The second installment of Nike’s trilogy of short shred films will drop soon, so to get you hyped for that Brad Kremer-directed park riding spectacular they’ve released this pre-edit bonus that’s mad gay for the Phantom camera and its 1000 fps slow-mo capability. Pretty tasty.

Much like they did with their street-focussed Chapter 1 of The Nike Snowboarding Project, the Swoosh have released a teasy bonus edit to get you frothing for the full edit, which is set to drop November 13. This one, directed by legendary filmmaker Brad Kremer, looks set to focus on park riding and more specifically the madness that went down in the Nike Chosen Sessions‘ opulent features at the tail end of last winter. It also takes full advantage of the Phantom cam’s ridiculous mega slow-mo capabilities and the results are pretty jaw dropping – the riding looks rad but seeing our mate Jamie Nicholls take an egg to the chops is just priceless…

Check out this fresh teaser for Nitro Snowboards’ goodtime-vibed team movie, Hyped!, featuring all their heavy hitting teasmsters, including Eero Ettala, Markus Keller, Austin Smith, Germund Bråten, Cheryl Maas and way more. Aside from the fact that this is way rad, it’s worth watching for Ettala and Eliassen’s re-imagining of William Tell’s decisive moment. Happily they fare better than Hunter S. Thompson did…

Here’s their chatter. Roll on October 22nd…

Nitro snowboards is making a full length team video that breaks away from the standard snowboard movie format and focuses more on what snowboarding is really about. The Hyped! movie will be released October 22nd.

Get ready to see Austin Smith, Eero Ettala, Jon Kooley, Justin Bennee, Bryan Fox, Mark Swoboda, Markus Keller, Knut Eliassen, Anton Gunnarsson, Gjermund Braaten, Cheryl Maas, Benny Urban, Eric Botner, and many more like you have never seen them before.

www.nitrousa.com

With the Southern Hemi season starting to wind down, take a look at this interesting short documentary on the competition circuit down under. Contains solid riding from all the major events, plus chat from the likes of Gjermund Bråten, Roope Tonteri, Tor Lundström and more…

Vacation? is a full short documentary about competitive snowboarding in the Southern hemisphere featuring Scotty Lago, Gjermund Bratten, Seamus O’Connor, Alex Beer, Orla Doolin, Stale Sandbech, Cheryl Maas, Mark McMorris, Seb Toots…

Since Norway is like the European New Zealand anyhow, the Norwegian snowboard team takes to the NZ parks like a fish to water! And don’t forget: There are only about 5 million Norwegians, compared to 315 million US-Americans…

If we spotted them correctly, you are going to watch Stale Sandbech, Gjermund Braten, Roger Kleivdal, Ulrik Badertscher, Torgeir Bergrem, Fredrik Austbo, Emil Ulsletten, Helene Olafsen, Simen Neraker, and Aleks Oestreng.

As well as boobs, enormous ollies and the true tale of hatred between members of the Nike team, this 10-minute epic also features some great snowboarding. Viewing is mandatory.

Johannes Brenning – dubbed ‘The Greatest Filmer of All Time’ by literally single figures of people – has just released this awesome edit of Halldor Helgason, Germund Bråten, Jamie Nicholls, Silje Norendal and Ethan Morgan‘s time at the Nike shoot in Stranda last spring. You can taste the hate, you can taste the love, you can finger the awesome. Watch this.

Behold! Here’s the movie you’ve been frothing to see – Eiki and Halldor Helgason’s Sexual Snowboarding, the full movie. Watch it.

Ok so strictly speaking the full full movie would include yesterday’s more by-the-numbers friends part, this, and a yet to be disclosed full part, but for all intents and purposes this here is the one.

Featuring Eiki, Halldor, Gulli, a couple buds and a section devoted solely to you guys who submitted clips (rad idea), plus all the associated fuckwittery you’d expect from these boys, this is what it’s about. Think the original Euro Gap movies and you’re in the right bar.

Click play, enjoy. Thanks gents.

