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Colby West Wins US Freeskiing Open Big Air

J Dogg — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 22:41:10 -0500

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American Colby West threw down the biggest air of the night with a Switch 1080 Stomp, clinching the championship title for Big Air.

X-Games Medalist Jossi Wells, of New Zealand, cheered his friend on from the second spot on the podium, pulling a flawless mute grab in his final run. Michael Clark placed third, Russ Henshaw, yesterday's slopestyle medalist, nails fourth.

New snow was falling throughout the night, making the jump slow and the air smaller, really bringing out the champions.

Big names Peter Olenick, Sammy Carlson, and Andreas Hatveit fell in the final eight, eliminating their chances to move on to the finals.

"It was really fun being in the air and twisting like that," West said after his first run. The crowd "felt the earth shake," according to announcer Luke Van Valin.

Other notable tricks throughout the night included a nearly perfect Switch 1080 from Charles Gagnier's little bro, Vincent, and a Kangaroo Flip in the second run from Bobby Brown, with a less than perfect landing.

As snowfall became one problem, fences turned into another. Thomas Doplads skied under the fence after an off landing, staying safe. On his second run in the final eight, Doplads ran into the fence again, taking a moment to get up. That second fall eliminated him from competition.

The U.S. Freeskiing Open continues tomorrow with Men's and Women's Superpipe in the morning. Check www.usfreeskiingopen.com for live streaming as well as up-to-the-minute results.

See the RESULTS>>>

Huge Crowd for NZ Free Ski Open

J Dogg — Fri, 1 Sep 2006 01:36:25 -0400

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NZ Free Ski Open wrap up.The NZ Free Ski Open concluded a few nights ago with a huge crowd turning up to watch skiers and snowboarders show off their skills at the BASE Down-town Rail Jam. Some 2500 people packed out the Bullock Bar car park to see the rail jam, where 30 riders slid down the BASE rail that was part of a 3m-high, 6m-long structure, performing their tricks, slides and rotations. One snowboarder, who had not officially entered the competition, was brave enough to take on the challenge by MCs to do a back-flip off the kicker, which he successfully achieved on his second attempt.

Kiwi Pip Simmonds, who last week won the Open’s K2 Superpipe event at Snow Park NZ, took first place in the women’s ski event last night after hitting the rail back-side on, switch out. Maia Stier (NZ) won the women’s snowboarding prize after hitting the rail switch to board slide, coming out 180 (half a rotation).

Patrick Goodnough (USA), won the men’s ski title with a 630-on (hitting the rail after one-and-three-quarter rotations). James Hamilton (NZ) took first place in the men’s snowboarding field with clean spins on to and off the rail.

Judges were impressed with the standard of tricks the riders were performing off the rail. “We finished the NZ Free Ski Open with a great night. Everyone rode to a super-high level, and we couldn’t have asked for a better rail set up,” head judge Jake McCleary said.

The NZ Free Ski Open is the southern hemisphere’s largest event of its kind. It began with the K2 Halfpipe on Tuesday August 15, followed by the Slopestyle on August 16, both held at Snow Park NZ. The Volkl Big Mountain finals were held at Treble Cone on Wednesday August 23.

Eliassen Repeats X-Games Gold

J Dogg — Thu, 2 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0500

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The weather slowed down the Winter X Games 10 Skiing SuperPipe Women's competition, but it wasn't enough to slow down Grete Eliassen. With snow beating down on Buttermilk Mountain at Aspen/Snowmass, 10 finalists participated in a thirty minute jam session to determine the winner of Skiing SuperPipe Women's. For the second year in a row, Eliasson (Lillehammer, Norway) edged out Sarah Burke (Squamish, B.C., Canada) to secure the top spot on the podium. It is her second Winter X Games medal in two appearances. Eilassen started her run big, with a 15 foot mute grab on her first hit and then threw in big tricks including an alley-oop 540.

"There was a lot of pressure because I won last year," Eliasson said. "I just had to keep my head and keep my level of competition up. I was really trying to go as big as I could." Burke, who beat the elements to land a corked 900 on the way to her second silver medal in two years at Winter X Games, felt the elements played a big role in the competition, but was still pleased with her result. "I didn't get the run I was looking for," Burke said. "It just came down to how slow it was because of the weather. But obviously I'm happy to be here at the X Games and in second place."

Marie Martinod-Routin (Aix Les Bains, France) improved on her fifth place showing at Winter X Games Nine to grab the bronze ahead of fourth place finisher Kristi Leskinen (Uniontown, Pa.). "The pipe was great," Martinod-Routin said. "It was the longest I've ever skied, which helped me get more speed even with the adverse weather. I have a bunch of new tricks that I still need to perfect, but I have a lot of good years ahead of me."

In the Mens competition, X-Games ringer Tanner Hall grabbed a gold medal for his collection, with Laurent Favre and Simon Dumont rounding out the podium.

