Blue Tomato built a floating mini-ramp, then these guys destroyed it

On August 15, Blue Tomato hosted the first “Captain’s Quest” skateboard competition in Ramsau, Austria, bringing internationally renowned riders together on a floating mini-ramp for a one-of-a-kind skateboard session. You can read up on the full story here.

A SLVSH Tournament is Underway in Australia

Since its debut last fall we’ve all grown to love SLVSH, the S.K.A.T.E.-inspired video competition series hatched by veteran competition skiers Matt Walker and Joss Christensen. Throughout their travels, Walker and Christensen have begun filming one-on-one park duels in their own unique format. The games provide a truly entertaining alternate take on terrain-park competition and how to judge riders against each other (If you haven’t watched any of the games yet, you’ve got some catching up to do over on the SLVSH website!).

Now, the creators of SLVSH are on their way to fulfilling a new goal by organizing the first-ever SLVSH Tournament.

 

On Facebook, SLVSH announced that eight skiers will duke it out in the first SLVSH Cup. Organizing a tournament has always been a focus for the SLVSH creators, who see their game as a viable alternative to increasingly standardized slopestyle competition. The only problem is getting all the riders in the same place for long enough; since it’s difficult to film more than two games per day, a full-blown tournament can a week or longer to complete.

Here are the first-round SLVSH Cup matchups:

Joss Christensen vs. Matt Walker

Chris Laker vs. Jossi Wells

Evan McEachran vs. Russ Henshaw

James Woods vs. Tom Wallisch

“The tournament is currently post first game, but the finals haven’t happened yet,” Walker told us via Facebook. “We have a solid weather window, so I’m excited, hopefully the Aussie meteorologists are right.”

As for details, we’ll have to wait until the videos drop on SLVSH.com, with the first match-up between Walker and Christensen reportedly dropping today.

 

 

“We experienced our longest game in the quarters, which beat the previous record by 15 tricks,” said Walker. “I’m very stoked on how it’s going, the park that Perisher has built and, above all, the level of riding in the Cup has been unreal.”

“Also, I need to thank all the homies who helped us film,” he added. After all, filming four games of SLVSH simultaneously requires eight different capable cameramen – no easy task to coordinate!

The Red Bull Linecatcher moves to Tignes

Some have known the news for a while, but now it’s official with a release on the Tignes website.

Behind the scenes of the High Five Festival with Gaylord Pedretti

A large parking lot surrounds a flat building that holds the Scott branch and other smaller offices. If you know where you’re going, you enter by the back door; if not, you can get lost. The corridor is empty, but a colorful sign “Like That” invites you through a door and into another world. You knock on the door and enter. On the right side, a modern kitchen with a bar; straight ahead, a storage room; on the left, the office itself between boxes, pictures and shelves.

The style is pure, which contrasts with the numbers of items and goodies around, like a giant painting with the High Five Festival colors. A guitar shows off in front of a Rock’n Snowboards visual. No doubt, it’s another world, the world of the Like That agency. Sitting around the low table, Gaylord is talking with coworkers and partners in a relaxed atmosphere, while the open space slowly reveals the invisible workers. At the end of the meeting, they all move outside to check the new Oakley motor toy for the pleasure of those old kids who, as Gaylord admits, “have fun with nothing.”

Mint syrup in our water, dictaphone on the table: it’s on for 15 minutes of talk, passion and metaphors. Gaylord is good at that.

More informations HERE
Website : HERE

So Gaylord, how is going the preparation one month before High Five?
When we love, we don’t count, so I don’t count my days. I work a lot and didn’t take any holidays. This year, for Like That, it’s the first event of the year, when usually we would already have had Vars Tournament and Kumi Yama, so it’s like Christmas for us. We are super ready and we have plenty of surprises. We are ready earlier because we worked more and we were focused only on this event. We did so many things that we didn’t have the time for before. The magazine is printing right now (an 84-page complete magazine). The teaser is ready so we just have to finalize some stuff. The event will be bigger as well.

