Last week, yours truly Onboard Magazine travelled to the Austrian valley of Montafon for an all-new event concept called Nike Snake & Hammers. Nike and the Montafon had conjured up a banked slalom cum slopestyle course that was open to everyone who felt like a few fast turns, slow spins, and slushy transitions. The aim was to snake down course as fast as possible while dropping their best „hammers“ along the way. The course was a combination of numerous turns and banks, the park included a stairset, side by side kicker setup, big bowl, a gap through a snow tunnel to a straight rail, a creative halfpipe and a small hip. In our humble opinion, it was the laid-back park design that made the event stand out, as punters, media, and pros alike were eager to get their edges dug into the banked turns and snake pipe walls.

Stephan Maurer on course! Photo: Cyril Müller

Despite the challenging weather on the first three days (snowfalls and high fog) the vibe was outstanding, as the course was as inviting and fun to ride as it gets. On the day of the finals the sun came out, many pros and legends alike turned up and made for an unforgettable day on the mountain. Nike pros like Peetu Piiroinen, Jamie Nicholls, Kevin Backström and Spencer O’Brien were joined by an illustre crew of riders like David Bertschinger Karg, Enzo Nilo, Stephan Maurer, Nico Droz, David Benedek and Steve Gruber.

Peetu Piiroinen is attracted to big kickers. Phto: Cyril Müller

When the judging was complete on the day of the finals, Christian Haller (SUI) showed he had the best mix of balance, speed and tricks winning him a share of the $10,000 prize purse. With a race time of 01:25,10, frontside lipslide on the gap downrail, frontside 720 tailgrab off the kicker and many other tricks he claimed a deserved win. Spencer O’Brien won the women’s contest by snaking down the course with her well documented power and style with the best hammer award going to Jamie Nicholls who threw a perfectly stomped backside 1080 off the kicker.

Snake & Hammers winner Christian Haller coming out of the tunnel of doom. Photo: Cyril Müller

MEN
1. Christian Haller / SUI 2. Stephan Maurer / SUI 3. Peetu Piiroinen / FIN

WOMEN
1. Spencer O’Brien / CAN 2. Nicola Thost / GER 3. Aline Bock / GER

BEST HAMMER: Jamie Nicholls / ENG

Further information about the contest and the complete ranking are published on www.snakeandhammers.com.

A bird’s eye view of the park. Photo: Cyril Müller

When you’re done you can also watch the Burton US Open halfpipe podium runs.

MEN

1 – Mark McMorris

2 – Torstein Horgmo

3 – Chas Guldemond

WOMEN

1 – Spencer O’Brien

2 – Jamie Anderson

3 – Brooke Voigt

Torstein Horgmo.

Yesterday, Vail played host to the men’s and women’s slopestyle semi finals of the Burton US Open and the riding was predictably heavy. Canadian Spencer O’Brien nudged Jamie Anderson out of pole position on her last run, while Torstein Horgmo blew minds seemingly without even breaking a sweat. [We're working on the highlights of yesterday's action. Check back later to watch how it went down.]

It’s the first time Vail’s hosted this prestigious event – now in its 31st edition – and they’ve constructed quite the slopestyle course to show they mean business. Starting with the MINI jib section – an assortment of rails scattered around a huge wallride feature – the run opens out into three monumental mounds of snow with jumps tagged on their summits. Seriously, we were floored by the scale of the landings, but chat from the riders (and the riding itself) suggested that said landings could have done with being a little steeper – it wasn’t uncommon for people to get the landing gear down, yet get bucked.

Nevertheless, the riding from the shredders at the apex of the slopestyle game was predictably bolts. Women’s slopestyle is often a two-horse race these days, with Jamie Anderson and Spencer O’Brien duking it out for the top spot, and in the semis it was the Canadian who took first blood. Spencer led the women’s field with her winning run that included a frontside boardslide, MINI wallride to gap to frontside lipslide, 50-50 frontside 180 out, switch backside 180 mute grab, and a frontside 360 to backside 540 indy grab. She was also bummed that in claiming the top spot she bumped 14-year-old Japanese girl Miyabi Onitsuka out of the finals, once again confirming she could very well be the nicest person on the planet. Right behind her was Jamie Anderson (USA) in second and Brooke Voigt (CAN) in third. In total, 21 women from 11different countries battled it out on the slopestyle course and the top sixriders will advance to the finals.

Spencer O’Brien

On the men’s side, Norwegian Torstein Horgmo simply made A-grade snowboarding look like the easiest thing in the world. He cruised into first place with a winning run that included a switch backside 270 on, MINI wallride to switch frontside boardslide 270 out, switch lipslide 270 out, switch backside 900 mute grab, and a frontside double cork 1080 mute grab followed by a huge backside double cork 1080 indy grab. Close behind him was Eric Willett (USA) in second and young-gun Yuki Kadono (JPN) – whose first run front 12 attempt was so big we thought he was going to land in Denver – in third. But for all the guys and girls you knew that the handbrake was most certainly on. Come finals on March 1st the level will ratchet up a notch or two. Make sure you tune in.

