High Five Festival kicks off with a great pre-party

Ok let’s face it, it’s 11pm and I’m drunk. OK, no one normal says that, but at a freeski event like this, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it. The High Five Festival is more than just great movies, activities and lots of other things: it’s also a marathon drinking binge for all the participants.

Today all the brand teams worked hard on their booths as riders like Henrik Harlaut, Phil Casabon, Jossi Wells, JF Houle, Richard Permin and Sean Pettit arrived. For the pre-party about 350 VIPs including event partners, media, brands and athletes were invited to a special show.

To be clear, it’s not something we usually see in freeskiing. It was a mix of commercial and emotion, a mix of freeskiing and business, tears from the event owner and advertisements by brand managers and TV channels: talks and movie clips, including B&E’s trailer for next year, Richard Permin’s Masquerade segment and Kevin Rolland feat Julien Regnier’s original short movie that I’ll probably comment on later. In the end, we still spent a good time, and if we have to listen to some boring talks to enjoy a High Five Festival like that (play on words), then we’ll do it. Especially when the big plans for next year are announced…

The pre-party ended with an open bar and burger party, with conversations between friends and business partners, and a date with my laptop for me.

The High Five Festival officially kicks off Friday – but the pre-party was a great way to kick things off!

The Freeride-Filmfestival is OFF PISTE, ON TOUR

Scope the teaser for the 2015 Freeride-Filmfestival (click the link for all the details) for a taste of their selection this year, and note these dates on your schedule!

7.11.2015 INNSBRUCK – 8.11.2015 MUNICH – 9.11.2015 KRÀKOW – 10.11.2015 WARSZAWA – 11.11.2015 BERLIN – 12.11.2015 VIENNA

#JUSTADDSKI – And get the season started

Post an Instagram photo of you longing for winter, #justaddski and watch our snow cannon produce fresh snow. The more photos you post – the more snow we produce. As the snow piles up you unlock prizes from the Peak Performance Ski collection. Let’s start this season early!


Peak Performance ask skiers all over the world to post their best photos adding ski to their normal life and tagging them with #justaddski. The brand wants to capture all dimensions of the ski season under one hash tag. Starting off with the long wait, the anticipation, pre-training and then switching to powder turns, drops, the good times with friends and touring to that special peak.

The competition 
This year a new dimension is added; for every uploaded photo, a snow machine at the Hintertux Glacier at Zillertal, will produce fresh snow. The more pictures – the more snow. As the snow pile grows, prizes from Peak Performance ski collection are unlocked. Whoever takes the best photo of all wins a trip for two to the Hintertux Glacier and gets to start the season earlier then ever!

The competition starts the 29th of September and will run for a month.

Everyone can join by adding their most awesome pics on Instagram with the tag #justaddski and #peakperformance. All the imagery will be collected at www.justaddski.com and you will be able to see the snow pile grow in real time. The competition runs until the 29th of October and will be activated in all Peak Performance social channels, in retail and among partners and distributers worldwide. 

”One of the beauties with skiing is that even if you just ski a couple of days per season, you’re a skier in your mind all year around. The preparations for the season starts early and the memories live for ages. With #justaddski we want to gather images from all over the world to get people fired up for the ski season and to continue to share images from their ski trips around the world until the season ends” says Jeanette Francke, PR & campaign manager, Peak Performance.

 

About Hintertux Glacier at Zillertal
The Hintertux Glacier is Austria’s only year round ski resort and part of Zillertal. The Glacier offers perfectly groomed, snow-sure runs 365 days of the year at altitudes of up to 3,250 m. Enjoy 60 km of slopes in all levels fantastic or great free-ride runs.

iF3 Celebrates the Life of JP Auclair

All photos courtesy of iF3

On Saturday, September 26 in Montreal, Canada, the International Freeskiing Film Festival celebrated the life of JP Auclair, one of the most influential individuals ever to step onto a pair of skis, with a somber but inspiring tribute event and fundraiser for the non-profit organization that Auclair founded, Alpine Initiatives.

Throughout a two-hour ceremony, a multitude of Auclairs’s closest friends and family took to the hushed stage at the Cinema Imperial to recall fond memories of the pioneering Quebec freeskier and introduce selections of his finest ski segments, as well as other videos created by Auclair that highlighted his seemingly inexhaustible creativity, work ethic and compassion.

From his first ski segment with Poor Boyz Productions in 1998’s Degenerates to his celebrated street-skiing segment in Sherpas Cinema’s 2013 release Into The Mind, the selection of clips showed the depth and longevity of Auclair’s influence in skiing. Interspersed between the ski clips, other videos showed Auclair’s wide range of passions and interests, like his trip to build an orphanage in Meru, Kenya with Alpine Initiatives, and his obsession with and mastery of the Japanese game of kendama.

