competition

This is the highlight video for the Red Bull Beyond The Line free ski competition. This event went down at Catedral, Bariloche in the end of August. The venue combined cliffs, steeps, and natural airs with man made jumps. It was a show case for Argentinian free ride talent, with locals taking the top 3:

1. Tomas Blanc

2. Facundo Aguirre

3. Santiago Guzman

The winner will go on to compete in the Red Bull Linecatcher in France this winter.

Due to lack of snow, the SwatchFreerideWorldTourSponsoredByNorthFace decided not to hold the Chilean Freeskiing Championships at Ski Arpa this season. Instead, they headed down to Antillanca for a few days of volcano shredding. Luckily for us, they documented their trip in a four part video. It looks like they really made the most of the conditions available this season in the Andes. Check it out:

Eye of the Condor Teaser The 2nd annual Eye of the Condo competition will commence this Friday (July 27) and run until August 3rd. La Parva, Chile will host four … Read More

World Wingsuit League Logo

Might this be the worlds newest and most dangerous competitive sport? 

The worlds newest professional sporting league ,The World Wingsuit League (WWL), has been formed and may be coming to a country near you.  The first and only WWL competition venue will be going down this October in China and will be broadcasted live online.  The goal of the WWL is to expand their competition to around the world to locations like the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, and the Christ Statue.

“Imagine Formula One in the sky, instead of a flat two-dimensional race amongst cars, you now have a three-dimensional race happening between cliff faces and walls, and the finish line is a cable car.”

Jeb Corliss

The WWL Course

The competition will be a race between the 16 best wingsuit pilots in the world, Jeb Corliss and Roberta Mancino will undoubtedly be some of the highlights.  There will be 3 days of competition, 16 pilots the first day, 10 the second and 6 on the final day.  The race will be held via time trials to help prevent collisions and will come down to who can take the most precise and the closest turns to shave off as many milliseconds as possible.  However if a flyer gets to close the walls they will be disqualified.  The course will be very well defined with strict rules on what can and can’t be done since 1 mistake will lead to death.

On the safety side of the race there has been an immense amount of planning to make it as safe as possible.  So don’t expect to see flyers inches from the walls as the course has been described as 1/10 of what the pilots are capable of doing, yet still visually appealing to the audience.

“…if we have three people die in the competition, well then it’s over. That’s the end of the World Wingsuit League.”

Jeb Corliss

World Wingsuit League Promo Video

Jeb Corliss is the mastermind behind this new competition and has been working with Redbull China to make it a reality.  It has also been said that the winner will take home “A significant” amount of prize money but the number has not yet been decided on.

Roberta Mancino jumping at the venue – Tianmen Mountain

Skip to 2 minutes, or enjoy looking at super model Roberta getting ready.

Sustain a serious injury skiing and you’ll want to get off the hill quick and into the care of medical specialists. That’s where the Ski Patrol Olympics come in hand, training the men and women in red with the skills needed to rapidly extract a victim from the accident scene…

Ok, not exactly… But the Ski Patrol Olympics are certainly good for entertainment and some good-spirited competition. This year Mammoth Mountain played host to this one-of-a-kind event. Competitions include a randonée race, beacon search, big mountain GS race, toboggan race, bamboo throw, simulated bomb throw, Recco search, and an avalanche rescue dog search competition.

When seconds count... June Mountain Patrollers getting their "victim" off the hill as quickly as they can.

Whether well publicized or not I was not aware that the 2012 Ski Patrol Olympics were to be held at Mammoth Mountain – the past two years the event has been hosted by Squaw Valley. Either way, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the running of yesterday’s Toboggan Race (if there’s one competition to catch perhaps this is the one), thus the presentation of the above video.

All I have to say is, “that looks like onehelluva good time!” Fortunately no one was injured (that’s the whole idea, right?), and good times were had by all. Next time around it would be great to see the Ski Patrol Olympics properly publicized – this is a really fun event and a great opportunity for ski and snowboard enthusiasts to come out and cheer on the men and women that serve.

For those who have followed the Nike Chosen contest series, you will know that this is one cool contest, and an awesome idea to get the crews at every mountain out and competing. When the competition started, snowboard crews from each mountain had the chance to make a video and submit it to be voted on as one of the top snowboard crews around. The top 9 hosted slopestyle or big air competitions and then the top 3 crews were selected to be flown to the final event. The European Chosen series final will take place in Austria where three crews will battle in the ultimate park set up in order to live like pros as well as the top 12 riders from the Nike Chosen contest series.

  The Extreme just finished up in Verbier, CH, and was once again an exciting show. Winners were Reine Barkered, Jonathan Charlet, Christine Hargin, and Maria Debari. All won both … Read More

This video was filmed 6 years before Shaun White was born in 1980.  This is very first snowboard competition which took place at Ski Cooper in Colorado.

Check out how funky the boards were back then.  And those metal fins coming out the back?  Snowboards and snowboarding have come a long way since the first ever comp huh?

