Jake Pates winning the Junior pipe. He’s 14 and was SENDING it. Photo: Marcel Lammerhirt

Under bluebird skies, the BEO wrapped up another edition in Laax with the Junior slopestyle and halfpipe contests for kids aged 14 and younger.

The Junior’s division of the BEO is a virtual crystal ball into snowboarding’s future, and after witnessing what went down in the immaculately groomed pipe and slopestyle courses it is clear that that future is bright. IPod, Peetu, Sörman… these dudes and more have scooped wins as juniors so it’s always interesting to check this aspect of the event.

And announce themselves they did: 12-year-old Chloe Kim (USA) scored a near-flawless 99.17 points to win the girls’ pipe and later dominated the slopestyle too while Marcus Kleveland (NOR) and Jake Pates (USA) at 13 and 14 respectively showed precocious skills that belie their tender ages. The top two boys and the winning girl also snagged an invite to the US Open from February 25th to March 2nd where they’ll have the chance to ride against their heroes, as well as bagging an invite to next year’s BEO. But as much as the Juniors event is about the frankly mindblowing riding these children are capable of, a huge part of it is also the sight of diminutive kids that can appear more helmet than human riding a 6.7m superpipe and just being stoked to do so with their family and friends.

Chloe Kim on her way to her second title of the day. Photo: Cyril Müller

And, erm, we rode lots of pow with the homies too.

It was a pretty banging day and a positive ending to an event that’s had some challenges to overcome due to the bad weather earlier in the week. So that’s that for another edition of the BEO. Thanks Burton and co. and see you next year for #15!

The future stars of snowboarding.

Ayumu Hirano. What were you doing when you were 14? Ayumu was winning the BEO with monster hits like this. All photos: Sami Tuoriniemi

It was a case of ‘the kids are alright’ today here in Laax as 16-year-old Arielle Gold and 14-year-old Ayumu Hirano bossed the super ditch to take the BEO halfpipe crowns…

After the disappointment of yesterday’s slopestyle finals having to be canned due to crappy conditions, today Mother Nature cracked a grin and – though conditions weren’t tip top – stopped blowing a gale and lifted her cloudy skirt to allow the pipe finals to go down as planned.

Arthur Longo.

The women were first to drop and, despite some snowfall and foggy conditions, put on a decent showing with a bit of a shock result to boot. Back-to-back 720s from the likes of Elena Hight and Serena Shaw were impressive, as was Elena Hight’s style, Ellery Hollingsworth‘s Michaelchuck flips and – naturally – Kelly Clark‘s monster amplitude. However, turning heads was 16-year-old American Arielle Gold, who took the early lead with a heady cocktail of style, huge hits and tech combos. She even turned it up a notch for her final run, improving on her earlier score to tighten her grip on first place, her proper poked backside airs to steezy front 5s up top standing out.

Arielle Gold gets the shower from Kelly Clark.

Kelly Clark was sat in second after 2 runs, the high scoring one being solid but with Gold in pole we were expecting her to use her experience to unleash in the last. The pressure, which she can’t have felt too often here (usually she tends to have a victory lap) was most certainly on bu unfortunately for Kelly, she slammed on the first hit leaving Gold to take the top spot. “This is a huge win for me,” said a clearly delighted Arielle. “I am pretty stoked. It’s my first 6Star title, that’s crazy!”

Matt Ladley.

After a quick reshape it was time for the men to take centre stage and as if on cue the clouds lifted and the sun beamed down setting the scene for a memorable showdown. Huge airtime, insane spins and a peppering of double corks were the order of the day from the get-go, with some dudes who’d battled through the early rounds making a good impression – namely Swiss teenagers David Hablützel and Lucien Koch. But the invited dudes were, predictably, making their experience count too. Scotty Lago had the crowd hooting for his unique approach to pipe riding, often triple-poking his spins or double nosegrabbing his frontside 900s that saw him settle into second place after the second run, but he was bumped down a spot when Iouri Podladtchikov finally managed to put the run he wanted down.

Scotty Lago.

But this final was all about 14-year-old Japanese sensation Ayumu Hirano who’d recently announced himself taking silver at the X Games. Though he technically should ride in the Junior category he was going bigger than any of the other riders, and with style for days. His second run consisted of an enormous backside air, frontside 1080 tail grab, Cab 1080 nose grab and a frontside double cork 1080 that earned him an unassailable 87.60 points and his first BEO pipe title. “The conditions were really difficult,” he said after the Champagne shower, “but I am very happy that I could show my best riding. I am super stoked”

Taylor Gold.