Women’s Slopestyle Semi-Final Results

1. Spencer O’Brien CAN, NIKE, 75.33

2. Jamie Anderson USA, BILLABONG, 74.88

3. Brooke Voigt CAN, 32 SNOWBOARD BOOTS, 70.08

4. Sarka Pancochova CZE, FLOW, 69.53

5. Christy Prior NZL, BURTON, 63.53

6. Shelly Gotlieb NZL, BURTON, 62.00

Men’s Slopestyle Semi-Final Results

1. Torstein Horgmo NOR, DC SHOE CO USA, 87.93

2. Eric Willett USA, VANS, 84.26

3. Yuki Kadono JPN, RIDE, 83.88

4. Mark McMorris CAN, BURTON, 83.43

5. Chas Guldemond USA, ROCKSTAR, 81.25

6. Peetu Piiroinen FIN, NIKE, 80.63

7. Maxence Parrot CAN, O’NEILL, 80.28

8. Stale Sandbech NOR, OAKLEY, 80.03

9. Sage Kotsenburg USA, NIKE, 79.28

10. Ryan Stassel USA, BURTON, 77.23

11. Jamie Nicholls GBR, NIKE, 75.03

12. Darcy Sharpe CAN, MONSTER, 74.98

Spencer’s one of the finest female freestyle riders on the planet and a damned nice human to boot. Check out some sick spring park action from one of Canada’s finest…

The riding is impressive, and so is the lineup in this latest “P.S….” episode: Enni Rukajärvi, Erin Comstock, Kjersti Buaas, Jamie Anderson, Alexa McCarty, Madison Blackley, Laura Rogoski, Megan Ginter, Hana Beaman, Sina Candrian, Leanne Pelosi, Elena Hight, Kelly Underwood, Nirvana Ortanez, Megan Ginter, Spencer O’Brien, Isabel Derungs

The 3rd and final Chosen Session put the AMs back on familiar Chosen Series winning territory with a straight out kicker session.

The perfectly shaped 20m Kicker got a proper working as the AMs stepped up and mixed in with the Nike team, digging deep into their bags and pulling out some of the best AM riding seen all week.

Tune In Take Part and Vote by visiting nikechosensessions.com and watching each AM’s Big Air edit and then vote for your favourite rider.

The first ever World Snowboarding Championships has come to a close and the inaugural winners crowned. If you weren’t glued to the idiot box watching the live stream, watch how it went down. If you were, relive all the action from the top 3 runs in each discipline.

Despite some lacklustre riding in the early rounds and the premature exit of some big names, the latter stages of the World Snowboarding Championships in Oslo’s Vinterpark certainly kicked up a gear. Although the riding level in the slopestyle was clearly affected by the bulletproof conditions, Chas Guldemond and Spencer O’Brien both stomped heavy runs to take the win on their last runs, while the pipe – described by more than one person as the ‘best halfpipe ever’ – was hands down insane. Kelly Clark was pushed hard by young Spaniard Queralt Castellet but her monster front 10 sealed the deal, while Iouri Podladtchikov‘s heavy doubled up tech edged out the ridiculous height Matt Ladley was sending his rotations. The quarterpipe was great to see after a hiatus of a couple of years, and Olivier Gittler took the overall title, with Kim-Rune Hansen winning best trick and some old guy called Terje bagging the highest air.

Enjoy all the video highlights of the runs that mattered.

QUARTERPIPE FINALS

HALFPIPE MEN

1 – Iouri Podladtchikov

2 – Matt Ladley

3 – Louie Vito

HALFPIPE WOMEN

1 – Kelly Clark

2 – Queralt Castellet

3 – Gretchen Bleiler

SLOPESTYLE MEN

1 – Chas Guldemond

2 – Seb Toutant

3 – Seppe Smits

SLOPESTYLE WOMEN

1 – Spencer O’Brien

2 – Jamie Anderson

3 – Enni Rukajärvi

Spencer O’Brien continued being damned good and took the women’s Slopestyle while, according to Todd Richards on Twitter, the men’s slopestyle went to the rider who “sucks least” as a mere 4 out of 21 riders landed their runs. Seb Toutant was that guy, and we must say there’s not much sucking going down when you can back up smooth jibs with front and back 10 dubs.

SLOPESTYLE HIGHLIGHTS

In the pipe, Kelly Clark was once again head and shoulders above the competition – check the size of the admittedly dirty front 10 – while Louie Vito pulled a barrage of doubles to edge out Iouri Podladtchikov.