SKIING SUPERPIPE WOMEN'S

1. Grete Eliassen 524 Lillehammer, Norway 10.00
2. Sarah Burke 525 Squamish, BC, Canada 9.00
3. Marie Martinod-Routin 527 Aix Les Bains, France 8.00
4. Kristi Leskinen 526 Uniontown, Pa. 7.00
5. Jess Cumming 532 Wilton, Conn. 6.00
6. Michelle Parker 542 Squaw Valley, Calif. 5.00
7. Ashley Saba 533 Waterville Valley, N.H. 4.00
8. Virginie Faivre 528 Montreux Beach, Switzerland 3.00
9. Jen Hudak 529 Park City, Utah 2.00
10. Gina Gmeiner 531 Steamboat Springs, Colo. 1.00

SKIING SUPERPIPE MEN'S

1. Tanner Hall 550 Park City, Utah 92.66
2. Laurent Favre 510 La Clusaz, France 91.00
3. Simon Dumont 552 Bethel, Maine 90.00
4. Loic Collomb-Patton 543 La Clusaz, France 84.66
5. Andreas Hatveit 541 Sudndalen, Norway 81.33
6. J.P. Solberg 542 Waterville Valley, N.H. 80.00
7. Peter Olenick 506 Carbondale, Colo. 79.33

Livin' Large at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival

J Dogg — Thu, 13 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

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Photos by Jordan Manley and Andre Charland.

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What do Justin Timberlake, Jon Olsson, Sarah Burke, and a guy juggling chainsaws all have in common?

a. They are all kinda girly

b. They travel alot

c. They all think Britney Spears is hot

d. You can't do what they can

e. They were all at the 2004 Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival in Whistler

If you answered any of the above, you're probably right! Well, the chainsaw juggler may not be very girly, but he was wearing a flourescent orange jumpsuit.

Crowds flocked to Whistler for the third week of April to be part of a surreal blur of parties, sick skiing, and live music that hits Whistler this time every year. The annual Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival has earned a reputation as the biggest and best ski resort party, and it didn't dissapoint this year. Everyone who was or wanted to be someone was partying everynight, live bands took to the stage every day, and the skiers and boarders once again reminded spectators why they are someone.

On the snow, snowboarders kicked off the festival in the Ripzone Snowboard Invitational. Crispin Lipscomb won the superpipe, while Guy Deschenes went large for the Big Hit winning hit. Tricia Burns took first in womens superpipe, and Roger Hjelmstadstuen won the mens big air.

But the two-plankers once again scored the limelight with the Salomon World Skiing Invitational scheduled for the grand finale weekend of the festival. Big air, superpipe and the McDonalds Rail session were all sweet events, and 17-year-old Simon Dumont pretty much killed it the whole weekend.

The superpipe once again had a huge turnout of big names and unkown rippers ready to show their stuff, everyone threw down really strong runs. It almost seemed like a style contest because the technical tricks are getting so easy for some of these guys. Tanner Hall snagged first, with Simon Dumont hot on his tails for 2nd, and Charles Gagner scored third.

Then came the silly-big airs of the big hit contest. These guys were going HUGE! Like 22 feet out of a halfpipe! It was the kinda show that makes you wonder if you should get super-stoked and hit the park afterwards, or sell your skis and buy a Datsun. Scott Hibbert, Tanner Hall, and Simon Dumont stole the show by trying to up eachother on the same hit at the bottom, but Dumont ended up winning this rider-judged event.

As impressive though, was the women's superpipe contest. No offense to the ladies of yesterday, but women's super pipe used to be kinda dull, apart from Sarah Burke and Kristi Leskinen who would often join in on guy's contest just to hone their skills. This year's contest was unreal. These girls were going way higher than you or your mom will ever get out of the pipe, all the while throwing technical tricks too. Marie Martinod took first place, Burke snagged 2nd, and Jamie Sundberg earned 3rd. 16-year-old Jen Hudak was stealing the show by going way huger than the other girls, but couldn't link a solid enough run together to make podium. She finished 4th.

Action didn't stop at night either. After the Black Eyed Peas and guest-star-teeny-bop-idol Justin Timberlake finished performing for the crowd on Friday April 23rd, the McDonalds Rail Session was it's own sight to see. A big crowd gathered around to watch skiers and boarders sessioning a 27 foot doube-kinked rail set-up beside the GLC patio, while 2 people in flourescent orange jumpsuits blew fire and juggled chainsaws. Iannick B. ruled it, for more info check out our news story (coming soon!).

Saturday April 24th was the final night of the festival, capped with the Salomon Big Air Contest. The contest started as a style vs. technical airs contest, with skiers trying to out-do Jon Olsson's smooth-as-silk-boxers style with more difficult tricks. After the preliminary round, the top eight skiers moved on to the head-to-head final rounds. Top ranked against bottom ranked skiers battled it out in heats, eliminating skiers as they went. Jon Olsson, TJ Schiller, Simon Dumont, and Josh Bibby made it to the final four, and the grommets gave Olsson a run for his money, forcing him to step it up from his stylie but easy switch 3's and 7's to big, insanely clean switch 10's. WIth that switch 10 Olsson won the contest for his second consecutive year, but he better watch his back for those other guys.

On the loud speakers at the awards ceremony, Dumont made the grommets presence known, when he jokingly asked Olsson "How does it feel to beat a bunch of 17 year olds?". Indeed... overall Dumont scored 2nd in the pipe, 2nd in the big air, and 1st in the super hit. Watch out for this kid.

Overall the skiers and boarders were given'er all week, and put on a huge display of talent. And for those who could care less about either sport... the free outdoor concerts, industry parties, and free Yop and Mars Bar samples kept them going strong all week long. Good times were had by all.

PS-Must have been nutritious samples too, because I didn't see any teeny-boppers faint when Justin Timberlake took to the stage.

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At the end of the Superpipe contest, Simon Dumont volunteered to drop from an airplane into the pipe.