Ten years in the making: West Coast Session 10 is here

Matt Walker and John Kutcher double-team the feature at West Coast Session 9. Photo: Jamie Walter

On May 1-6, 2016 the West Coast Session will return to Timberline Ski Area and Windell’s Camp for a tenth year of celebrating skiing on the slopes of Mount Hood, Oregon.

Over the past decade the West Coast Session has grown from a small photo and video shoot to a full-fledged family gathering. At the end of each season skiers from around the world flock to Mount Hood to meet old friends, make new ones, session an incredible park and enjoy one of skiing’s cult-classic events.

For our tenth anniversary, we’re very glad to welcome our international family of skiers, photographers, filmers and friends for one last hoo-rah. We’re pulling out all the stops for this very special event, with a host of special features and the return of our team contest: The Session Showdown.

WCS intern Dylan Ferguson gets in on the action. Photo: Rocky Maloney

WCS10 Public Day: Sunday, May 1, 2016
As always, the West Coast Session kicks off with an open-park jam session, giving the public the chance to shred Timberline’s awesome parks alongside the invited riders. Hillcrest Sports will be on the grill serving up free food for all, while WCS mini-contests and giveaways from our sponsors will keep things interesting for all comers!

10 for 10: Ten contests for #WCS10
We’ve never been big on competition at WCS, but for WCS10 we’re doing things a little differently. To celebrate 10 years of WCS, we’re running 10 separate contests to keep things interesting throughout the week. The contests will range from daily mini-contests on social media to team and individual video contests. More details about the “10 for 10” contests will be posted soon on westcoastsession.com.

Invited Riders
We’ll be announcing our Invite List soon via social media. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and check westcoastsession.com to find out who will be attending #WCS10.

As always, we couldn’t make the West Coast Session happen without our incredible hosts and sponsors: Timberline Ski Area, Windell’s Camp, Picture Organic Clothing, Pisten Bully, Destoy Labs, Hillcrest Sports, Buff and Treefort Lifestyles.

GoPro Course Preview Suzuki Nine Queens 2016

Continuing her tradition of being the first to hit the feature, Emma Dalhstrom did not disappoint with her first tricks on this year’s castle. In the GoPro Course preview, she and style master Kjersti Ostgaard-Buaas (NOR, snb) sample the offerings of the huge chateau with fellow world-class skiers including Coline Ballet-Baz (FRA, ski), Keri Herman (USA, ski) and top snowboarders such as Sarka Pancochova (CZE, snb) and Anna “Panka” Gyarmati (HUN, snb). Shot 100% on GoPro. A week of riding this insane feature means epic tricks for Contest Day Friday March 18th, 2016.

Song: Hundred dolla girlz by Richard Charnock

B&E Invitational 2016 – Like father and son, Henrik and Candide represent 20 years of freeskiing

On this Sunday morning, the hangover isn’t just about alcohol or yesterday’s party, but rather about the intense past week at the B&E Invitational. It’s time to recap the event, and there are plenty of choices for the headline.

“The B&E Invitational 2016 shows an awesome level of skiing and creativity”

“The best riders in the world gathered to ride a unique feature at the B&E Invitational 2016”

“Henrik Harlaut and Candide Thovex hold up the B&E Invitational 2016”

“Is the B&E Invitational the best freeskiing event?”

“The B&E Invitational didn’t need a big kicker for riders to do double corks”

“The B&E Invitational is an ode to modern skiing”

“The B&E Invitational is an event for the skiers, by the skiers”

“The parties were crazy at the B&E Invitational 2016”

“B&E Invitational: The shapers fight against Mother Nature’s worst”

“The B&E Invitational 2016 presents the most innovative freeskiing feature”

“Too many headlines possible for the B&E Invitational 2016”

“Like father and son, Henrik and Candide represent 20 years of freeskiing”

“We simply loved the B&E Invitational 2016”

Let’s break down each one of these headlines, and you’ll understand why it’s so hard to pick among them.

