Check the women’s superpipe final podium runs from last night in Tignes, plus the top three men’s qualification runs.

WOMEN’S FINALS

1- KELLY CLARK

2 – ELENA HIGHT

3 – ARIELLE GOLD

MEN’S ELIMINATIONS

1 – Louie Vito

2 – Scotty Lago

The World Snowboard Tour is almost a wrap as The Arctic Challenge prepares to kick off in Oslo. This recap walks you through who’s won what so far, and contains some epic bib boarding to boot…

Now that the US Open is all wrapped up, several of the World Snowboard Tour overall rankings have been decided and we can all relax and retreat from the edge of our seats. Rookie Ayumu Hirano takes the men’s pipe crown from under everyone else’s noses and, predictably, Kelly Clark takes top honours in the ladies’ halfpipe.

In just 21 short months, snowboarding’s favourite 4 foot Japanese 14 year old has rocketed 1247 places up the World Snowboard Tour rankings, and now trumps Lago and Vito for the year. With wins in Wanaka and Laax, backed up by second places in Vail and Aspen, Hirano has had a consistently impressive record recently, and nobody can deny he’s got the amplitude to tussle Shaun White for the limelight some time soon. Just look at him hanging out up there!

Clark takes her 61st win in the halfpipe, and 3rd World Snowboard Tour title, performing when it counted most to defend her spot at the top. Hannah Teter, Elena Hight and Arielle Gold have all pushed the girls’ level to new heights but Clark remains the most solid and her points reflect that.

Sarka Pancochova has been hard at it all year in both the pipe and slopestyle events, and a 4th place last week adds neatly to the points from her second place at the X Games to make her both ladies’ slopestyle champion and ladies’ overall champion. The girl’s got style, too

Mark McMorris has barely ever been off the podium recently, out-spinning his boy Horgmo on several occasions, and now takes home the Slopestyle title. Throwing out lazy triples whenever a GoPro is pointed his way – and not afraid to show what he’s got – even in a snowstorm, McMorris gets deserved recognition for a great year.

And that just leaves the men’s overall title to be decided at the last halfpipe event next week in Oslo at the Arctic Challenge. All eyes will be on second place local hero Ståle Sandbech – currently 135 points behind Peetu Piiroinen – who will be hoping to beat the Finn and retain the title. After Sebastian Toutant pipped him to the post for the Big Air title, Sandbech will be eager to prove himself but, as we all know, Peetu is a formidable competitor when his back’s to the wall. Stay tuned for our coverage of The Arctic Challenge to see how it all pans out.

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

Henry and Doom are back with another season of their irreverent look at the world of bib boarding. In episode 1 you have Roope Tonteri skinny dipping in Lake Wanaka, Cheryl Maas driving like a mental and Jamie Nicholls farting. Give these boys an Emmy!

Burton released a method-only clip, and it features them all: Their current heavy hitters like Jackson, Piiroinen, Clark as well as legends such as Jeff Brushie or Craig Kelly!

Suitcase, Grasser, Northwest or Euro; there are many ways to do a method and everyone adds their own flavor to it. Many riders would trade in the ability to flip and spin for a solid method because nothing is more stylish when done well. Here are a few examples from Stephan Maurer, John Jackson, Peetu Piiroinen, Terje Haakonsen, Christian Haller, Shaun White, Kelly Clark and even some throwback methods from Jeff Brushie and Craig Kelly. Stretch the back out and watch as everyone puts their own spin to this timeless trick.

A bunch of 1080s, or as Burton put it:

Remember that video game 1080, where doing a 1080 was the hardest thing ever, but when you got it the game yelled out “1080!” We’re not sure if Seppe Smits, Roope Tonteri, Danny Davis, Christian Haller, Marko Grilc, Kelly Clark, Mark McMorris, and Mikkel Bang shout out their tricks in mid-air, but it’d be cool if they did. Here are a bunch of different 1080s, feel free to yell out the tricks while watching this.

The Burton crew went to New Zealand and discovered Chillwave.

This is the men's podium.

The first annual Burton ‘High Fives’ snowboarding competition, presented by MINI, concluded today at Snow Park NZ in Wanaka, New Zealand with the climactic halfpipe finals. Burton riders, Kelly Clark (USA) and Ayumu Hirano (JPN), took home US $10,000 each for their impressive winning performances in the pipe.

This is the, err, Team podium.

It was another beautiful ‘bluebird’ day at Snow Park NZ for the halfpipe finals. Women were up first in the pipe for the exciting one-hour jam session. Kelly Clark (USA) and second place rider Queralt Castellet (ESP) took it to a whole new level in women’s pipe as they duked it out for the top spot run. In the end it was Kelly’s incredible second run that took the win with 94.60, starting with a frontside 9, backside 5, front 7, cab 7 and stalefish. Queralt’s third run was a stunning series of spins, opening with a front 5, back 9, front 9, back 5, and a frontside 10 to finish for 92.40 points. Rounding out the podium with a score of 75.40 was USA’s Kaitlyn Farrington whose solid run consisted of a backside 5, stale, crail, corked front 7, cab 7, and backside alley-oop 5.

“The girls rode really great today and Queralt and I were run for run throughout,“ said Kelly. “But in the end I was really happy with my riding and it was so much fun to be putting down 9’s and 10’s in the summertime.”

This is Ayumu Hirano.

