West Coast Session 10: The final offer has been made

Ecclesiastes teaches us that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. For the past ten years, the first week of May has been the time to head for Mount Hood for the West Coast Session, an unconventional and improbable ski event that has become a cult classic for many of the world’s top young skiers.

Text by West Coast Session

It has been a time of joy for the hundreds of skiers, filmers, photographers and fans who have flocked to the slopes of Hood to enjoy the Session’s offerings: next-level terrain features in the parks at Timberline, unparalleled accommodation and skate facilities at Windell’s Camp, and a week of uninhibited shredding, filming and pleasant evenings in good company.

Alas, this time has now found its end: in 2016, the tenth anniversary of the West Coast Session was also its last iteration. But the final WCS went out in fine fashion, with a bigger crew than ever before (close to a hundred invited skiers and media), a massive 85-foot private jump at Timberline, and a mountain full of other diversions for the freestyle-minded.

They came, they saw, they shredded. From the huge money booter, to the Down-Flat-Down to S challenge rail, to the sidecountry “Guac Bowl” feature, to the skate parks at Windell’s — WCS10 lacked no amenities for fun-having.

After a week full of action, WCS10 concluded on Friday, May 6 with a raucous Closing Ceremonies which honored the best performers of the week. Here are the “winners” of WCS10 — although at this event, everyone is a winner.

Instagram contest winners:

#WCS180: Mike King – 180 taipan tweak

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WestCoastSession (@westcoastsession) on May 10, 2016 at 9:12am PDT

#WCSgrab: Maks Gorham – 360 cuban

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WestCoastSession (@westcoastsession) on May 12, 2016 at 9:09am PDT

#WCSgrind: Charlie Lasser – 270 out of the DFD-S

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFemCNRMdpT/?taken-by=westcoastsession

#WCScork: Stainus

#WCS10: Reed Lewis – Double front flip Superman

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFcrohhsdvF/?taken-by=westcoastsession

 

WCS10 Award winners:

Rookie Presented by PICTURE: Corey Jackson (Runner-up: Ethan Swadburg)
King Meat: Reed Lewis (Runner-up: Dean Bercovitch)
All Day Syndrome: Max Moffatt
Repeat Offender: Pako Benguerel
The Worm: Evan Lai-Hipp (Runner-up: Blaine)
Best Trick: Colby Stevenson — triple cork 1440 / 270 on, front swap, pretzel 450 on the DFD-S
MVP: Colby Stevenson

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WestCoastSession (@westcoastsession) on Jun 10, 2016 at 9:59am PDT

WCS10 may be over, but we aren’t quite finished offering yet — team edits and shots from our Photo Contest will still be dropping at westcoastsession.com and on our social channels throughout the summer, so stay tuned.

“It’s been an incredible ten years of Sessions, and now it’s time for us to quit while we’re ahead,” says WCS founder Ethan Stone. “I can’t believe the following we have gathered and all of the support that has grown behind this event. We never could have made it happen without everyone who rallied alongside us to make WCS what is is — so thank you, you know who you are.”

The West Coast Session is very thankful to the hosts and sponsors of WCS10: Timberline, Windell’s Camp, PICTURE Organic Clothing, Hillcrest Sports, Treefort Lifestyles, Pisten Bully, Buff and Wizardz Wax.

Save the date! The SOSH BIG AIR is confirmed

A 42 meter hight metal construction, will welcome 20 of the best skiers in the world, for the first ever City Big Air in Annecy. With the addition of an own city Big Air, the High Five Festival, which already delivers some of the best skiing movies and parties of course, places itself as THE get together, which no french citizen or international rider should miss out on.

The 7th edition of the festival, is sure to make some big waves in the sport of freeskiing.
Stayed tuned, more informations will be available on the 24th of May.

Discover Momentum's camp

Text by Momentum

In just a month, the glacier in Whistler, BC will up and running once again for the summer, with Momentum’s world-class terrain park leading the way.

After getting over 40 feet of snow this winter, the park is going to be bigger and better than ever for campers and the world’s top pros to ride all summer. Even better, the private T-bar has been moved closer to the Momentum lane, making for faster laps and more time spent riding.

As always, the biggest names in skiing will be coaching and riding at Momentum – Kenworthy, Wallisch, Brown, Goepper, Gagnier, Woodsy, Walker, Boville… the list goes on. Check out “A Minute at Momentum” to see what a week at camp is like – from the skiing, to the awesome after-camp activities, to exploring the village.

Camp spots are filling up fast, sign up now so you don’t miss out on having the best summer ever!
www.momentumskicamps.com

The GFS Camp is back with a Downdays week!

The most famous freeski camp returns back to Tignes this summer, to celebrate it´s 10th anniversary. The receipe will stay the same, but we will bring you more surprises and an insane Downdays week to end it all. Here is, what to expect.
Check out all the information and you will beg us to come!

Subscription and more information here : http://gfs-tignes.com/

The glacier :
With a lot of snowfalls this past month the glacier looks better then ever and so will the snowpark too.