“The B&E Invitational 2016 shows an awesome level of skiing and creativity”
The riders got used to this highly creative feature quite fast, and the final on Sunday was a crazy fresco of action. Henrik, Jacob Wester, ABM and Torin Yater-Wallace were throwing doubles on a few features in the run, while the rookie Joona Kangas was going huge on his old-school backflip mutes and Candide Thovex was finding the best line.

“The best riders in the world gathered to ride a unique feature at the B&E Invitational 2016”
There’s no other event that’s capable of gathering such a field of skiers from different horizons and generations, from The Bunch shredders to X Games gold medalist Torin Yater-Wallace.
“Henrik Harlaut and Candide Thovex hold up the B&E Invitational 2016”
– Blue Tomato Best Style: Henrik
– Les Arcs Best Overall: Henrik
– Beatcan Best Line: Candide
– E-Adrenaline Public Choice Winner: Candide (540 participants, 160 votes)
– Armada Best Trick: Henrik

“Is the B&E Invitational the best freeskiing event?”
This is a tricky question, because we have to consider the point of view. For the public and the media, who have limited access to the course, probably not. But for the riders who enjoyed this unique space just for them, probably yes.

“The B&E Invitational didn’t need a big kicker for riders to do double corks”
The hip at the beginning is a 2-meter high booter, tossing riders over a 10-meter table when they hit it straight. This small feature with a high parabola allowed Henrik to toss a double bio 12 safety, and Torin a double flat 12 safety, for example. No need to build bigger features! And a bonus, Jules Bonnaire almost did a triple backflip out of the big bowl, only to earn himself the biggest crash of the day (he’s fine now).

“The B&E Invitational is an ode to modern skiing”
Putting creativity and freedom at the center of the event, using the jam session system and offering free beers all day and night to the skiers, the B&E Invitational is the best ambassador of real freeskiing to a larger audience.

“The parties were crazy at the B&E Invitational 2016”
With more than a thousand Monster bills (representing one beer each) distributed to the skiers, two official parties and an unofficial one every night, the night life was definitely a huge part of the event. It was a good call to start the sessions at noon…

“B&E Invitational: The shapers fight against Mother Nature’s worst”
They worked for weeks, then had to clean all the fresh snow out of the bowl, then reshape this massive area for days and nights—for that, the shapers deserve some real props!

“The B&E Invitational 2016 presents the most innovative freeskiing feature”
This course, imagined by Henrik and Phil with influence from skateboarding, was full of transitions, kickers and rails that skiers rode better than we could ever have imagined. It allowed riders to attempt lines, tricks and styles that were so different from what we’re used to seeing in competition. Maybe it’s events like this that have pushed slopestyles to become more creative this year.

“Too many headlines possible for the B&E Invitational 2016”
Is it really a bad thing to have so much to say about an event?

“Like father and son, Henrik and Candide represent 20 years of freeskiing”
The crowd is gathered in front of the stage as the speaker Alex begins to announce the awards. The first one is for Candide, the second one goes to Henrik, and the next one is shared between both—an incredible moment of emotion for both skiers, and especially Henrik, for whom this moment was literally a dream come true.
Hugs, checks and smiles concluded the event perfectly. Henrik decided to split his $10,000 prize among all the skiers, Candide gave all his goodies to the public, and Henrik did the same. Here are two legends, darlings of the public, sharing a special moment together with their fans. Here are 15 years of freeskiing evolution on one stage, like a father and son, representing the past, the present and the future of skiing.

“We simply loved the B&E Invitational 2016”
And now you understand why.

Many thanks to everyone: the riders, staff, public, shapers, media and others; everyone who helped or participated in this event from near and far deserve to be mentioned—and now deserve some well-earned rest!

