This week GoPro brought together a bunch of their heavy hitting international team in Laax for 5 days of chilled out shred and afternoons spent nerding off learning the possibilites of the new Hero3 camera. Check the rad gallery of selfies and a lowdown of the haps…

Would I like to spend 5 days with GoPro riders Sage Kotsenburg, Eric Willett, Jamie Anderson, Iouri Podladtchikov, Ralph Backstrom, Elena High, Xavier de Le Rue and Hannah Teter while getting schooled on how to use the magical box of tricks that is GoPro’s Hero3? The fact that it was being held in Laax – right up there in my list of ‘Most Awesome Resorts In Europe’ – only hastened my reply in the affermative. Having said that, even if they’d held it on a dryslope in Bognor Regis the chance to hang with that crew of bosses and tinker with the GoPro would have been too hard to pass up.

Ralph Backstrom, still smelling of Champagne from his winning of the whole damned Freeride World Tour a couple days before, was already there by the time I rolled in, while the rest of the crew, who’d been crushing the Euro X Games, cruised into town on the 12-hour party bus a little later accompanied by a bunch of dudes who boast a knowledge of what those little black and silver boxes can do that borders on the extreme.

This was to become apparent the next morning when we met up for the first of many clinics on how to work the Hero3. Now, previously I’d pretty much only ever hit Go and Stop, so to get the lowdown on what that camera can actually do, and how to do it, was an eye-opener. Videographers I know have expressed bafflement at the amount of sheer tech they can cram in and the quality of the output the Hero3 produces, and we’ve all marvelled at the Hero3 promo video, but to truly get the most out of the camera you really need to learn the modes, the software, the different ways of mounting it and so on.

Reeling with a mind full of ’1440p for POV’, ’30 shots in 2 seconds’, ‘timelapse mode’, ’4K capability’, ’720p shoots at 120fps and can be slowed down to 1/4 speed’, it was interesting to see how into it all the riders were. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as it offers them the chance to provide a unique angle on their riding and to pump out a bunch of content without even needing to wait for the filmer to drag his ass out of bed. You had Iouri strapping himself into a back brace with a pole jutting out the side and grilling the tech dudes on what was possible and how to achieve shots he’d been dreaming up, Elena having a bizzarre extension grafted on to her helmet and Hannah being wowed by the app that connects using WiFi so you get a live view of what the camera sees.

Ordinarily such technically-focussed nerd-offs would have sent many to sleep, but the media specialists they brought in from the US were just a bunch of laid back shredders who managed to strike the right balance of information and bro down-ery so it never felt like being at school. Of course, it wasn’t just about the nerd room and when up on the hill the guys and girls cut loose as they filmed and shot themselves, follow-cammed each other, while us media types failed miserably at bagging anything more than a Finnish faceshot. The riders earn their coin for good reason and bagged a bunch of bangers lapping Laax’s epic freestyle setup – Eric and Sage even managed to pass the camera between them mid-air, which is so insane that when you doubtless see it in a GoPro ad you’ll probably think it’s faked, while Ralph and Xavier sent it off the booters before heading off for some steep action.

Undoubtedly the highlight was the last day when the weather really turned it on and we were able to stay on the hill late for a sunset session that will have produced a heap of sick footage, the crew all smiles and high fives reflecting on this few days of deserved wind-down after a hectic season of travelling, filming and contests.

Yes, I was fed well and they bought me a couple of drinks, and, no, I have not tried any of the competition, but the fact is that the GoPro is an incredible bit of kit that allows everyone – from these cats on the team to Peter Punter – to create a ton of super high quality photos and videos. Are there any faults? My camera froze up from time to time (to fix just take out the battery and put it back in again), the software, while very good, is not the most intuitive, to get the best result you need to learn the modes and the post-production software, and they’re not cheap – the Hero3 Black edition with the WiFi remote is in the region of €450 – but if you’re into shooting yourself or your homies shredding, surfing, skating or whatever, it’s an investment you won’t regret.

We’re trying to get an edit of the trip dialled, but in the meantime peep this one from the DC Finland team for an example of what this box of tricks can do..

