Oxbow have been stepping their game up over the last couple of years, hooking up some solid riders to their roster, putting together some sweet outerwear, and putting on their innovative Back to Powder event. Now they’ve gone and produced a team movie, named Back to Powder, and this is the teaser. It looks good.

The Oxbow team – JP Solberg (Norway), Kalle Ohlson (Sweden), Thomas Gérin (France), Adan Basserba Berrocal (Spain), Thomas Delfino (France), Sophie Rodriguez (France) and David Livet (France) – scoured the planet’s alpine last season in search of the finest conditions and the most perfect spots in which to throw down. The United States, Canada, France, Russia, Italy, Alaska, Sweden, Norway and Japan were all on the agenda as they sent it off cliffs and booters into deep pow.

Back to Powder will be a production that highlights the authentic state of mind that the cameras of INVERT and their partners, YES (Paul Watts filming JP Solberg) and PIRATES (Basti Balser filming Kalle Ohlson), have managed to recreate to perfection. “It’s just awesome to have worked on a 100% backcountry movie, we really have filmed some incredible images this winter with deep snow and big pow pillows. It’s my first film with my OXBOW team-mates, I can’t wait to see the results” says JP.

The full movie will be available to download free in December 2011. In the mean time, enjoy the teaser…

Snowboarder of the Oxbow Progression Team shooted in Canada (British Columbia), Dachstein, & USA (Colorado) in 2010-2011.

Remember the trip to Kamchatka we featured in the mag last season, and which was also shown off in Absinthe’s Now/Here? Powder, volcanos, glaciers, JP Solberg, Terje, Kalbermatten, Maurer? Our photo ed still swears he’s never getting in one of those old helis ever again but, that aside, the trip was clearly pretty awesome. These, we guess, are some B shots from JP’s time there with the crew, but, dang, they still made us want to send it deep in to powder…

Now that the Oxbow Back To Powder 2010 is wrapped up and we have the videos of the jazz, here’s what went down over the five days  in Areches-Beaufort, France.

The idea of Oxbow’s Back To Powder event is a straightforward one, albeit with the übermotivational prize of a trip to Hawaii at stake. Two of Oxbow’s premier riders, Christoph Weber and skier Lolo Favre, were allowed to invite six riders each to head to the small but epic terrain of Areches-Beaufort in France to battle it out on the steeps, put it down on backcountry kickers and get their jib on in the wood zone. With a fresh dump just before the event began and renowned shaping crew hO5 in charge of features, it was bound to be legit.

For the snowboarders, Weber had recruited German buddy and snowboard innovator David Benedek, Norwegian styler Fredrik Evensen, and Frenchies David Livet, Alicia Bonnaud, Thomas Delfino and Valerian Ducourtil. Each night the crew would meet to discuss forecasts, safety and to review the day’s footage with two guys to be awarded with ‘Lines of the Day’. Here’s the haps in words and video, and a gallery of shots at the bottom…

Day 1

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Day 1 was Freeride day with all the riders heading up to Les Tetes Rouges (which sounds suspiciously like a Frenchie nickname for the English) to rip the smoothest lines they could and mix in some creativity on the ride down. Unfortunately the afternoon’s plan of hitting the backcountry kickers had to be postponed as the big wedges were buried by the recent snowfall but a team effort saw them dug out in, well not quite no time but they were ready to be sessioned later in the week.

Day 2

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The second day saw the riders take it to the jibs with some feeling the effects of a few too many Genepis from the night before. There’s no better way to blow away the cobwebs than getting the shred on, though, so before long everyone was taking on the wood zone with Fredrik Evensen and Valerian Ducourtil standing out.

Day 3

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The third day was set aside for the highly anticipated Perfect Jump day. The 21-metre rounded shaped tabletop built by hO5 didn’t seem to cause many problems to David Livet and Fredrik Evensen, despite the long airtime and the high speed required on the in-run. Thanks to the soft landing created by the perfect shape of the jump, some solid riding went down.

Day 4

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Day 4 involved a short hike in the beautiful surroundings of Areches. When they got to the drop in zone, riders faces were split into grins that would have the Cheshire cat envious: the riding area had 6 kickers in a row on the same backountry slope, radness. An epic end to a killer week of rider-focussed competition and fun.

Day 5

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The last day was the rider’s vote day, to determine who ripped the hardest. And coming out top was…. Fredrik Evensen who got voted by his peers as the standout rider of the contest and will accompany skier Arnaud Rougier to a trip to Hawaii, surfing with all the Oxbow surf team.

See you next year for the BTP 2011.

Gallery

All Photos: Elina Sirparanta/Oxbow
d1OxbowBackToPowder_06_ElinaS d1OxbowBackToPowder_14_ElinaS d1OxbowBackToPowder_ChrisWeber_01_ElinaS d1OxbowBackToPowder_DavidLivet_01_ElinaS d2OxbowBackToPowder_DavidBenedek_02_ElinaS_lowres d2OxbowBackToPowder_DavidLivet_03_ElinaS_lowres d3OxbowBackToPowder_ChrisWeber_03_ElinaS_lowres d3OxbowBackToPowder_DavidLivet_05_ElinaS_lowres d3OxbowBackToPowder_FredrikEvensen_04_ElinaS_lowres d3OxbowBackToPowder_ValerianDucourtil_03_ElinaS_lowres d4OxbowBackToPowder_24_ElinaS_lowres d4OxbowBackToPowder_25_ElinaS_lowres d4OxbowBackToPowder_26_ElinaS_lowres d4OxbowBackToPowder_ChrisWeber_04_ElinaS_lowres d4OxbowBackToPowder_DavidLivet_07_ElinaS_lowres d5winnersOxbowBackToPowder_Podium_02_ElinaS_lowres avOxbowBTP10

Check more of next season’s gear now.

The madness of ISPO has come to an end for 2010 and while the fingering of all the new kit and broing down with the riders and industry types is a fun way to pass several days cooped up in a cavernous hall or 10, our livers and vocal chords could certainly do with a vacation.

So, let the images do the talking as we run through yet more shots of next season’s kit…