Or to give it its full official title, who’ll win the “Oakley & Shaun White present Air&Style Beijing”? It’s going down tomorrow – December 3 2011 – in the Birds Nest Olympic Stadium from 12.30pm Euro time, but to add some spice to the proceedings we’re throwing it out to you to give your predictions, and someone will win some swag too.

You can watch the Beijing Air&Style live from around 12.30pm tomorrow and have all the action smack you in the chops while being entertained by our mate Henry who’ll be hosting the webcast. But we’ve already started having an office mass debate about who we think will win, so rather than bore you with our thoughts we thought we’d put it to the floor and see who you guys reckon will bag the TTR 6-Star title

To help you, we’ve scoured the internet for some examples of their skills. Turns out they’re all a bit tasty. Whodathunkit? Drop your prediction of who’ll walk away with the Ring of Glory in the comments and if you get it right and have luck with our Randomizer, we’ll send you an Onboard care package. You must post your prediction BEFORE THE CONTEST STARTS. We have ways of knowing if you cheat…

INVITED RIDERS

SEBASTIEN TOUTANT

MARK MCMORRIS

SEPPE SMITS

TORSTEIN HORGMO

NILS ARVIDSSON

MIKKEL BANG

ERIC WILLETT

ULRIK BADERTSCHER

MARKO GRILC

SAGE KOTSENBURG

ETHAN MORGAN

GJERMUND BRÅTEN

Or do you think one of the guys who’ll battle through the qualifiers will have enough to take it? There’s 4 spots in the main even for this lot: Jamie Nicholls, Ståle Sandbech, Torgeir Bergrem, Roope Tonteri, Kevin Backstrom, Petja Piiroinen, Yuki Kadono, Markku Koski, An Taehwan, Clemens Schattschneider and Charles Reid.

As we said, drop your tip for the title in the comments below  – BEFORE THE CONTEST STARTS – and we’ll pick a winner from the correct predictions on Monday.

Here’s the chat:

VICE today announces the premiere of the fourth season of Powder & Rails, a series developed by VICE and Burton devoted to exploring the frosty world of snowboarding, the onslaught of shredding, and day-glo jackets.

In the first four episodes of the new season, VICE heads out to Red Rocks, Colorado to attend the world premiere of TB20 (Totally Board 20), in celebration of Standard Films’ 20th anniversary. There, we catch up with Travis Robb and Mike and Dave Hatchett, the first of their kind to join together big mountain, back country boarding with freestyle hi-jinks. In this episode, the guys invite us to see some of TB20 in the making at Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe with the company of snowboarder friends Gjermund Bråten, Gulli Gudmundsson and Halldor Helgason. They divulge Standard Films’ inception, tracking its history with the likes of Standard alumni Tom Burt, Jim Rippey and Jeremy Jones.

For the fourth season of Powder & Rails, not only do we go behind the scenes of Standard Film’s TB20, but we get up close and personal with the likes of snowboarding’s first backcountry maniac, Tom Burt, the most badass board developer, Chuck Barfoot, and hit up Summit County where we chat with Marc Frank Montoya, Dave England, Mikey LeBlanc, Scott E. Wittlake, the Tarquin Robbins, and many more.

But I guess over time they refined their formula, and this sixth instalment, aptly called ‘Episode #4.20′, has it all: Not only does it feature their own riding, they have filmed with their compatriots Gjermund Braaten, Torstein Horgmo, and even got photog Frode Sandbech to throw down some sick grabs.

Riders: Gjermund Bråten, Giom Morisset, Torstein Horgmo, Frode Sandbech, Jonny Aaseth, Sebastian Krohn, and Henrik Mikkelsgard.

Here’s where you can find older episodes: vimeo.com/user5833422/videos

ASK THE EXPERT

HANS ÅHLUND

To coincide with our motorized jib article on page 104, we’ve asked a tow-in and winch expert to tell us more about the technique that’s rapidly become the new urban jib phenomenon. here’s hans Åhlund’s two cents on the matter…

First of all, why do you use a winch for riding?