Did you stop the other events to focus on High Five?
Kumi Yama was a personal decision. I though that seven was enough, and I preferred to stop, rather than having them stop me. Like a musician, I prefer to announce my last album, rather than not being able to do the next one.
In Vars, the mayor changed, etc. We didn’t’ fight about it; if we only get a third of the money, then we just don’t do a shitty event. Our name is Like That, cause it’s “like that” and not any other way. The advantage with the High Five Festival is that this event is ours.

What’s the news about this year’s High Five?
We will have the Ocamp, a secret spot with 350m2 of wood structure we built ourselves. The ephemeral restaurant will also become a ephemeral bar till 1am with music and beer. So for those who don’t want to go to the club, they can drink beer for three euros instead of 10…
We have a lot of new movies, including some exclusive premieres.
There will be an autographic signing spot with riders there all the time.
For those who have all-access passes, there will get a special package with poster and stickers we made in collaboration with The Bunch, Poor Boyz, etc.
For the first time, we also have 14 pairs of Atomic/High Five skis to give away.
We also took a lot of time making sure that the riders will come. We have a lot of them this year.

Which detail is your favorite?
This year, it’s the surprise pack. I also really like the popcorn.
This surprise is: “Life is a surprise, and High Five could be too.”
Basically, we’ve got a nice surprise in store. We like to make our audience feel like kids again. The suprise pack will be offered to the first 400 people to buy the all-access pass.

How do you prepare for an event like this one?
In your head, it’s like a dream. It’s like when you schedule your holiday: you think about what do to do if the weather is good or bad, you think about everything. I often say that we are like the team in Ocean’s Eleven. We prepare all the possibilities, and the goal is to do the holdup of the century, to do the best event. It’s pondering a lot of questions, and realizing them in reality.

Where would you rate the coming event on a scale from 1-10?
My objective is to get 19 on a scale of 20. I don’t like to rate 1-10.

And how would you rate last year’s event?
Last year was a real challenge because we stopped our collaboration with iF3 in April, when we were already super close to the event. We had to contact film productions and motivate people. When you change your name, a lot of people are afraid, so a lot leave you and you have to accept that people don’t trust you anymore.
However, if you were the captain of the iF3’s boat, you will be the High Five boat captain too, and you built it as well. The goal is to trust and have the same crew.
For me, this year will be the best edition of iF3 and High Five by far.

Let’s talk about the parties.
We love music, so we look forward to providing several different genres. At the bar it will be more minimal, while at the club it will be more techno and hip-hop. There will also be a rock=themed “Bon Appetit” party. We will have great artists including Club Cheval and C2C Style. The opening party will be at the bowl, and the closing party at the Pop.

Your events are growing, but the agency only has two events now. What’s the future for Like That?
In my mind, it’s not the best when an artist releases an album every year. I’m really happy we have the time to take a break and create something new. The goal is not to have 20,000 events. This year we also did a lot of consulting for brands. We always have the same amount of work, even if you don’t always see it.

We will continue growing High Five and are preparing some stuff for next year already, but we can’t tell anything more right now. If I can make another artist comparison: If you try to produce too much, you don’t produce anything good.

We’re trying to be a real skiing festival including freeride, freestyle, free-tele. The familial aspect is something we like. We want to show that freeskiing is not only about the X Games and the Olympics, but also about people who film all year long. I liked what Nico Vuignier said: “I wonder what people will remember more: Candide’s “One of These Days” edit or the Olympics podium.”

Right now we’re already thinking about next year and focusing super hard on High Five. The goal is to not have too many buns in the oven.