Prior to the finals everyone had been raving about how Vail’s pipe was one of the best ever built, and after witnessing the finals it’d be hard to disagree. The level of riding, specifically the amplitude these guys and girls were getting, was next level. Shaun and Kelly won – which is no great surprise – but they were both given a run for their money by two kids who represent the future of men’s and women’s pipe riding: 14-year-old Ayumu Hirano and 16-year-old Arielle Gold both were arguably the people’s champions and showed that they’ll be deeply involved in writing pipe riding’s next few chapters. Props must also go to Christian Haller for the best Method of the day that, sadly, we couldn’t find a clip of. We saw it, Hitch, we saw it…

***Warning: Most of these videos contain AWFUL music. Set machines to mute.***

MEN

1 – Shaun White

2 – Ayumu Hirano

3 – Louie Vito

WOMEN

1 – Kelly Clark

2 – Hannah Teter

3 – Arielle Gold

The Burton crew went to New Zealand and discovered Chillwave.

Boarders Without Borders is a movie project that relies on crowd-funding to get realised. If you want to see Hannah Teter, Gaby Viteri and a couple more pro snowboarders ride and explore Iran you can head over to their Kickstarter page and do your share. Here’s some more information on their cause:

Boarders Without Borders will follow four professional American snowboarders, two females (Olympic Gold Medalist Hannah Teter & Pro-rider Gabi Viteri) and two male (TBD), as they journey to Iran to ride the world class uncharted Alborz mountains. When one thinks of Iran, it is typically the political strife and unrest that is widely represented in the American media. The last thing that comes to mind is 14,000-foot mountains covered in Utah-like powder, with densely populated resorts and chalets nestled at the base of the slopes. However, with over 75% of the population of Iran aged 35 and under, counter-cultures like snowboarding are hidden sanctuaries for the youth of Iran. We will explore this unknown world on and off the slopes through the eyes of these three American riders, and experience their journey as they discover a country that has been sealed off from the West for over 30 years.

In order to complete the film, we must successfully raise $125,000 by September the 16th to cover the remainder of the expenses. Kickstarter is all or nothing funding; meaning, if we do not raise our goal ($125,000) then we do not recieve anything. We are truly humbled if you would pledge your support to the project at any reward level to the right. There are numerous rewards for the snowboard fan and non-snowboard fan at many different levels.

Please have a look below for more detailed information on the film, including Trailers, Rider Bio’s and Budget. We look forward to creating an amazing film that everyone can be proud to support and be a part of… Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us at the email address at the bottom of the page…

Yep, the B *heart* girls, and have launched a new lifestyle site for women snowboarders. Here’s the talk about the all-new burtongirls.com.

If you’re a girl there’s a good chance you’ll be into this. If you’re a guy there’s talk of naked ladies parties in an article on there right now, so there’s probably even more chance you’ll be into this.

This, burtongirls.com is in the release’s words “Burton’s first online community dedicated to women and the snowboard lifestyle.“. There’s regular updates from the Burton girls team, plus some other stuff from people like that girl who was in a Calvin Klein ad which, as men we must say, leaves us perplexed by our lack of insight into the womens.

“With burtongirls.com we wanted to create a forum where girls could discover fun, unique and diverse content around the lifestyle and culture of our sport,” stated Burton President Donna Carpenter. “There are so many cool aspects to our lifestyle – from traveling and meeting people all over the world, getting to ride the best mountains on the planet and working with the best snowboarders, and burtongirls.com reflects all of that.”

Burton swordswomen like Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, Gabi Viteri and Linn Haug are involved in the site’s embryonic stage, sharing stories about their haps on and off the hill, fitness, fashion, food and more. And backing them up is a diverse crew of cool and talented women who’re spit into separate categories.

The ‘Burtonistas’ are the likes of the aformentioned model, Noot Seear, who are outside contributors from fashion, entertainment, cuisine, photography, snowboarding and more. Others include actress Joy Bryant, DJ Jasmine Solano, and the Barefoot Contessa, just to name a few. Then there is the ‘Inner Voice’ group, focussing on women who work behind the scenes at Burton for an inside perspective. Finally, the site features updates from Burton’s Shopgirls program, a group of girls who work in snowboard shops and who really are some of the most passionate snowboarders around.

