OXBOW BACK TO POWDER is OXBOW very first 100% backcountry snowboard film directed by Invert Production.

The OXBOW team – made up of the riders JP Solberg (Norway), Kalle Ohlson (Sweden), Thomas Gérin (France), Adan Baserba Berrocal (Spain), Thomas Delfino (France), Sophie Rodriguez (France) and David Livet (France) – headed off to the world’s mountains carving fresh tracks through the powder. In total 9 countries were explored by this group of snowboarders searching for the ideal spot.

Oxbow have been stepping their game up over the last couple of years, hooking up some solid riders to their roster, putting together some sweet outerwear, and putting on their innovative Back to Powder event. Now they’ve gone and produced a team movie, named Back to Powder, and this is the teaser. It looks good.

The Oxbow team – JP Solberg (Norway), Kalle Ohlson (Sweden), Thomas Gérin (France), Adan Basserba Berrocal (Spain), Thomas Delfino (France), Sophie Rodriguez (France) and David Livet (France) – scoured the planet’s alpine last season in search of the finest conditions and the most perfect spots in which to throw down. The United States, Canada, France, Russia, Italy, Alaska, Sweden, Norway and Japan were all on the agenda as they sent it off cliffs and booters into deep pow.

Back to Powder will be a production that highlights the authentic state of mind that the cameras of INVERT and their partners, YES (Paul Watts filming JP Solberg) and PIRATES (Basti Balser filming Kalle Ohlson), have managed to recreate to perfection. “It’s just awesome to have worked on a 100% backcountry movie, we really have filmed some incredible images this winter with deep snow and big pow pillows. It’s my first film with my OXBOW team-mates, I can’t wait to see the results” says JP.

The full movie will be available to download free in December 2011. In the mean time, enjoy the teaser…

Now that the Oxbow Back To Powder 2010 is wrapped up and we have the videos of the jazz, here’s what went down over the five days  in Areches-Beaufort, France.

The idea of Oxbow’s Back To Powder event is a straightforward one, albeit with the übermotivational prize of a trip to Hawaii at stake. Two of Oxbow’s premier riders, Christoph Weber and skier Lolo Favre, were allowed to invite six riders each to head to the small but epic terrain of Areches-Beaufort in France to battle it out on the steeps, put it down on backcountry kickers and get their jib on in the wood zone. With a fresh dump just before the event began and renowned shaping crew hO5 in charge of features, it was bound to be legit.

For the snowboarders, Weber had recruited German buddy and snowboard innovator David Benedek, Norwegian styler Fredrik Evensen, and Frenchies David Livet, Alicia Bonnaud, Thomas Delfino and Valerian Ducourtil. Each night the crew would meet to discuss forecasts, safety and to review the day’s footage with two guys to be awarded with ‘Lines of the Day’. Here’s the haps in words and video, and a gallery of shots at the bottom…

Day 1

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Day 1 was Freeride day with all the riders heading up to Les Tetes Rouges (which sounds suspiciously like a Frenchie nickname for the English) to rip the smoothest lines they could and mix in some creativity on the ride down. Unfortunately the afternoon’s plan of hitting the backcountry kickers had to be postponed as the big wedges were buried by the recent snowfall but a team effort saw them dug out in, well not quite no time but they were ready to be sessioned later in the week.

Day 2

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The second day saw the riders take it to the jibs with some feeling the effects of a few too many Genepis from the night before. There’s no better way to blow away the cobwebs than getting the shred on, though, so before long everyone was taking on the wood zone with Fredrik Evensen and Valerian Ducourtil standing out.

Day 3

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The third day was set aside for the highly anticipated Perfect Jump day. The 21-metre rounded shaped tabletop built by hO5 didn’t seem to cause many problems to David Livet and Fredrik Evensen, despite the long airtime and the high speed required on the in-run. Thanks to the soft landing created by the perfect shape of the jump, some solid riding went down.

Day 4

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Day 4 involved a short hike in the beautiful surroundings of Areches. When they got to the drop in zone, riders faces were split into grins that would have the Cheshire cat envious: the riding area had 6 kickers in a row on the same backountry slope, radness. An epic end to a killer week of rider-focussed competition and fun.

Day 5

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The last day was the rider’s vote day, to determine who ripped the hardest. And coming out top was…. Fredrik Evensen who got voted by his peers as the standout rider of the contest and will accompany skier Arnaud Rougier to a trip to Hawaii, surfing with all the Oxbow surf team.

See you next year for the BTP 2011.

Gallery

All Photos: Elina Sirparanta/Oxbow
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