As they say, “Booom!” Junior Jam tomorrow. More then then.

Ayumu ist the boss.

With the finals cancelled Torstein Horgmo takes his first place spot in the semis to the bank ahead of Mark McMorris and Seb Toutant.

High winds and an incessant deluge of snow meant all today’s action was cancelled here in Laax, which resulted in the women’s BEO slopestyle being abandoned while the standings from yesterday’s men’s semis became the final results.

In such situations it’s always a double-edged sword: on the one hand you can’t help but feel for all those invlved behind the scenes who’ve grafted long and hard to ensure an event will be as awesome as possible, and for the missed opportunity to see the world’s best stuntboarders go wild, but on the other hand… well, there’s a LOT of pow.

At the end of the day no one would have been surprised had this podium come at the end of a mindblowing final, but when you saw the standard of riding in the semis and knew the guys would be turning it up to 11 to make it count it’s understandable that the riders, organisers and even us hacks can feel a sense of disappointment at would could have been. But the positive thing is that this was a call made by the riders and organisers together – it would have taken hours to clear the overnight snow that had accumulated, and even then the clouds kept socking in and the wind was howling making speed a serious issue.

Torstein bossing the semis. Photo: Olav Stubberud

Torstein had mixed emotions on the result: “It does feel a little weird to win like this, but I’m just stoked they made that call and didn’t try to run it like a lot of other contests this year have done. It’s weird and it doesn’t feel 100% right to win this way but at least we got some really good pow days. It’s my first pow days of the year so it’s been a good vacation [laughs].”

With any luck the wind and snow will ease up and we’ll have a banging pipe final tomorrow to write about. More tomorrow…

Seb Toots sending it into outer space. Photo: Cyril Müller

As the annual trade show rolled through our editorial lives like a beer-filled freight train, a snow storm of similar proportions blazed through the resort of Laax, host to the annual Burton European Open. This wasn’t too bad, as we hessed missed out on only little of the action. See below for the lowdown on the women’s pipe and men’s slopestyle semis, and tune in for today’s live web cast at 1pm CET!

A day of Semi-finals for women’s pipe and men’s Slopestyle

On Wednesday, at the 14th Burton European Open presented by MINI, both the men’s Slopestyle Semi-finals and the women’s Halfpipe Semi-finals were played out in near perfect weather conditions. Additionally, heat two of the men’s Slopestyle qualifications was completed in the morning, having been delayed by bad weather yesterday.

Over at the Slopestyle a field of 40 riders were set to do battle. The 500m course consisted of a dog-leg rail section, a line of three booters into a flat down rail, pole jam, tank and finishing up with the MINI Creative Use of Space feature. Each rider would have two runs to prove their worth, the best of which would be count as their final score. From the 40 qualified, only 12 would go through to Friday’s final. The going would be tough as the lineup included a weighty clutch of heavy hitters including the likes of Aleksander Ostreng (NOR), Mark McMorris (CAN), Stale Sandbech (NOR) and Peetu Piiroinen (FIN).

The male riders. Photo: Marcel Lämmerhirt

As the first run got going it became obvious that the course was running a little slow, with riders winding down the big spins for safer but more stylish tricks. That said though, there were still a fair few doubles and plenty of 9s and 10s on offer. Torstein Horgmo, a favourite in these semis, put down a very convincing first run that included a switch back 5, front 10 double and back 10 double on the kickers. It was to earn him a solid lead over the riders that had dropped before. His efforts would only be matched by Mark McMorris, who slipped into first with three doubles on the kickers and a solid showing on the rail sections.

In run two the heat was on, yet still the riders were finding the speed on the course a challenge. Horgmo again pushed out the boat, leap-frogging McMorris into first, with a seemingly unbeatable score of 91.50. In the closing salvos of the session Sebastian Toutant, who had everything to play for after bailing on the stairs in the first round, fired off a kicker line of Cab double underflip, front 7 and back double 10 and slipped into third place. Sadly for Ulrik Badertscher, Sebastian’s run would knock him off the contenders list for the finals.