Everything you need to know about the 2015 High Five Festival

It’s that time again: in a month, France’s freeskiing festival will be back. The High Five Festival isn’t just a movie screening, but a tribute to the spirit of freeskiing itself—it’s the place where the pros come as freeski fans to tell their summer stories and winter dreams, and lose some memory at a party or two. It’s a very lively place where livers are abused as much as the eyes are pleased. Here’s an incomplete list of what medicine this year’s High Five will offer. Tomorrow we’ll have an interview with the Doctor himself, High Five organizer Gaylord Pedretti.

WHEN: 2-4 October, 2015
WHERE: Annecy, France
Website: http://www.highfive-festival.com/en/

NUMBERS
55 movies
1,319 minutes of video projected in 4 screening rooms
9 countries represented by the film companies
15 countries represented by riders
50 brands in the brand village and around the festival
12 musical artists at the parties
50,000 stickers to be liberally distributed

MOVIES
Alongside the classic productions, you’ll also have the pleasure to watch snowboard flicks, multi-sports movies, and even flash back to the 1990s with the “Nuit de la Glisse.”

PARTIES
DJ Nelson, Wax Wreckaz, Guillaume Berg, Sam Tiba, Myd, Workerz, Shook, OT Mind…

LES SOIRÉES
Le High Five a concocté un programme nocturne aux petits oignons en conviant des chefs du Dancefloor tels que DJ Nelson, Wax Wreckaz, Guillaume Berg, Sam Tiba, Myd, Workerz, Shook, OT Mind…

RIDERS
Candide Thovex (FRA) Kévin Rolland (FRA) , Mike Douglas (CAN), Julien Reignier (FRA), Henrik Harlaut (SWE) & Phil Casabon (CAN), Joffrey Pollet Villard (FRA), Tom Wallisch, Joss Christensen, Nico Vuignier (SUI), Loic Collomb-Patton (FRA ), Vincent Gagnier (CAN ), Sammy Carlson, Jossi Wells (NZ ), Sage Cattabriga-Alosa (USA), Sean Pettit (CAN), Cody Townsend (USA), Alexi Godbout (CAN), JF Houle (CAN), Richard Permin (FRA), Glen Plake (USA), Sam Favret (FRA), Enak Gavaggio (FRA), Daniel Hanka (CZE), Fabien Maierhofer (FRA), Victor Galuchot (FRA), Sandra Lahnsteiner (AUT)…

ACTIVITIES
This year High Five has expanded its offering of activities to stay busy when you’re not watching movies, including Ocamp, a free-access, 350m2 “Woodward” in the city; the High Five restaurant and bar; and an Air Bag, Brand Village, autograph stand, and much more!

We’ll also welcome you at the Downdays booth with two friendly staffers and our brand-new magazine, and there will definitely be stylish riders dropping by to sign your copy of the magazine, your shirt, or your chest… you never know. We’ll have the pen to the pad, the camera to the eye and the hand on the bottle to keep you up-to-date on all the happenings at High Five.

A hot-fire dryslope edit from the UK's OverStoke Festival

Normally a dryslope edit wouldn’t be all that much to get excited about, but this cut from the OverStoke Festival, a new ski gathering that went down last week at Stoke Ski Centre in the U.K., is pretty damn good. If these kids have this much steeze skiing on plastic, what’ll they look like on snow? Are dryslopes somehow conducive to afterbang?

 

 

OverStoke Festival 2015 from Jack Tompkins on Vimeo.

The X Games Return to Europe

Heads up Europe, the X Games is coming back to our side of the Atlantic, with both summer and winter sports to be contested in Oslo, Norway on February 24-28, 2016.

The move represents the return of the X Games brand to Europe after its 2014 pull back from Summer X Games events in Barcelona and Munich, and the Winter X Games Europe in Tignes.

Get ready for an X Games Big Air on European snow.

In an X Games first, both summer and winter X events will be hosted in Oslo, with a program including Skateboard Street as well as Ski & Snowboard Big Air and Halfpipe. The snow events will be held at the Oslo Winter Park.