I’ve used a winch quite a lot, especially last winter because I’m pretty good at seeing spots and their potential. With a winch, you can fi nd spots everywhere, spots that I’ve been claiming and seeing before but that were not doable. The first time I saw a winch was at the Zimtstern Leaves shoot and I didn’t understand the potential it had. Then we used it on the Pirate flick Jolly Roger last year, and then I understood and saw what it was capable of. I fell in love!

how did you start with equipment?

At the beginning of last year I bought one together with the Pirates and my local homeboys and I used it a lot last year. If you’ve seen my part you know what I mean. It’s for spots that need lots of speed. If you just want to hit rails you might as well just use friends to pull you, a drop-in ramp, or a bungee – there’s no need for a winch for most rails –but on a lot of my spots we maxed out the winch, which is claimed to go 70kph but I think it’s more like 55kph maybe. Bottom line, I will use the winch and probably the Bungee mostly this winter, so if you got the money buy both.

Is it not an added danger to hit rails?

Well, shit happens for sure: in Italy, Simu broke his hand because he didn’t brake the accelerating handle, and it hit his hand. So watch out – it’s not a toy. Remember to brake the winch directly after the rider’s let go of the handle, and make sure the bungee is correctly secured to whatever you attach it to, and also try not to have the bungee snap! But, you know, ramps might look safer until you fall off one plus you can never reach the same speed or it has to be one hell of a ramp!

What is your winch equipment?

It’s that Grinch one, that’s the one I’ve seen most of.

- What do you want to look at when purchasing a winch?

Price, top speed, and if it’s built to last. I paid 2000 euros for mine second hand.

Is there different approach techniques for different tows?

Whatever you choose to ride it’s always a hassle to find the good speed and where to put the ramp/bungee/winch to get the right speed and set up. It’s good to keep that in mind before you start building the spot.

What features does a spot have to have to be good for winch?

It has to be spot that needs a lot of speed to work, otherwise there’s no use for the winch. Then it’s just go for it and max out the speed.

Is everything possible to hit now?

As long as you have a good in-run or a good plan for it, kind of yes. It’s only your mind and imagination that set stop for what could be hit.

DESIGN YOUR UNLIKELY FEATURES WITH ANALOG

Analog launched a global design contest a few months back, giving snowboarders the opportunity to conceptualise their dream jib obstacle. It’s a unique chance to have your very own snow feature constructed. Draw it by hand, create it on your computer, sketch on a napkin… use whatever method you want, but be creative! Here’s what Analog’s Greg Poissonnier had to say for your guidance: “Here is one of the most noticeable entries Analog received so far, the rail to wall feature. As you can see creativity is there, but there’s probably room for improvement, so if you have the killer idea, get your pen out or computer on!” And remember, as Greg says, “The feature must be creative, offer many riding options, easy to build and to move.” Reckon you can do better than that? Then grab your pen or laptop and freakin get on it! If you win, not only you will have your dream creation built, but Analog will bring you out for the weekend to the Design Unlikely Features Contest on March 19th, 2011 in Avoriaz, where you can participate in the first ever contest on your winning feature. No pressure, competing is optional.

In addition, the winner will receive:
1st Prize
• 2 round Trip Tickets to/from Avoriaz 1800 resort
• 2 nights lodging at Avoriaz 1800 resort
• Custom built snow feature at Avoriaz 1800 resort
• Contest centered around your creation
• Analog outerwear kit (gloves, Jacket, Pants)
• Analog Clothing Package (including: Jeans, beanie, t-shirt, fl annel, fl eece, backpack, and belt)
You’ve only got until January 15th to enter, so be fast!

Send your sketches to:
designunlikelyfeatures@analogclothing.com (mention europe in subject box)
snail Mail:
Analog
Design unlikely Features Contest
z.a de Pedebert
180 av. des menuisiers
40150 soorts-hossegor
France
You can also upload your submission on the Analog website.

Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

HIGH FIVE

GJERMUND BRÅTEN

He might have an unpronounceable name but you’d better fi gure out how to say it [Ok, it’s Yer-mund Braw-ten] because this young Norwegian ripper has been holding down the top spot on the TTR rankings for the fi rst part of the season. A good enough reason for us to dial him into a High 5.