Watch the above video, then watch the Travis Rice “Art of Flight” trailer below.  Notice the difference?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh29_SERH0Y

The second to last stop on the Freeride World Tour just went down in Fieberbruun, Austria. Conditions looked about as good as you can hope for in a competition, and all riders really took advantage of what the Wildseelolder face has to offer.

Drew Tabke won for Skiers, with a beautiful, fast and fluid run. Kevin Guri was second, with a really impressive double stager. Current tour leader, Sam Smoothy, took a big crash and ended up in last place. High ranking American Oakley White-Allen also crashed.

Jonathan Charlet  won for Snowboarders, with his usual style of finding a creative and untouched line. Flo Orley finished second. Matt Annetts (Unofficial Jackson contributor) finished 5th; and Tahoe local Ralph Backstrom finished 6th.

On to Verbier:

The final stop on the Freeride World Tour will be March 22-25 on the legendary Bec de Rosses, in Verbier CH.

For skiers, Sam Smoothy and Drew Tabke sit in 1st and 2nd place. In the past two seasons, Tabke has transformed from a bit wild (but always entertaining) into the most consistent skier on the tour. Sam Smoothy has had a huge breakout year with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in the last three events (before crashing at Fieberbruun). Look out for Reine Barkered, currently in third place, who always throws down impressive lines on the Bec de Rosses. It will be fun to see who comes out on top in Verbier.

For Snowboarders, Jonathan Charlet and Ralph Backstrom sit in 1st and 2nd. Both have been dominant this year, although their styles differ. Charlet tends to choose unique and creative lines, while Backstrom goes for the bolder, more aggressive ones. Again, their duel for the title on the Bec de Rosses will be fun to watch.

The Bec de Rosses is, without a doubt, the most challenging face in freeride competition. It is steep, rocky, and has terrifying exposure. The Bec favors riders who have more experience with complex big mountain lines, so the top finishers are not always those who have been dominating the other events. Whoever wins, the Verbier Extreme always provides the scariest, most exciting show of the season.

The Top 3s

Men’s Ski

1. Drew Tabke
2. Kevin Guri
3. Reine Barkered

Men’s Snowboard

1. Jonathan Charlet
2. Flo Orley
3. Aurelien Routens

Women’s Ski

1. Eva Walkner
2. Christine Hargin
3. Janina Kuzma

Women’s Snowboard

1. Liz Kristoferitsch
2. Shannan Yates
3. Maria Kuzma

Visit the FWT website for Full Results, and a Summary.

Last week-end Mammoth Mountain was action packed, to say the least. On top of blue skies, warm weather, and fresh snow, we had the 2012 Sprint U.S. Grand Prix Ski and Snowboard Competitions to keep us entertained. And that’s just in the day-time… As part of its on-going Mammoth Concert Series, the Mountain hosted Shiny Toy Guns and CSS on Saturday night at Canyon Lodge.

With top-tier talent throwing down awe-inspiring tricks on the slopes by day and world-renowned musicians rocking the stage by night, Mammoth proved itself a destination for incomparable entertainment.

The video above is a brief teaser of all the action that Mammoth churned-out last week-end. Weren’t able to make it up to Mammoth for the grand spectacle? Not to worry… NBC covered the slopes of Mammoth Main Park with staff and equipment so that you could catch the whole enchilada, right from the comfort of your couch.

Here is the tentative TV Schedule (and trust me, it’s worth a look):

03/10/2012 – 9:00am PST NBC – Sprint U.S. Grand Prix – Snowboard Halfpipe
03/10/2012 – 10:00am PST NBC – Visa U.S. Grand Prix – Ski Halfpipe
03/17/2012 – 12:00pm PST NBC Sports Network – Sprint U.S. Grand Prix – Snowboard Halfpipe
03/17/2012 – 1:00pm PST NBC Sports Network – Paul Mitchell Progression Session – Snowboard Slopestyle
03/31/2012 – 12:00pm PST NBC Sports Network – Visa U.S. Grand Prix – Ski Slopestyle

And here are your 2012 Sprint U.S. Grand Prix Results:

SKI

Slopestyle (Men)
1-Tom Wallisch
2-Alex Bellemare
3-Joss Christensen

Slopestyle (Women)
1-Kaya Turski
2-Devin Logan
3-Emilia Wint

Pipe (Men)
1-David Wise
2-Noah Bowman
3-Benoit Valentin

Pipe (Women)
1-Brita Sigourney
2-Roz Groenwoud
3-Maddie Bowman

SNOWBOARD

Slopestyle (Men)
1-Chas Guldemond
2-Sage Kotsenburg
3-Mark Hoyt

Slopestyle (Women)
1-Joanna Dzierzawski
2-Indigo Monk
3-Karly Shorr

Halfpipe (Men)
1-Louie Vito
2-Greg Bretz
3-Luke Mitrani

Halfpipe (Women)
1-Elena Hight
2-Kaitlyn Farrington
3-Ellery Hollingsworth