As well as all this, the site also allows girls to check out the ultimate Burton outfits, share content via Facebook and Twitter, and coming soon will be great calendar info on all the awesome events happening throughout the winter.

If you’re a girl, you can see what happened at the launch party in the video at the top, and what some of the women involved have to say. If you’re a teenage boy in either both body or mind, this has women dancing in it.

Immediately after the Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe finals that saw Kelly Clark win, the Winter X Games schedule carried on, with the Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe elimination round. This evening the American rider Greg Bretz finished first of the qualifying event in front of a crowd of 14700 spectators.

Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe finals
Kelly Clark (USA) wins her 9th medal and her 4th Gold medal at the Winter X Games. Before this Kelly Clark had already won more medals than any other woman in snowboarding at the X Games, with 8 medals including 3 in gold. Thursday night in Tignes, she added a fourth gold to her exceptional list of medals. Kelly did this only two months after her victory in Aspen where she was the first woman to land a 1080 during a contest. With an Olympic victory in 2002 in the USA and the Dew tour crown this year, nothing seems to get in the way of the snowboarder from Mount Snow in Vermont.

In Thursday’s final in Tignes, Kelly’s first run was to be her best one with a score of 92.66. Her fellow countrywoman Hannah Teter (Olympic champion in 2006) clinches the silver (with 91 points) and her 6th Winter X Games medal. Whereas Queralt Castellet, the Spanish rider that finished third, got her first Winter X Games medal. Sophie Rodriguez, the French rider that finished in third place last year, ends up in 6th place (out of 12) with a score of 77 points for her best run.

Snowboard SuperPipe Women Results

Tignes Thursday March 17th 2011

Name Bib #Score
1.Kelly Clark 121 92.66
2.Hannah Teter 126 91.00
3.Queralt Castellet 120 89.33
4.Kaitlyn Farrington 122 81.66
5.Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas 124 78.00
6.Sophie Rodriguez 125 77.00
7.Elena Hight123 75.33
8.Soko Yamaoka127 72.33
9Ellery Hollingsworth 128 68.33
10Ursina Haller 129 56.00
11Kelly Marren 119 26.33
12Gretchen Bleiler 118 21.33

Bonus Video: Nicholls, Bretz and Aguirre shred the X Games slopestyle course

Onboard mag: Straight from the shoulder.

Wait a minute! It’s been another week already? Then it is high time for our popular “This Week in Snowboarding”. Once again our underage, malnourished interns’ sore fingers have dug out a lot of internet gems from the world of shred. If you feel you are too busy right now to go through our collection of awesomeness please be reminded of Bertrand Russell’s wise words: “Time you enjoy wasting isn’t wasted time.”

SATURDAY

Technically, most of these are links from last Friday, but what the heck, they are just too good: The CWGKA Snowboard Throwdown gets filmed in a classy tilt-shift look, Our Cup of Tea is a conclusive lo-fi production from Sweden, and holy cola: The Split the Sin is quite a banger from Canada and Sweden. Videograss jibs Brighton, the Windells session no. 4 looks dope, Hannah Teter wins a do-good award, JP Walker gets humbled in Barcelona, Travis Parker still knows how to cash in, the Volcom Avalanche takes place somewhere in Chile (and offers some more tilt-shift views), Spatziba does High Cascade in decent style, DC might have sold their Mountain Lab, and everyone should know how to do a proper method. I said EVERYONE!

SUNDAY

Back in the day Grenade brought us the excellent movie Full Metal Edges. Today they bring us some weird copyright shit. The Garbage Gang is back with yet another clip from Les2Alpes.

“You are not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.” – Dean Martin

MONDAY

Salomon wins the Transworld Team Shootout with this killer video. Two more Right Brain Left Brain mini teasers see the light of the internet. Happily Apo stays clear of financial turmoil. The TTR kicks off down under. Same Ol’ Streets is a darn fine movie from Quebec or whatever French Canada is called these days. Meet Denis Leontyev, the “Russian Bradshaw.”, and Grilo, the red eyed monster from Bali.

