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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
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 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!
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.”
abm
abm
abm
jules bonnaire, jf houle, abm
jules bonnaire
emile bergeron
jf houle
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.”
Winner Announcement – Click On The Mountain 2016
Click on the Mountain 2016 ended with amazing videos and epic photos – the new format was a success from start to finish! Saturday night, the winners were crowned in Courmayeur Mont Blanc. No matter the weather, the outcome was impressive!
Photo – Roberto Bragotto
72 hours full of snow, sun, storm, action and emotions during which the deadline was coming closer with each second and time was running until the teams had to deliver a set of 5 photos, a 15sec Instagram video edit and a maximum 2 minutes long video edit. But every filmer and photographer delivered on time and the jury spent all Saturday morning and afternoon discussing and judging the entries. On site, Karim Bartoletti (movie producer) and Sophia Marchesini (4skiers Magazine) met, while Nico Zacek (Freeski Pro), Christian Öfner (Pleasure Magazine) and Klaus Polzer (Photographer and Winner of last year’s edition) were judging online.
Sebastian Huber, head judge: „It was tough to decide, every team came up with a different idea, a different perspective on freeriding and the Courmayeur Mont Blanc area, the level of both athletes and media teams was extremely high.“
A large crowd gathered at Jardin de l’Ange on Saturday evening to finally see what the teams came up with. Applause went up as the first moving images flickered over the screen and spectators witnessed the high level of trickery, riding and artistic skills! And finally the moment, which was eagerly anticipated by visitors and teams alike, came: the announcement of the winners of the 2016 edition of Click on the Mountain!
Congratulations to:
Best Instagram Edit: Borja Azurmendi / Riders Domi Rhyner and Sämi Ortlieb
Best Photo: Roby Bragotto / Rider Tom Klocker
Best Video: JR Ceron / Riders Tof Henry, Loic Deschamps & Lodovico Guichardaz
“In the end it was one video that included every aspect of freeriding we expect to see in this competition: a high level of riding, tricks, big mountains, treeskiing and helicopters. JR Ceron was the only filmer to feature follow-cam and POV perspectives. In addition to his great post- production and editing skills this combination delivered the most well-rounded package. One could say it was the most ‘Courmayeur’ video of all.”
Additional awards:
Best Light: Roberto Bragotto / Rider Tom Klocker
Best Street/Urban: Pablo Varela Perez / Riders Sämi Ortlieb / Domi Rhyner
Gallery
Photo – Roberto Bragotto
Photo – Ethan Stone
Photo – Pablo Varela
Photo – Ethan Stone
Photo – Ethan Stone
Photo – Pablo Varela
Photo – Roberto Bragotto
More than 30 girls on 500 meters of park – On February 27, 2016 the #shredqueens took over the Superpark Planai and worked on their freeski moves accompanied by a professional coach. When there are so many girls in the park there must be sunshine and so the weather was great throughout the whole day. Even in the evening there were top conditions for a brilliant sunset session.
Photo: Roland Haschka / QParks
The sun rises…
…and with the first sunrays the freshly shaped park was already packed with motivated girls nailing their tricks. Coach Stefanie De Medech was standing aside the freeskiers with tips and tricks: “The weather was great and we were provided with snacks and drinks as well as good music. The girls had an amazing time showing off their skills today.” She had plenty of helpful tips for the park newbies as well as the advanced shred girls and in-between the runs it was time to give some radio interviews – “FM4 Draußen“, one of Austria’s prime radio stations was in the park and covered the action!
#shredalicious: Girls Shred Session @ Superpark Planai – Freeski Edit from QParks on Vimeo.
…and the sun sets
After having some tasty snacks supplied by the Blue Tomato Crew and an exceptional afternoon session, some of the girls were still loaded with energy. The sun was going down slowly and the mood was just perfect to take some breathtaking atmospheric shots, owing to the unreal panorama at the Superpark Planai. Exhausted by the many hikes, but at the same time happy and satisfied, the girls had just one question left to ask; “When will the next Girls Shred Session take place?” We assume, it wasn’t just because of the goodie bags filled with sweet stuff by Blue Tomato and QParks…
Aliah Eichinger bags the money shot. Photo: Roland Haschka / QParks
We’ve captured the action and the top-notch atmosphere of the Girls Shred Session at the Superpark Planai on video – here’s the Freeski edit. For the dates of the upcoming sessions visit the Facebook page. Plus, the #shredqueens are also on Instagram since the beginning of this season. You want to become #shaperess? Then it’s your turn to apply at the Shape Academy!
Portfolio – In 2015 the B&E Invitational sunset session was epic!Last year, Jossi Wells, Sammy Carlson, Antti ollila and Leo Taillefer accepted the Downdays magazine editor’s idea : Go on the B&E feature while no one is around and when the sun goes down to enjoy the beautiful light. They were right and the session worked so well that one of the pictures got published as spread page on Downdays Magazine. Enjoy the portfolio
jossi wells
Here : http://extreme.com/freeski/1079038/live-excelent-soldiers-2016