The first ten invited skiers have also been announced. The list features Norwegian Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen, halfpipe aces Kevin Rolland and David Wise, and other big guns like Bobby Brown, Vincent Gagnier and Gus Kenworthy. Scope the full invite list here and stay tuned for more news.

 

Freeski Open NZ – Big Mountain Schedule & Other Need-to-Know

Please be on alert and watch for more information coming out on Sunday August 30th.

Compulsory Equipment – As per Freeride World Tour rules, all competitors must carry or wear an avalanche transceiver, probe, shovel, back protection and helmet.

Bib Collection – At Gin and Raspberry in Wanaka on Monday 31st Aug 6pm – 8pm (or at Remarks Café at 8am on the day)

Qualifiers Schedule:
8:00am – Bib collection
8:30am – Rider briefing in the Remarkables Café
8:45am – Equipment check as you load the lift
10:00am – Ladies’ Snowboard Qualifying Run
10:30am – Men’s Snowboard Qualifying Run
11:30am – Ladies’ Ski Qualifying Run
12:00pm – Men’s Ski Qualifying Run
(Daily schedule may change depending on weather and snow condition, any changes will be announced at the rider briefing)

Finals Schedule and Format:
Rider Briefing on Alta Lake at 10:00am
Snowboard Ladies – 4 top qualifiers
Snowboard Men – 6 top qualifiers
Ski Ladies – 4 Top Qualifiers + 1 Invite
Ski Men – 12 Top Qualifiers + 4 Invites

iF3 Presents Its 2015 Official Selections

The International Freeski Film Festival (iF3) has announced its selections for its ninth annual ski-movie extravaganza in Montreal, Quebec. Of course, as anyone who has attended iF3 in Montreal before can attest, you might well remember the party scene more than you do the movies – if you remember anything at all.

Nevertheless, these are all the great webisodes, edits and films that will be debuting at iF3 on the 24th to 26th of September, 2015—so you should try your best to stay sober enough to enjoy them!

Find more info about iF3 on their website.

AM Category

BRS, Bon Vivant, Sweden (Webcast)
Chris Bolduc, Trashin, Canada (In Theater*)
Gavin Rudy Media, The Golden Age, United States (In Theater)
Inflik Media, The Unseen, Canada
Kook Lyfe, The Last American Ski Bum, United States (In Theater)
Midiafilm, PROFILE – Characters on Skis, Austria (Webcast)
Next Generation Media, Ticking Bomb, Norway
Nosafe, A Short Winter, France
Not so Local, Dead End, Canada
Perspective Studios, Misconceptions, United Kingdom
Tabarnak Pack, Season Recap, Canada (In Theater)
The Hood Crew, The Boolers Ball, United States (In Theater)
The Ridge Films, Somnium, France (Webcast)
Totally Trevor, Totally Trevor The Movie 2, United States (In Theater*)
Twobees Media, Judgement Call, Canada (In Theater)

