For the opening night here in Tignes, Men’s Superpipe qualifications and Women’s Superpipe Final was on the program. Here’s what went down.

The 8 female pipe riders ended up the action night in style on the perfectly shape half tube. Kelly Clark took the early lead with a clean and technical run noted 87.66 that included a first hit 10 linked with a massive 7 and a Front Rodeo. Definately a run above the rest, already on the first of her 3 runs… Just in front of the young Arielle Gold (only 16) who obviously wasn’t too impressed to be here, and landed her run perfectly with two 9s and two 5s, and 83 points.

Before the last of their 3 runs, the standings were as follow: Clark, Gold, Teter, Bleiler, Hight, Schaffrick, Farrington, Hollingsworth. First of the leading girls to drop in, Hannah Teter sends of a marvelous 9 on her first hit… Before landing flat and losing all her speed half way down. She won’t improve. Then it’s Bleiler; she bails her last hit and doesn’t improve either. Same story for Arielle, but she can be proud of herself.

We could feel it coming as the last possible contender for the podium drops in for the last time: Elena Hight. Despite a real good effort – back-to-back 7s and 9s – that sends her at the second place. Sealed! Kelly says hello to the crowd with huge straight airs all the way, and cash a meaty $30.000 check.

Women’s Superpipe final standings:

1. Kelly Clark  87.66
2. Elena Hight 85.00
3. Arielle Gold 83.00
4. Hannah Teter 80.66
5. Gretchen Bleiler 64.33
6. Maddy Schaffrick 60.33
7. Kaitlyn Farrington 59.66
8. Ellery Hollingsworth 55.00

On the men’s side, the elimination round went down just before the women’s final, and no big surprised happened to the favorites, except maybe for Markus Malin who took an early way out. Iouri Podladtchikov was also pretty close to the exit before pulling the 3rd best run of the night including a Crippler Nose, back 9 and Cab double. Vito was leading the bunch from the start with a realy impressive run including a Crippler Dub. The local crowd will be supporting a Frenchie in final, Arthur Longo, who was clean and high all the way, even on his double. On an overall impression, we didn’t see any breathtaking run but hey, it was qualis, right? And the crowd loved it, tomorrow will be a great show for sure.

So here are the riders qualified for the Superpipe final tomorrow (Thursday) at 6.pm CET.

1. Louie Vito

2. Scotty Lago

3. Iouri Podladtchikov

4. Christian Haller

5. Luke Mitrani

6. Arthur Longo

7. Peetu Piiroinen

8. Benji Farrow

The rest of the program:

Thursday, 21st March 2013

- 10:30 am – noon: Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle eliminations
- 1:00 – 2:15 pm: Men’s Ski Slopestyle final

- 3:00 pm: Women’s Ski Slopestyle final

- 6:30 – 7:45 pm: Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe final
- 8:30 – 10 pm: Men’s Ski Ski SuperPipe eliminations

Friday, 22nd March 2013

- 10:30 am – noon: Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle final
- 1:00 – 2:15 pm: Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle final
- 6:30 – 7:45: Men’s Ski SuperPipe final
- 8:30 – 9:45 pm: Women’s Ski SuperPipe final

Stay tuned! And once again, if you’re at the event, don’t hesitate to use the Hashtag #xgamesnow on everything related to the X Games in Tignes! Our Top 10 Grams and Tweets daily win Onboard subs and overall favorite wins a bag of swag including a snowboard!

The next edition of World Championships of Snowboarding will be hosted by Yabuli, China in February 2016.

Everything went quite smoothly in Oslo last year at the World Snowboarding Championships, except for the lack of ambulances. So the next logical step is to move the February 2016 edition of the event 8000 miles around the world, up by Mongolia. In a resort none of us have ever ridden in or heard of. But they probably have an all you can eat buffet there so why the heck not. And they’re throwing in a Big Air event for our viewing pleasure too, so everyone’s winning. The decision to move away from less obscure venues is clearly “a major step forward in our ambition to establish the World Championships of Snowboarding as the world´s most respected snowboarding contest”, just as Reto Lamm says. Obvious, really.

