The kerfuffle with all that FIS/TTR/IOC Olympic shenanigans has taken a new twist as Isenseven hold their own event. It could very well be the beginning of a new breakaway tour. This is good.

Let’s just let this lot run competitive snowboarding from now on shall we. They’re tough, they’re harsh, they’re creative. The backslide bodyspin discipline should have a tour of its own to be perfectly honest.

An artist's impression of the Sochi Olympics snowboard Slopestyle.

With Slopestyle now included for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, there had been talk of a Brave New World of dialogue between the TTR, FIS and IOC, the establishment of a Task Force to tackle the issues both sides have. While this certainly happened, it seems the FIS and IOC listened patiently while inside going “Yeah yeah yeah, whatever,” and then doing things their own way. It shouldn’t come as much surprise really…

News came yesterday that the IOC had approved the qualification process for snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle (and other ‘ski’ disciplines) for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Despite a Task Force being established to facilitate dialogue between interested parties (TTR, FIS, atheletes, judges etc) who were to submit their recommendations in October, the FIS, it appears, have instead decided to fast track the decision, with the end result being the qualification process appears near identical to that for Vancouver 2010. This great piece on the situation by ESPN’s Melissa Larsen has all the details, but in a nutshel this quote sums things up pretty well:

“This indicates the FIS executive committee chose to disregard the work of a joint task force that was established in May by members of FIS Snowboarding, FIS national associations, athletes, judges and the TTR to address the Olympic qualification processes for snowboarding.”

So it looks like once again, if the riders want to jump through the hoops, they’ll really have to jump through the hoops to earn their spots… adding considerably to an already hectic contest season and almost certainly to the detriment of some events that could actually be said to have snowboarding’s best interests at heart.

While we can certainly understand, for example, the IOC’s issues with the fact that some of the major TTR events are in essence Invite Only, (and associated with brands who aren’t Coke, McDonalds et al who line the OG pockets, perhaps?), this would have to our mind fallen in the ‘issues to discuss and resolve’. Alas, no. As a result it’s likely riders who’ll feel the sharp end of the decision as they will have to be hitting up FIS slopestyle comps – an area of which they have precious little expertise compared to the TTR-sanctioned events who’ve been running such gigs for nigh on a decade.

The TTR are obviously bummed:

“The TTR is greatly disappointed by the recent decisions made by the FIS in their meetings in Korea regarding field size, quotas and the qualification process for Sochi 2014. These decisions were made on an accelerated timeline without taking into account the interests of athletes and the sport of snowboarding. Despite TTR making every effort to work with the FIS both within the Freestyle Snowboard Task Force and independently, the FIS remains unwilling to accept any input regarding the Olympics. TTR however, remains open to future discussion with the FIS and will continue to work toward having an impact on the 2014 Olympics.”

As the ESPN article hints at, there does seem to be the outside chance they won’t completely rule out more discussion and fine-tuning – perhaps finding a way to permit the ‘Open’ TTR events to count. We are not holding our breath.

Some wag got on the Der Untergang bandwagon, which it is fair to say sums up most snowboarders’ feelings about the situation…

An artist's impression of the action at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

After much deliberation by smartly-dressed people, it has been decided that slopestyle will be included in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

The official line from the IOC president goes like this: “We are very pleased with the addition of ski and snowboard slopestyle and snowboard special slalom in the Olympic Winter Games programme,” said Jacques Rogge. “Such events provide great entertainment for the spectators and add further youthful appeal to our already action-packed lineup of Olympic winter sports. We look forward to welcoming all the athletes to Sochi in 2014.”

Sadly we don’t know, nor could we be bothered to find out, what ‘snowboard special slalom’ is, but slopestyle getting the nod is kind of a big deal. To some it’ll be seen as another nail in snowboarding’s coffin while others will be excited at the opportunities it presents. Like lazy journalists do in the big papers these days, we turned to Twitter for an idea of what people are thinking…

A collection of Tweets about Olympic slopestyle. 'Mixed' could describe the mood.