We’ve followed you since you won the Rookie Fest two years ago. Now you’ve been TTR #1 for quite a while, how do you explain such a rapid progression in the world establishment?

A lot of hard work, helpful people and great sponsors!

Are you gonna focus all your season on the TTR to defend your points, or still go out in the backcountry to shoot?

My main goals are to win or place top 3 in the TTR, ride the US X-Games and fi lm for Standard.

What are the essential tricks you have to have in your bag if you wanna hold it down in the top ten these days?

10s for sure, and good rails skills.

Which upcoming contests are you the most confident for?

Air&Style China will be fun, looking forward to that one, and then the O’Neill Evolution and BEO.

What will you do if you win the TTR at the end of the season?

I’ll buy a Rolex, and go to Bali with the 6.0 team!

Reporter of the Month – Enzo Nilo

Here’s the fine reportage that made young French ripper Enzo Nilo about the beginning of his winter season. seems pretty hectic…

It all started with the strikes in October/November, when my school was closed. I then went to Grenoble for the French snowboard awards, where I had to get my best suit on since I was nominated in the category ‘Rookie of the Year’. Good thing I did that because I ended up winning the trophy and represent my A Branler Crew on stage, with the help of the usual losers Victor Delerue and Victor Daviet, Daviet, who disintegrated my boxers.
Thomas Delfino and Bruno Rivoire were on fire on the dancefloor and literally killed it. After this hard piece of work done, I went on the road to Saas Fee where plenty of pros were training, and where all the French team was hanging: Mat Crepel, Arthur Longo, Aluan Ricciardi, Max Tevelle and the rest of the crew. I only rode one day because of the shitty weather, but it was nice to dial again some basic tricks and get the legs ready. Plus I learned switch backflips!

Then I was back in Les 2 Alpes for the Rock On Snowboard Tour, where we planned to shoot a ‘Day in the Life’ podcast for Vans… But once again the weather was against us. Bastard. Nevertheless the park was good and I could get confi dent with my 5s and 7s. I spent the last evening with the Harakiri crew for the premiere of their video. After another hard weekend, it was time to go back to Saas Fee for a Euro Cup contest. Hard return in the icy pipe but I manage to ride at my level enough to qualify for the finals, where I end up in 7th place – which qualifi es me for the World Cup events. I want here to big up the brilliant performance of my partner Maxence Tevelle, aka ‘the only man brave enough to put his face down the icy pipe twice’. But more fear that pain for him. Hectic did you say? Hope it continues like that!

MOVERS & SHAKERS

It’s all go at APO right now. Regis Rolland’s baby has been boosted with the arrival of 24-year-old Brit ripper based out of Andorra, Tyler Chorlton, who you’ll no doubt know from his sick parts in the Pirates movies the last few years. “So stoked to be in the APO family,” said Tyler, pumped on his new BC 160 fl at cut board and Dual entry system bindings. “It’s an honor to hang out with the legendary Regis and to be part of the root of European snowboarding!” 23-year-old René Schnöller from Sölden has also jumped aboard the APO happy bus.

Rene Schnoller

Our senior photographer Matt Georges was recently honoured by having some of his shots printed on a very special and limited Rip Curl collection, as part of their eco-friendly program. Matt is already the sixth AOTS (Artist of The Search) so we give him the fi st of nuff respect for that. This collection, including two hoodies, one t-shirt and boxer shorts (on top of being awesome obviously) is a genuine way of reconciling the environmentally friendly and the artistic, of improving awareness among ‘Searchers’ and offering consumers a range of highly distinctive 100% organic cotton t-shirts. Find those products online at myripcurlshop.com

Thomas Gerin

Anne-Flore Marxer is now hot-stepping with Etnies and ThirtyTwo, and joins Danny Larsen, Markus Malin, Ville Paumola, Steve Gruber, and Kareem El Rafi e on the team roster. “My boots are made for shredding and that’s just what we’ll do!” was what AFM had to say, and she did just that: as soon as she’d picked up her Best French Female Rider award, Anne-Flore started her season early with a long preparation in Sass Fee. In addition to etnies and thirtytwo Europe, Anne-Flore’s sponsors include Billabong, Oakley, Swatch, Neff, Bluebird, Dakine and Les Ettes. Sticking with Etnies and ThirtyTwo, they’ve also signed Flo Achenrainer, for boots, footwear and outerwear.

