Feast your eyes on some of the killer outerwear highlights coming at ya for 2014 from the likes of Volcom, Bataleon, Oneill, 686 and Thirtytwo.

From ThirtyTwo’s extensive water-repellent range of street-styled threads to Bataleon’sloose/slim combos and more, there’s some good-looking outerwear coming our next season, and we hit up a bunch of brands at ISPO to see what they were most pumped on. Check out part 1…

Maxence Parrot & Kyle Mack in O’NEILL EVOLUTION 2013 – WATCH WINNING VIDEOS

Our minds were blown when these two groms put down to of the craziest tricks ever performed in competitive snowboarding. Now for the first time: The perpetual animated GIF versions of Maxence’s and Kyle’s tricks.

Halldor Helgason in McMorris Tops X Games 2013 Slopestyle Qualifiers

Mark McMorris might have come out on top of the X Games Slopestyle qualification, but Halldor got the fist of nuff respect from noneother than Shaun White. How he did not come in first we do not know.

You liked these? Check out our other animated GIFs!

You’ll no doubt have peeped the shots and read our blow-by-blow account of the madness at Saturday night’s O’Neill Evolution Big Air, but as they say: if it ain’t on video it didn’t happen. It is; it did. Watch Maxence Parrot’s winning backside triple cork 1440, Kyle Mack’s frontside triple 14, and the front double 10 of Emil Ulsletten. Oof.

Maxence Parrot on his way to stomping the most perfect backside 144o triple cork ever seen. Photo: Burrows.

Maxence Parrot lands triple cork 1440 to win the 6-Star O’Neill Evolution in Davos.

Max Parrot putting down a back 12 dub in training. Photo: Burrows.

Mind. Blown. Yesterday we mentioned how the absence of a raft of big name kicker specialists could have affected the quality of this contest. Bullshit. The riding was monumental and not only did Parrot put down the most textbook triple cork 1440 we’ve ever seen (even having the nonchalance to afterbang the landing), 15-year-old Kyle Mack manned up after a brutal slam to land a front 14 triple off the toes.

Seb Toutant. Back 10 double. Photo: Burrows

But let’s rewind. Proceedings began with the girls’ Big Air which was taken out by 14-year-old Japanese sensation Miyabi Onitsuka, sending a huge front 3 before polishing off the rails with a lipslide and a front board.

Celia Miller. Photo: Burrows.

Next on the agenda was Gian Simmen’s Legends Session in the pipe – a gathering of Gian’s friends from his long career in pro shredding. With guys like Giom Morrissette, Pascal Imhof, Xaver Hoffmann, Michi Albin and more the session was full of huge straight airs, binding-creaking tweaks and a whole lot of style. For the ageing media scrum at least it was definitely a highlight of the event and served as a nice counterpoint to the stratospheric level of technical kicker riding that was to come as couple of hours later.

Gian Simmen bossing it in his Legends Session. Photo: Burrows.

Jan Scherrer, a Swiss kid who’s grown up being influenced by Gian Simmen, throws down in the Legend Session for the legions of Instagram addicts. Photo: Burrows.

Drew Stevenson pays respect to his good bud Gian. Photo: Burrows.

But as much as respecting the legends of snowboarding past is important, this game’s fundamentally about the kids pushing the limits at the apex of the sport and there’s no doubt that in the Big Air finals the level was pushed way the hell out there…

Emil Ulsletten’s front 10 doubles were rad, but on a night like tonight, not enough. Photo: Burrows

After his well-documented triple cork stomp in training we were expecting to see 18-year-old Maxence Parrot in the final and a flawless back 12 double later he’d netted the points he needed to ratchet up expectations of a triple-trading ender with teammate Seb Toutant. But, oh, drama! Clearly Kalle Järvilehto hadn’t read the script and his saurian-sized back 12 double and front board through the kink saw Toutant and his cab 12 dub heading for a early bath. Kyle Mack had impressed in the earlier rounds and the 15-year-old Yank upped his game to take the third spot in the final with clean back 10 doubles and a front double toedeo edging him past Antonio Trouchon, while Emil Ulsletten rounded out the final spot, dispatching Swissman Markus Mathis with a solid front 10 double after a particularly brutal slam.

Kalle Järvilehto came out of nowhere to blow minds. Photo: Burrows.