 

 

 

Kelly Sildaru, Gus Kenworthy win 2016 European Freeski Open

If only the weather had stayed like this all day… photos: Ole Kleim

All week the weather here in Laax had seemed too good to be true for this year’s ninth annual European Freeski Open. And during today’s finals, it turns out that it was too good to be true: a fat cloud rolled in just as the men’s competition was getting underway, forcing several course holds and adding an unexpected twist to what was otherwise a weather-blessed contest.

Announcer Martin Misof had the crowd screaming to keep the clouds away—to no avail.

The women’s final squeaked by right as the weather was closing in, with seven top slopestyle competitors bringing out their best for the sizable crowd that had gathered in the Curnius snowpark to watch. As expected, 14-year-old Estonian wunderkind Kelly Sildaru continued her assault on freeskiing podiums with a first-place run that included a switch 270 on, switch right 540 tail, left 900 tail, switch left 900 mute, a beauty of a rightside cork 720 reverse mute, and a 540 tail and front 450 off the final rail to close things out. And after having already won the contest with her second run, Sildaru went back up and stomped it even cleaner on her third try, adding a pretzel 270 out on the first rail and bumping her score up to a very impressive 95.16.

Veteran American competitor Keri Herman came in second with a run that included a switch right 720, switch right cork 540, left 720 and right cork 720, all grabbed safety (okay, one was high safety), while Swedish ripper Emma Dahlström rounded out the podium in third place with the day’s cleanest 270 on, 270 off, a right 540 safety, switch left 900 mute, left cork 720 japan, and maybe the first quarterpipe handplant in a slopestyle podium run.

Keri Herman coasts to second place.

“We were missing a few of the top girls, but the level was still insane and everyone was pushing it and learning new tricks,” said Dahlström. I was really happy to see everyone doing so well. There were a lot of us trying new stuff out there today.”

“I’m super stoked that Keri is back on the podium,” she added. “She did an awesome job today, keeping it together with good style.”

Then came the men’s final, and suffice to say that things did not go as expected. For one, the clouds rolled in with a determined effort to put a stop to the contest. After two and a half runs in debilitating visibility, a prolonged course hold threatened to limit the comp to the first two runs—potentially throwing out a pair of podium runs that had already been landed in the third run. But finally a hole in the clouds opened enough to run the final five skiers and wrap up the contest without further disruption.

In another surprise, none of the three favored Swiss skiers in the final made it to the podium, even despite triples from Andri Ragettli and Fabian Bösch that weren’t enough to overcome other small mistakes or imperfect executions in their runs.

Land this trick or we’ll wave the flag.

James Woods skied to third place with an explosive run that included a switch 450 on to switch, switch tail butter 540, left double cork 1080 safety to japan, a capped right double cork 1260 blunt and a switch right double cork 1080 octograb.

“This season’s been fantastic for me,” said Woods. “I’ve had amazing results, I’ve been all over the world. But there’s that little thing inside of you that says, coming in fourth sucks—even though it doesn’t really. So it’s nice to break that routine a little bit.”

“Just to get into the finals these days is an achievement you can take to the grave with you,” he added. “It’s incredible to be at this level with everyone skiing so phenomenally.”

Felix Usterud on his way to second place.

Felix Usterud, the top finisher in the semi-finals, captured second place with a left double cork 120 mute to japan, switch right double cork 1080 safety and a switch left double cork 1260 mute.

And as the fog descended, it was Gus Kenworthy who mounted the top of the podium with a 450 on, pretzel 270 off, switch nose butter 540, left double cork 1080 blunt, right double cork 1260 mute, a switch left double cork 1080 blunt, and a massive switch cork 720 on the quarterpipe that sealed the deal.

“I didn’t have that high of expectations for myself today,” said Kenworthy. “I’ve already had a really good contest year, and this was my last event of the year. I just wanted to have fun and put down a run that I was stoked on. To be able to land a run that ended up on top of the podium feels really good.”

 

That’s a wrap on the 2016 European Freeski Open LAAX – we’ll see you next year!

See the full results here.

