And for those three of you who are interested: From afar Danimals looks a bit like our advertising manager Craig ‘fair play’ Scrivener.

Featured snowboarders: Jeffy Gabrick, Al Binder, Boody, Mike Casanova, Cole Linzmeyer, Danimals, Sam Bakken, Aidan Flanagan, TJ Antisdel, Jonas Michilot, Jessie Paul, Cody Beiersdorf, Jordan Daniels, Benny Milam, Kristr Ralles, Justin Fronius, Jake Olson-Elm

It’ll be available as a free download around Christmas and the premiere will be on 25 October in Vienna. We’re hyped for that.

Starring, and when we say ‘starring’ we mean ‘starring’: Mark Swoboda, Seppe Scholler, Thomas Feuerstein, Markus Keller, Mike Casanova, Gulli Gudmundsson and more…

Seppi Scholler’s snowboard movies have always been different from the lot. Way different in fact. And judging from the teaser for the upcoming flick Loveolution 3 – this one will be no different. Featuring the acting (!) and riding of Marc Swoboda, Markus Keller, Mike Casanova, Seppi Scholler, Gulli Gudmundsson, Matevz Pristavec, Dominik Wagner, Senad Grosic, Kurt Rubik, Thomas Feurstein and many more. Dropping 25 October.

Windells Snowboard Camp Session 6 (of 7) just dropped, and as usual it features solid, fun park shredding.

Riders: Justin Norman, Jared Jordan, Gared Schneider, Jesse Paul, Jonah Owen, Danny Buler, Ben Bilodeau, Dylan Dragotta, Dylan Thompson, Brandon Cocard, Nial Romanek and tons more.

Bonus edit: Diggers & Atmosphere riders session a Windells rail.

Peetu on his way to winning the Air&Style Munich with a heavy cold and no training. The boy is unreal. Photo: Frode Sandbech/Nike 6.0

Jon Weaver returns with another installment of his always thought-provoking column, Gossip from the GoodLife, with the question: What does it take to be a pro snowboarder?

WHAT IS A PRO?

I know. I heard about that kid at your local park who just learnt a 10, and can do a double cork. Stoked for him. But what’s that? Everyone from the local shop owner to the guy at the bar thinks this kid needs a deal, and quick.

Sounds like a familiar story right? It’s one that I have heard a million times, from various sources, and the only thing that changes is the number of rotations as we go through in a seemingly mind-blowing couple of years of progression right now.

Seriously, I remember after Stefan Gimpl did the cab 9 to win Air&Style three years in a row, people were saying maybe that was the maximum that could be achieved on a jump. Oh my, how times have changed. A cab 9 wouldn’t even get you into a semis these days.

So back to the story. The guy who learns some tricks and then the world starts clamoring for him to be given cash money and all the trimmings for doing this. Now, way back when I imagine I thought along these lines. I mean, I know from my own riding, I was even like “come on, I can do some 7s now and so I need to get paid”. You always think what you’re doing is way ahead, and you should be the next Johnny Pro.

A cracked rib or two won't stop Seb Toutant from manning up and sending it. Photo: Frode Sandbech/Nike 6.0

Oh, how wrong I was. The other weekend in Munich at the Nike 6.0 Air&Style we really saw the definition of a pro. Not that the gathered 20,000 kids would have ever known, but the riders at that event were truly up against it.

Thursday’s training went well for some, a few just cruised straight airs, others recovered from Jet Lag, whilst others stayed in bed. Peetu Piiroinen managed to get out of his sick bed for one run to test the speed and that was enough. That’s normal for a training on the first day of an Air&Style.

Friday was tricky as the wind had picked up and the snow warmed up so speed was an issue. Of course, a few people like Seb Toutant and Seppe Smits who are seasoned at this just set about it. Unfortunately, though, Seb managed to slam firstly on the kicker before heading to the rail and catching an edge on there, too, and breaking a rib. Mason Aguirre was sick all day, and Mike Casanova was still in the USA as he was super lastminute with his travel plans.

So Saturday around came the day of the event and as the riders got to the stadium they could see it had been raining, and raining enough so the snow had avalanched at the top of the run in. Before long the call came through: “Training cancelled”. So those riders who had been sick, injured or still travelling were faced with the thought of just dropping in for 1 presentation run and then going straight for it. Pretty heavy.

This brings me back to being a “pro” and what it involves. Think about Peetu, for example. He rode Air&Style Innsbruck, and was then holed up in a hotel room all week, sick as a dog. He did one test run on Thursday then went back to bed, before getting up on Saturday and having to go straight for it. First hit b7, second hit back 10, third hit back 12. You see where I am going here? You think Johnny Local shred still wants to have a go at this stuff? It’s not as easy as it looks.