Tyler Chorlton

How about that? Slap bang in the middle of the season, Forum comes up with another all-new board release: The Contract LTD, a Limited Edition urban board that puts the “&” in “Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll”. With the same urban-specific tech and construction as The Contract, this 154 features an additional photo from famed NYC photographer Allan Tannenbaum. Now it gets interesting: just like the regular series, every person who buys this board is eligible to go online and sign up to be on “The Contract Team.” Once on the team and listed on the Forum website, riders can send in their best urban shots on The Contract for a chance to score photo incentives if the shot is run. Go to www.forumsnowboards.com for more info.

Matt George's Rip Curl

With the arrival of David Livet as team manager for Oxbow it was just a question of time before some fresh news arrived on the team. And here it is: there are four new arrivals – Marion Gouwy, Sophie Rodriguez, Thomas Gérin (all from France), and Adán Baserba from Spain.

Marion Gouwy, Sophie Rodriguez

Airhole facemasks have fi nally arrived in France and some other countries in Europe that they’d not made it to before. The Canadian brand, created by Wildcats Kale Stephens and Chris Brown, is hitting hard on the team front with a monster roster, with the likes of the Jackson & Helgason brothers, Niemela, Backstrom, Heiskari, Geeves, Rencz, Stephens, Brown…. Morgan Le Faucheur, Max Delayen and Alicia Bonnaud being the first French members. Another Wildcat’s offspring, Endeavor, is also completing its European distribution, with some solid Euro representation in the shape of Kareem El Rafie, Jody Washniak or Torgeir Berre.

Forum LTC Contract

AFM in 32s

Adan Baserba

DC PARK LES HOUCHES:

One Spot. One concept. One Park. One chalet for the second year, Dc installs its Snowpark concept in les houches, chamonix, france.

From the 15th of December till the end of the winter season, the DC area will be providing snowboarders with all they have dreamt of in a premium snowpark, shaped by the fi nest shapers, with a new and specific program of entertainment, contests, shows, and more. Strongly inspired by the DC Mountain Lab in Utah, the concept of the DC area was to cater for riders of any level wanting to hit the best lines and best obstacles in order to make snowboarding more easily accessible. The base camp of DC area has been built around a shipping container that is the source of life and entertainment at events. After being delivered by helicopter last December, the container has a number of jobs: being as used for storage, to play music, have good times in and even as an additional rideable component in the park. But the most important element the DC area project has brought to the park is the “Know How” for building the park, with the best shapers. In choosing Les Houches as its Partner Resort, DC plants its flag in front of the highest mountains of Europe, which gives the park one of the best backdrops around. Chamonix has always been home to the freeriders, but despite its credentials as one of the fi nest ski areas in the world the resort has been lacking a decent snow park for a number of years. Now, with the DC area in place, that’s all changed and freestyle is fi rmly on the map. Les Houches appears to be the best place to re-activate the AREA 43 concept, together with the other European DC area in Kitzbühel, Austria.

New for 2011:

RIDING:
- An additional snowpark.
- several zones to ride (for different levels of riders).
- new exclusive obstacles mixing skate and snow inspiration.entertainment:
- An exclusive Chalet dedicated to riders, ViP and media.
- Parties and festivities.

PROGRAM
16-18.01.2011 snow Avant Premier les houches Fr
31.01-04.02 2011 DC special shoot la Clusaz Fr
12-13.02.2011 rookie Contest les houches Fr
13-14.02.2011 snow test les houches Fr
28.02-04.03 2011 Warriors les houches Fr
15.04.2011 Closing les houches Fr

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www.facebook.com/dcshoes.france