This teaser for a Czech snowboard movie called Snowporning 2012 is actually pretty good. Watch it and marvel about the shred opportunities in the land of beer.

Riders: HONZA NEČAS, ROMAN DLAUHÝ, DAREK BERGMANN, ŠTĚPÁN ROKOS, PEPÉ SAMEK, JAKUB ŠIMŮNEK, HONZA ZAJÍC, ONDRA BAUER, PETR HORÁK, MARTIN MATOUŠEK, DUŠAN KŘÍŽ, HONZA HAVLÍČEK, DAVID ČONKA, MARTIN KOLAŘÍK

The Horsefeathers crew were denied on Iran, so their crew hit up the urban terrain way closer to home. Check out this sick jibbing from Tadej Valentan, Killian Wiget, Ville Uotila, Darek Bergmann and Tomas Tuzar as they cruise spots in the Czech Republic.

“‘Shit happens’ could also be the title of this obscure mission into the depths of Iran. Well, almost. As the plans to visit this country which very few associate with snowboarding were coming to the final stage, all involved were more and more excited. And then half of the crew did not get visa. Shit.

Riders ready, video crew ready, photographer ready. After brainstorming through numerous alternative plans a consensus was reached: lets explore unridden and overlooked parts of the Czech Republic, a country where snowboarding is strong and parks can be found even in the smallest resorts still hides many options which many would not even consider rideable, droppable, jibable, grindable, or whatever else. Initially, as the snow cover cumulated and heaps of powder covered the whole country a grand plan with road gaps, castle drops and freeride shots was put into place. And then the rain came. Shit.

Everyone lined up: Tadej Valentan from Slovenia, Killian Wiget from Switzerland, Ville Uotila from Finland, Darek Bergmann and Tomas Tuzar from Czech Republic plus David our photographer and Vit with Peterson with all the video gear. An alternate plan was produced and a new mission was out there – to ride what no one has ridden before even if all the powder has turned into a sucky, heavy blanket. Not an impossible feat, but definitely a project needing a lot of effort and energy on all sides. The crew started their search for unique spots in a mountainous region called Ore Mountains sitting on the border of Czech Republic and Germany. Numerous spots were found and hit including old uranium factory, a historical lime kiln and a wind power plant. After several days of discovering the unlikely the course was set east towards the biggest Czech resort called Spindleruv Mlyn. There the exploration of stairs, balconies and other mountain city landmarks continued.”

Darek Bergman. All photos: Roland Haschka

After a long winter of stepping up and matching tricks, the finals of the Horsefeathers King of S.N.O.W. went down in the Horsefeathers Superpark Planai from April 16–18 2010. Here’s the haps…

Friday Warm Up:

Ville Uotila, Darek Bergmann and Jan ‘Honza’ Zajic as well as photographer David Blazek and cameraman Vit Kratochvile arrived the day before the final in the Horsefeathers Superpark Planai. The crew had a good session and warmed up for the upcoming final at sunset. Due to airspace chaos caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, only four riders were able to make it – for the rest of the guys special arrangements were made: They can present, record and upload their tricks from home and hence could participate at the judging.

Vile Uotila.

Saturday: Final

The motivation of Matthis Vogt (GER), Luis Gärttner (AUT), Matias Jurai (CZW) and Filip Hrkel (SVK) was already evident at the group breakfast. From 11.30 am the sun forced its way through the clouds and, thanks to the low temperatures during the night, both the atmosphere and the snow conditions were ideal and made for a stellar last day in the Horsefeathers Superpark Planai.

Chillin.

From the moment the riders set foot on the mountain, the pro line immediately became the center of attention. At the riders meeting it was decided to hold the final on the third kicker of the triple line and on only his the second run, Finnish pro Ville Uotila showed his final trick for the contestants to copy – a switch backside 9 – setting the bar pretty damn high for the finalists of the Horsefeathers King of S.N.O.W.

Follow me around - Ville shows the boys his switch back 9.

The final’s on! There was no time limit for the riders: After they’d acquainted themselves with the kicker, they gradually stepped up to the 900 degree rotation. The setup inspired the participants to a real trick-flush that came to an end almost 3 hours and some reshapes later.

Matthias Vogt.

However, the final isn’t over yet: Now it’s your turn! At www.king-of-snow.com you can find the winning tricks and vote for whichever you think is the best one until Saturday!

And there’s more… With the ‘contest’ done, the finalists and Horsefeathers pro riders didn’t rest on their laurels, they were still motivated to shred and showed their 9s, 10s and double backflips to the stoke of the cameraman and the photographer who bagged a bunch of bangers! QFilmer Clemens Prankl was on site and was opumped: “In my opinion the last weekend was the best of the season: Many popular faces, good moods and the small but nice session at the third kicker of the pro line.”

Honza Zajic.

In the chill area the tunes of SUBLIME were played in the meantime; here and there the smell of barbecue ascended and thanks to the spring weather, the numerous deck chairs were occupied by the visitors.

So contest- and farewell-atmosphere dominated the weekend, as on Sunday the boxes, rails and kickers of the Horsefeathers Superpark Planai were razzed for the last time this season. Despite the hangover-inducing bar-tour alias “After Contest Party“ in the evening Clemens Prankl, QPhotographer Roland Haschka and the riders made it up together again on Sunday in the park to bag more good shots!

Matthias Vogt.

But freestyle depravation won’t last long: In about a month, on the 29th of March, the Horsefeathers Superpark Dachstein is opening its gates and guarantees for some legendary summer-shred sessions 2010!

For more information go to: www.king-of-snow.com, www.planai.horsefeatherssuperparks.com, www.qparks.com and www.dachstein.horsefeatherssuperparks.com!

Just the other day we went on a ramble about Blickinsfreie productions and their latest Bulgaria project. We just received this clip from the Nitro HQ. It shows Marc Swoboda, Enrico Cavada and Darek Bergmann road-tripping in Bulgaria. It does not take a Bob Woodward to conclude that this must be a shrapnel from the mentioned project.

Anyhow, it shows some inspiring riding, great filming, and more snow than we had most of the winter!

Darek Bergman

No, the madness has not stopped yet and it’s not bound to do so soon either – we’re still full on in the middle of this year’s King of S.N.O.W tournament!

After various tricks like 1s, 3s, Noseslides and a so on, it’s now time to move on to another obstacle, the wallride, and copy Darek Bergman’s beautiful BS wallride.

Round 8: Darek Bergmann – BS Wallride

More Snowboarding >>

Round 9: Kilian Wiget – Handplant

Round 10: Michi Zirngibl – BS Lipslide

More Snowboarding >>

Round 11: Honza Zajic – BS 7

You don’t know how it works yet? Get all the info and important details here: king-of-snow.com