Same thing with Seb Toutant, after a couple of mellow training days he breaks a rib and has to go to the doctor beforehand for a painkilling injection into his ribs to take away the pain before he had to ride. Did it prevent him from charging?. No way. First run B7, second run, b10, third run cab 9 double, fourth run cab 12 double. I repeat all without training on the jump which had changed loads during the day.

Mike Casanova literally stepped off the plane, had breakfast and started riding. A few hours out the airport and he'd won the Stairset Battle. Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

Then in the rail event, at breakfast that morning, I noticed Mike Casanova so said hello and he said “Yep, I landed at 7.30am this morning, time for breakfast quickly before heading off to the stadium”. He then went off and won the rail battle.

It’s not just contests. I remember talking to Jake Blauvelt about filming aswell. It can mean being stuck in a cabin somewhere like Alaska for 2 weeks straight in bad weather. Then one day it clears and you have to be ready to throw down on that day, first run, first track, no warm up runs, no building of kickers, just when it’s time to get it on, buy yourself a big ass envelope and send it to the moon. Imagine how you or I feel after being stuck at home for a couple of weeks not being able to ride: it always takes a good few runs to get anything like normality back.

That’s the difference. If I spent a good week on snow on one jump I might be able to get a front 7 around again, but for the difference between the guys at the top and the rest of us is this ability to really step it up when it matters, and not let lack of training or conditions be an excuse. If I had to hit that Air&Style jump I would be just happy I hadn’t landed on the net in the middle of the jump.

The current contest schedule is pretty grueling and can mean flying transatlantic a few times a month, and riding contests in between. It’s nothing short of amazing to see the consistency of these guys time and again.

There’s no doubt that the Nike 6.0 Air&Style rocked the back end out of Munich last weekend. We had our media assassin Will Nangle there with a camera and a mic to get all involved with the action, and get the reaction backstage too. Check it out with highlights from the Stairset Battle and the kicker contest, and chat from Wojtek, Cassanova, Nicholls and more. And for those who don’t know how it panned out, here’s the chatter…

First up there was the heavy metal session on the Stairset, with some of the gnarliest jibbers in the game on point to throw down a hell of a show. After a bunch of techness in the qualifying session, with guys like Keegan Valaika, Eiki Helgason, Jamie Nicholls, Wojtek Pawlusiak, Mike Casanova and Forrest Bailey combo-ing the heck out of the feature, 8 riders were whittled down for the final session, and after some more madness that we could barely figure out Mike Casanova posted the highest score of the day with a hardway front 270 to back lip to push Jamie Nicholls off the top spot and bag the cash.

Then it was the main event. The kicker contest. It was head-to-head deathmatches again and after some next-level double corking and hyper spinning it boiled down to a four-man super final: Peetu Piiroinen, Nils Arvidsson, Seppe Smits and Halldor Helgason. Halldor put down a ‘safety’ back 10 late dipper before going all in on his mental double back 12 Japan ‘Lobster flip’, which ended up in some heavy slams. Nils was trying the front 12 double shifty but was victim of the ‘close but no cigar’ syndrome, which left it to Seppe Smits and Peetu Piiroinen to challenge for the win. Seppe had been ridiculously consistent all evening, and when he sent a back 12 balls deep we thought he’d have his first major career win in the bag. Peetu had other ideas. Nursing an evil cold, he nevertheless smashed it with a gigantic, flawless cab 12 with some tech jibbery on the down rail. Insane.

The Mothership has landed.

Send it! Photo: Frode Sandbech/Nike 6.0

You’ve read the words, you’ve seen the videos, now feast your eyes on this H-Bomb of a photo blast from last weekend’s Nike 6.0 Air&Style Munich.

The contest went off, with next level riding from all 16 dudes in the main event – Markus Malin, Peetu Piiroinen, Sage Kotsenburg, Ulrik Badertscher, Peter König, Werni Stock, Seb Toutant, Christian Haller, Iouri Podladtchikov, Ethan Morgan, Markku Koski, Janne Korpi, Nils Arvidsson, Seppe Smits, Halldor Helgason and Mason Aguirre all deserver huge props for putting on one hell of a show. Thankfully it wasn’t just another back 10 late cork fest, there were proper back 10 doubles, front 10 doubles, flat 12s, Lobsters and we even saw Mason Aguirre do a super slow front 5 that was awesome.

Here’s a heap of killer shots from Frode Sandbech and a few from our hardworking Photo Ed, Sami Tuoriniemi.

The Munich Air&Style was in the tradition of its predecessors and once again kicked snowboarding up a notch, with Peetu Piiroinen claiming the win at the last. Full report plus highlight video.

On Saturday, the entire Onboard editorial crew set out to report from the TTR 6Star Nike 6.0 Air&Style Munich. And I promise, we meant to get a report up as soon as the event ended. Unfortunately, there was not one but two different VIP lounges with free booze and on top of that an aftershow party with Nike employees constantly slipping us drink vouchers. Ah, I guess that comes with big corporations entering our sport… On the upside the Munich Air&Style was in the tradition of its predecessors and once again kicked snowboarding up a notch.

