As anyone who’s ever done it will attest, snowboarding in summer is one of the funnest experiences you can have. Once you’ve accustomed yourself to the horror of early starts after long nights of making party, the slushy shredding and off the hill activities will have you reconsidering heading to get a pummling in the surf.

Nick Visconti and his Dangerzone crew know this and skipped across the pond to hit up France’s finest summer snowboard spot – Les Deux Alpes. Let the goodtimes roll…

The SMK Camps crew will pitch up in Les Deux Alpes again this summer, from 18 June to 14 August, offering you banging accommodation (mini ramp outside!), coaching and funtimes on and around the French glacier. Be there…

Over the camp’s 8-week duration they rent and entire block in 2 Alpes and convert it into the Riders Apartments, managed by SMK. Pro shreds will be coming and going throughout the summer to throw down in the summer slush and take advantage of the mini ramp SMK construct outside the Riders Apartments, and then there are the pro coaches who’ll be on hand to help you step your came up – Tonton Holland, Pierre Rue, Alex Doumergue, Jake Russel and Bryan Longley are in so far.

Outdoor mini and trampoline straight out front of your lodgings.

Check the video above for a taste of what you can expect. You’ll be able to shred the hell out of 2 Alpes’ killer summer snowpark and come the arvo there’s a whole heap of ways to amuse yourselves. Damn, those mini ramps look fun as hell.

For more information and booking, hit up the SMK Camps website.

Indoor spined über mini!

WORDS: YOURI BARNEOUD

PERHAPS BEST-KNOWN FOR STAGING THE ANNUAL MONDIAL DU SNOW TRADESHOW AND ITS BIG SNOWPARK AND GLACIER (OPEN NEARLY ALL YEAR ROUND), THE FRENCH RESORT OF LES DEUX ALPES ALSO BOASTS ONE OTHER HIGHLIGHT: YANNICK AMEVET’S SNOWBOARD SHOP, SUPERWHITE.

Superwhite Snowboard Shop, Les Deux Alpes, Photo: Matt Georges

Along with being one of France and Europe’s main snowboarding hubs, Les Deux Alpes is a resort which stays busy more or less the whole year  thanks to its glacier that remains open to the public throughout the summer. As loyal a local as they come, old-time French rider Yannick Amevet  (who was part of Absinthe’s original crew and featured in videos like Transcendence, Vivid, and Saturation) always dreamed of having a core snowboard shop in his home resort. So when Yannick found an ideal retail space, located on the town’s main drag, his main sponsor at the time,  Billabong, was more than happy to back the project.

Opening its doors in 2002 during the Mondial du Snow, Superwhite was set up as a Billabong  concept store and those that were there for the epic opening party will no doubt remember it. However, juggling Billabong’s offer to set up the shop  and keep on top of his pro rider career was no easy feat at the time. “It wasn’t simple to start with”, admits Yannick. “I had the stress of putting the whole shop together with all the investment and commitments that represented, but at the same time I had to fi nd a way to come up with enough  quality footage for my Absinthe video parts. I had a very busy schedule and it wasn’t always straightforward to manage. But I don’t regret any of it, it allowed me to change careers but continue working in something that I really enjoy.” A few seasons later, Yannick would go onto managing his shop full time. As the years have passed, the shop has evolved. Like any business project that wants to remain successful, Yannick is always looking to move with the times and put new shop concepts in place. “The idea was to create a website offering all the latest, coolest brands and products to our customers. However, this was tricky to promote under the Billabong concept store name. We therefore decided to take a fresh look at the way we worked.” In 2006 a new Billabong concept store was set up in Annecy and in 2009 Superwhite turned into an independent snowboard shop along with the launch of its website www.superwhitestore.com.