“JP has been at iF3 since the beginning,” said festival founder Felix Rioux, who said the tribute was a personal project for him. “He was always willing to come and help and represent skiing.”

“For me, JP is the essence of freeskiing,” added Rioux, who still spoke of Auclair in the present tense. “He’s a professional athlete, but he’s also a professional. He gets involved in all aspect of skiing, whether it’s designing skis, editing segments or coaching kids. JP has always been full-on 100% into what he was doing. He’s just overall a great human being, and everyone who knows him says the same thing.”

I never met JP, but his life influenced mine from the first time I watched him ski in Degenerates way back in 1998. Over the years since then his influence has only grown, for me and for everyone else who knew him or knew of him. May his memory inspire us all to work hard for what’s good, and not forget to have fun along the way.

 

Here’s a recap of the iF3 tribute. Since many of the videos shown are available online, we’ve collected them here for everyone to enjoy. The author apologizes for not knowing enough French to understand many of the speeches.

JP’s father, Jean Auclair, made an opening speech.

MC Phil Poirer introduced JP’s first segment with Poor Boyz Productions in the revolutionary 1998 freeski movie Degenerates.

 

Mike Douglas sent a pre-recorded introduction to JP’s segment in Poor Boyz The Game. Douglas said that it was this segment that showed him the depth of JP’s talent and vision.

JP’s fiancée Ingrid Sirois introduced JP’s documentary about his first Alpine Initiatives trip to Meru, Kenya to build an orphanage.

 

Felix Rioux introduced a slideshow of JP’s previous appearances at the festival.

 

Kim Lamarre introduced one of JP’s many hilarious edits from the “UP” (Unknown Project) series, produced with spare footage from JP’s travels at a time before Internet edits were a thing. Lamarre said that JP taught her the importance of working hard, but still remembering to have fun.

 

Julien Regnier introduced JP’s segment in PBP’s 2009 film Revolver, in which JP showcased his new big-mountain mettle, and stomped a double backflip mute grab to boot.

 

Tyler Hamlet introduced an incredible timelapse reel that JP filmed over four years of down days in Haines, Alaska. This rare footage shows a glimpse into JP’s incredible focus and attention to detail.

 

Neil Sotirakopolous recalled long hours of playing kendama with JP, and introduced a mindblowing POV kendama edit that was found on one of JP’s hard drives.

Frank and Maude Raymond introduced JP’s Into The Mind street segment with Tom Wallisch, the follow-up to his segment in All.I.Can that became one of the most successful and celebrated ski segments ever.

Tyler Hamlet introduced another UP1.2 segment from Haines.

Marc-Andre Belliveau and Genevieve Charbonneau performed the song the Marc-Andre wrote for JP: “Out There.”

JF Houle, Legs of Steel and Super Proof Clean Up at iF3 Awards

The Cinema Imperial in downtown Montreal, about to get an overdose of ski films in the next few days.

 

Last night’s iF3 Movie Awards kicked off the start of this year’s International Freeskiing Film Festival in Montreal with some new faces taking the stage—or not, because they weren’t there—for some of the night’s biggest awards.

European crew Legs Of Steel rounded up a respectable collection of iF3 award skis – enough to mount up a pair and still have one left over. Their film “Passenger” got the pick for Best Editing as well as Best Single Shot for another classic Legs Of Steel skier train at their Stubai park shoot, and LOS rider Tom Leitner won the dubious distinction of Best Crash for a brutal big-mountain tumble. It’s yet to be determined which of his friends at iF3 will be lugging home the heavy concrete Best Crash award for Tom.

The Legs of Steel crew might have to pay some extra baggage fees to get all this hardware back to Europe.

Super Proof, the up-and-coming production company headed by Sean Pettit, also made off with a haul of accolades for their film “The Masquerade,” picking up awards for Best Cinematography, Best Big Mountain Film, and Best Male Freeride Performance for Pettit.

But the night’s big winner was JF Houle, who was called to the stage no less than three times for his two-year personal project “Houligan,” but blew it by being at home exporting a final copy of his film, rather than in the Cinema Imperial accepting all the awards for it.

Tatum Monod was on hand to accept the Best Female Short award for her segment in Level 1’s “Small World.”

To be fair to JF, he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t on-hand to accept his awards. A surprising (some might say disappointing) number of awards were given to absentee winners, which put a damper on the energy of the evening. But the iF3 crew did a great job of assembling video acceptance speeches from the absent parties, many of which turned out to be highly entertaining in their own right. I’d have to give the award for “Best Video Acceptance Speech” to Jacob Hyllengren Larsson, who plopped down on his couch, cracked a beer and said, “Tomorrow I’ll go back to work on the forklift and feel just a little bit better about myself.”

