We’ve known Jamie since he was like 9 years old or something. He’s always been precociously talented, but as ever in the case of kids who are super good the question is “Is this kid motivated to push it as far as he can, or is he content to take it easy?” And it would have been easy to think you’re the bomb and wait for everything to come to you when you have David Benedek coming to your home dryslope to film with you at 14, or placing second in the seniors at the Brits while still a grom. We needn’t have worried. Jamie’s a good, humble Northern lad with a solid work ethic to compliment his freakish talents on a snowboard, and now at a mere 17-years-old he’s more than capable of holding his own on an international stage.

That’s in a park, of course. As you’ll see, when you head into the BC it’s a whole other ball game… but he’s young, will learn and if we’re honest we’re just mocking him ’cause not only is he a better rider than we’ll ever be, he could probably pull our girlfriends without even trying, the wee radge.

Anyway, check this video out. He proper crushes the kicker line with a succession of 7s, 9s and 10s, while when he steps over to the rails it’s just a blur of tech jibbing. Seriously, it’s hard to figure out half of what he pops off. 50-50 switch up to hard way cab 3 off? Half cab to 50-50 to back 5 off the end of the Donkey Dick rail? For serious?

There’s no doubt that the Nike 6.0 Air&Style rocked the back end out of Munich last weekend. We had our media assassin Will Nangle there with a camera and a mic to get all involved with the action, and get the reaction backstage too. Check it out with highlights from the Stairset Battle and the kicker contest, and chat from Wojtek, Cassanova, Nicholls and more. And for those who don’t know how it panned out, here’s the chatter…

First up there was the heavy metal session on the Stairset, with some of the gnarliest jibbers in the game on point to throw down a hell of a show. After a bunch of techness in the qualifying session, with guys like Keegan Valaika, Eiki Helgason, Jamie Nicholls, Wojtek Pawlusiak, Mike Casanova and Forrest Bailey combo-ing the heck out of the feature, 8 riders were whittled down for the final session, and after some more madness that we could barely figure out Mike Casanova posted the highest score of the day with a hardway front 270 to back lip to push Jamie Nicholls off the top spot and bag the cash.

Then it was the main event. The kicker contest. It was head-to-head deathmatches again and after some next-level double corking and hyper spinning it boiled down to a four-man super final: Peetu Piiroinen, Nils Arvidsson, Seppe Smits and Halldor Helgason. Halldor put down a ‘safety’ back 10 late dipper before going all in on his mental double back 12 Japan ‘Lobster flip’, which ended up in some heavy slams. Nils was trying the front 12 double shifty but was victim of the ‘close but no cigar’ syndrome, which left it to Seppe Smits and Peetu Piiroinen to challenge for the win. Seppe had been ridiculously consistent all evening, and when he sent a back 12 balls deep we thought he’d have his first major career win in the bag. Peetu had other ideas. Nursing an evil cold, he nevertheless smashed it with a gigantic, flawless cab 12 with some tech jibbery on the down rail. Insane.

The Mothership has landed.

Watch Fredrik Austbo and Scott Moline bring the funtimes to a flatlight day in Davos.

Don’t be fooled. Snowboarding’s not all about quad cork triple salkos under bluebird skies with deep powder landings. Oh no, sometimes the weather’s shitty, there’s only a small park… but there’s always fun to be had when you’re on the hill, strapped in with buddies. Norwegian stylemaster Fredrik Austbo and homie Scott Moline get radical on a flatlight day in Davos and make us want to go snowboarding, like NOW!

This time round our Access All Areas‘ eye is trained squarely on Laax, specifically last month’s Burton European Open. You’ll know the riding was ballistic, and you can relive all the heaviest shredding here along with the inside line from the event crew on what it takes to make it happen. Check out Parts 1 & 2…

PART  1

PART 2

Interviews with Jamie Anderson, Kelly Clark, Roope Tonteri and Peetu Piiroinen, plus action highlights from the Finals, including Roope’s mind-blowing cab 1440…

We’re on the ground at the 2011 O’Neill Evolution and our media assassin Will Nangle’s just cut together this Access All Areas edit of the heavy practice session, featuring Seb Toutant and Jamie Nicholls. With the Cab double 12 looking like it’s on lock, our money’s on Toots for the TTR crown this year. And was that a pop at a Cab double 1440???

Check it out to see the Keller steeze in action as he swords the pipe and takes some fun runs, find out what he’s got planned this winter and discover how an Icelandic volcano eruption can lead to the party of the year, and losing your pants…

Fredi Kalbermatten needs little introduction, but we’ll give him one anyway. His phenomenal board control and tendency to hold on to grabs till you’d fear for his fingers shook things up when he burst onto the scene in the early part of the 2000s. From heavy parts with Absinthe and Standard Films, to countless pages of magazine editorial there’s no doubting the Saas Fee local’s steeze and sack, so after a season that saw him coming back to the Absinthe fold to film for NowHere, we bounced over to visit his crib and get his chat. Check it out.

We kick things off with a short edit of riders’ training up at the Hintertux Glacier. Over the last few years Hintertux has established itself as one of the premier spots to prepare for the season. Riders from all over Europe flock to the world-class kicker line and practice their slopestyle routines. Onboard went there for a day and met riders like Markku Koski, Juuso Laivisto, Marc Swoboda, Werni Stock, Antti Autti, and TTR tour winner Peetu Piiroinen as they were getting their shred game back on…