At Superwhite, you can now fi nd a wide-range selection of all the latest in brands, each one having its own dedicated space in the shop with their own displays and furniture. The shop spans a total of 350m2 so there’s plenty of browsing to be done, and it can be a good place to meet other riders or just chat with the dedicated team of staff. The brands on offer include  Billabong, Burton, Element, Volcom, DC, Electric, Special Blend, Forum, Nixon, Anon, Von Zipper, Dakine, Yes, Apo, Nike, plus some other smaller brands. And for those that want to test equipment before buying – always a smart idea – Superwhite also acts as a test centre for Burton, DC, APO and YES. Although Yannick now runs a shop with seven employees, despite being exceptionally busy he still remains very attached to the snowboard scene. He’s intent on being fully involved and committed to what he does, and that’s one of the reasons his shop sponsors local rider Arthur Longo. “I’ve known him since he was a kid. He’s one of the best snowboarders out there right now and he refl ects exactly the same values and spirit we want to champion,” Yannick explains. And the shop also organises a contest each month on the Deux Alpes snowpark with Alex Doumergue and his bar, Les Bleuets, a hotspot in town for any thirsty snowboarders looking for a fun night out. The shop is usually open from the beginning of December to end of April, from June to August during the summer, and for October school holidays. “The website, however, is open all year!” Yannick quickly adds. So whether you’re looking to make a new purchase, test new equipment or just need some expert advice in Deux Alpes, you know where to go now!

CONTACT:
Superwhite
88 Avenue de la Muzelle
38860 Les Deux Alpes
France
contact@superwhitestore.com
www.superwhitestore.com,
Phone: 0033 (4) 76 11 32 45

Onboard’s exclusive video of Wiig, Moore, Sauve and more holding it down at the recent Forum Summer Camp.

Forum’s International team were in 2 Alpes the other week for some slushy summer funtimes at the Forum Summer Camp, and Onboard was there to capture what went down. Check the bang bangs now.

Featuring: Andreas Wiig, Pat Moore, Daniel Ek, Nic Sauve, Aleksander Oestreng, Luka Jeromel

Andreas Wiig

Videography: Will Nangle

Zombies and snowboarding. Can it get any better?

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to another installment of This Week in Snowboarding. There’s nothing that can’t wait till Monday, so spend the rest of your day re-living the hottest, weirdest, most chin-stroking stuff that went down in the Shredosphere over the last 7 days.

Saturday

Roope Tonteri should be proclaimed King of the Groms for life as he wins yet another Rookie event, while when cruising downtown the Helgasons get shat on – make sure you scroll down for the epic spam post. Well, we think it’s spam, but maybe Halldor’s been researching how to enlarge the size of his finger cock. Friday Stateside is pretty much Saturday over here, so that’s when we were tapped on the shoulder and told the TWS Team Shootout is coming and, though it was posted a way back, it was also Saturday that we found out not only has some kid been biting Torstein’s triple steeze, he’s used his tune, too.

Sunday

Bonfire’s Pipe-to-Pipe goes down at Windells and the YoBeaters bring it with shots and slams while the AngrySnowboarder hits rewind to drop Amp on our internets. It’s winter in Kangaroo Country and the Cattleman’s Jam wraps up in Mt Buller, and though the weather was British in its shitness, it didn’t stop the bangs going down as you can see from the photos and video. Spaziba unearth this gem of a sponsor me tape from back in the day. DANIMAL! And Terje finally gets his hands on the sport’s biggest prize.

Snowboarding: selling shit since day one.

Monday

Everyone knows skateboarders are the real duders so we tend to ignore it so snowboarding doesn’t look bad, but the tenuous link that allows us to show this solid bowl riding is it went down at the Pipe-to-Pipe. Some snowboarders are good on the useless wooden toy, like Hampus Mosesson who hit up the weirdest skatepark ever. Jordan Mendenhall‘s also knows his skateboarding onions, but it’s just guitar and shredding in this Day in the Life. It’s tune time on the interpipes as Trevor Andrew talks music and Snowboard Mag bring you some free ditties, and an awesomely bad song is used in this ad which shows companies using snowboarding to sell any old shit is nothing new. (Thanks, Spaziba, but the one on your site wasn’t working.) Bringing it back to actual snowboarding, the British Snow Tour announce the dates for their Artificial and Indoor Championships.