The Hotel :
Since 4 years, the Hotel is only booked for the camp, just 100m from the lift.

The Pro coaches :
PG Conrardy, Benj Baroni, Fabrice Dompnier, Roxen, Pierre Guyot & Julien Lange

The invited riders :
– July : 2 – 9 => Skipass Week : Coline Ballet-Baz, Zuzanna Stromkova, Etienne Pommat, Jessy Cornu
– July : 9 – 16 => Swiss Week : Laurent De Martin, Alex Neurohr, Alex Chabot, Mustafa Ceylan
– July : 16 – 23 => Faction X Crapules Week : Étienne Mérel, Tom Granier, Pablo Schweizer, Boris Fichelson
– July : 23 – 30 => Downdays Week : LSM, Joona Kangas, David Bonneville, Quentin Ladame

All For One :
The All for One is the event which celebrates the end of the camp, by gathering all the skiers on the 29th of July.

Activities :
Morning : Ski
Lunch-Afternoon : Games, Water Jump, Paintball, Blob Jump, Skateboarding, tramps and way more.
Evening : Screening session

West Coast Session 10 is Underway

The West Coast Session has returned to the slopes of Mount Hood, Oregon for its tenth anniversary of celebrating skiing. A large contingent of skiers has gathered from across the globe for a week of intensive sessioning on features large and small offered by WCS hosts Timberline and Windell’s Camp.

Unfortunately strong winds put a damper on the Session-opening Public Jam on Sunday, May 1, forcing a postponement of the public event — when skiers from across the Northwest and beyond flock to ski in the Timberline parks alongside the invited WCS skiers. But the Session quickly got back on track with back-to-back shoots on the WCS10 signature feature, a massive 85-foot jump positioned alongside the Stormin’ Norman park lift. The invited riders are also busy with a bevy of contests to keep things interesting throughout the week: a team contest, daily hashtag mini-contests and more (search #wcsgrab on Instagram to get the idea).

With two days of big-jump shoots under its belt, WCS10 now moves into its second stage: intensive shredding of the rest of the mountain and the parks, followed as always by skate sessions back home at the comfortable accommodations of Windell’s Camp, aka “The Funnest Place on Earth.” It’s safe to say that WCS10 is off to a fabulous start to a fitting end of a decade-long legacy.

Portfolio – The B-Side of the 2015/16 Freeski Events

In this case, “B” stands for Behind the Scene: These photos portray the fun side of the events and offer some angles you don’t usually get to see.

#tbt: Mike Clarke double cork – Nippon open

The Big Finals: Blue Tomato Roof Battle at Superpark Dachstein

For the last 3 months, the QParks Freeski Tour has been crossing the Alps on its contest mission. Now the final showdown is approaching: On the 16th of April, the last battle of the season will sweep the legendary Superpark Dachstein.

All in all, 45 of the best freeskiers who took part in the biggest freestyle tour of the Alps have made the cut for the Blue Tomato Roof Battle – they will have the chance to win a whopping cash prize of about 5.000€. Additionally, it’s an opportunity to bag various other prizes and, due to the top-notch supporting program, it’s the perfect way to celebrate the finals of the incredible QParks Freeski Tour in style!

“Ready for take–off?“ This was the question to all of the up-and-coming freeskiers were asked during the course of the QParks Freeski Tour 2015/16 – and yeah, the riders were definitely more than ready! At each tour stop they unleashed their sickest moves and impressed the judges at 8 contests throughout snowparks all over Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. As usual, the participants’ best performances were rewarded with cash prizes, plenty of cool goodies and QParks Tour points. The riders who managed to collect the most points are invited to show off their skills once more at the
Blue Tomato Roof Battle at the Superpark Dachstein.
The Finalists are Confirmed!

The freeski champs of the QParks Tour have made it to the finals and will battle each other for the triple amount of points. In the freeski category the number of participants will be as follows:
The 20 best Men
The 5 best Ladies
The 15 best Groms Men
The 5 best Groms Ladies

Here you can find the complete list of the Finalists. Nothing’s been decided yet, so prepare for an exciting battle!

Fame, Glory and Cash
There’ll be loads of cash flowing at the Showdown of the QParks Freeski Tour as well! On the 16th of April the winner of the day will receive 1.500€ and various cool goodies by Blue Tomato, Anon, Neff, Amplifi & QParks. Just as important is the award of the overall winners of the QParks Tour. The winners of the overall rating are looking forward to a sturdy 3.350€ cash prize and pretty neat goodies. Additionally, the winners of the ÖSV freeski ranking will be invited to an exclusive freeski coaching by the ÖSV.

Anon’s Looking for Rookies and Your Best Shots
At each of the QParks Tour Stops special emphasis was put on the boys and girls who competed in the groms categories. The Anon Optics scouts were on the lookout for promising young talents and will once again give out two Anon material sponsorings for the season 2016/17 at the finals.
Besides, we were also searching for the “Anon Hottest Shot“ – at the finals of the QParks Freeski Tour, a lucky overall winner will be chosen from the winners of each stop and is looking forward to a professional photo session by Anon.