After not wanting to commit slopestyle’s inclusion in the Olympics till they’d decided it was up to the ‘required standards’ late last year, it looks like the IOC honchos have cottoned on to what we all knew – that slopestyle is pretty rad – and have given it the thumbs up. Youth market TV figures go wild!

But what about the age old ski federation vs snowboarders power struggle? News only the other week that the FIS and the TTR were engaged in conversation with an aim to iron out the scheduling nightmare to ensure a fair and respected qualification system “that includes the best FIS World Cup events and the best TTR events.” And now it’s in. Yay. As expected, riders who regularly beat the slopestyle contest trail are more positive about this development, while those who concentrate on filming and shooting are either nonplussed or dismissive.

However, as Matt Barr writes in his excellent piece on TWS: “According to [FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis], for any event to be eligible for a future Olympic qualifying list, “…they will have to be registered by the relevant FIS national member association, and will have to conform to the existing rules to get that registration.” This would, Lewis continued, likely “…rule out invitational events, events with restricted participation, or any event that the ownership is held by any commercial groups. Basically, if you have any events that are different from FIS rules, it is not going to be possible”.”

So, hang on. The FIS are gonna be calling the shots again? Unless the TTR events, X Games, Dew Tour et al conform to the criteria, it seems there is the distinct possibility. But as Nike TM Jon Weaver’s Tweet suggests, the lure of the Rings is a strong one for many riders and, as happened with halpipe, slipping between the sheets with the FIS for a season is deemed an acceptable price to pay for the chance to jump through the hoops.

The IOC having an inclination to hear the FIS’s noises is nothing new, but hopefully now that TTR representatives are at least being involved in the process, we might have the situation where the best events with the best riders determine who gets the spots, and that the riders aren’t pulled all over the place in order to do so. It seems we’ve said this before, but only time will tell…

Kjersti Buaas, Terje and Torstein have all inked the Snowboarding 180 Olympic Charter. Photos: Eleonora Raggi and Olav Stubberud.

The ‘Snowboarding 180 Olympic Charter’, signed by the finest slopestyle riders on the planet at The Arctic Challenge, aims to influence the International Olympic Committee’s decision as to who’ll be in control should the IOC introduce slopestyle in the Olympic Games.

In April this year the IOC will vote on whether slopestyle will be introduced to the Olympic program. Whatever your opinions of the five-ringed circus, one thing is abundantly clear: the riders want to go. Of course, it’s not as simple as that. For reasons known best to themselves, when snowboarding first became an Olympic sport the IOC placed a ski federation, the FIS, in charge of Olympic qualification. Of course, the best riders in the sport have always wanted little to do with an organisation whose agenda does not fully match their own, or for that matter snowboarding’s (look at an FIS pipe event’s results in a non-Olympic season and there won’t be many names you recognise), but nevertheless if they want to represent at the Olympics, they have no choice but to swallow the bitter pill and do the FIS pipe qualifiers.

Now, with slopestyle being mooted as a possible addition to the Olympic snowboarding program, the riders are banding together to say “enough, already.” Though they currently do not hold a world slopestyle tour, the FIS has announced that, should slopestyle get the nod for the next Games, they will establish one. To the initiated, this is madness as there are already established slopestyle tours that attract the creme de la creme of snowboarding’s talent and are accustomed to laying on progressive, world class events. Alongside the pipe qualifiers this would mean an even bigger clash of event dates and riders’ schedules get even more complicated. Impossible, even.

There’s little doubt that the pipe finals in Vancouver last year was perhaps the highlight of that Olympics. It certainly drew TV viewers, over 30 million in the US alone, which is the currency the IOC trade in for their enormous sponsorship deals. It could be argued, then, that the Olympics needs snowboarding more than snowboarding needs the Olympics, but the 180 Charter is quick to point out that snowboarders recognise the Games as the potential ‘pinnacle’ of the sport. But they want it on their terms. As the release states, “They want their voices to be heard in an open and democratic decision making system, and they want a new order for qualifying to the Olympics.”