Tuesday

After seriously injuring himself downhill biking, shred pioneer Mike Jacoby looks to be making good progress in his recovery. Get Well Soon! Some guys make Vegas look like Covent Garden circa 95, though without Guch, Jamie Lynn et al and the guys at KnifeShow turn their Awesome-ometer to 11 as they bring Super Mario World to summer camp. Talking of summer camp, the Forum Team had fun at theirs in Les 2 Alpes (stay tuned for the video, dropping soon) as did the Head Snowboards guys when they hit up Folgefonna – check out their über-slick webisode from the trip.

Nitro rocked out in 2 Alpes.

Wednesday

In the US, it’s all-out war as the Angry Snowboarder takes offense at Tyrant’s sales banter (the post that kicked it all off is here), while down under things are warming up for the NZ Open. Like Ziggy, it seems that Chanelle Sladics also plays guitar, and Les 2 Alpes is SO hot right now as two edits come in on the same day – this one with the Nitro crew, and this one of Luka Jeromel at Demonium’s camp. At what they like to refer to as the “Sports world’s Oscars” – the ESPYs – Shaun White and Torah Bright are rewarded for being ‘extreme’. And if snowboarding in the summer bores you and you’re off surfing, be careful.

Thursday

Snowboarding’s great and that, but Extreme Sledging? Way awesome! Also awesome is how despite a total lack of snow, the Falls Creek crew in Oz are making it happen. Benedek and Weber show you what you need to do to turn your old deck into a splitboard, the Helgasons have a sad fan and you can download some of Fredi Kalbermatten’s tunes. And there’s an Airbag at Hemel tomorrow should you want to work on your triples. Like Ziggy and Chanelle, Eddie Wall also plays guitar.

Friday

Uh oh. Travis Rice talks about his new movie Flight, NZ, AK and stuff while looking worryingly like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Brothers Factory bring it with this rather dark teaser for their film, Next Level. It’s like a serial killer shot a jib flick. Less dark but still a teaser is this new one for Rip Curl’s Welcome Home Vol. II, as is this from Think Thank. Rome’s Team Shootout offering hits the airwaves and Kevin Jones (anyone else pumped to see what he’s got in Standard’s new movie?) chews the fat with photog Ian Ruhter. And finally we feel sorry for Friday as its haps are always a little glossed over in our rush to get this out before beer o’clock. Sorry, Friday.

Oi! Got any Scooby Snacks?

That’s your lot for this week. Bon weekend, bitches!

2 Alpes sure is the place to be right now. Here’s some of the funtimes the Nitro crew had the other week. Gotta love them back 5 High-Fives! We’ll be bringing our own edit of the Forum International team’s week shortly, so stay tuned for that bad boy.

The Demonium crew have been running things in Les 2 Alpes, and fired over this edit of what young park scamp Luka Jeromel got up to one day. Check it…

Early summer season jib action from the French glacier

As you’d know if you’d been checking out our Summer Shred Guide a couple weeks back, glaciers across Europe are opening their doors for dedicated park rats to get their fix through the summer months.

One of the best and biggest glaciers is the one in Les 2 Alpes, where a sweet park plays host to heaps of camps from now until mid-August. Filmer Will Nangle fired over this short edit of some of the boys out there for the summer getting their jib on when the park opened up.

Check it out and you’ll be booking your transfer from Grenoble quick smart…

The L2A summer park. Scroll down for video.

The best spots to ride this summer.

If you’re still jonesing for the shred, stop bitching: get yourself to a glacier and have at it. Summer riding is way more awesome than having a pint glass cracked over your head watching 22 guys chase a ball, or scrapping with the most selfish humans on the planet for sloppy waves. We’ll be bringing you one spot each day for the next 8 days, starting with Les Deux Alpes.

