the title went to Kevin. Peetu Piiroinen also had his first appearance on the international TTR contest scene and consistent TOP5 finishes and several podiums at the big quarterpipe events paid out and let him jump to World Nr. 2 in the end.Now in 2009 it’s between Shaun and Peetu Piiroinen from Finland for the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Title and it all comes down to the final standings in both halfpipe and slopestyle on Saturday and Sunday. What can happen and who can go where in the rankings – find out all about this nailbiting season finish-up here. Read the rest of this entry »

Follow this blog for the latest predictions on the Swatch TTR Ranking List and stay on top of developments during the 6Star Burton US Open! You will get exclusive insight on the Tour Championship contenders and the TTR TOP 5 (from the geeky statistical standpoint) or how Risto would say: “You guys are looking for battles everywhere!” - Why are only Shaun and Peetu in contention for the title this season?- How come 07/08 Champion KP is in front of Shaun but does not even have a shot to win the trophy besides the other killer riders in the TOP10?- How is the game changing after the halfpipe finals on Saturday? Read the rest of this entry »

 http://www.vimeo.com/3483193Check out all the snowboarding action from the early season in the Southern Hemisphere and catch up with all the current Swatch TTR title contenders as they discuss their plans for the season. The show also examines a different side of snowboarding with footage from Nicolas Mueller filming in Alaska with Absinthe Films, and by looking into Quarterpipe riding with with world’s best transition riders discussing the science, consequences and rush of the evolving contest format. Read the rest of this entry »

The Intelligent design is kicking off tomorrow at Park City Mountain Resort with a sick field of riders ready to throw down on the unique course.  The most up-to-date riders list includes the likes of Shaun White, Charles Reid, Scotty Arnold, Seb Toots and many more.  Jim Mangan and the Park City Mountain Resort park crew put together a one-of-a-kind set up consisting of a 60-foot kicker, hip jump, jib section, a 350-foot long 22-foot pipe with jibs on the decks and a beefy quarterpipe to finish it all off.

A 5Star event on Tour, the Intelligent Design takes elements of slopestyle, halfpipe and quarterpipe and combines them all into one run. It’s going to be interesting to see what the riders will do on the course with so many options and potential combos, paving the way for some serious creativity. Add to the equation the fact that you’ll have halfpipe masters, slopestyle specialists and jib slayers going head-to-head and you have one intense contest on your hands.

Judges are going to have a tough job tomorrow and will be looking for overall impression, variation and original lines on the course.  Tune into www.ttrworldtour.com for all the practice and competition highlights from the Intelligent Design.