MCs Reed Speedman and Doug Bishop wisecracked their way through a long and sometimes tedious ceremony, with a total 22 awards given out and seemingly half of the awardees not in attendance.

It’s a strange choice for iF3 to hold its awards ceremony on the first night of the festival. Not everyone has arrived yet, so the Cinema Imperial is only half full, and it’s not easy for the crowd to muster enthusiasm for films that they haven’t even seen yet. But if the turn-up did not occur during the awards ceremony, it certainly did during the afterparty. At iF3, that’s one thing you can count on.

Read the full list of 2015 iF3 award winners here, and check back for more coverage from Montreal.

X Games Aspen 2016 – First athletes announced

Full list : Here

2015 iF3 Awards: JF Houle wins big with “Houligan”

If you want to check all those results be sure to be at the High Five Festival : http://www.highfive-festival.com/en/

– Athlete Category –

Discovery of the Year : Jacob Hyllengren / Bon Vivant – BRS
Rookie of the Year : Josh Daiek / Blank. The Movie – WeAreBlank
Best Female Park Performance : Lisa Zimmermann
Best Male Street Segment : JF Houle / Houligan: A Ski Story – JF Houle
Best Female Freeride Performance : Angel Collinson / Paradise Waits – Teton Gravity Research
Best Male Freeride Segment : Sean Pettit / The Masquerade – Super Proof Inc.

– Amateur Category –

Best AM Cinematography : Somnium – The Ridge Films
Best AM Editing : Dead End – Not So Local
AM Film of the Year – Presented by CFSA : Profile, Character on Skis – Midiafilm

– Open Category –

Best Female Short : Tatum Monod Season Edit
Best Short : Vecom Video – Fast Forward
Best Web Series : Salomon Freeski TV
Best Crash – Presented by Bern : Tom Leitner / Passenger – Legs of Steel
Best Single Shot : Passenger – Legs of Steel

Best Storytelling – Presented by Forecast Ski Magazine : For Lack of Better – Clayton Vila Studio
Best Urban Movie : Houligan: A Ski Story – JF Houle
Best Big Mountain Film : The Masquerade – Super Proof Inc.
Jury’s Pick : Houligan: A Ski Story – JF Houle

– Pro Category –

Best Short Movie : Good Company Two
Best Editing : Passenger – Legs of Steel
Best Cinematography – Presented by Troublemakers : The Masquerade – Super Proof Inc.
Film of the Year – Presented by Chic Chac Lodge : Small World – Level 1 Productions

iF3 2015 – Houligan et Jf Houle s'offrent 3 awards !

Ces résultats sont à vérifier au High Five Festival : http://www.highfive-festival.com/en/

– Athlete Category –

Discovery of the Year : Jacob Hyllengren / Bon Vivant – BRS
Rookie of the Year : Josh Daiek / Blank. The Movie – WeAreBlank
Best Female Park Performance : Lisa Zimmermann
Best Male Street Segment : JF Houle / Houligan: A Ski Story – JF Houle
Best Female Freeride Performance : Angel Collinson / Paradise Waits – Teton Gravity Research
Best Male Freeride Segment : Sean Pettit / The Masquerade – Super Proof Inc.

– Amateur Category –

Best AM Cinematography : Somnium – The Ridge Films
Best AM Editing : Dead End – Not So Local
AM Film of the Year – Presented by CFSA : Profile, Character on Skis – Midiafilm

– Open Category –

Best Female Short : Tatum Monod Season Edit
Best Short : Vecom Video – Fast Forward
Best Web Series : Salomon Freeski TV
Best Crash – Presented by Bern : Tom Leitner / Passenger – Legs of Steel
Best Single Shot : Passenger – Legs of Steel

Best Storytelling – Presented by Forecast Ski Magazine : For Lack of Better – Clayton Vila Studio
Best Urban Movie : Houligan: A Ski Story – JF Houle
Best Big Mountain Film : The Masquerade – Super Proof Inc.
Jury’s Pick : Houligan: A Ski Story – JF Houle

– Pro Category –

Best Short Movie : Good Company Two
Best Editing : Passenger – Legs of Steel
Best Cinematography – Presented by Troublemakers : The Masquerade – Super Proof Inc.
Film of the Year – Presented by Chic Chac Lodge : Small World – Level 1 Productions

Oscar Wester Trip 16s to Victory at the One Hit Wonder

We’ve gotten first reports that Oscar Wester has won the One Hit Wonder at Thredbo, Australia with a triple cork 1620. Fellow Swede Jesper Tjäder and New Zealand’s Jackson Wells rounded out the podium.

“The jump was perfect, so there was no excuse not to hold back,” said fourth-place finisher James “Woodsy” Woods. “Everyone knew that would be the only way to win and it showed in the level of skiing here today – it was nuts!”

The recap video should be out soon, check back for it!