HALFPIPE HIGHLIGHTS

If reporting from a snowboard contest always meant shredding pow all day and having no access to the internet we would fight over our individual attendance. The O’Neill Evolution 2012 in Davos was such a case, and despite the heavy snowfalls the level of riding was “holy guacamole” according to event speaker Henry Jackson. Here’s the full report and two videos:

Spencer O'Brien

The world of professional snowboarding kicked off 2012 with a bang as hard fought O’Neill Evolution victories by Canadian, Mark McMorris, and compatriot, Spencer O’Brien, capped a week of dramatic action in Davos, Switzerland. 

Despite significant weather challenges throughout the contest, the first major event on the 2012 TTR World Snowboard Tour once again brought the cream of international riders and the highest level of performance to the picturesque Alpine resort of Davos. Pushing the highest known technical limits, competition was fierce as riders vied for a share of the $125,000 prize purse, TTR Ranking points and seeding into the World Championships.

The venue of the O'Neill Evolution 2012 finals

The Women’s Final was blessed with the best riding conditions of the week, and the eight competitors who made the final took no time in demonstrating massive progression. Despite stiff competition, Spencer O’Brien raised the bar from the outset, and continued to set the standard for the remainder of the 3-run finals.

O’Brien’s first run, a stomped frontside 720 nosebone to gapped lipslide, caught the imagination of the judges and saw her take home $20,000 USD and direct qualifications to the World Championships. Sina Candrian(SUI) was always dangerous, but failed to land her final run leaving her in 2nd place while Anna Gasse(AUT) managed to fend off podium-hungry challengers to secure third.
There was an electric atmosphere enveloping the huge crowd at the foot of the Jakobshorn as an incredible light show welcomed in the 16-man Night Final. Every person present was treated to a rarely seen level of progressive freestyle snowboarding.

Seppe Smits

The atmosphere intensified as the lead was swapped between Eric Willet(USA) and Mark McMorris. Willet scored what looked like an unassailable 95.30pts with a switch backside doublecork 1260 to lipslide 270 in his second run, only for McMorris to edge in front of him with a score of 95.60pts thanks to an even bigger backside doublecork 1260 to lipslide 270. Seppe Smits(BEL) turned up the pressure, landing a cab 1440 mute to cab 270 fronside boardslide in his final run, but it was not enough to change the order of the podium, with McMorris pocketing a cool $40,000 USD for his efforts.

The results also saw major Tour Lead changes on the TTR World Snowboarding TourRanking system. Eric Willet now moves to the top of the TTR Big Air Ranking, Christian Haller(SUI) moved into the TTR Overall lead while Sina Candrian(SUI) and Seppe Smits(BEL) booked places at the World Snowboard Championships.

Mark McMorris

In what will be remembered as one of the most incredible O’Neill Evolutions to date, the celebrations are set to start and look certain to go well into the night.

For all addition details for the Women’s or Men’s Finals please check:

http://www.oneill.com/evolution/

Here are the highlights of the first 2011/12 Winter Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge, Colorado. Let’s start with slopestyle.

Winter Dew Tour Breckenridge Snowboard Slopestyle Highlights

Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Results:
1. Gjermund Braaten – 97.75
2. Sebastien Toutant – 96.00
3. Charles Reid – 90.00
4. Chas Guldemond – 86.75
5. Mikkel Bang – 84.00
6. Sage Kotsenburg – 81.25
7. Mark Mcmorris – 75.25
8. Torstein Horgmo – 59.50
9. Eric Willett – 43.25
10. Sam Hulbert – 32.25
11. Sondre Tiller – 29.00
12. Seppe Smits – 26.0

Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Results:
1. Spencer O’Brien – 90.75
2. Enni Rukajärvi – 79.50
3. Sarka Pancochova – 72.00
4. Rebecca Torr – 64.75
5. Jamie Anderson – 59.25
6. Charlotte Van Gils – 56.50

And here’s all the halfpipe action, even though at least the men’s judging was a little controversial to say the least:

Winter Dew Tour Breckenridge Snowboard Halfpipe Highlights

Men’s Snowboard Superpipe Finals Results:
1. Shaun White – 95.00
2. Louie Vito – 92.75
3. Iouri Podlachikov – 90.00
4. Christian Haller – 88.00
5. Kohei Kudo – 86.00
6. Matt Ladley – 84.00
7. Steve Fisher – 79.75
8. Keito Kumazaki – 55.75
9. Kazuhiro Kokubo – 47.75
10. Scott Lago – 40.00
11. Luke Mitrani – 24.25
12. Danny Davis – 18.25

Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Finals Results:
1. Kelly Clark – 91.25
2. Gretchen Bleiler – 90.25
3. Xuetong Cai – 85.00
4. Maddy Schaffrick – 80.00
5. Kaitlyn Farrington – 70.00
6. Queralt Castellet 54.50