Though summer ‘camps’ aren’t as popular as they were back in the day, there’s still a fair few knocking about – notably in Les 2 Alpes – but that’s not to say that the glacier crews are any less pumped to shape killer parks in spots without camps. You’ll just have to rock up and sort out your own digs and aftershred activities. It’s not exactly rocket science. Fly, drive or save the planet and car share with people like mountainrideshare.com or go-shred.com

“Summer snowboarding’s great because you can ride in the mornings and hang out in the warm sunshine in the afternoon and do cool things like archery and luging and play football and go skateboarding!” That’s what they usually honk. And they’d be right. But you can also get into great fights with homies from Grenoble, get herpes off some loved up Scando celebrating mid-summer and perhaps, if you’re lucky, get to see one of the glacier town ‘locals’ ambling around dragging their knuckles though the trail of their drool. It’s a mixed bag.

Nah, slushy summer sessions are seriously epic. Pack your sunscreen, some water and a wifebeater and prepare your self for late-night partying and early starts. And, whisper it, you can score pow every now and then, too. Here’s what 2 Alpes has to offer…

Les 2 Alpes

Open June 16 to end of August, Les Deux Alpes is located close to Grenoble and has a huge glacial area up to 3600m high where you’ll find one of summer’s most expansive terrain parks. This year the crew improved the Beginners’ Area, shifted the BoarderCross track, and the pipe and pro lines will benefit from the snow harvesting done all winter. 2 Alpes is camp town, with Brotherhood, Forum, Protest Coliflor, Rip Curl, Apo, Burton and more having camps offering package deals that include different combos of accommodation, passes, coaching, testing, aftershredding and partying for varying budgets. Adult day pass is €33.50.

Park Breakdown

Expert Zone

- Kicker 20m
- Kicker 15m
- Kicker 16m/14m
- Hip
- rail selection

Advanced Zone
- 2 kickers, 8-12m
- multipurpose table
- series of 3 rails

Beginner/Advanced Zone
- 4 tables followed by a series of rails to the foot of the Soreiller ski tow. Also 2 lines of 3 rails and a SHRED area with a lot of little modules in a skateboard spirit.

Halfpipe Zone
- 22 foot Superpipe (6.50m x 140m) plus a smaller pipe for beginners.

Links:

www.2alpes-snowpark.com

www.2alpes.com

Parom Snowboard Camps will hit up L2A’s glacier this summer with coaching from Tomi Passi, Antti Piirainen and Finnish legend Sebu Kuhlberg

Les Deux Alpes Snowpark is our playground this summer.

PAROM organizes two camps this summer in legendary glacier of Les Deux Alpes. Summer season is unmissable for the largest international teams and the park has a reputation for being the best place in Europe and world wide. The Snowpark is set to be bigger and more diverse than ever this year, and will include a super pipe, normal pipe, slopestyle, rails and much more. Our coaches Sebu Kuhlberg, Tomi Passi and Antti-Juhani Piirainen will train riders to the next level and teach tricks which you always wanted to learn. PAROM founders Inka Haapala and Marja Heikkinen have both worked years in the snow industry related to media and coaching. The experience and desire to provide summer training is behind establishing PAROM Camps.

PAROM riders are privileged to have first sessions in Les 2 Alpes Snowpark this summer. Their camps are starting 15th of June and Snowpark opens its doors for us the next day. Each camp has nine days of riding and coaching guaranteeing that you will have time to practise and learn tricks in half pipe, kickers and rails. Different zones in the Snowpark are designed for each level, from beginners to expert riders and everything between. Whatever your level, our well known trainers will enable you to make progress.

PAROM Camps is all about relaxed atmosphere of summer riding. Afternoons are dedicated for many off-snow activities in the Isere Alp village. Various activities from summer luge to skateboarding are all included to our camp programme. Having fun and enjoying summer with PAROM staff and visiting superstars will make this trip memorable.

www.paromcamps.com