Burn Energy, Stale Sandbech’s sponsor, released a video of him shredding some sick rails in Oslo. There’s also some metal music playing, which is why they called this edit ‘True Norwegian Metal.’

Filmed and edited by his brother Frode Sandbech.

Chris Grenier, Darrell Mathes, Joe Sexton, and Norwegian-native Danny Larsen drop in on the Vigeland Park in Oslo right after a huge snowstorm. On the heels of a three-week Euro tour with ThirtyTwo, the Videograss crew hit the streets of Norway, the birthplace of skiing, to session some major tourist attractions without a bust in sight while filming for Videograss’ newest movie “The Darkside.”

TTR and WSF are pleased to announce the confirmed rider field for the World Snowboarding Championships taking place February 10th-19th in Oslo, Norway.

Over 200 men and women from over 25 countries around the world, including 3-times TTR World Tour winners Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) and Jamie Anderson (USA), 2012 X-Games winners Mark McMorris and Torstein Horgmo (NOR) as well as Olympic gold medallist Kelly Clark (USA), will compete for the Slopestyle and Halfpipe World Champion 2012 titles and $500,000 in total prize money.

With this immensely strong gathering of athletes in competitive snowboarding, spectators around the globe can expect a massive dose of action in the halfpipe and on the slopestyle course. More than a 100 independent TV stations will broadcast the WSC worldwide. TTR Pro Snowboarding, World Snowboard Federation and the WSC organizers in Oslo are pleased to welcome the athletes to the first World Snowboarding Championships for snowboarders by snowboarders since 1999.

A final round of Wildcards for influential riders, who weren’t able to qualify through competition in the past year, were handed to: Olivier Gittler and Arthur Longo from France to enter the Halfpipe contest. The Women’s Halfpipe contest sees Elena Hight (USA) join the start field.

The confirmed riders have been anticipating the World Snowboarding Championships for over a year now and can’t wait to drop in and ride the world-class Slopestyle course and Halfpipe. ‘The WSC is the most prestigious competition in Freestyle snowboarding in 2012, and I am very honored to be a part of it. We have all been focusing on this the whole season, it’s that time to show your stuff’ says Belgian Seppe Smits.

Hosting country Norway will warmly welcome many of their favorites in the Oslo Vinter Park Arena, such as Torstein Horgmo, Gjermund Braaten and Stale Sandbech in the men’s field, and Kjersti Ostgaard-Buaas, Silje Norendal and Linn Haug in the Women’s competition.

Henning Andersen, event director: ‘Oslo is ready for the action: The snowpark is in good condition and the final phase of the shaping process has started. The city of Oslo is welcoming everyone to the biggest sports event in 2012.’

The complete overview of all confirmed athletes can be found at: www.wsc2012.com

Peep this interesting and in-depth look at Burton’s Norway jib trip shooting for Standing Sideways, with Mark Sollors, Ethan Deiss and Ludde Lejkner getting it done. Burton photographer Adam Moran give you insight into the haps.

A man called Roger Stemsrudhagen made this on a glorified abacus.

The World Snowboarding Championships will kick off its first ever jamboree in Oslo’s Winter Park this coming February. Here’s the schedule and how you can swap your coinage for tickets to the show…

The battle for four championship titles amongst the world’s best snowboarders will soon take place in Oslo Winter Park, Norway. In addition, Terje Håkonsen will challenge the bravest of the brave to break his world record for highest air in a quarterpipe (9,8 meters) in one of the world’s most famous sporting arenas, Holmenkollen. Tickets for these historical moments are now available.

Spectacular achievements on an international level, accompanied by music entertainment, predict the conditions worthy of a winter festival. 240 of the world’s best riders from 30 countries will compete for the four prestigious World Cup titles: slopestyle and halfpipe for men and women. This will go down in Oslo Winter Park (Wyller), which right now is making Europe’s largest halfpipe and a state of the art slopestyle course. The quarterpipe session in Holmenkollen ski jump arena Friday night kicks the weekend of the finals off to new levels of riding. World record holder Håkonsen intends to defend his title by riding himself and inspire the next generation to enter new heights.

Fair access to the qualifications combined with tough international competition and extremely high level make sure the true masters of snowboarding meet in the finals. The competitors carry out tricks and rotations in speeds up to 80 km/h, several meters into the air before they land on hard snow.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY PRICES

10th – 15th of February is for training and qualification, without ticket sales. The last four days, 16th – 19th February, are open for the audience. Tickets are available at www.billettservice.no. You can also buy tickets at Narvesen, 7-Eleven and the Post Office. Tickets cost from NOK 100 to 250 (excluding service fee). All tickets are unnumbered. Children under the age of 6 have free admission, while children under the age of 12 get a 50% discount. The tickets are more expensive if purchased at the entrance gates.

PROGRAMME & TICKET PRICES

Note: all prices are excluding service fee. Tickets are more expensive if purchased at the entrance.