In black and white, this is what they’re calling for: “The snowboarders are therefore asking the IOC to make a 180 turn: Conflicting dates will hurt the progression of the sport. They want a common Olympic ranking for all world-class events, not only for FIS-events.”

Without the riders, there is no contest. Todd Richards nailed it back in 1998 when he said of Terje’s boycott: “Clearly, any victory without the world’s best snowboarder in attendance is going to be a hollow one.” What remains to be seen is if this turns out to be nothing more than scribbles on a piece of paper, or a constitution to which all snowboarders hold themselves to.

The Snowboarding 180 Olympic Charter is outlined below:

Snowboarding should be run by snowboarders.

- We recognize the Olympics as a potential pinnacle event of snowboarding, but only if our voices are heard.

- All snowboard events and organizations throughout the world must listen to the driving force of our sport: the athletes.

- Snowboarders want a transparent and democratic process in all decision-making systems that have an effect on our daily lives and occupation.

- Snowboarding will never reach its full potential with conflicting dates of major snowboarding events.

- We do not want a new world tour for slopestyle qualifications.

- We want an Olympic ranking to reduce the date conflicts of major events.

- We believe the International Olympic Committee has a responsibility to listen to our voices and make way for the unleashing of snowboarding’s true potential.

- We want all powers to start a dialogue to find a solution for the better good of the sport.

- Preserving the status quo in snowboarding is not an option.

2010 has been quite a year. From the brain bending rise in riding level across the board, to a contest season that saw Peetu claim his second TTR title and Shaun his second Olympic gold, to Torstein boldly going where no man has been before with the triple, a whole bunch of awesome went down in snowboarding over the last 12 months and so as 2010 approaches its final curtain call we’ll be recapping the highlights of each month. Starting with January. Today. Enough waffle, here we go…

JANUARY

With the last part of 2009 being dominated by the insane level of progression that was sweeping the sport, the year kicked off with a nightmare dose of reality check as snowboarding was stunned by the news that Kevin Pearce sustained a severe traumatic brain injury practicing double corks on New Year’s Eve. Inevitably, being an Olympic year, there was some bullshit banter from mainstream dullards like Christine Brennan, but the outpouring of goodwill from the shred community was representative of how highly KP is respected as a person and a rider. Thankfully despite some sketchy times he is making smooth progress in his rehabilitation, as this recent video shows…

Early Jan was also when another teaser for the at-the-time mysterious Jeremy Jones 2-year project, Deeper, hit the pipes. Warm up runs? Yeah right. Of course, now we all know it was a whole bunch of awesome as it came free with Onboard 117. We caught up with Antti Autti as he was getting back on it from injury, and in contest land it’s game on in Davos as the O’Neill Evolution gets the TTR underway for the new year. Marko Grilc has the bookies slashing his odds for the Tour title as he follows up his December Air&Style win with 1st in the Slopestyle. Ursina Haller takes the women’s pipe, and it’s eyes on the double corks in the men’s pipe, with Iouri Podladtchikov coming out on top.

Despite Ursina Haller’s Evolution pipe win, the Women’s TTR is all about young Finnish rookie Enni Rukajärvi as she nets another 6-Star win by continuing her stomp fest to take the Roxy Chicken Jam Europe title. Few had heard of her till she won the 2009 Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam, and yet here she was, sat atop the pile of women’s finest snowboarders. What a mental image that is.

After two banging teasers, the elusive Norwegian Ducksjen crew releases their movie in its entirety and we’re pumped at what kids are churning out of their MacBooks these days. Ahead of the looming Olympic Games, Onboard (being a well-respected international publication and therefore on some spammy PR database that regular brands only look at once every 4 years) receives the first random press release with Olympic association, and we lap it up.

