Oakley and Shaun White present Air & Style Beijing 2012 brings the world´s best snowboarders to the olympic stadium Beijing, the famous Bird’s Nest:

Badertscher, Toutant, Piroiinen² and Smits, are part of the 24 strong riders field to compete on December 8th 2012 with Sun Nan live on stage.

For the 3rd consecutive year the Air & Style takes place in Beijing, China, in the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium. The Oakley and Shaun White present Air & Style Beijing is the most important and only 6* event of the World Snowboard Tour (WST) on the Asian continent. It’s the year of the dragon and all 24 riders will need dragonblood pumping through their veins when dropping in from the 50 meter high start gate on top of the monsterous ramp. Dragons are high flying, fearless, risk taking apex predators, who soar to far away lands to seize glory and riches. These characteristcs are also key in sticking a double cork or 1440 enroute to winning the Oakley and Shaun White Air & Style.

Patrick McIlvain, Oakley Vice president Global Sports Marketing: “China is continually showing its strength as a global sports leader and the action sports arena is no exception. Now in its third year, Air & Style Beijing is building momentum behind the sport of snowboarding in one of the most important emerging markets in the world. Oakley is proud to partner with Shaun White in bringing one of the best snowboard events of the year to the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium.”

For the first time all 24 riders will start in a head-to-head competion from round 1 on. 12 winners and 4 lucky losers will advance to round 2 and battle their way through to the Super Final of 4 riders. 1,000 World Snowboard Tour points, a dragon’s share of the 75,000 Euro prize purse and the Ring Of Glory are the plunder wating to be captured by the top vanquishing hero. Ulrik Badertscher (NOR), winner of last years Beijing event, will lead big names such as WST champion Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) and WST Big Air champion Seppe Smits, into the stadium. The North American delegation, with Slopestyle world champion Chas Guldemond (USA), Mark McMorris (CAN), Seb Toutant (CAN), Eric Beauchemin(USA), Antoine Truchon (CAN), Sage Kotsenburg (USA) and Maxence Parrot (CAN) poses a formidable challenge to all. A menacing field of norsemen will travel from Scandinavia to the middle kingdom, China. Stale Sandbech (NOR), Petja Piroiinen (FIN), Torgeir Bergrem (NOR), Roope Tonteri (FIN), Emil Ulsletten (NOR), Sven Thorgren (SWE) and Nils Arvidsson (SWE) are coming to strengthen their position as one of snowboards strongest heritages. Never to be underestimated, Werner Stock (AUT), Clemens Schattschneider (AUT), Mathias Weissenbacher (AUT), Pat Brugener (SUI), Marko Grilc (SLO) and Viktor de la Rue (FRA) from the European Alps are a venerated guild. Yuki Kadono (JPN) will have the shortest trip to make, but may have the most to gain from a victory in his home continent.

And in old Air & Style tradition Sun Nan and Band will perform live on stage to entertain the Chinese crowd alongside breathtaking world elite snowboarding.

Program (Press conference for accredited journalists only):

Friday                          07.12.2011            2.00 pm   Riders Draw / Press Conference

Saturday                      08.12.2011            3.00 pm   Doors open
4.30 pm   Contest starts round 1 & round 2
6.30 pm   Sun Nan & live band                               

7.30 pm   Contest round 3 & superfinal
9.15 pm   Winners Press Conference

Starting field (Top 24)

Marco Smolla, Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

Ask the Expert

Marco Smolla

Not that this Bavarian shredder is any more aware of his image than any other pros out there, it’s just he’s one of the increasing number of riders that’s bombarded the internets with some fi ne footage. As we noted last month, it’s something of a trend right now as there’s more rippers than ever, but fewer movie productions. We asked Marco for his advice should you also want to share your shred with the rest of the global village.

When did you actually launch your website and what pushed you to do so?

After a successful season in 2007 I had a lot of coverage in the media. So Red Bull came up with the idea of doing my own website so everyone could easily get more information about me. I try to update it frequently so the people who are interested know what I’m currently up to.

How do you make the most of new media to put your presence out there?

The web has become very important to stay close to the customer in general. Especially Facebook is the channel where brands try to reach their customers and riders try to reach their ‘fans’ with their latest clips. But as well pages like onboard.mpora.com are very important as they are more
selective and directly appeal to the snowboard branch. It’s always good to appear in clips which are shown on such a website!