Meanwhile, over at the pipe, the women were putting on a fine show for the Semifinals. Each of the 14 riders would get two runs each, the best of which would count as their final score and with only 6 places up for grabs the pressure was on. Chat at the start gate after the warmups was predicting a clean sweep by team America, especially with Kelly Clark going huge and Arielle Gold dialing back to back 5s and 7s. And when the final bell sounded local girl Ursina Haller was the only non-American in the top 6, a bonus for the localcrowd, and Kelly Clark had clocked up a solid score of 95.33; having won the BEO five times in the past she is a favourite for Friday’s finals.

Kelly Clark with her unequalled amplitude. Photo: Marcel Lämmerhirt

Results Slopestyle Semi-Final Men

1. Torstein Horgmo, NOR, DC, 91.50
2. Mark McMorris, CAN, BURTON, 83.17
3. Sebastien Toutant, CAN, O`NEILL, 82.33
4. Eric Willet, USA, VANS, 79.19
5. Stale Sandbech, NOR, OAKLEY, 78.00
6. Seth Hill, USA, SIMS, 75.17
7. Peetu Piiroinen, FIN, NIKE, 73.50
8. Aleksander Ostreng, NOR, BURTON 73.00
9. Brage Richenberg, NOR, SALOMON, 72.83
10. Sven Thorgren, SWE, OAKLEY, 72.33
11. Roope Tonteri, FIN, BURTON, 69.17
12. Eric Beauchemin, USA, DC, 69.00

Results Halfpipe Semi-Final Women
1. Kelly Clark, USA, Burton, 95.33
2. Ellery Hollingsworth, USA, Nike, 89.00
3. Arielle Gold, USA, Burton, 86.67
4. Elena Hight, USA, Volcom, 84.50
5. Serena Shaw, USA, 75.00
6. Ursina Haller, SUI, K2, 72.33

The BEO continues tomorrow with Slopestyle finals for both men and women.

For more information head to www.facebook.com/BurtonEurope and check out the BEO App.

Rider Registration Kicks off for Burton European Open 2013 presented by MINI

INNSBRUCK, AUT (November 20, 2012) – Signs of winter are rolling in – the season has kicked off in
the Alps, LAAX recently opened their lifts, and now, the 14 th edition of the Burton European Open
(BEO) presented by MINI has officially opened rider registration.

Rider Registration
Taking place from February 4-9, 2013 in LAAX, Switzerland, this year’s Burton European Open will
once again unite the world’s top riders, upcoming riders and juniors for halfpipe and slopestyle
competitions at Europe’s most prestigious on-snow event. Olympic, TTR and World Champions – they
all have won BEO titles in the past, including Kelly Clark, Jamie Anderson, Kevin Pearce, Peetu
Piiroinen and Iouri Podladtchikov.
Rider registration will open on Nov. 20 th, 2012 on www.register-for-events.com. Reserve your spot
now, as they are limited. Registration is open until Dec. 20 th, 2012. Join now to battle with the world’s
best riders.

Live Act
Next to spectacular freestyle Snowboarding spectators can look forward to a very special live concert
on Friday, February 8th, 2013. The BEO and LAAX are proud to present Left Boy for his very first
concert in Switzerland! The music of the 23 years old, based in New York, is a mix of Electro,
Dubstep, Rap and Pop. He writes, composes and produces all of his arrangements on his own. After
having paramount success with video releases online, Left Boy will stop at the Riders Palace during
his first live-tour.

For more details follow us on facebook.com/BurtonEuropeanOpen and www.burton.com/BEO

Check out this gallery of some of the shots our humble editorial iPhone has snapped over this past winter, and follow us on Instagram (@onboardmag) for more of the same.

We couldn’t help but notice that Instagram was bought the other day for the princely sum of $1 billion virtual Facebook credits (or something), and once we’d finished wondering how something that makes no money could be worth so much it reminded us that we’d been meaning to share some of the shots we, ourselves, have been firing out through the photosharing social network.

‘Gramming’ has swiftly become the new buzzword of riders and media alike this winter, so make sure you follow us (@onboardmag) as we’ll be posting a bunch more on-the-ground shots as well as classic archive photos from here on in.

Danny Burrows is back with another one of his favourite shots – this time it’s of Norwegian ripper Ståle Sandbech at the recent Burton European Open slopestyle in Laax. Check out how he bagged this, and you can also download it as a free wallpaper to make your machin all purrty.