Thursday 16th of February 13.15 – 20:00:
Kl. 13.15 Semi finals women, halfpipe, Oslo Winter Park (Wyller)
Kl. 16.55 Semi finals men halfpipe, Oslo Winter Park (Wyller)
NOK. 100 /NOK. 50 for children under 12/Children under 6 free admission

Friday 17th of February 9.30 – 16.30:
Kl. 9.30 Semi finals women, slopestyle, Oslo Winter Park (Wyller)
Kl. 13.10 Semi finals men, slopestyle, Oslo Winter Park (Wyller)
NOK. 100 /NOK. 50 for children under 12/Children under 6 free admission

Friday 17th of February 18.30 – 21.15 (time not confirmed)
Kl. 17.00 Gates to shopping area open
Kl. 18.30 Quarterpipe contest, Holmenkollbakken
Kl. 19.40 Concert, Holmenkollbakken
Kl. 20.15 Highest Air session, Holmenkollbakken
NOK. 250/NOK. 125 for children under 12/Children under 6 free admission

Saturday 18th of February 15.45 – 19.00
Kl. 15.45 Finals women, halfpipe, Oslo Vinter Park (Wyller)
Kl. 17.40 Finals men, halfpipe, Oslo Winter Park (Wyller)
NOK. 200 /NOK. 100 for children under 12/Children under 6 free admission

Sunday 19th of February 11 – 14.30
Kl. 11 Finals women, slopestyle, Oslo Winter Park (Wyller)
Kl. 13.00 Finals men, slopestyle, Oslo Winter Park (Wyller)
NOK. 200 /NOK. 100 for children under 12/Children under 6 free admission

Watch this video of Rome riders LNP and Will Lavigne visiting Ståle Sandbech’s home town of Oslo for some solid street jibbing, followed up by LNP heading to Helsinki with Marie-France Roy. Not gonna lie, it gave us the horn…

We had the Oslo section in our first issue of the season and, as you’ll know if you bagged yourself a copy of that mag, the riding was off the hook. This video is off the hook-er. Here’s Rome’s chat:

During the filming for Rome’s third full length video The Shred Remains, LNP and Will Lavigne flew to Oslo to meet up with Ståle Sandbech and film some rails. After that LNP flew to Helsinki to film with MFR. Here’s what went down.

If you consider this good news there’s even more to come: Tim Shiphorst, the brain behind Momentum, just sent us an email announcing a new “Weekly Moments” episode, which basically is the Momentum making of  web show. It is good, so do us a favour and at least watch this clip, will ya?

The full movie ‘Momentum’ will drop in september, untill then we will be uploading weekly video’s. This is the fourth weekly.

We went to Oslo for a week to hunt down and shoot some Urban action. However, every spot we went to we got either kicked out, couldn’t get enough speed or there wasn’t enough snow.

After 4 days we could easily say that we have hit one spot untill then. This kind of crushed the mood so to crank things up a notch we decided to get a litlte session started on this mellow stairset, just to be snowboarding again and generally have a good time. It worked!

The press release didn't come with a nice picture so we decided to show you last season's TTR tour winner Peetu Piiroinen again. Photo: Laura Austin

TTR Pro Snowboarding and the World Snowboard Federation together announce the official qualification criteria for the 2012 World Snowboarding Championships set to take place February 11-19, 2012 in Oslo, Norway at the Tryvann Vinterpark resort arena.  The World Snowboarding Championships will be held every four years and will host halfpipe and slopestyle competitions that will crown world champions for men and women in each discipline.  Athletes will qualify for the World Snowboarding Championships through the Swatch TTR World Rankings and WSF National Quota.

Below is a complete breakdown of how riders will be able to qualify for the inaugural 2012 World Snowboarding Championships beginning with competitor field size, moving on to minimum requirements for all riders and specific criteria, which will guarantee riders a spot to compete.

Rider Field Sizes at the World Snowboarding Championships
The World Snowboarding Championships will have a maximum of 240 spots available for male and female athletes to compete across both slopestyle and halfpipe disciplines.  The estimated field sizes will be 90 riders for men in each discipline and 70 riders for women in each discipline.

Minimum Requirements to Qualify
The TTR and WSF have developed a per discipline world ranking where riders are ranked in a Halfpipe World Ranking and in a Slopestyle World Ranking.  In order to participate in the World Snowboarding Championships, riders will need to fulfill the minimum requirement of being ranked in the TTR Top 500 for men and in the TTR Top 250 for women in each respective discipline ranking.  The Halfpipe World Ranking will include all halfpipe and quarterpipe competitions and will rank riders who have competed at least once in one of the formats.  The Slopestyle World Ranking will include all slopestyle and big air competitions and, as above, will rank riders who have competed at least once in the formats.  A rider’s position on each world ranking list will be determined by the average of his/her best three results for the Halfpipe Ranking and best four results for the Slopestyle Ranking over a rolling 52 week period.

We don't really know what this is, but it reminds us of that acupuncture chart at our chiropractor...