How about the ‘Smolla Winch Week-end’ you posted on Youtube? What kind of feedback did you get?

I was impressed how many people talked to me about that. It was shortly after my comeback from 2 torn ACLs so I was really glad to see that people were fi nally taking notice of me again! The whole project was really fun and productive and I think most of the viewers liked the output, too.

Does it ever interfere with the stuff you shoot for Isenseven?

Not really. This year I’m actually going to fi lm a lot with my friend Elias Elhardt. We are posting well-produced snowboard clips – from foggy slope runs to perfect powder days – fi lmed and edited by Maurino Castelani (former Pirates filmer who will follow us all season) at www.elias-friends.com

Do you use other types of media to put your footage out there?

Sometimes I post a clip on Facebook or on my website and I’ve got a blog at redbull.at. But I prefer to just go snowboarding and let photographers and fi lmers take care of publishing the footage.

What advice would you give to people who want to put their footage up? Create a blog? Post stuff on Youtube, Mpora and such?

Blogs and youtube are definitely a good way to reach people. But it’s hard to make people watch your stuff as there are so many people uploading stuff that is not really exciting. So select your footage and only post things that will make people want to see more of you! Don’t just copy everything you see in the movies but try to come up with your own ideas! That’s going to convince people a lot more!

Tyler Chorlton, photo: Matt Georges

Field Notes with Tyler Chorlton

This month, Tyler Chorlton risks his health at the forefront of snowboard news reporting. Over to you Tyler…

Ya man, to the bone. Down here with the guys from Rip Curl doing some kind of product launch… That’ll leave me enough time to explain you what I’ve been up to in the last two weeks… Shit’s been all over the place.

Let’s start with the lovely visit from Matt Georges, CoinCoin, Valérian Ducourtil and the Serge to my home town, Soldeu. We somehow managed to time it with the busiest Spanish weekend of the year for our new shop ‘Slidewayz’, so while the guys scoped and shaped spots I worked in the shop. Then they would call me when it was ready and I’d head up, kill the spot in a few hits then get back to work, son!

A few days later it rained and that was pretty much the end of that, but we did good considering the shnizzle. Then in amongst the madness we had a huge opening party in Nemo bar to celebrate the opening of Slidewayz and Nemo in El Tarter, it was insane how many chicks showed up! Like over
60%… Banging!

Then those guys hit the road so a few days later The Method homies decided to come up and party their nut sacks off again in Nemo bar for pretty
much the last Pirate premiere of season we had going on. Epic times! We even busted out a gnarrrr vid even though the conditions were whack attack….

So right now we’ve got the entirety of Rip Curl in town for their product launch hence me writing this after a huge night, still drunk, sat alone in the
shop. We sent that shit…

Oh! And I’m on Electric now! So stoked you don’t even know, cuz. Now I’m gonna take care of this epic soon-to-behangover.

Peace Onboard!

TC.

Sent from my phone

Seb Toutant, Photo: Frode Sandbech

Oakley Air&Style Contest in Beijing

Seb Toutant returned to an Air&Style event with a point to prove after last year’s gig in Innsbruck, and – we’d imagine – a fair bit of angst as well after his terrible slam… Well, the kid can surely handle the pressure and his strong mentality and insane skills saw him top of the pile in China, which boosted him to third place in the TTR… Before moving on to the next Air&Style events (in Innsbruck, Feb 5th, and Munich the week later), we caught up with the French-Canadian slayer…

What the hell happened on Jump 1 of the Final at Air&Style Bejing?

Haha! Well the set up was so icy and so hard to ride. I tried my Cab 1260 double cork and I slipped off the take-off.

How did you manage to re-focus after that slam to pull the knockout Cab double 12?

I knew I had to put down this Cab 1260 double cork to win the event and I was trying not to think about my previous run, and it worked out good!

In the live blog we did of the event, when your last jump was ‘only’ a back 10 double, we said: “perfect back 10 double so you fi gure he’s got nothing more in the can than the Cab 12 dub and is content to let the others have the stress. Understandable really.” Do you think that’s a fair comment?