TUESDAY

The day kicks off with some fantastic crashes from Windells. Then there’s yet another Comune teaser. The YES crew discuss girls at the Camp of Champions. Polish jib legend Wojtek Pawlusiak gets his shred on in Les2Alpes. We give away tons of shred gear, and in other news Mikey LeBlanc is a great actor, JP Walker nabs a sunblock sponsor, and Jonas Carlson is the man.

WEDNESDAY

The Deeper crew scores some great pow in Utah. The FIS calls Swiss snowboarders roosters. The HCSC is always good for some really good summer shred action. And so is Dan Brisse at the CoC.

Scene from ‘Night of the Living Shred Doodle.’

THURSDAY

Whitelines relaunch their website and bring us jibbing Jeremy’s full part from The B Movie.  Spanish scientists found the formula for a truly endless winter. We still publish a print mag, and it looks sick. Airblaster puts out a racy Airbabes vid. After 400 years of debate the US and Canada agree on the same avalanche danger scale.

FRIDAY

The Windells session 5 includes a little pie fight. DVS releases a nifty Eero Ettala ad, featuring both his supreme skate and snowboard skills. Someone has too much time on their hands and produces a best of 2010/11 teasers teaser.

That’s all the shabazz for this week, folks. Now have a good weekend – and don’t forget: It’s all about being proactive!

The late John Archibald Wheeler, apparently a big shot in theoretical physics, once said: “Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.” And it is also what makes us come up with a new This Week in Snowboarding every week. Smart-people shit and snowboarding, kablam! Once again here are the highlights from this week’s snowboarding, drawn from our own site and other places that are actually good.

The urine samples gave some reasons for concern.

SATURDAY

No Joke seems to be a decent movie from Canada. But hands down, Share the Wealth looks even better. And Jeremy Jones charging down one gnar of a line doesn’t look too bad, either. 60s surf rock in a teaser is always a plus: Be Happy teaser. The Videograss crew have fun between their shots. And a Polish dude attempts to snowboard the Nanga Parbat.

SUNDAY

The angry man brings us the full Afterbang movie. Don’t forget about the epic speed snowboarder Darren Powell. Speaking of which, the Helgasons have a go at it, too.

These days some pros need a cheat sheet for their lifestyle.

MONDAY

Seb Toots has won the Billabong Ante Up contest, as this video documents. And Matts Kulisek did something scary at the same event. Watch this clip and this teaser and join the Les2Alpes summer camps. Watch that teaser and go to Japan. The Ästhetiker rip some summer pow in Hintertux. YES Snowboards bag an award. Annie Boulanger is a rad chick. (By the way, the surf in Iceland looks sick!) The 2018 Winter Olympics host race is down to three.

TUESDAY

Videograss release their epic Bon Voyage teaser, and FODT release the equally classy The Arena teaser. And there’s more teasers: Bald-E-Gal, The Völkl team can’t surf. And Tamworth sees some good riding, too.

WEDNESDAY

The teaser for 9191, the Gigi movie, is out, and it looks oh so good. The German 21Inch teaser pops up on our site. The kids make the flakes fly at HCSC session #1. The What’s Up teaser hails from Quebec. Sandbox hit up the DC Mountain Lab. Meet “the Andreas Wiig of the Andes“. Check out this awesome Burton x Tron collabo, because you’re all probably a hipster.

How can you make alpine riding look better? Throw a splashy photoshop filter on it!

THURSDAY

Watch bHappy‘s mellow last day at Northstar (warning, includes some skiing). The Cardona park down under looks gooood. The Japanese Catch Me teaser is good stuff. If you have a lot of time, watch this long German edit, or this equally long True Color clip. Speaking of Germans, their Playboard magazine turned 15 (congrats!). Kazu is the man! But do you know Charlie Idda? While we have been awarded the ‘Do Nothing Award’ several times Hannah Teter might be in for VH1′s ‘Do Something’ version. The first week of summer camp in Val Senales was a success. The pow in Brighton, too. And there will be a big air event in Las farking Vegas!