The BEO rolls in to Laax, and by the time it rolls out it’s all change in the Men’s TTR tour. Having nabbed 3rd in Slopestyle & Pipe at the Evolution, Peetu Piiroinen wins his first ever 6-Star event, taking 1st in the BEO Slopestyle, and then bags his second by winning the pipe too. The women’s tour is still all about Enni as she nails first in the Slopestyle, with Paulina Ligocka taking the pipe crown.

Alas, January brings yet more bad news as we get word that Danny Davis injured himself badly falling off a snowmobile after some late-night revalrie following shortly after he put down one of the best pipe runs of all time. Head Snowboards kick off the first of what would prove to be a pretty awesome season of webisodes by following Fredrik Evensen from the Air&Style to Korea, and we get inside Markus Keller‘s head for a lap in the Laax pipe. We were gonna link to it, but just watched it again and it’s so rad we’ve taken the executive decision to post it here. So, enjoy…

January winding down meant that the Olympics was on many people’s lips, and the US announced their team of badly dressed ambassadors, and to counter all that contest guff about medals and that, Standard Films release Halldor Helgason‘s sterling full part from Black Winter, which everyone who likes snowboarding should take some time out and watch now. That’s your cue to press play below then…

Media companies circle jerk themselves into a frenzy of new media opportunities as Lord Jobs drops the iPad on the world, and we at Onboard are no different so we show off our new touch-sensitive, zoom-friendly ‘magazine’. And to finish off January 2010 in style, Snoop Dogg gets the Neff hookup.

So that was January in a not-insignificantly sized nutshell. What were February’s highlights? Check back tomorrow for another Brandy-fuelled stroll down memory lane…

Terje Haakonsen invites Jacques Rogge to learn more about slopestyle & snowboarding.

The IOC executive board did not approve slopestyle for the Sochi 2014 Olympics at their meeting in Acapulco this week, claiming the level of slopestyle riding as of October 2010 is not up to the required standards. The IOC will as such await the development of the sport until the Ski Federation’s (FIS) Snowboard World Championships in 2011. The executive board has handed all powers to President Jacques Rogge to make the decision. Terje Haakonsen invites Jacques Rogge to his slopestyle event this winter to learn more about snowboarding and slopestyle.

“It must not have been easy for IOC to evaluate slopestyle when the Ski Federation (FIS) has only done one contest. All the best slopestyle riders have been following another tour. Slopestyle has been progressing rapidly over many years in TTR’s World Snowboard Tour and is on a world-class level. On a global scale it’s a much bigger format than halfpipe. If you look at the top 10 from the Vancouver halfpipe finals, they are all great slopestyle riders. Slopestyle is the basics of snowboarding,” says Haakonsen.

In a recent news story on the Norwegian main TV station NRK, IOC executive board member Gerhard Heiberg opened up for a wider interpretation of the term World Championships. As there is no slopestyle planned at the Ski Federation’s Snowboard World Championships in Molina (Spain), he includes X Games as World Championship level events.

“This is a good move and gives the IOC a much better perspective on snowboarding, rather than looking solely at Ski Federation events. I support slopestyle at the Olympics as long as it is done by and for snowboarders. The TTR World Tour is undertaking 150 slopestyle contests every year in a fair ranking system that delivered over 5000 number of slopestyle ranking results last season. In snowboarding, we have developed a progressive judging system and have the best TV productions. Together with the World Snowboard Federation and TTR, we have created the World Snowboarding Championships in Oslo in 2012.

Since the Olympics need snowboarding in their games, why not include the most popular discipline?” says Haakonsen.

Terje Haakonsen’s event, The Oakley Arctic Challenge, is also the trial world championships.

“I believe the trial World Snowboarding Championships is a good opportunity for the IOC to check out the slopestyle level. I will personally offer Jacques Rogge a guided tour if he accepts our invitation, says Haakonsen.”

Sounds like a powerplay to wrestle Olympic shredding from the hands of the FIS to the TTR to us, and not before time either. Clearly anyone who’s seen slopestyle contests over the last couple of years would attest that, despite what some suits might reckon, slopestyle most certainly IS at the level required – you’d only need to look at what kids these days are stringing together these days – and with a grand tour of one of the most progressive contests around, with the best riders on the planet in attendance, from grand fromage Haakon, we’re betting on some positive movement in the not too distant future.