The prizegiving. Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

Yes, there was a lot of hucking and double-corking, but the four super-finalists Peetu Piiroinen, Seppe Smits, Halldor Helgason and Nils Arvidsson each in their own way showed where the sport is developing in terms of kicker riding. Peetu threw down a Cab 1260 on the straight jump and a frontblunt 270 out on the rail section and took home the win (as well as a large share of the 75,000 euro prize purse, the coveted “Air & Style Ring of Glory” and 1000 TTR points). Second place finisher, Seppe Smits, was super consistent all night stomping just about every single trick he attempted. His best scoring trick was his own variation of the Cab 1260 combined with a frontside noseslide to pretzel out in the final round, but he also snuck a Cab 1440 in there for good measure. Coming in third place was Halldor Helgason, who was pushing his limits with an attempted crazy double back rodeo 12 Japan. Even though he did not land this “Lobsterflip” his riding was the clear favourite with the 16,500 spectators.

Peetu Piiroinen on his way to victory. Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

Strangely enough the Nike 6.0 Stairset Battle Finals, which went down before the big air comp, hardly gets any mentioning in the official press releases. However, having a full-on jam session in a stadium was quite a unique thing, and the level or riding was insanely high. Half of the riders had to qualify at various events throughout the season, and the other half consisted of some heavy hitters of the urban kind. In the end it was Mike Casanova who took the victory (and 10,000 euros cash), followed by Jamie Nicholls and Forest Bailey. To be honest the whole thing was quite hectic as the jam session itself lasted only 30 minutes before an even shorter final between the top 8 went down. It was quite hard to follow what each riders was throwing down. Maybe some other hack who was a little more focussed on the riding can add the missing tricks in this write-up.

Mike Casanova on the money. Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

Now with the Air&Style series done and over where will the contest aficionado turn to? Here’s what the TTR says:

With the Nike 6.0 Air & Style Munich wrapped up, all eyes will shift to Oslo, Norway where The Oakley Arctic Challenge will go off from February, 14th to the 19th, 2011. The Oakley Arctic Challenge is the last 6Star stop before the Swatch TTR tour finale in America at the 6Star Burton US Open, where both the men’s and women’s TTR World Tour Champion titles will be awarded. The end of February will also see the men compete at the 5Star Burn River Jump in Italy on the 22nd to the 25th of Febraury 2011, as well as the 4Star Sony Ericsson Snowboard Fest on the 18th and 19th of February 2011 Head to ttrworldtour.com for new videos, photos, updated rankings and webcast schedules.

Halldor's "Lobsterflip" Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

Results Nike 6.0 Air & Style Munich 2011

1. PIIROINEN, Peetu FIN Nike 6.0, Burton 93,07 Points
2. SMITS, Seppe BEL Red Bull, Burton 91,60
3. HELGASON, Halldor ISL Nike 6.0 77,60
4. ARVIDSSON, Nils SWE Rip Curl 37,00
5. TOUTANT, Sebastien CAN O’Neill, Red Bull
6. MORGAN, Ethan GER Nike 6.0
7. BADERTSCHER, Ulrik NOR Quiksilver
8. STOCK, Werner AUT Burton, burn
9. KOSKI, Markku FIN Quiksilver
10. HALLER, Christian SUI Burton
11. KOTSENBURG, Sage USA Nike 6.0, Monster
12. PODLADTCHIKOV, Iouri SUI Quiksilver
13. KÖNIG, Peter AUT Forum
14. MALIN, Markus FIN 32 Snowboard Boots
15. AGUIRRE, Mason USA Nike 6.0
16. KORPI, Janne FIN Kissmark

Results Nike 6.0 Stairset Battle FInale

1. CASANOVA, Mike USA Atmosphere, Monument 89,33 Points
2. NICHOLLS, Jamie GBR Nike 6.0 84,33
3. BAILEY, Forest USA GNU, Red Bull 82,67
4. PAWLUSIAK, Wojtek POL Burton, AG 75,67
5. VALAIKA, Keegan USA Burton, Gnarley 73,00
6. HELGASON, Eiki ISL Oakley, Skullcandy 68,33
7. RAJCSANYI, Daniel GER Sionyx, Ride 68,00
8. BÜHLER, Boris SUI Academy  15,00

We just posted a clip of the Hot Dawgz & Hand Rails winner Nick Visconti. If you are interested in seening more jib action from the Bear Mountain event then watch these two clips: The first is the official recap from Bear (with only some more action and all the prize-giving stuff), the other we stole from our friends at yobeat.com (and it’s full of gobsmacking riding). Check the insane riding of Nick as well as Ryan Paul, Ted Borland, Forrest Bailey, Mike Casanova, Yale Cousino, Jake Kuzyk, and many more!

Nick Visconti / Photo: Matt Devino