PRO Category

4FRNT Media, Shaping Skiing, United States (In Theater*)
Armada Skis, Snowcieties, United States (In Theater)
Beech Studio, A Ranger’s Journey to Patagonia, Austria
CFSA / iF3 Festival, The Canadians, Canada (Webcast)
Clayton Vila, For Lack of Better, United States (In Theater)
DPS Cinematic, The Shadow Campaign: Sanctuary, United States (Online)
DPS Cinematic, The Shadow Campaign: Sun Dog, United States (Online)
DPS Cinematic, The Shadow Campaign: Under Current, United States (In Theater)
DPS Cinematic, The Shadow Campaign: Whitewash, United States (Webcast)
Driftwood Media, Blackout, Canada (Webcast)
Elmar Bossard, Swiss Freeski – The Movie, Switzerland (Online)
Freeski-Crew, Street Skiing in Russia, Austria (Webcast)
Good Company, Good Company Two, United States (In Theater)
Gpsy Feelin, Cruise Control, France (In Theater)
HG Skis, Children of the Guan, United States
JF Houle, Houligan: A Ski Story, Canada (In Theater)
Inspired Media Concepts, In Search, Canada (In Theater)
K2 Skis, K2 Team Movie, United States (In Theater*)
Legs Of Steel, Passenger, Austria (In Theater)
Level 1 Productions, Small World, United States (In Theater)
Line Traveling Circus, Fried Ice, United States (Webcast)
Meanwhile in Canada, Ski The North, Canada (In Theater)
Nimbus Independent, After The Sky Falls, United States (Webcast)
Nipwitz & Flatlight Creative House, Brain Massage, Finland (Webcast)
Poor Boyz Productions, Elevated, United States (In Theater)
Real Skifi, Episode 13, Finland (In Theater)
Salt-Street Productions, Red Run: The Abandoned Ski Village, United Kingdom (Online)
Super Proof, The Masquerade, Canada (In Theater)
Team Thirteen, Conquering The Useless, United States
Teton Gravity Research, Paradise Waits, United States (In Theater)
The Coterie, We Trust Your Judgment, United States (In Theater)
The Distillery, Suzuki Nine Queens Highlight, Austria (In Theater)
True Grit Productions, Dog Days of Winter, United States (In Theater)
Vecom Video, Fast Forward, France (In Theater)
Verb Cabin, Places To Go – A Jim Harris Story, United States (Online)
Warren Miller Entertainment, Warren Miller’s Chasing Shadows: Valdez Segment, United States (In Theater)
WeAreBlank, Blank.themovie, Canada (In Theater)

All Girls @ iF3

Brooke Potter, Ultraviolence, United States (Webcast)
Brooke Potter, Park Performance Edit, United States
Brooklyn Poirot, Park Performance Edit, United States
Coline Ballet-Baz, Highlight 2015, France
Dania Assaly, Park Performance Edit, United States
Danylle Hammett, Park Performance Edit, United States
Diamond Annies Media, The Last Park Movie, United States (In Theater)
Emma Dahlström, The 2015 Season, Sweden (Webcast)
Jackie Mee Hyun Kling, Park Performance Edit, United States
Katrina Nicole, Park Performance Edit, United States
Kelly Sildaru, Park Performance Edit, United States
KGB Productions, How Did I Get Here?, United States (Webcast)
KT Miller, Shifting Ice + Changing Tides, United States
Level 1 Productions, Tatum Monod Season Edit, United States (Webcast)
Lexi DuPont, #WhySoSerious, United States (Webcast)
Lisa Zimmermann, Season 2015, Germany (Webcast)
Matilda Rapaport, A Skier Knows – Entering a Skier’s Mind, United States
Maude Raymond, Season Edit, Canada
Sarah Martinais, Freeride Performance Edit, France
Shades of Winter, Between, Austria (In Theater)
Steffi Relssom, Park Performance Edit, United States
Taylor Lundquist, Park Performance Edit, United States

Web Series

Maurienne Tourisme, A la Française, France (Online)
Teton Gravity Research, Almost Live Season 7, United States (Online)
Teton Gravity Research, Behind The Line Season 7, United States (Online)
Bon Appétit Freeski, Bon Appétit, France (Online)
Tazza, Hot Chocolate Project, Finland (Online)
Newschoolers.com, On The Road with Mr.Bishop Season 1, United States (Online)
Switchback Entertainment, Salomon Freeski TV Season 8, Canada (Online)
The M-equipment, Serial Heelers, Switzerland (Online)
Katrina Nicole, Sexual Wednesdays, United States (Online)
The Big Picture, The Big Picture – Mtn Revision, United States (Online)
DPS Cinematic, The Shadow Campaign, United States (Online)
The Faction Collective, We Are The Faction Collective Season 2, Switzerland (Online)

Snow Park Bispingen’s 2015 Summer Feast

Words: Jörg Angeli

The seventh annual Summer Feast took place August 3-9, 2015 at SNOW DOME Bispingen. The ski and snowboard camp fired up participants from all across Europe not just with the biggest park setup yet inside the indoor ski hall, but also with numerous side events and a perfect atmosphere in the camping area.