 

European Freeski Open LAAX: The Semi-Finals

It was another sunny day in Laax, and another action-packed day of competition on the European Freeski Open slopestyle course as both men’s and women’s semifinals went down in pristine conditions on Crap Sogn Gion.

First up were the men: sixteen who had battled their way out of yesterday’s qualifiers and sixteen pre-qualified athletes. Today the wheat would would be separated from the chaff one more time, as these 32 hopefuls would be winnowed down to ten finalists. A few different nations were looking strong coming into the semis: the Canadians with 5 riders, the Swiss with seven, and Norway with a whopping eight skiers still in the mix.

Aside from a few nervous crashes during the first run, the level of competition was very high. Two Swiss riders, Andri Ragettli and Fabian Bösch, unpacked their forward triple cork 1440s on the final jump, the first triples to be seen at this year’s EFO, while top qualifier Felix Usterud stomped his doubles clean and added a huge cork 900 on the quarterpipe at the bottom to maintain his pole position. Antti Ollila impressed with his effortless style, including a switch hand drag 360 on the roller feature that had the style-conscious Laax crowd groaning in delight.

Meanwhile, the Swiss showed that their pool of talent runs even deeper than we thought; in addition their current pack of up-and-comers turned big names (Bösch, Ragettli, Schuler) there were two new Swiss riders in the field, Nando Lehmann and Vincent Schmid, who put up strong performances despite missing the cut for finals.

On the final run of the men’s competition, Kai Mahler squeezed into the tenth finals spot by a hair, edging out Canadian Teal Harle by a hair. But after a vigorous and arguably warranted protest by Canadian coach Rex Thomas, who suggested that there were extra points given for being Swiss, Mahler’s score was adjusted to match Harle’s, and both are currently slated to ski in the finals.

The big story line in the women’s competition—besides the apparently indomitable talent of Kelly Sildaru, who skied to an effortless-looking semis win with polished rail skills, forward and switch 900s and a beauty of an unnatural cork 720 reverse mute—was French youngster Tess Ledeux, who surprised the crowd with a very strong run including a rodeo 7 safety and a cork 720 tail as her countrymen watching on roared their approval. Ledeux secured third place, right behind Emma Dahlström.

The 2016 European Freeski Open LAAX concludes tomorrow with men’s and women’s slopestyle finals — check back here for the full scoop! For full semi-final results, click here.

High-flyers heading to the Suzuki Nine Knights 2016 mission: “The Perfect Hip”

The Suzuki Nine Knights 2016 sets out on a mission to build “The Perfect Hip” and bring along the best transition riders to hone in on innovating hip and transition riding. The new event location in Watles, South Tyrol, Italy will see various sessions running from the 29th of March, leading up to the Public Contest Day on Saturday the 2nd of April 2016.

RIDERS SKI:
Bene Mayr (GER)
Joffrey Pollet-Villard (FRA)
Jules Bonnaire (FRA)
Taylor Seaton (USA)
David Wise (USA)
Christof Schenk (ITA)
Jon Olsson (SWE)
Jacob Wester (SWE)

RIDERS SNOWBOARD:
Sebbe De Buck (BEL)
Simon Gruber (ITA)
Christian Haller (SUI)
Peetu Piiroinen (FIN)
Heikki Sorsa (FIN)
Werni Stock (AUT)
Seppe Smits (BEL)

World Height Record?
Rarely in the spotlight in past years, the focus is on the hip-feature. As always with the Suzuki Nine Knights, progression is on the horizon, with some serious potential for a world height record. The 2015 hip was limited on speed and for 2016 the 15m tall, 60m long hip will be shaped to perfection with a long run-in, setting the optimal conditions for air-time. Of course something as ambiguous as breaking a world record requires every factor to be just right.