Yes, I knew that I couldn’t do the Cab 1260 double cork any better and my score was really good and I felt that it was a good way to end up my night with the BS 1080 double cork.

Seb Toutant, Photo: Frode Sandbech

How many places did you climb on the TTR ranking after this win?

I think I’m in 3rd place on TTR right now! That’s good, but it will be hard to stay up there.

Was the TTR a priority for you this season from the beginning? Or is it becoming one now?

This year I’m trying to do as many TTR as I can, and the Dew Tour. If I can be in the top 5 TTR at the end of the season with good results at Dew Tour, I’ll be stoked for sure. I will try to fi lm a video part as well.

How much money should we put on you winning the TTR title this year?

Hahaha! That’s your call! I’ll try to do my best and have fun like always.

Marko Grilc and girls

High Five

Marko Grilc

Where was this and how did it happen?

Hehe, this was in Ljubljana. The Red Bull guys told me that I had to be at some restaurant to meet them but they wouldn’t tell me what it was about. So I thought it has to be mega-lame if they didn’t want to tell me. But then we went there and it was sick – they called me on stage and showed the movie we shot, Double Air, where I jumped over a snowcat. It was really cool.

If you’d have to pick one of these girls for a game of Scrabble, which one would it be?

The one on my right, Barbara. She is even more smoking in real life.

Be honest: does winning contests help with girls?

I don’t know. It helps with some things, but I think girls are not attracted just by that fact.

What’s your favourite chat-up line? Or the cheesiest one for that matter…

Ahh, that’s never really my style. I talk so much shit anyways that meeting up is not really a problem. I think it is more like just to try to be yourself and be normal.

Which rider would you say is the best at chatting up the girls?

Hmm…. Kim Rune Hansen.

IPSO Corner

Snowboard Gear 2011/2012

ISPO is like a second Christmas for all of us editors, with free booze, free gear and free dancing girls. Hang on, that was before the economic crisis struck. Damn you, crisis! Anyway, for your eyes only, here’s just some of the goodness brands are secretly cooking up for the 2011/12 season.

1.WESC

These are one of the product highlights of this winter even though these are all about looking good at the bar… WESC launches a fi rst line of killer urban shoes. Slick!

2. ELECTRIC

The hype from Electric comes from a new goggle mixing the EGB and the EG1: meet the EGB2. Other stuff in the mixer is a Peter Line series, and a co-op with Volcom.

3. GNU

Check the up and coming B-Pro Series C2 BTX for girls, which comes in sizes 146, 149, 152, 155.

4. vON ZIPPER
The FishBowl (John Jackson’s model shown here) will be the fattest goggle on the market. Other highlights from the brand include a Bob Marley colab on several goggles in the range, as well as a Smoke collection and the Shift Into Neutral (eco) with recycled padding and a bamboo strap.

5. NIXON

Brand new to the Nixon range is The Riot. It comes in 3 colorways (Navy, Black and Steel), and is inspired by a guitar amp.

6. DC

The award-winning Devun Pro series once again represents the pinnacle of DC’s snowboard line. It features a true twin tip shape with 2mm  Anti-Camber, and it comes in sizes 154, 157, 162.

7. APO

The French brand presents this all-mountain board designed by Tyler Chorlton, called the TC, and best suited to riders whose boot size is between 43 & 45 (9-11.5 US). It’ll be available as a 159 wide and 159 wide with rocker.

8. QUIKSILvER

Taking inspiration from their wetsuits, the design team at Quiksilver adapted the famous Cypher to the snow and developed the Pinnacle, complete with chest pocket, cuts, fastening systems and more…

9. O’NEILL

Here we have the signature line of legendary freerider Jeremy Jones. Jeremy sat down with O’Neill’s designers and the result is a three-product offering of a down jacket, a 3 layer stretch jacket, and this two layer jacket (pictured) on which he has worked with artist Mike Ennen.

10. THIRTYTWO

Next year’s JP Walker gear boasts a bad ass look, with the bright orange Shiloh jacket, the camo Blahzay cargo pants (both coming in 10,000mm), and the rather irie JP Walker boots. Booya!

11. CONTRACT

The Polish board brand’s Code model has been designed for the deepest powder, highest mountains, biggest cliffs and wildest extremes. It comes in 147, 152,157, and 163.