FRIDAY

The first of Think Thank’s first Right Brain Left Brain mini teasers is out. The Dew Hut Jam hails with a clip from Australia. Fluofun post a lot of next season’s board information on their site. Unfortunately, it’s all in French. Watch Andy Wright‘s 08/09 slideshow. And it is so hot in Vermont right now, you can have BBQs. Indoors.

That’s all for this week, folks. Enjoy your weekend, and don’t drink too much!

Not THAT perverted. Teter has an underwear brand that donates proceeds to charity. Photo: Danny Burrows.

Onboard editor in chief Danny Burrows was on the ground at Cypress Mountain to watch the women’s pipe contest and fired this report over the wire…

Torah Bright did Australia proud yesterday by winning gold in the women’s halfpipe contest at Cypress Mountain, beating what was perhaps the strongest
field of female pipe rippers yet seen in a women’s contest.

By placing first in the qualifications Torah secured a place in the finals along with previous Olympic medalists Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter, X Games
winner Gretchen Bleiler and two relatively unknown riders Sun Zhifeng and the Spaniard Queralt Castellet.

Qualifying results

Sun and her Chinese teammate Jiayu Liu are part of a select group of former martial artists and gymnasts who were plucked from state run sports schools
to ride snowboards five years ago. That said, their riding certainly doesn’t look forced, combining amplitude with tight spins, solid grabs and ample servings of style.

Joining the six riders who qualified for the finals would be the top six women from the semis. 17 year-old Liu stuck an amazing first run that secured her an early lead which was not broken until the second round when Australian Holly Crawford blazed an incredible run that included sweet sevens with plenty of amplitude. The US rider Elena Hight, who was the first girl to land a 9 in competition, was also riding well, opening her run with a huge 9 that would also earn her a spot in the finals. The girls to proceed to the finals were Crawford, Liu, Mercedes Nicoll, Hight, Sophie Rodriguez and Ursina Haller.

Semis results

Perhaps the saddest story of this competition was that of Queralt Castellet who had placed second in the qualifying rounds and on the night was perhaps
Torah’s greatest challenge for gold. Just before the semis, while practicing, she caught an edge on her final 5 and knocked herself out for over a minute. Once she had regained consciousness she wanted to carry on but race officials insisted that she was taken to hospital for observation. Apparently she was so annoyed that she managed to make the ambulance drive back to the contest site before eventually succumbing to reason.

Torah’s lead going into the finals came crashing down when she overcooked a switch back 7 on her second hit leaving the top three spots in the hands of Teter, Liu and Rodriguez of France whose run included an opening 9 and back to back 7s and 5s. Kelly Clark, Hight, Haller and Bleiller also fell leaving them with much work to be done in their second run.

Now in last place the pressure was on Torah to perform. And she did: Back 3, switch 7 mctwist, back 5, air to fakie and then a final cork cab 7 to close. The crowd went wild as, with a look of disbelief, she came to a halt at the base of the pipe. This was now the run that everyone would have to chase. Bleiler blew her chances of a medal on the coping as did Hight who was unable to finish a run in which she spun back to back nines, while Kelly Clark put in a final run which put her into bronze just behind Teter with 6 riders to go. Rodgriguez went for a 10 on her first hit, which would have been a first in women’s pipe, but went down hard leaving Liu to make her play for a medal and Teter, who was already in second behind Tora, still wanting gold.

Liu who came through the semis in second place had been riding hard all night and was certainly a challenge to the top three. Unfortunately, a fault on the flat cost her speed in a run that would have certainly earned her silver but left her in fourth. Teter was the final challenger to Torah’s score of 45 and you could have
heard a pin drop as she dropped in. Her Method, front 9, back 5, front 3, cab 7 and frontside air weren’t enough though and the stadium erupted to shouts of “Aussi, Aussi, Aussi! Oi, Oi, Oi!” as a score of 42.4 flashed up on the board.

