British pipe slayer Ben Kilner and stylemaster Scott McMorris decided that, rather than beeline it for the glaciers this summer they’d try something different. We were wondering why their Tweets were always like “great session on the treadmill this arvo” and “mellow 10k ride before breakfast” but then when we saw this it all made sense. Triathalon. These lot are now harder than Chuck Norris.

Check all the action from Cairngorm, Scotland, where the crew pulled together the biggest kicker Britain’s ever seen for the annual Dawn of the Shred contest. Scott McMorris, Jamie Nicholls, Angus Leith and more rocked up to give the beast a good seeing to…

Ian Thrashmore sends a back 180 over the biggest kicker Britain's ever seen. Photo: Dan Medhurst.

This weekend the Vans team hit the Scottish mountains for the 4th year to host the legendary Dawn of the Shred.

Due to the sheer amount of snow that fell in the highlands this year the comp was always going to go down a storm, but as we hit the well-known bar/restaurant the Ski-ing Doo to meet the guys form the Cairngorm Snowboard Club who had been pulling 18 hour days on the hill, the whispers of the sheer size of the park began to circle. This was going to be one hell of a day and none of us could wait to get up there!

Sign up started at 8.30 am at the bottom of the mountain and by 9am the roster was looking pretty full! Over 50 riders signed up to compete as well as some big names from the UK scene including Jamie Nichols, Scotland’s very own Scott McMorris and Aimee Fuller.

The sun was already shining as we headed up the mountain, as we stepped outside one thing hit us, the third kicker was huge, as the riders warmed up some were brave enough to hit it and the heights they reached were enormous!

The slopestyle course consisted of the following features, gap to down rail or the option of an up rail at the top going into an a frame box or the tyre gap, the flat down bar rail into the main kicker with its 3 take offs including the 22 meter booter (biggest yet in the UK) going into the big spine and down rail.

Jamie Nicholls. Backside 7. Photo: dan Medhurst.

Due to the sheer size of the kicker the slopestyle judging had to be split into two sessions – big air then the rails – as the jump was so big it wasn’t possible to hit all the rails and still get enough speed. Angus and Jamie were the standouts on the big kicker, Angus with his front 7 tail grabs and Jamie with his perfectly executed back 7 double grabs. As for the rail session in the afternoon there were so many good riders ripping it up, but it was Jamie again who really destroyed the rail course with his technical trickery followed by relaxed style and perfect execution. Aimee Fuller wowed the crown with her big back flips and secured her 1st with ease. The standard of riding was high but most of all everyone had fun just sessioning the park all day.

After an epic day on the hill everyone headed to the bar for the prize giving and a well earned Vans waffle and a pint. The place was buzzing with stories from the day and everyone looked like they were having a wicked time! The weather had been kind and the goggle tans were out in force to prove it. The judges Chris Chatt, Hamish McKnight and Craig Rothney then rounded everyone up to give out the massive amount prizes donated but all the sponsors: Vans, Dalikfodda, TSA, Bawbags, ride and slide chalets, and Monster.

After a massive product toss and a bit more drinking everyone was ready to hit the vault nightclub for the after party. Jett Black played to a packed club and everyone partied on into the early hours. Altogether a Rad day was had by all. Thanks to all the guys at the Cairngorm mountain for all their hard work and to Jonny Barr who sadly couldn’t be there.

Bring on next year!!!!

Men

1st Jamie Nichols

2nd Jesse Smith

3rd Nick Mclutosh

Women

1st Aimee Fuller

2nd Becca Cullum

3rd Kerry Dickson

Youth Men

1st Danny Mcurmick

2ns Craig Hastie

3rd Tom Hunt

Youth Women

1st Faye young

Junior Men

1st Jordan Gee

2nd Gregor Samuels

3rd Jamie Trinder

Junior Women

1st Katie Omerod

2nd Sophie Nichols

3rd Shannon Roy

An all-British test of snowboarding trivia.

As snowboard nerds, we like to think ourselves well-versed in the deep memory banks of snowboarding’s trivia. But how much of it do the riders know? That’s what we set out to find with The Knowledge, where we’ll put two shreds face-to-face and get ‘em to flex their mind muscles.

It’s an all-Brit affair this time round, and we figured there’d be nowt better to put head-to-head than Messers Tyler Chorlton and Scott McMorris, Oakley teammates and each boasting deep wizards sleeves full of shred magic.

On yer marks…

1. What year did Steve Bailey land the first recorded backside 900 on a Dendix dryslope?

Tyler Chorlton: 86? Nah, 95.

Scott McMorris: I’ll go with 95.

