The dudes at the World Snowboard Tour have partnered up with Swatch to produce this 7-part documentary series focussed on the history of competitive snowboarding. Pretty interesting stuff, check it…

Shred documentaries filled with archive footage seem all the rage these days – this series follows hot on the heels of burn’s nostalgia-heavy We Ride – The Story of Snowboarding – and this is no bad thing. It’s always rad to dip into snowboarding’s history to see how far we’ve come and also throw some high fives to the guys and girls responsible for pushing the boundaries. With this season’s World Snowboard Tour almost a wrap, the crew have launched this 7-part series charting the evolution of contest riding from the titular straight line runs to today’s mind melting barrage of hyper spinning.

This first episode looks at the inception of the first shred contests over in the US back in the 80s, spotlights the likes of Jake Burton, Tom Sims, Craig Kelly and Terry Kidwell, and is, to coin a phrase from a magazine of the time, absolutely radical.

[Watch this ^^^]

Snowboarding lost one of its founding fathers yesterday as Tom Sims passed away at the age of 62. Condolences to his family and friends, and thanks for snowboarding.

We never met Tom Sims but one thing is certain – snowboarding and skateboarding owes him a huge, huge debt. He made more than one member of the Onboard crew think snowboarding was awesome before we even knew what it was – he was, after all, the guy who made James Bond look cool in A View To A Kill.

His influence on shaping the development of snowboarding and skateboarding is hard to overstate. As one of the three men widely credited with laying the foundations to what the sport has become he, amongst many other snowboarding milestones, created one of the first snowboard companies, Sims Snowboards, lobbied hard for the sport’s acceptance at a time it was routinely outlawed and supported a raft of groms who went on to become some of the defining riders of a generation, or two.

Rest in Peace, Tom. And thanks for everything.

We have joke paralysis, but maybe you can come up with something including German rider Alex Tank and WWII?

SATURDAY

It was posted on Friday, but who cares: Access All Areas with Fredi Kalbermatten was our top post over the past seven days. Flow: The Life goes YoudaHoldaho. Todd Richards talks about his salad days. Japan has a white ribbon of death, too. The Gremlinz ride Kingvale. Spatziba has a great Kazuhiro Kokubo clip. ESPN calls, TJ Schneider anwers. TW Snow catches up with Gjermund Braaten. And Tom Sims appears on Powder and Rails.

SUNDAY

Darrel Mathes nails 11 tricks on a down rail. The Copper Grand Prix saw some good snowboarding. In more important event news, the Dirksen Derby begins. A whole bunch of riders appear in the second Sunday in the Park episode. Jussi Oksanen‘s In Color part gets remixed. Simon Chamberlain‘s part gets a different spin, too. And for the first time ever, a Dutch outdoor contest makes use of real snow.

MONDAY

We post the full Austrian Sanesation movie, Kareem El Rafie‘s video part, and Torah Bright‘s TTR edit. Oh, and Ben Bilocq and Jon Kooley in the Nitro movie. The Jib-Vid gets cancelled.   The Dirksen Derby continues. 9191‘s full Jackson Hole footage gets released. Whatever the Rails 2 Riches contest was, here’s the highlight video. Xavier De Le Rue‘s Timeline episodes are blocked from being embeded on our site. The Ästhetiker go springtime shredding, and so do the Pirates (in Sweden). Torstein Horgmo loves his board. Toddcast – the Movie Pt. 3 drops. And Yobeat shows how to save your lift ticket money.

Nobody had told Superman that the new baseplates were made of kryptonite.

TUESDAY

We post all Airblaster Family Portraits in one go, and the ‘mixed part‘ from the Nitro movie. YES goes Whistler. Horgmo and Austbo play a game of In Your Face. Johnny Miller gets a Day in the Life. The Dirksen Derby is finally over. Givinvids.com posts a noteworthy Forest Bailey clip. Alpental received a dump in time for their opening day. Sean Black turns gangsta. Here’s a sick edit of the Burton team filming themselves with Contour cams. More Bear Mountain shredding. And Halldor doesn’t stomp every trick (but maybe Eiki does).