The Summer Feast has earned itself a permanent place on the event calendars of the European ski and snowboard scene, drawing increasingly more freestyle fans from across Europe. In addition to a crowd of Summer Feast veterans, there were many new faces to be seen in the camping area next to SNOW DOME Bispingen who had come to join in the collective chilling, shredding and partying.

 

The setup in Snow Park Bispingen was completely re-designed for the event. Including several special obstacles that occasionally left even the pros stumped, the park also offered a large number of boxes and rails for everyone from beginners to advanced riders. Quick rebuilds throughout the week provided constant variety in the setup, while the weather played along and offered great conditions for the outdoor sessions.

 

On Wednesday the snowboarders had their High Ollie Contest in the outdoor riding area, constructed with snow brought out from the indoor ski hall, while the skiers showed their stuff on a tube during the Rossignol Best Trick Session. The highest ollie at 1.30 meters was sprung by a well-known face, Klaus Schwarzer, who dominated the competition last year and is still not to be beaten. For the skiers, Felix Althammer showed the best Overall Impression, taking home a pair of Rossignol FKS bindings.

 

The action continued on Thurday with a public photo and video session in the Snow Park and an evening cool-down session at the Neff Waterslide Contest. After a few test runs, participants were soon tossing backflips, front flips and sideflips into the pool, with goodies from Neff as reward.

 

After another photo and video session on Friday, the mini-ramp lovers had their moment at the Blue Tomato Skate Session, where a crew from Sweden stood out with technical tricks and smooth styles.

 

The Saturday-evening Rail Jam brought the action back to the Snow Park one more time. Riders tossed their best tricks in a relaxed jam-session format, competing for cash, Blue Tomato gift cards, and drink vouchers for the afterparty that were tossed out on a trick-by-trick basis, while larger prizes waited for the overall winners.

In the men’s snowboard category, Moritz Loef prevailed over Severin Willmann and Taddäus van Treeck. On the freeski side, David Krieger landed in first place, followed by Marcin Pośpiech in second and Simon Storgaard in third. The victors were rewarded with boards, bindings, clothes, skis, goggles, helmets and ski poles from Technine, K2 Skis and Rossignol.

 

The video contest, for which participants had the whole week to film their best line in the park, was won by Taddäus van Treeck. In the riders’ voting he captured the audience with his highly creative tricks, winning a free ticket to next year’s Summer Feast.

Then, after a quick pre-party in the camping area, it was off to the Dorfwirt to celebrate an extraordinary week. You can stay up-to-date on all the latest from Snow Park Bispingen on their Facebook as well as Instagram.

James Woods Wins the Freeski Open of NZ Slopestyle

Press Release

The North Face® Freeski Open of New Zealand Park and Pipe competition wrapped up at Cardrona Alpine Resort today with a spectacular showdown in the men’s slopestyle final. Top qualifier, NZ’s Jossi Wells battled hard for the win but James Woods of the UK was on supreme form and snatched a close victory.

“It was head to head the whole way through, right from qualifiers,” explains James ‘Woodsy’ Woods who qualified second behind Jossi Wells in Friday’s opening event.

Following two days of cold temperatures and poor visibility, competition day dawned clear and calm for today’s finals. Competition format allowed each rider three runs to impress the judges, with the top score counting for their final result.

Eager to back up his 2014 Freeski Open of NZ slopestyle title, James ‘Woodsy’ Woods came out firing with a first run score of 93.50. But with Jossi Wells also looking hungry for the win there would be no chance to relax until all three runs were in the bag. With the first round complete, Jossi’s first run score of 89.75 had him sitting a close second with Switzerland’s Elias Ambühl sitting third on 84.50.

On the second run Jossi and Elias both lifted their game, Jossi bringing his score up to 91.50 and Elias to 86.75, closing the gap on the Englishman but not enough to change the pecking order.