Answer – 1995. Steve had a sequence of a back 9 on Dendix (a type of dryslope surface with zero padding, bristles, bits of metal, and even holes that were known to snap fingers) taken in the summer of 95, and it was featured in Snowboard UK issue 25. [Tyler: 1 - Scott: 1]

2. Who managed to blow a gold medal by trying to pull a Method?

Tyler: Ooh. Tough one. [repeats question to himself] I’ll say Ross Powers for fun.

Scott: Terje? Oh, ah, the boardercross bird! Fuck, what was her name? I know who you mean… err… the last Olympics, not the one just gone. I’ll have to come back to that one.

Answer– Lindsey Jacobelis. Arguably the world’s greatest trick, we would say there’s never a bad time to bang one out, however we’re  sure American rider Lindsey Jacobelis would disagree. Her failed Method on the last hit of the 2006 Olympic boardercross meant Tanya Frieden made up the 100-or-so-metre lead Jacobelis had to take gold and allowed Ed Leigh a priceless moment in TV commentary. [Tyler: 1 - Scott: 1]

3. Name members of the original Forum 8.

Tyler: Oh fahkin ell, let’s see… Peter Line, JP Walker, Jeremy Jones, Joni Malmi, err, Bjorn Leines, Devun Walsh, and Wille Yli Luoma.

Scott: Joni Malmi, Peter Line, Devun Walsh, JP Walker, Jeremy Jones, Chris Dufficy, Bjorn Leines, and… I was gonna say Miikko Sjoblom who fucked himself but he was more of an am… who am I missing? Oh god. I dunno. Pass. [sounds distraught]

Answer – In no particular order, the OG Forum 8 were: Peter Line, Joni Malmi, Devun Walsh, JP Walker, Jeremy Jones, Chris Dufficy, Bjorn Leines, and Wille Yli Luoma. Tyler rolled his off without a second thought, but only named 7… [Tyler: 1 - Scott: 1]

4. How many words for snow did David Benedek say there were?

Tyler: 91.

Scott: 91.

Answer – 91. David and his buddies at Blank Paper produced the seminal movie 91 Words for Snow. [Tyler: 2 - Scott: 2]

5. Where was the first snowdome opened in the UK? And what year for a bonus point?

Tyler: Ooh… Is it Tamworth? No idea about the year, I wasn’t around then [laughs]. I’d have to guess at 99-2000?

Scott: Tamworth. God. 93.

Answer – Tamworth in 1994 was where and when the UK’s first snowdome opened. [Tyler: 3 - Scott: 3]

6. Who won this year’s TTR title?

Tyler: The tour? Peetu.

Scott: Peetu.

Answer – Peetu Piiroinen knocked the back out of the TTR this season, claiming the tour title with one 6-star event to spare. [Tyler: 4 - Scott: 4]

7. Who was the cover star of Onboard issue number 1?

Tyler: [whistles] Me. [laughs].

Scott: Ingemar. That was a total guess [laughs].

Answer – Seal. Yes, the person gracing the first ever issue of Onboard was none other than the Mr Heidi Klum. To quote ex-Onboard honcho Drew Stevenson who took over from issue 2 “It was the worst cover that has ever been run and will ever be run in snowboarding.” [Tyler: 4 - Scott: 4]

8. Which rider famously qualified for the Baker Banked Slalom riding switch?

Tyler: Terje.

Scott: Terje.

Answer – Terje Haakonsen. There’s rumours he’d been gorging on dodgy fungus shortly before, too. [Tyler: 5 - Scott: 5]

9. Who started the UK’s first snowboard magazine?

Tyler: Err, Ed. Ed… it was Ed wasn’t it. Ed, ahm, what was his last name? Ah, fuck. Kiwi Ed. I need to look on Facebook to remember his last name, sorry.

Scott: Eddie Spearing.

Answer – Eddie Spearing. Snowboard UK, the UK’s first shred mag which is alas no longer with us, was started by Eddie Spearing. Eddie did move to NZ, but ‘Kiwi Ed’ gets Tyler nul points. [Tyler: 5 - Scott: 6]

10. What was the name of UK movie company Lockdown Projects’ first film?

Tyler: The first one… Updog. Or was that third already? I only came in at Updog, I didn’t know the guys before that.

Scott: Proper.

Answer – Proper. There was a lot of banter about this after the interviews. We were almost convinced Tyler was right until we saw Lockdown co-founder Adam Gendle and got him to set us straight. Although Updog was the first TSA movie, edited by Gend, it was Proper that was the first to be released under the Lockdown Projects banner. [Tyler: 5 - Scott: 7]

It was close there for a while, but the winner of this edition of The Knowledge is… Scott McMorris. Had Tyler remembered Eddie’s last name and remembered that we were looking for the EIGHT guys from Forum it might have been a different story, but as it stands it’s Scott that rides off into the sunset as the wiser man. Well done, sir.