WEDNESDAY

The O’Neill Evolution teaser drops. Ethan Morgan is a terrible filmmaker. TW Snow launches into a Sandbox week and post Jake Koia’s full part and Jake Kuzyk’s full part and Andrew Geeves’ full part. Chas Guldemond is also in the webisode game. Stevens, Beresford, Black et al shred Brighton. Torstein runs us through the Dew Tour slopestyle. Where were you, Colin Langlois? Gulli and Einar hit an ice rink. Here’s how you build a gipsy-style Go-Pro pole-mount. Roxy goes Kaunertal. And if you still haven’t learnt it – Zac Hale shows you how to do a Front 1.

The one thing snowboarding is missing is a figure skating scandal.

THURSDAY

The X Games Real Snow thing sounds good. Are opens with an Are opener. Prospecting Idaho episode 5 is just as good as the others. More Gremlinz here. Aron Holterman bags a cool desktop wallpaper. Ero One Films‘ bonus footage looks good. The Bombcake short movie is a killer. Mark McMorris is sending it here. More Sandbox stuff: Mike Pederson over here, Ryan Hall and Dwayne Wiebe here. Signal builds a Lego board. Here is the EB Edits: Episode 2. Here’s the Rail Gardens ‘The Movie Teaser.‘ And TW Snow tells you how to road trip.

FRIDAY

The lastest Gossip from the Good Life talks about doing seasons. The Angry Snowboarder has Spread the Love (full movie). The Analog feature comp is still going on. Eiki Helgason does a top to bottom run. Jamie Anderson oozes with style. The Forum team doesn’t handle flammable liquids with care. Here comes some Bear Mtn Mini Bar Madness. And JP Walker drops their Real Snow Teaser.

As I said, coming up next: ‘This Year in Snowboarding,’ starting on Monday. TWIS will be back in early January and once again it will be all about ‘And this is supposed to be snowboard journalism?’

Oh, and by the way, have you seen Klaus?

April 17, 2010 will see the Longboard Classic descend on Stuben am Arlberg

Once more over 50 snowboard legends from the US, Japan and Europe have applied for the 11^th Longboard Classic in Stuben – the biggest old school snowboard event in Europe. Among them Tom Sims, one of the 4 founding fathers of snowboarding, Terry Kidwell, the ‘Godfather of Freestyle’, 4 time Freestyle World Champion and legendary Sims team rider, Shawn Farmer, a legendary lunatic with a penchant for rapping, and Taro Tamai the surf and freeride legend from Japan.

Three generations of snowboard heroes from the fields industry, riders and media will celebrate the eleventh Longboard Classic together! This year the focus will be especially on the kids who will be taught the real spirit of snowboarding by the elder ones – away from the promoted spin to win and rail battle contests.

Shawn Farmer rocking out.

And check out the Bands! Main act Darby and Joan will definitely rock the stage with their dynamic Indie/ Alternative Rock style supported by the LBC Allstars featuring Shawn Farmer (Vocals), Terry Kidwell (Guitar), Bob Klein (Drums), Paul Gruber (Guitar) & LBC friends.

As usual, the Longboard Classic race will start at the Albona Grat (2,408m). After a Le Mans mass start they will go down 1,001m off-piste to Stuben Village (1,407m) in 4 different categories (Kids under 14, Old School, Boys und Girls).

The credo, like always, is not to be first but to meet friends, find new ones and to have fun snowboarding with like-minded people.

Of course, longboards and freeride equipment from selected firms can be tested.

To make registration as easy as possible on the actual day of the race, we recommend that you register via the homepage in advance. The provisional list of participants is published on www.longboardclassic.com and can be sorted by post code, city or name so you can easily create car pools.

Get your friends together and join the “Woodstock of Snowboarding”,  the Longboard Classic with numerous snowboard legends!

Find info about the program, accommodation, photos and movies as well as the Hall of Fame from the last ten years under: www.longboardclassic.com

Facts

Event: Longboard Classic

Date: Saturday, April 17, 2010

Location: Stuben am Arlberg (Austria)

Format: Le Mans mass start – top to bottom snowboard – longboard race

Classification: Kids under 14, Old School, Girls, Boys, Oldest Board, Soulmaster and more

On stage: Darby & Joan (A) & „LBC Allstars (US/A/D/CH)

Fee: Euros 50 (incl. day ticket, event shirt, lunch and beverage)

Number of spectators: None! – Everyone will take part!!

Credo: The Longboard Classic is the Woodstock of Snowboarding for soulsurfers, longboarders, off-piste enthusiasts and snowboard legends from all over the world, to go riding with friends, to have fun and celebrate the spirit of snowboarding together.