So, finals. Would we see a triple? O’Neill’s beamer was asking the same question on the side of the jump and it didn’t take long to answer. On his first run Parrot dropped, popped, dipped three times, spun round four times, and landed, albeit a tad sketchy. Everyone went nuts and some called it curtains for the rest. How could anyone match that? Turns out he could but they couldn’t – on his last run Parrot landed another triple but totally perfect, even managing to give his stomp some afterbang. Insane. It feels lame describing guys who can land perfect doubles as also-rans, but with the triple landed that’s essentially what Kalle and Emil became. Kyle Mack certainly came close, having a pop at the front 14 triple toedeo a la Jørn Simen Aabøe. He gave himself a proper beating but was undeterred, went backup and duly stomped it, causing the crowd to explode again. Maxence looked a little nervy waiting for Mack’s score to drop, but the judges rightly penalised his slightly scuffed landing and the 25k went to the Canadian.

Kalle was consistently making front boards through this kink look like the easiest thing in the world. Photo: Burrows.

All in all, despite many opting for a FISting in Quebec, this edition of the O’Neill Evolution is one that will certainly live long in the memory. If this is becoming the benchmark then the future will be frankly silly. Thanks for the goodtimes, O’Neill.

YES Torgeir Bergrem. Photo: Thomas Copsey

Last night Davos erupted into a mind-blowing display of kicker riding as the first couple of rounds of the Big Air got underway. Check the gwaan in words, pictures and video…

While, prior to the action getting underway, the talk around town was all about how all the big name contest freaks had sacked this contest off in order to battle with hunks of Canadian ice and chase the Olympic dream when the Big Air action kicked off last night we can only say that – names aside – they weren’t missed. The list of tricks put down by this field of admittedly less marquee-named dudes was as heavy as you’ll find at any contest anywhere. Front 10 dubs, back 12 dubs and the ubiquitous back 10 double – proper, mind – were stomped with ruthless efficiency and, not for the first time this year, we were left cradling our heads at the level that contest shredding is today.

Max Buri. Photo: Thomas Copsey

After the afternoon’s qualifiers, the evening stomp off saw the 13 who made it through face-off against the 11 invited riders. There were some epic battles, like Kyle Mack and Boris Mouton – both just 15 – trading flawless doubles and Markku Koski getting denied by Markus Mathis on his final jump by finally putting down the back 10 dub, plus there were some individual performances that shone white hot – specifically Dash Kamp’s round-the-corner jibbing (he even tried a mind-blowing gap from the corner rail to the down rail but came up short and spannered himself), Seb Toutant’s reliable smooth yet megatech riding, and Maxence Parrot who makes landing double back 12s look as easy as stomping a back 1.

Boris Mouton. He is 15 and can stomp more back 10 doubles than you. Photo: Thomas Copsey

But all that was just a prelude. Tonight it’s finals time and we imagine we’ll be seeing a triple or two no doubt. See, madness.

Markku Koski. Photo: Thomas Copsey

Watch the video of yesterday’s pipe contest at the O’Neill Evlution, where Gian Simmen took 6th in his last competitive outing, and protégés Verena Rohrer and Jan Scherrer reign supreme.

In what turned out to be an emotional and significant send-off, Swiss snowboard legend, Gian Simmen, stood the test of time by scoring a solid 6th place in his last competitive event here at the O’Neill Evolution in Davos, while two of his young protégés, Verena Rohrer (SUI) and Jan Scherrer (SUI), took out the Women’s and Men’s 5 Star World Snowboard Tour Halfpipe titles respectively.

Men’s pipe winner Jan Scherrer. All photos: Danny Burrows.

Today in Davos, snowboarding was witness to a changing of the guard. As Swiss legend Gian Simmen bowed out of competitive snowboarding, two more stepped up to the plate with eyes on carrying his torch into the future. The vibe here was all time. Read what went down…

It was an emotional day here in Davos on the four day of the O’Neill Evolution. As well as being the finals of both the women’s and men’s pipe, it was also the last contest that homeboy and Olympic gold medalist Gian Simmen would compete in: A swan song to a 23-year career in snowboarding, which has seen him win his fair share of medals and praise.

Gian still has the skills. Back 5 to 6th place in his last ever contest.