SKI
Andreas Håtveit (NOR) holds the existing skiing height record of 11.27m. He stomped this insane airtime with in 2006 whilst on a shoot on June Mountain and was followed only moments later with equally impressive height by Jacob Wester (SWE) who will be on-site and eager for a do-over to engrave his name after the title. Frenchman, Joffrey Pollet- Villard will be one to watch out for, as he has got a taste for records claiming a world halfpipe hight record at 8.4m in 2015 with an alley oop flatspin 540. In addition, an eager troop of top riders will be representing including Jon Olsson (SWE), David Wise (USA), Christof Schenk (ITA) and Taylor Seaton (USA).

The legendary Terje Håkonsen (NOR) currently holds the world record for highest air with his backside 360 that flew a whopping 9,80m above the Arctic Challenge quarterpipe in 2007. Heikki Sorsa, the “Flying Finn” held the coveted record in his name up till then since 2001 with an equally impressive 9.3m. He will be on-site and is certainly one who could restore the glorious title. Piiroinen is certainly a man who is itching to go higher and last year he was merely held back by speed. In addition a row of fearless heavy hitters will be on site including Belgian duo Sebbe de Buck and Seppe Smits along with local powerhouses Werni Stock (AUT) and Simon Gruber (ITA). Join us for the Public Contest Day to see the guys push the boundaries of hip and transfer riding!

More info on www.nineknightsnow.com

Rolland and Bowman win Halfpipe of SFR Tignes

European Freeski Open LAAX 2016: Qualifying Rounds

It seems like this year has been a good year for slopestyle competitions. Creative courses, innovative tricks — the slopes just seem like they’ve been popping off in 2016, for whatever reason.

Today in Laax, the reasons were obvious: fantastic weather and snow conditions, a top-notch slopestyle course with several innovative features, and a stacked field of 110 male competitors hungry to fight their way into the semi-final round of this year’s European Freeski Open LAAX.

The EFO is back and better than ever for its ninth iteration, as evidenced by the massive hordes of skiers that descended on the Laax park today, either to compete, watch their friends compete, or just shred the P60 snowpark until complete exhaustion set in. On the slopestyle course, Laax’s immaculate pro jump line was supplemented with an awesome roller feature that replaced the usual second rail option, as well as a massive quarterpipe with optional redirect lip at the bottom of the course, leading into a final “uphill” rail feature to round out this impressive slopestyle offering.

For the 110 men who dropped into today’s four qualifying heats, chances were high that they’d be finding themselves lapping the park alongside the slopestyle course in the days to come—only four men from each heat of 27 to 28 riders would advance. Not the best odds, especially considering some of the talents in the field.

Finnish styler Antti Ollila took the top spot in Heat 1, followed by Teal Harle and Matthew Wilcox of Canada, while Trym Andreasson of Norway slipped into the heat’s fourth and final qualifying spot. In Heat 2 it was Norway’s Felix Usterud on top, ahead of Alex Hall (USA), Taylor Wilson (CAN) and Vincent Schmid (SUI).

In heat 3, Christian Nummedal and Klaus Finne brought home the one and two spots for Norway (Note: there were 29 Norwegians in the field today—somebody must have chartered a plane or something), while Nendo Lehmann of Switzerland and Pontus Nordström of Sweden rounded out the top four. And in the day’s final heat, Quentin Ladame of France took top honors, followed by Wille Borm (USA), John Brown (IRL) and Noah Morrison (CAN).

For the full results from today’s qualifications, click here.

All in all, it wasn’t just a big day for the Norwegians, Canadians, Americans and Swiss who successfully skied their way into the semi-finals. It was a big day for anyone who had the pleasure of basking in the warm spring sun on the Crap Sogn Gion, watching this fantastic slopestyle event go down live.

Cheers to those who qualified, and we’ll see you on the course tomorrow for semis!

(Hey riders, feel free to use our shots on social media – just tag us!)

 

#tbt – The first ever Suzuki Nine Queens in 2011

Check out the full review HERE
The information about the 2016 Suzuki Nine Queens: HERE

The Girls Shred Session at MINI Snowpark Feldberg

The participants of the Girls Shred Session weren’t just the focus of the video and photo crew, they were also the reason for countless startled looks by the local park kids.