The men’s halfpipe finals were dominated by the Japanese riders whose sky high boosts lead to the top two podium spots. Leading the charge was none other than 13-year old Ayumu Hirano (JPN), who laid down the gauntlet with his first run. In the end he was theonly rider to top his own score with a 92.40 run that consisted of a frontside air, front 10, cab 10, front double, and crazy alley-oop rodeo 5. Ayumu’s talent showed through in spades earlier this year at the Burton US Open in March where his winning score in the Junior Jam broke all records. Burtongirls.com highlighted Ayumu’s recent success in an interview at http://burtongirls.com/snowboarding/little-big-time/ Last year’s Burton NZO winner, Ryo Aono (JPN), claimed second place today with 89.60, starting his run with a front 10 lein, cab 10 melon, front 9 lein, and back 9 lein. At one point it looked like it might be a clean sweep for the Japanese riders, but Greg Bretz (USA) put down a solid run for 88.60 points, nudging Kohei Kudo (JPN) off the podium for third place. Greg’s run started with a front 10 tail, cab 10 nose, front 9 lein, back 9 tail, and a front 10 double cork.

“I am so stoked to have placed first today in my third run of the jam at the Burton High Fives,” said Hirano. “I am now ready to go even bigger in my next competition.”

The amazing week of competition started with a non-traditional approach for a snowboarding event as riders showed off some of their unknown talents in unique Kiwi-influenced, off-snow team challenges at Oxbow Adventures, taking place at Ferguson Lodge, and the MINI Countryman Winter Driving Challenge. Riders were grouped into 12 Teams of five to compete in fun and rugged outdoor activities like skeet shooting, ATV racing and knife throwing, to name a few. Heading into the individual snowboarding events, team ‘Low Fives’, consisting of Roger Kleivdal, Kaitlyn Farrington, Scotty Lago, Kyle Mack, and team captain Kelly Clark, had taken a commanding lead in the team challenges. The ‘Bench Warmers’ were in second and went on to achieve solid results on snow, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat the Low Fives team whose strong snowboarding scores rose them to the top. The Low Fives gang took home the trophy and US $10,000 to split between them.

And this is Kelly Clark.

“The Burton High Fives’ creative approach to a snowboarding event was a lot of fun to be a part of,” said Kelly. “My strategy in team selection was to pick great riders with hidden talents like Scotty Lago with shooting and Kaitlyn Farrington with driving. That then set us up to do what we do best – snowboarding.”

Prize money today totalled US $35,000 for the Halfpipe, with an additional US $10,000 going to the winning Low Fives team. The 2012 Burton High Fives has dished out a total prize purse of US $80,000 – the largest to date in New Zealand snow sports history.

The halfpipe awards ceremony was as unique as the Burton High Fives itself, complete with boardgiveaways and live sheep. It was followed by the High Fives Sunset Sessions on the sun-drenched deck at the Woolshed at Snow Park NZ, featuring Dudstown Soundsystem. The entertainment will continue later this evening with the High Fives Closing Party at Opium Bar in Wanaka, also featuring Dudstown Soundsystem.

And finally, this is the women's podium.

For fans that missed it, the live webcast of the Burton High Fives can be viewed on demand at opensnowboarding.com. The 2012 Burton High Fives is the first event in the Burton Global Event Series and is a 5star event on the World Snowboard Tour. A special thanks to High Five partners MINI, Nokia, Red Bull, Snow Park NZ, Jagermeister, Juice TV, Skinny Mobile, The Edge, Stoke Lager, and Mighty Campervans.

SHAUN WHITE

KELLY CLARK

Louie Vito’s run was not too shabby either…

WOMEN’S RESULTS

1. Kelly Clark 194 Mammoth Lakes, CA 95.00
2. Elena Hight 196 S. Lake Tahoe, CA 85.00
3. Kaitlyn Farrington 195 Sun Valley, ID 81.33
4. Torah Bright 191 Cooma, NSW, Australia 80.00
5. Queralt Castellet 193 Barcelona, Spain 79.66
6. Rebecca Sinclair 192 Wanaka, New Zealand 76.66
7. Ellery Hollingsworth 197 Darien, CT 74.00
8. Cilka Sadar 198 Ljubljana, Slovenia 66.33
9. Sophie Rodriguez 200 Grenoble, France 64.33
10. Ursina Haller 201 Zernez, Switzerland 55.00

MEN’S ELIMINATIONS RESULTS (top 8 make finals)

1. Shaun White 190 Carlsbad, Calif. 89.66
2. Louie Vito 187 Bellefontaine, Ohio 84.66
3. Christian Haller 177 Zernez, Switzerland 80.66
4. Matt Ladley 180 Steamboat Springs, Colo. 77.33
5. Nathan Johnstone 178 Mona Vale, Australia 74.33
6. Iouri Podladtchikov 184 Zurich, Switzerland 70.00
7. Danny Davis 176 Highland, Mich. 67.00
8. Benji Farrow 183 Ludlow, Vt. 63.33
9. Mason Aguirre 172 Mammoth Lakes, Calif. 60.66
10. Aluan Ricciardi 189 Vars, France 49.33
11. Arthur Longo 179 Les Deux Alpes, France 45.00
12. Roger Kleivdal 181 Geilo, Norway 38.00
13. Jan Scherrer 188 Ebnat-Kappel, Switzerland 29.33
14. Spencer Shaw 185 Stratton, Vt. 28.33
15. Greg Bretz 174 Mammoth Lakes, Calif. 27.66
16. Tore Holvik 182 Geilo, Norway 23.33