12. ANALOG

The Greed jacket is made of a 10/5k microporus material, and comes with a super effi cient insulation system.

13. CAPiTA

The Totally FK’n Awesome! (155 featured) is a new model for season 2011/2012. These hybrid camber boards were built to manhandle each and every feature of Mother Nature’s great mountainous terrain. Available in 153,155, 157,189, 161.

14. UNION

Gigi’s binding of choice is the upgraded version of one of Union’s top models – the Contact. The Contact Pro version is not only lighter, but also has a carbon injected baseplate, which makes it even tougher.

15. K2

Three years in the making, the developers at K2 brought it all to this lightweight, bamboo cored backcountry tool, dubbed the Panoramic.

16. OXBOW

This new line is dedicated to hardcore shredders, and will be distributed exclusively in specialized stores.

17. SMITH

Not only famous for making goggles now (the top of the range I/0 on show here), Smith also crafts some fi ne helmets, including the Maze – the lightest helmet on the market. Ear pads are compatible with Skullcandy’s optional Drop In audio system.

18. BOND & WEEKEND

These twinned brands are pushing the envelope again with Bond bringing the Hudson Jacket and Compound Pants (10k waterproofing/breathability with insulation); and Weekend dropping the Comfort Cruiser 154 (coming also in 148 and 157), which is available in regular camber or rocker versions.

19. ROXY

The Olympic champion Torah Bright will be rocking this stuff next winter: a bomber-inspired down jacket, 100% polyester micro twill, crammed with all the features you could ever need.

20. 686

Here’s the well turned out New Balance/ 686 speedlace boot in cyan. As for outerwear, a fi ne example of their technology could be this women’s
outfit – the Reserved Avalon Insulated Jacket and the Reserved Secret Softshell pant.

21. BATALEON

Playful and forgiving, the Feelbetter doesn’t have that name for nothing. Bataleon have introduced this women’s model as a Les Ettes colab, and this twin shaped board comes in 143, 146, 149 and 152.

22. RUSTY

These damn good hoodies include an audio system in a total new way, and they go by the name of The Wired Series.

23. ROSSIGNOL

The badass board in Rossignol’s line next year is certainly this boy right here – the Jibsaw MagTek, illustrated by London activists 2sickbastards. Rocker and MagneTraction are on the program, and sizes are 153, 155, 157, 159, 158 mid-wide and 160 mid-wide.

Win a trip to one of the most legendary snowboard events completely for free!

Billabong invites you and a friend to a unique weekend in early February to Innsbruck, including flights from wherever you’re based in Europe, air port pick up, luxury accommodation at the Innsbruck Hilton, a little shopping spree to the Billabong Innsbruck Store and of course VIP tickets to the Billabong Air&Style to have the best view in town of all the live action!

The Billabong Air&Style Trip includes:
- A trip to Innsbruck, Austria for you and the person of your choice, wherever you are in Europe.
- A full weekend at the Luxurious HILTON Hotel, downtown Innsbruck.
- 2 VIP Passes to go to the Billabong Air & Style 2011
- 2 Passes to the after-event wildest parties.
- Billabong Outerwear Pants and Jackets for you and the person of your choice
- A free pack each of Billabong garments worth 500 euros to pick up at the Billabong Innsbruck Store.

How to win?
Simply go to on billabong.com and follow the instructions

The game will be closed on Dec 31st 2010.

Peetu killing it at last year's event in Innsbruck

The Air&Style just announced the dates for this season’s Air&Style events:

December 4th, 2010 in Beijing

and

February 5th, 2011 in the Bergisel Stadium in Innsbruck

For the first time ever, the Air&Style event is moving East, to be precise to the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Beijing. The event presented by Oakley and Shaun White will be the first 6Star event in China, heralding a new era for the TTR World Tour. With the full size Air & Style 42m high stadium jump the riders will find perfect conditions to battle for the ring of glory and 1.000 TTR-Points. And as we’re used to, there will also be international top music acts to make it the unique and powerful happening it has been since 1994.

Next to the following provisional start list that will be announced soon, there will also be six spots for Chinese riders to qualify.

For more info on both events, check out air-style.com