This year’s BEO was graced by Saharan sun and temperatures to match, which although a ball-ache for competitors and shapers, was bliss for those watching and shooting the action.

Wednesday’s slopestyle semis were a long, drawn out affair with 30 odd male riders slogging it out well into the late afternoon, into what the commentators coined the ‘golden hour’. With the new location of the slopestyle course this made for deep shadows and a contrasting sharp, winter light; in short – a photographer’s wet dream.

I moved down to the left side of the first big kicker on the course, as the shadow added a nice graphic element, stuck on a 35mm lens and crouched low to block the banners. The resulting image of the Norwegian style master Ståle Sandbech is by far my favourite shot that I took of the entire contest; Ståle’s poise is without fault; the cloud-streaked sky perfect; with the shard of shadow from the wedge the picture’s crowning glory.

Big thanks to Burton for a great event and to all the riders present who, fighting sticky snow, threw down an awesome medley of bangers.

Shot on a Nikon D3, using a 2.0/35mm lens, at 1/1000 of a second on f11 at an ISO of 200.

Download this as your desktop wallpaper for the following screen resolutions:

1920 x 1200

1024 x 768

L to R - Jamie Anderson, Emil Ulsletten, Cilka Sadar and Christian Haller.

Check the runs of the guys and girls who are now 5k richer thanks to their creativity and Mini’s desire to see innovation rewarded at the Open series of shred contests.

The MINI Creative Use of Space Award at the Burton European Open 2012: Jamie Anderson, Emil Ulsletten, Cilka Sadar and Christian Haller show the most creative tricks and take home US$ 5,000!

The third round of the MINI Creative Use of Space Award (CUoS) went down last weekend at the Burton European Open (BEO) in Laax, Switzerland. In spring-like conditions, the world’s best snowboarders unwrapped their skills in the event’s two major competitions: slopestyle and halfpipe. The female and male riders that demonstrated the most creative tricks during the finals took home US$ 5,000 and the MINI CUoS Slopestyle and Halfpipe Awards.

SLOPESTYLE WINNERS

With a smooth backside lipslide on the corner wall combination followed by a massive front side 360 melon over the roof gap, Jamie Anderson (USA) proved her creativity and bagged the MINI CUoS Slopestyle Award in the women’s category. On the men’s side, the judges awarded Emil Ulsletten (NOR) for his rad trick combo on the MINI CUoS Slopestyle Feature: alley-oop 360 over the corner wall followed by a cab to 50/50 to 360 out on the rail set. In the halfpipe finals, the MINI CUoS Awards went to Cilka Sadar (SLO) for a stylish backside alley-oop japan and Christian “Hitsch” Haller (SUI) who stomped an incredible alley-oop seatbelt.

The awarded riders not only took home the prize money, but also collected 25 points towards the final ranking of the Burton Global Open Series (BGOS) and the MINI Countryman which will be given to the male and female with the most points at the 30th Annual US Open in Stratton, Vermont on March 10, 2012.

HALFPIPE WINNERS

The MINI CUoS Slopestyle Feature at the 2012 Burton European Open was created by lead builder Roger Heid and his shape crew. Inspired by urban snowboarding, Heid designed a unique feature that aimed to bring the streets to the mountain – including a corner wall combination, a rail set and a MINI. Thanks to its diversity, the MINI Feature offered the riders great freedom in choosing their line resulting in innovative and unconventional tricks. In addition to the riders, the shape crews also compete for an award: The MINI Feature that is deemed to be the most creative of the four BGOS stops will win US$ 5,000 and the MINI CUoS Slopestyle Feature Award.

This is Iouri's victory lap peppered with monster straight airs. His mad tech second run was what he clinched the men's BEO pipe crown with and you can watch it below. Photo: Burrows.

We brought you the report and gallery from Saturday’s ever-awesome BEO halfpipe finals yesterday, and now you can relive the action with the videos of the top 3 runs from the men and women, including Iouri Podladtchikov and Kelly Clark’s first place boomers.

Men’s 1st – Iouri Podladtchikov

Men’s 2nd – Danny Davis

Men’s 3rd – Ryo Ayono

Women’s 1st – Kelly Clark

Women’s 2nd – Gretchen Bleiler

Women’s 3rd – Yuki Furihata