For the uninitiated amongst you, Yabuli is away up the north of China in Heilongjiang. You know, the place famous for China’s best fumigated raw dog and salmon soup. Round the corner from Mundanjiang. Just up the road from Harbin, the place where snowman building contests have been way out of hand since the mid nineties.

World Snowboard Federation president Marco Sampaoli reckons “every rider coming from all around the world to China’s northeast will undoubtedly have a memorable experience” and you’ve got to assume he’ll be right. I mean, almost everything you own that is cool, tacky, or just plain bizarre was made by a small child in china. The Beijing Olympics were a hoot. Let’s send some snowboarders over there, have a bowl or two of dog soup served by a waiter talking a language we can’t decipher, add a dollop of dubstep, gopro every move they make and you’ve got a guaranteed viral jackpot in the making. Both FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are allowed to turn a blind eye to the questionable politics of their host nations, so why should the WST stand for anything different. And hey, I’ll be snuggled up with my mactop watching from somewhere warm in the heart of the Alps, so what do I care which corner of the internet the highlights are streaming from, as long as 14 year olds are trippling off massive piles of snow and there are some flashy lights?

Alas, the patented Shaun White winning face was obscured by his gangster shit. Videos below...

Oh look, there’s a Pope wearing a funny hat and a bear taking a dump in the trees. Shaun White won the X Games halfpipe in Tignes by posting a 98, edging out the multi-corking Louie Vito and Iouri Podladtchikov’s safety run. Check the videos…

We’re still digesting what we made of all that so our chin-stroking will come shortly. [UPDATE - due to the speed at which time moves on the internet, we've posted our brief musings on the stunt ditch sliding in our report of the Winter X Games Europe men's slopestyle finals.] ]Till then, here’s the videos. Fair result?

1ST – SHAUN WHITE

2ND – LOUIE VITO

3RD – IOURI PODLADTCHIKOV

This is the women's champion Conny Bleicher.

2011 German Pipe Championships

Men’s Final Ranking
1 Christophe Schmidt 85.33
2 Christoph Weber-Thoresen 80.33
3 Xaver Hoffmann 78.33
4 David Benedek 78.00
5 Ethan Morgan 65.00

Women’s Final Ranking
1 Conny Bleicher 74.33
2 Annette Steinbauer 62.00
3 Veronika Rajcsanyi 58.33
4 Vanessa Tinney 52.67
5 Alexandra Klaass 49.33

Groms (U16)
1. Linus Birkendahl 64.67
2. Luis Eckert 60.00
3. Johannes Höpfl 56.33

Xaver Hoffman / Photo: Roland Haschka

For a few weeks the Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn has an all-new attraction: Apart from two park areas – the Easy Park and the Central Park – it now has an additional treat for all snowboarders: a full-on superpipe!

Gigantic construction project
With a length of 135m and a height of 6.30m (20 feet), the u-shaped pipe is truly unique in its construction. After intense snow production at the pipe area already in mid December, an incredible 25,000 cubic meters of snow were spread over the whole Superpipe. After having completed the basis construction, the optimum aptitudes as well as the perfect radius were milled into the huge walls with a Zaugg Monster Pipe Cutter. Thus safe drop-ins at an angle of almost 90° and smooth runs with massive airtime are guaranteed.

Christoph Weber / Photo: Roland Haschka

Perfect training conditions
The final result is an impressive piece of snowpark design, one Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn parkdesigner Stefan Plattner is also proud of: “With a length of 135m and a height of 6.3m, the Superpipe at the Kitzsteinhorn is really unique in its form and size and definitely not comparable to any other pipe project in Austria. Our overall aim was to produce a high-quality Superpipe from the very first, which – in combination with frequent reshaping – remains in its shape as long as possible and which can be used as a perfect training compound for pipe riders from all over Europe.” Despite its gigantic dimension, the Superpipe is also a real attraction for less advanced snowboarders. The elliptic form guarantees enough landing space and hence cares for sufficient safety. The Superpipe Kitzsteinhorn is opened daily from 9am to 3pm and can be shredded by all snowboarders.

Christoph Weber / photo: Roland Haschka

All young guns who want to enjoy the freestyle and freeride paradise Kitzsteinhorn, can take advantage of the “power of ten” day ticket campaign. All visitors between 6 and 19 years (born between 1992 and 2004) only pay 10 Euros every Saturday throughout the season for a day ticket. You can find further information about the “power of ten” campaign on www.kitzsteinhorn.at.

