The Freestyleusa.com crew did something most European crews deem to be impossible these days: They put together an entire movie without any sponsor money. And here’s the funny thing: Filming, riding and editing look better than some regional Euro productions that managed to get some corporate cash. Watch this American clip as a little inspiration for the coming winter! I expect your teasers no later than summer 2011…

Riders involved: Ricky Bates, Jake Black, Ross Patton, BJ Linne, Luke Haddock, Shaun Murphy, Spencer Link, Nick Sibayan, Joachim Krogstie, Hakon L’Orange, OC Haugen, Thomas Haugen, Spencer Whiting, Patrick Waddell, Jon Strader, Ryan Pluche, Devin Allen, Davis Paul, Nick Rockwood, Geoff Isringhausen and Friends (you know who you are!)

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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