A Brief History of the X Games in Europe The One Hit Wonder, Australia's biggest Big Air, is back

The first and only AFP World Tour big air event in Australia is set to take over Thredbo Alpine Resort with some of the world’s best Freeski athletes going head to head from Tuesday, September 8th.

Last year’s champion Elias Ambühl of Switzerland will return to defend his title on the biggest jump built at any Australian ski resort against Australian Olympian Russ Henshaw, who had back to back wins at the event in 2012 and 2013 before taking a break from local competition last year to prepare for his Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic campaign. Ambühl and Henshaw are arguably two of the best big air skiers in the world right now with sights set on gaining an early points lead on the 15/16 AFP season leader board.

 

However neither will be without opposition from the strongest field of world ranked competitors the Toyota Big Air has seen since it was introduced to the international circuit in 2012. Ten out of the current top fifteen have secured a start including Team GB Olympian James ‘Woodsy’ Woods along with fellow Salomon Team member Oscar Wester and GoPro athlete Jesper Tjäder from Sweden. Last year’s runner up, Canadian Noah Morrison and Swiss wunderkind Jonas Hunziker both return as strong contenders but throw into the mix a slither of Australian’s – crowd favourites Jesse Houghton, Thomas Waddell and Sontimer team rider Ryley Lucas – all with a hometown advantage and this certainly becomes a space to watch.

So what can spectators expect to see? Above the Cruiser chairlift (valid Thredbo lift pass required) at the top of Merritts is an almost incomprehensible pile of snow which, over the next week, will be shaped by the terrain park team into Thredbo’s centrepiece. Since 2009 the jump, regarded by athletes as one of the best and biggest (often in excess of 100ft) on the planet, has played host to Australia’s first competition double cork, then in 2013 the Southern Hemisphere’s first triple cork as well as most recently the infamous “naked crash” that was reported by news outlets all around the world.

 

Jumping is weather dependant and will conclude on Saturday September 12th with a unique “Game Show” format that will see skiers paired in teams to combine their tricks to complete the allocation amount of rotations in front of an X-Factor style judging panel. “Following the measured success of Sam Ruttiman’s 100ft naked cork 7 last year, we are working hard to mould this elite competition into a melting pot of death stares, peer pressure and mind games among the world’s best big air athletes. It should be a lot of fun for the riders and make for some great spectating…” – Andreas Gloor, Event Director.

For those of you at home who like to play along, the OHW GoPro Challenge launches today. Whether it’s skiing down blue runs, hucking off kickers or having a snowball fight, show us how much fun you have in the snow by submitting a short GoPro clip for the chance to win a trip to Thredbo Alpine Resort and a GoPro HERO4 Silver camera, plus mounts and accessories. Entries are open now on onehitwonderevent.com under the ON THE MOUNTAIN tab until October 5th.
On Saturday night, Melbourne indie pop band Alpine will headline a night of live music in the Thredbo Village Square after the AFP big air presentation to mark the One Hit Wonder Mountain Festival Official after party.
For more details on the week including the full athlete line-up, head to www.onehitwonderevent.com.

Krom Wars 2015

Words: Jiří Volák

It is a quite unique event when you‘re swimming in the pool and guys on skis are flying doubles right over your head. This is KROM WARS, the original freeski Big Air water-ramp contest in the Czech Republic at the end of the summer.

The contest day, August 29, started up with a bluebird sky as hundreds of stoked people congregated at the outdoor swimming pool in the small city of Hulín to watch invited freeskiers from nine different European countries. The competition started with a qualification jam session on the big air ramp and cannon tube. The kicker had been improved since the last event two years ago. Every rider had 5 jumps to try to get into the final.

The final round was reserved for the best 12 guys, who competed in two head-to-head rounds to determine three riders for the superfinal. Bad luck for the great Austrian riders, they eliminated each other, with only Dennis Ranalter remaining.

It wasn‘t easy to get into the superfinal ,as tricks were not allowed to be repeated, and the level was pretty high:

Dennis Ranalter knocked out his friends and favourites Christian Jenny and Sam Baumgartner. Tomáš Peč gave no chance to German Thomas Trifonitchev and Daniel Hanka. Martin Horák (last winner) beat Matic Lovko and Ondrej Beneš.

The superfinal tricks were original and surprising. The crowd, which consisted of thousands of people, pushed the guys above their limits and the atmosphere was unforgettable thanks to them.

In the superfinal each rider had four tries to show his best. Two best jumps counted.

1. Martin Horák – CZE (dub 12 teweaked mute, right dub underflip 9 double tail)
2. Dennis Ranalter – AUT (dub 12 blunt, dub 9 blunt)
3. Thomas Peč – CZE (dub 12 safety, tripple backflip)

A big thanks goes to everyone who showed up and helped to make such a perfect end of summer.