He described it as being “like the closing of a circle”. It was here that he first strapped in; it was in Davos that he won his two World Championships; and it would be here that backside 5s, front 7s, Cab 7s, a front 900, stalefishes and a massive Backside Air would place him sixth in the pipe finals.

Gian Simmen and Mini Simmen.

The start list for both the girls and boys pipe were not what they might have been, as the über pros were in Canada chasing the Olympic dream. Their loss, as the pipe was on form, there was a little pow on the hill and they had left the field open for the strong local contingent of rippers and smattering of internationals.

Celia Miller.

It would be true to say that the girls competition was far from being the best pipe final ever seen in the history of snowboarding but there were a few highlights, including a handplant by American Celia Miller, which raised a cheer from the gathered media and crowd. For many of the girls competing it was the first pipe contest that they had entered. Local lass Verena Rohrer was pretty stoked and a little surprised by taking the number one spot, which according to the TTR rankings has pushed her up to third place in the Pipe table. She summed it up pretty well: “I’m really blow away with this win. I didn’t really have any expectations when I arrived in Davos, I only wanted to put my run on the ground and let people see what I can do.” She was closely followed onto the podium by Clemence Grimal and 39-year-old Akiko Miwa from Japan.

Yannick Imboden.

The Swiss also topped the table in the men’s contest with Jan Scherrer giving it his all to earn himself the lion’s share of the winnings. He put down two solid runs and a victory lap, that included tricks of the caliber of back 9 mute, Front 10 Tail and Front 9s. “This is the biggest result of my career,” after receiving a chilling Champaign face shot from second place Kyle Mack and Japanese ripper Hiroki Suwas, who came third, “and it’s pretty special to do it at home here in Davos.”

Post-event release for Jan Scherrer and Kyle Mack.

Tomorrow’s offerings include the qualifications for Big Air as well as rounds one and two of the contest real. Stay tuned!

Damn, some of these cats take their ‘practice’ pretty seriously. In the training last night for the upcoming O’Neill Evolution Big Air, Maxence Parrot stomped the back 14 triple cork. This could get heavy…

We got into Davos last night and ran into the TTR guys who were kinda frothing as they’d just got back from training here at the O’Neill Evolution and Maxence Parrot had just stomped a triple. Here it is. This contest might get silly when it actually starts…

[Check the highlights of last season's pow-filled finals.]

The countdown is ON and the O’Neill Evolution 2013 is ready for blast off as the world’s best male and female riders prepare to head to the Jakobshorn in Davos, Switzerland from January 14-19, 2013.

This progression-fueled, maximum rated World Snowboard Tour contest has been pushed back a dozen days in the contest calendar to guarantee even better snow conditions, and an even bigger kicker and obstacles. And that’s music to the ears of the 15,000 spectators expected to attend the event.

Last year’s O’Neill Evolution winner, Mark McMorris.

The 6-star Big Air event will see the return of Seb Toots among dozens of other leading riders. As a former O’Neill Evolution Big Air Champion, Toots knows what it takes to win in Davos, and will be looking to recapture the crown he lost last year. But with world-class talent peppering the field, including the likes of compatriot Antoine Truchon, it won’t be an easy ride to the podium. And as the only Big Air event on tour with open qualifications, who’s to say the O’Neill Evolution won’t shine a spotlight on the next big name in snowboarding? Although chances are our next champion will have to have triple corks on lock.

The O’Neill Evolution will also bring the city to the slopes with a heavily street-inspired rail set up located at the foot of the men’s and women’s Big Air course. Taking inspiration from the world of street skating, the set up of rails and transfers offers up tons of possibilities, and will no doubt feed and test the imagination of every rider present.

Seb Toutant on the end section.

The 5-star men’s and women’s Halfpipe contests will be back after last year’s hiatus due to challenging snow conditions, and you can be sure Davos will continue its long-standing tradition of showcasing some of the best pipe riding in Europe.

So with everything primed to go off, it’s anyone’s guess who will claim the lion’s share of the $125,000 total prize money and ranking points available.

The new site is up and running, so keep checking back for more details in the coming weeks. And while you’re there, watch last year’s highlight clip to remind yourself why this is one contest you can’t afford to miss. For those of you that can’t make it to Davos in person, rest easy – we’ll have live web and TV broadcasts streaming the goods into lounges across the globe.

www.oneill.com/evolution