A stumble on his third run would stop Elias Ambühl from improving his score any further but his second run performance with two linked double 1260s would be enough for third place.

Coming into his third run Jossi Wells signaled that the top step of the podium was still the goal, attacking the top rail section and making creative use of four features where every other competitors only used three. Landing three different doubles on the jump features, Jossi’s stylish final run gave him his top score of the day of 92.50.

“I knew that Jossi had a mega run in the bank and we were pushing each other harder and harder,” explains Woodsy.

With the pressure on, Woodsy knew that nothing short of an immaculate final run would be enough to secure the win and made the call to up the technicality of his rail tricks before signing off with three huge hits off the jumps. His score of 94.00 was the best of the day and the podium was decided: James Woods first, Jossi Wells second, Elias Ambühl third.

Kuzma and Seaton Defend Titles at The Freeski Open of NZ Halfpipe

Press release

Day two of The North Face® Freeski Open of New Zealand Park and Pipe competition got underway at Cardrona Alpine Resort today with skiers from New Zealand, USA, Japan and The Netherlands competing in the 22ft Olympic superpipe. New Zealand’s Janina Kuzma and the USA’s Taylor Seaton both successfully defended their titles.

The Freeski Open of NZ is classified as a silver level event by the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) and today’s event saw some top ranked skiers in action. Cardrona NZ skier Janina Kuzma, ranked number two for women’s halfpipe on the AFP World Tour, was up against world number one Ayana Onozuka of Japan. Winner of the men’s Halfpipe, Taylor Seaton is ranked 12th in the world for this discipline by the AFP.

The event format was a straight three run final with an athlete’s best score counting for their final result. Low cloud and light snow showers reduced visibility and caused a delayed start to competition and a couple of holds mid-way though.

Last of the female skiers to drop into the pipe and showcasing a brand new competition run, Janina Kuzma looked like she had the win in the bag right from the start. Increasing her spin rotation from her tried and tested 540 to the new 720 and adding a switch (backwards) hit in the middle of the pipe, Janina posted a first run score of 88.25 from a possible 100 points.

Ayana Onozuka came out looking determined on her first run, gaining huge amplitude out of the pipe on her first hit but giving herself a fright in the process, losing her control and coming away with a score of 38.25. Her second run had the control and good technical tricks to bring her score up to 82 points but this still wasn’t enough to beat a hard charging Janina Kuzma.

Keeping consistently high amplitude and changing the grabs on her second run Janina was able to push her score up to 90 points for the win. Ayana Onozuka finished in second place and Saori Suzuki (JPN) in third.

In the men’s field Taylor Seaton came into his first run looking strong and set the high score of 87.75 for the first round. Beau-James Wells (Wanaka) followed behind, starting with a big first hit but crashed out on his second trick.

Knowing that he had two more chances to nail his high score Beau came back strong on the second run, landing the only double of the competition to bump his score up to 92.75. However, Taylor Seaton had also upped his game on his second run, adding in a switch right 900 blunt trick to push his own score up to 95.75.

With Finn Bilous (Wanaka) also putting together some technical runs and sitting on a high score of 89.50 and Japanese skier Soshi Utagawa on 78.50 there was a definite promise of a spectacular third run.

Sochi came through with a huge finale bumping his score to 90.5, enough for third place but not to pass Taylor Seaton in first and Beau-James Wells in second. Finn Bilous finished in fourth.

“This is my fifth podium here at The North Face Freeski Open of NZ, I can’t believe it,” commented Taylor.

A familiar face at the Freeski Open of NZ, Taylor Seaton will also compete in the finals of tomorrow’s slopestyle, the first time he has made the cut in this discipline. “I’m really excited about competing tomorrow,” he said.

Competition continues tomorrow with Slopestyle finals which will see seven NZ athletes in action alongside British, Swiss, Australian and US competitors.