MINI by Name, Shredalicious by Nature!
Currently consisting of 25 obstacles set across three different areas, the MINI Snowpark Feldberg definitely was a worthy playground for the shred queens to enhance their skills. The groups of beginner girls, intermediates and pros were quickly evolving into one big crowd and the girls had a great time sharing tips and tricks among each other. Certainly, there’s no better place than the park to connect with fellow shred sistas and to celebrate your progress on the rails, tubes and boxes.

Good Times and Goodies!
After meeting up for some tasty snacks and drinks at the Seebuck-Lodge, the girls had a warm-up session at the park, which was followed by some brilliant hiking time. Thanks to the exclusive park lift, they were able to take numerous runs through the park. None of the obstacles were safe from the girls; their abs weren’t only trained by their shred skills, though, but also by the countless fits of laughter. The girls at Feldberg definitely know how to have good times! Besides the relaxed atmosphere, there weren’t only snow flakes falling from the sky, but also goodies given out from the QParks treasure chest – for their sick tricks the girls earned applause, high fives, hugs and, last but not least, cool stuff by Burton, QParks and Golden Ride.

For more of the action-packed day at Feldberg check out the Freeski Edit of this year’s Girls Shred Session. You can find the dates and locations of the next sessions on Facebook. By the way, the #shredqueens are on Instagram as well. If you want to become a #shaperess, it’s your turn to apply at the Shape Academy!

An unexpected sidecountry day at the B&E Invitational

Though it’s not exactly the reason they came here, the riders of the B&E Invitational had an awesome day skiing the terrain at Les Arcs while the shapers finished the insane features for the event going down later this week.

As the riders headed out to play on Les Arcs’ terrain, they couldn’t find enough superlatives to describe the feature.”It’s going to be insane.” “I just can’t wait to ski it.” “It’s a bit scary.” Just some examples.
Skieurs : Jules Bonnaire, JF Houle, Emile Bergeron, David Bonneville, ABM, Vincent Gagnier

At the top of the lift awaited kickers for the skiers and for their backflips, cork 3s, smiles and screams when one of them went too big.
Like Cyndi Lauper and her girls, this crew just wanted to have fun. It’s the perfect introduction to the B&E Invitational, with this conclusion: “Friends ride together, whatever the feature.”

Arianna Tricomi, Dennis Risvoll win Freeride World Tour Fieberbrunn

After an exciting and eventful morning on the Wildseeloder face in Fieberbrunn, Austria, the third Freeride World Tour stop of the 2016 season is a wrap.

Italian Arianna Tricomi took the win in the women’s skiing contest, skiing fast and aggressively down the face. Nadine Wallner of Austria and Lauren Cameron of Canada rounded out the women’s podium.

On the men’s side, Norwegian Dennis Risvoll took the top spot with a line to skier’s left off the Wildseeloder, during which he stomped two backflips—one off an upper-section cliff, and another on a roller in the bottom section. The two inverts (and the solid skiing in between) were rewarded with a score of 92.66. Loic Collomb-Patton came in second with a smooth 360, big drops and a creative line choice, while Felix Wiemers of Germany snuck into third place on the last run of the day, with two backflips of his own.

The contest was put on hold briefly after the first two women to drop, Nadine Wallner and Hazel Birnbaum, both encountered some snow management issues—Wallner’s intended drop was swept clean by slough, and Birnbaum was swept down a chute by her slough. The contest continued after guides ski-cut the face, but small slabs and slides continued to break throughout the women’s and men’s contests, posing an additional challenge to riders’ line choice and skiing style. During the men’s contest, many skiers chose to avoid the slide-prone skier’s right side lines.

We’ll have the full story soon from our man on site; until then, here are some choice quotes from the livestream, and the results.

“I think Tabke took all my snow – that bastard!”

“Dude, I landed in a FAT bomb hole.”

“My shoulder was out after the first air, then I put it back in.”