This is the first part of Flow’s Witness Wednesdays of the Olympics. It has the whole town of Seabrook rooting for Scotty Lago.
So sit back and take a tour behind the scenes of the 2010 Winter Olympics with Scotty Lago taking the gold.

'This Week in Snowboarding' put a smile on his face.

SATURDAY

Kevin Pearce has been welcomed home (includes great pics of the day). Slopestyle becomes part of the FIS world championships (and maybe the Olympics). Torah Bright and Jake Welch got married. In other Southern Hemisphere news the resorts down under begin to open their doors. The German 21inch Crew releases a decent teaser called Restless. Kevin Backstrom bought a boat. And someone invented a real hover board!

SUNDAY

There are at least two different Brightons, at least one of which has been visited by the Videograss crew. A good snowboard book gets a great review. And True Life has always been a great snowboard flick: Watch it here in full length!

The Helgasons putting a cork in it.

MONDAY

Torstein Horgmo sent us a link to a clip showing the first ever triple cork. Ever wondered why your snowboard video does not look anything like That’s It That’s All? Here’s the answer. A twelve-year-old rides better than us. And TW Snow posts Travis Parker’s full part in Robot Food’s Lame.

TUESDAY

Torstein beat the Helgasons‘ attempts at the triple. The stunning Moose with Hat teaser is out. Iceland is more than bankrupt and a big volcano: It has also been the backdrop of Nikita‘s team shoot. Fips Strauss rides Serfaus. And kids, don’t forget: hitting rails is dangerous!

The wince induction graph.

WEDNESDAY

Peter König, Tom Klocker, Chris Kröll and Werni Stock have fun in Hintertux. The upcoming Nitro movie will include some wince-inducing slams. Aimee Fuller had an epic season. Rhode Island rail riding rocks! And so does the Tailgate Alaska, sissies!

THURSDAY

It’s in French, it’s called School of Shred, and it looks good! Reverse camber is no cheating, says the Angry Snowboarder. Whitelines’ Fashion Police post is very funny. Technine has taken to tunnels. Grilo is still living the dream (includes playmates).

FRIDAY

Two Austrians shred Colorado. The Dachstein park opens this weekend. Keegan Valaika launches a clothing brand. Some World Cup kicks off today. And finally: The real Karate Kid returns to the screen!

Ralph Macchio employing the crane technique.

SATURDAY

There’s still a lot of snow in Utah. Parcours is possibly even more dangerous than snowboarding. TW Snow lost and found a decent edit. And for people like us it comes as a relief to hear that magazines are not dying. Or maybe they are?!

SUNDAY

There is always a lot of snow in Chile, at least judging from this teaser. And there’s a lot of weird stuff on the internet.

MONDAY

The TTR announces the World Snowboard Championships. A rad girl and a rad dude passed away. Marco Smolla rocks Lederhosen. Dave Seoane has grown a massive beard. This winter, Latvia saw a lot of snow, too. There’s 91 words for snowboard. And our senior Peter has a disturbingly dark side.

TUESDAY

Ryland Bell is a gnarly dude who loves Bärenjäger. The Homies Crew love Vodka. Grilo is living the dream – including private jets. Marc Swoboda rips Bulgaria. And Per Loken ends his pro career.

WEDNESDAY

Jamie Nicholls had a good season. Niki Korpela and Ethan Morgan take minishred to the next level. Snowboard pro-cum-musician Trouble Andrew releases a music video.

THURSDAY

The Sane Crew hits Serfaus. Again. Comune releases an artsy trailer. Again. And it might be time to befriend skiers.

FRIDAY

Eero Ettala has blown his ACL. Zac Marben gets a hole in the skin. The Olympics might take slopestyle, too. And beware, there’s werewolves!

Have a good weekend everyone!