Finals results

Torah would be the first Australian in history to win gold at the Winter Olympics. It was expected that she might pull her double cork in the contest – she was the only contestant to have them – but in the end her style and amplitude and ample bag of tricks were enough to secure her the most sought after medal.

Torah topping the podium. Photo: Burrows.

Congratulations to all!

Torah chilling in the Onboard office. Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi.

Hannah Teter Takes Silver, Kelly Clark Bronze at the Vancouver Games.

We’d like to start this with an apology. While we fully intended to do a minute-by-minute report on the women’s pipe riding, we had technical difficulties that prevented this from happening. And when we say ‘technical difficulties’, we mean that being awake for 24 hours the day before and drinking for 12 of those hours left us bent and broken and desperately needing sleep. Once again, apologies.

And it looks like we missed a banger, too, as Australian Torah Bright overcame a fall in her first final run to post a score of 45.0 points out of 50 in her second to take the gold medal and live up to our assertion that she’s the most technical women’s pipe rider in the world right now. There was never any question of Torah’s ability to put down tricks that many guys, let alone girls, struggle with – like backside 3 to switch back 7 combos – but we were unsure if she’d be able to send it like Americans Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler. Well, Torah answered that last night.

We did manage to catch the qualifiers before our brains shut down and while there were a few upsets (Kjersti Buaas – bronze at the last Games failed to advance), most of the big hitters made it through as expected, with Torah qualifying first with a banger that bagged her 45.8 points. We also got a look at the much-hyped Chinese team for the first time, and while they looked solid, we didn’t reckon they’d got enough to challenge the podium unless they were holding back something special for the finals. The biggest surprise was Spain’s Queralt Castellet - we have to hold our hands up and admit we’d never heard of her – who had an absolute barn-stormer of a first run and qualified in third. Her first his backside 5 would have seriously embarrassed some of the guys.

Here’s how the qualis broke down…

As with the guys, the top 6 women booked a ticket straight to the Finals while the girls in the next 12 spots had to duke it out in the Semis for a shot at the big time.

In the Semis, China’s Liu Jiayu looked to be heading into the finals in first with a solid run that gave her 41.1 points. Aussie Holly Crawford, who won the BEO a couple years back, had other ideas and stomped a smooth and stylish run with big straight airs and back to back (front to cab) 7s and a front 5 that she managed to get the grab on at the second attempt and wang out nicely. She’s got great style, that Holly, and was rewarded with 41.7 points.

So, the finals rolled round and as in the men’s pipe final many riders seemed to be struggling with the sandbox that the flat-bottom was becoming. Falls or sketched runs were common. American Gretchen Bleiler who, after her sick run at the X-Games, we reckoned was a good bet for the podium at least came a cropper on both her runs and ended up last, while girls like Holly Crawford and Zhifeng Sun couldn’t repeat the performance levels of their earlier runs.

Jiayu Liu posted an early high score thanks to her beefy method to front 5, back 5, front 7 to cab 7 combo, only to be pegged back when Hannah Teter, gold medallist at the last Olympics, stomped her run and showed she wasn’t gonna let go of the Letterman spot easily. We were expecting big things as Kelly Clark dropped but her first run was sketched, and then Torah Bright took her go and fell too, on her switch back 7. After years of training, heaps of qualifying contest and the like, waiting for their second runs must have been intense.

From what we’ve seen, the only girls who could touch Teter were Torah and Clark, so when Torah dropped in (as she was in dead last after her first run fall, she had to go first in the second round) and managed to stick her run to bag 45 points everyone erupted but she then had the unenviable position of waiting for everyone else to come down. Kelly launched into her trademarked monster frontside hit, but the landings on her spins weren’t perfect and while she posted 42.2 points it was only enough for bronze and Liu couldn’t improve on her first run’s score so all eyes were on Teter… who sketched out on one of her tricks and couldn’t improve on her first score. Game, set and match to Torah Bright.

Mad props, Torah! Backside 3, switch backside 7 McTwist, backside 5, air to fakie and cab 7 is one hell of a run, and she did it all with decent height too. BANG-A-TRON.