All news about the snowparks, events and freeriding at the Kitzsteinhorn, can be found on the Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn Website and on www.facebook.com/snowpark.kitzsteinhorn.

Watch video highlights of what went down in the halfpipe and slopestyle finals of the Burton Canadian Open.

The 5Star Burton Canadian Open wrapped up at the Winsport Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta last weekend with men’s and women’s slopestyle finals. American riders, Sam Hulbert and Jamie Anderson walked away victorious and took home a sizable portion of the $50,000 USD prize purse and 850 Swatch TTR World Ranking points. With her win today, Jamie reclaims the TTR tour lead for the women and if she attends the Oakley Arctic Challenge and the Burton US Open, she has an excellent chance to take the 2010/11 TTR World Tour Champion title.

Re-live what went down last Friday and Saturday in Laax at the 12th Burton European Open, with the highlights clip of the men’s & women’s slopestyle & halfpipe finals.

HALFPIPE

SLOPESTYLE

The Head boys have just dropped another of Felix Urbauer’s slick edits, this time with Bavarian Christophe Schmidt hitting up the U-Jumps of Mammoth, Northstar, Keystone and Park City. Schmitty’s certainly one hell of a smooth halfpipe jumper and he’s joined by fellow Head-er Shayne Pospisil for a few hits too. Check it.

Dan Wakeham.

The third day of the BRITS saw some explosive action from all age categories in the SNO!zone Snowboard Halfpipe Championships but the podium spots ultimately went to Team GB riders, Kate Foster and Jamie Nicholls, with Nicholls throwing down a super clean run that featured a backside 9 – a trick he learned in practise today.

Conditions held well throughout the day meaning the pipe stayed in great condition throughout. In the women’s finals, Kate Foster, who qualified in first position following her consistently strong runs in the qualifiers, set the standard and walked away with the gold and the 2010 SNO!zone British Halfpipe Championship Title. Her winning run included a huge frontside air to backside mute, a smooth frontside 360, to cab 360, frontside 360 and stylish stalefish. Stefani Nurding took second place with a selection of big front and backside airs and back to back 360’s, whilst third place went to Ivy Taylor who nailed a smooth and solid run.

Kate Foster quoted: “I just tried to get a bit of amplitude today. I love the Brits it’s been a great week and I’m really happy I just got a gold medal.”

Kate Foster.

Strong performances from several of the youngsters saw Lewis Courtier-Jones from the kid’s age category and Cody Hierons, Jamie Nicholls and Henry Shackleton from the youth age category make it through to the top 12 men final, giving them the chance to compete with the big guns – an experience an event like the BRITS can only create.

The men’s final was an exciting performance showcasing how international the standard is amongst the British men. Jamie Nicholls proved his riding skills to be world class and his ability to learn new tricks phenomenal in the men’s final when he threw down a super clean run, including a big backside 900 – a trick he’d only learned during practice. Jamie’s run which included a massive frontside air, backside 900 and back to back 7’s clinched him the gold and the 2010 SNO!zone British Halfpipe Championship Title.

Men's podium.

Second place went to Dom Harington, who qualified through to the final in top spot. Dom’s run, was technical, stylish and consistently big and included a backside 900, frontside 720, Haakon flip and backside rodeo. Sam Cullum, riding just three months after shattering his pelvis, impressively finished in third after he landed a smooth and clean run.

Jamie Nicholls said: “I wasn’t going to compete but I rode the pipe in practice and it felt pretty good I thought I might as well give it a shot. I learnt that run today which was pretty funny – because I never thought I’d be able to do that in the pipe cause I don’t really ride the pipe. I was wearing Ben Kilner’s Olympic jacket so I think that’s where the luck came from.”

Women's podium.

SNO!zone British Halfpipe Championship Results
Men                                           Women
1st – Jamie Nicholls            1st – Kate Foster
2nd – Dom Harrington       2nd –Stefani Nurding
3rd – Sam Cullum                 3rd – Ivy Taylor

Don’t forget to check out the BRITS 2010 daily webcasts at www.brits10.com, where you will be able to review the Snowboard and Freeski action and après from the previous day’s competition.