QUALIFICATION CRITERIA
Below are the four different ways in which riders can guarantee a spot to compete in the World Snowboarding Championships after meeting the minimum requirements outlined above.

• TTR World Ranking Quota
  

Male riders ranked 50 or higher, and female riders ranked 30 or higher, on the TTR Halfpipe World Ranking or Slopestyle World Ranking will be automatically eligible to compete in the respective discipline they qualify for.  The cut-off date for qualification into the 2012 event will be Monday, January 16th, 2012.

• WSF Nations Quota
  

Each WSF member Nation is entitled to qualify one rider for both men and women in each discipline.  Therefore, each nation is entitled to a maximum of 4 spots and will need to use a national event, such as a national championships event, or a national criteria approved by the WSF Event Committee, to qualify riders.  All national quota spots for the 2012 event need to be announced by the National Snowboard Associations no later than Monday, January 16th, 2012.  If one or several riders are already eligible to compete through one of the other qualification criteria, the open spot falls to the best national rider not yet qualified based on the defined national qualification criteria.

• TTR World Champions and 6Star Title Winners
  

All TTR World Tour Champions from the last three years (2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11) are eligible to compete in all disciplines at the World Snowboarding Championships.  And, all TTR 6Star title winners from the last 53 weeks prior to Monday, January 16th, 2012, are eligible to compete in the discipline in which they won the title for.

• Wild Cards
  

The organizing committee of the World Snowboarding Championships is entitled to qualify two additional competitors in each discipline for men and women (eight total wild cards) which all need to be approved by TTR/WSF.

Registration Process
Registration for and entry into the World Snowboarding Championships is free to all riders who qualify.  All qualified riders are required to confirm their attendance no more than seven days after the qualified riders have been announced.  The exact date of this deadline will be communicated at least four weeks before the cut-off date for qualification, which is Monday, January 16th, 2012.  If a rider fails to confirm his/her attendance by the deadline, the rider will lose the right to compete at the event and the open spot will fall back to the organizing committee of the event, who have the right to re-assign the spot as a wild card or define additional qualification criteria.

Titles, Awards and Prize Money at the World Snowboarding Championships
Riders will be competing for male and female Halfpipe World Champion and Slopestyle World Champion titles at the World Snowboarding Championships.  These World Champion titles will be awarded to the winning male and female rider in each discipline.  In addition, all top three finishers in each discipline (first, second and third place finishers) will receive recognition in the form of a medal/trophy along with prize money.

Check out some heavy downtown jibbing, some unreleased bangers and some heavy slams. Not a bad way to kick off the week…

Here’s some big news for our small world of snowboarding: The TTR is on their way to create the World Snowboard Championships, a big shred brouhaha that will be held every four years and feature halfpipe and slopestyle. Every four years? If that sounds vaguely familiar to you it might be because of another big event called the Olympics that works along the same sort of schedule. However, the TTR thing will alternate with the five rings every two years in order to avoid any conflicts attention-wise. And since slopestyle is not an Olympic discipline this can be considered the TTR’s shot at becoming the most prestigious slopestyle event on the planet. In any case, the budget outline for the inaugural championships in Oslo/Norway should be sufficient to create a splashy comp up in the North. Fingers crossed.

On 24 May 2010 TTR Pro Snowboarding announced the creation of the World Snowboarding Championships. A new world-class snowboarding event, the World Snowboarding Championships will be held every four years and will feature men’s and women’s halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines. The first event is planned for the 2011/2012 season and will create an environment for the best freestyle riders to compete for world snowboard champion titles in both halfpipe and slopestyle formats.

Obviously, we don't have shots from this new event format yet. But we found this pic of Torstein from this year's Arctic Challenge, which not-so-coincidentally took place in Oslo, too. Photo: Stubberud.

“The creation of the Snowboarding World Championships is a great step forward for the TTR and the world of snowboarding as a whole,” says Reto Lamm, President of the TTR World Tour. “We look forward to putting on a world-class event to push the progression of the sport and provide a global platform to showcase the best riders in the world.”

The concept for the World Snowboarding Championships was developed by a group of international representatives of the sport at the 2009 TTR General Assembly in Austria and is a joint project of the TTR World Tour and the World Snowboard Federation (WSF). With a unanimous vote at the General Assembly 2010, the application for the Norwegian capital, Oslo, has been accepted to hold the inaugural event in 2012. The proposal was put forward by a consortium of the Norwegian Snowboard Federation, the Arctic Challenge organizers and the hosting resort Tryvann.

The municipality of Oslo will back the project with $4.3-million USD for the event and another $1.3-million USD for preparations. The final decision whether the event will take place is pending approval by the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment for the expansion plans of the event arena at Tryvann Vinterpark.

After the 2011/2012 event, the World Snowboarding Championships will continually change locations every four years and will take applications from cities around the world to host future events. Other details surrounding the event, such as qualifications, prize money and event schedules will be determined over the next six months and will be released as they are finalized.