BBQ and Party Time after the Contest!
The prize giving will take place during a relaxed chill and grill session at the Dachstein valley station – the perfect setting to chill out, while listening to some cool sounds and having a chilled-out BBQ by Blue Tomato. Afterwards, it’s time for some heavy partying at some of the best locations Schladming has to offer! All of the participants of the contest are invited to celebrate the grand finals with a free drink at the Friends Bar!

The Superpark Dachstein is Open
The setup at Dachstein will be ready for your individual shredding pleasures from the 9th of April onwards and you can also ride the beginner and the medium areas, as well as the rail line on the day of the contest – only the contest line will be closed for the finals on the 16th of April.
We’re looking forward to an exciting Blue Tomato Roof Battle – see you there!

Sick Feature, Sick Session at SpringZession MariaAlm 2016

Here’s the highlight video from the SpringZession in Maria Alm, Austria. The feature design is on point!

Riders:
Eric Schwabel
Fabian Mühringer
Jakob Wimberger
Lukas Müllauer
Matthias Lechner
Marco Möschel
Rene Schwabel
Sebastian Goller
Simon Grissemann

Film/Edit:
Armin Grissemann

Special thanks to:
Adi Mayer
Erwin Herzog
Josef Herzog
Daniel Chytra
Region Hochkönig

The most ridiculous pictures from the Suzuki Nine Knights Perfect Hip

Joffrey Pollet-Villard was up there all week long with massive alley-oop airs.

 

JPV being metal.

 

Italian wildcard Christof Schenk is always down for some massive airtime.

 

Hang in there Christof!

 

Not to be out-aired: David Wise on a quest for the record.

 

Christof Schenk goes meter for meter with David Wise as the clouds clear out.

 

French rider Jules Bonnaire gets in on the action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

JPV and Alex Beaulieu-Marchand double-team the beast.

 

ABM was going massive with double flatspins on both sides of the hip.

 

German rider Bene Mayr gets a taste of the heights.

 

ABM enjoys the views from ten meters above the deck.

Changes are coming to the iF3 Festival

Tuesday, April 5th 2016

Turning the page on the iF3 Festival
It has been an amazing trip these past nine years since we first put the International Freeski Film Festival in 2007. We set out to create a true and unique independent film festival dedicated to seeking, recognizing and celebrating the best talent in freeskiing …along with throwing the biggest ski party of the year.

I’m proud of what iF3 and the Movie Awards have brought to the ski community over the years. We’ve spread the hype to the four corners of the globe, showcased the best ski films, recognized up-and-coming talent and partied more times than we can remember. However, the landscape for producing large-scale ski lifestyle events is evolving. It is unfortunately no longer a viable project for us, and a company restructuration was necessary.

Since all good things must come to an end, my time as president of iF3 and leading partner is now officially over. After a lot of dedication, passion and many personal sacrifices to this project, I’m returning full-time to my original vocation: photography. In similar spirit, my associate LP Sansfaçon will be focusing on his video production company LP Productions. He’ll be available on a case by case basis, depending on production needs of future projects.

As a result, I’m passing the torch to David Zorko, who has been my right hand man for the past two years. I’ll stick around strictly as a shareholder, but making space for David and Josh Wisenthal to run the company.

The iF3 will not be producing events this year, but will be focusing on licensing other promoters to do their own shows, as we have been doing in London, Amsterdam and Japan for the past couple of years. A licensed event in Montreal is in the works, though very different from others held in the past. A few more dates and cities are also to be confirmed in the coming months. We’ll be offering licensees branding, communications and sales services, as well as a film catalog to build their programming.

iF3 Movie Awards
I’m sure that many filmmakers and athletes will be disappointed to hear that there will be no awards ceremony this year. It is clearly unfortunate, and probably what makes me the saddest about leaving iF3. Just like our other licensed events, we are looking for potential candidates interested in taking on the task of producing, or hosting, the industry’s only and original independent ski film award ceremony. In any case, iF3 will still be curating the best ski films to offer them to our international iF3 Ski Movies & Party events.

I want to thank everyone who has been involved in iF3 and who has contributed to helping me make it successful. It’s been a pleasure to work and hang out with you along this journey. Hopefully we’ll cross paths again in the future.

Sincerely yours,
Félix Rioux
felix@felixrioux.com

For new business opportunities or further development, please contact David.
david@if3festival.com

Suzuki Nine Knights – The winners of the week

This year’s edition didn’t include the customary photo competition but the event’s three photographers were able to make a show of their incredible images. As usual, the mood was super festive and excited, especially to award the skiers and snowboarders for the following categories: ‘Ruler of the Day’, ‘Best Style’, ‘Highest Air’, ‘Best GoPro Photo’, and ‘Ruler of the Week’.

Christof Schenk – Ruler of the Hip

Joffrey Pollet-Villard – Best Style

David Wise – Highest Air