Factor Films’ 2007 movie Up in the Sky was a sick flick stuffed to the gills of up-coming Scandi talent – many of whom are now full on bosses in the game – and Torstein snagged the ender. Check this nugget of history out in today’s Flashback…

1. Torstein Horgmo

2. Mark McMorris

3. Sebastien Toutant

4. Peetu Piiroinen

5. Eric Willet

6. Gjermund Bråten

7. Sage Kotsenburg

8. Ståle Sandbech

Torstein Horgmo. Photo: Youri Barneoud

The Winter X Games Europe in Tignes has kicked off and so we caught up with one of the Slopestyle favorites to ask him about his season, contests, the filming, and a bit more…

How’s the season been so far for you, you must be pretty happy about the contst side of things right?

It’s been really good so far, quite different because I did quite a lot of contests. And the results for sure helps your motivation for it! I was actually planning to go straight to filming after the last Olympic FIS qualifier in Czech Republic but now I’m here in Tignes for the Euro X Games. It’s my first time here, and this is probably the last contest I’ll do this season before I start filming – I’m going to Whistler straight after this. But yeah lots of new stuff happening so it’s been pretty cool so far. Better than expected actually. Last year I focused a lot more on filming, so the contest side of things didn’t go so well. You know, when your head was more into getting shots for the movie. This is why I didn’t have much expectations on how I could do on contests this winter.

We loved Horgasm, A Love Story, and I’m sure you had a lot of good feedback about it, right?

Thank you! Yeah, it’s been a trip for sure. I got obviously a lot more feedback when we put it out for free. We ran it on iTunes first, and it didn’t really reached out as much as we had hoped, which I kind of thought it could happen. I wanted to put it for free straight away, went back and forth thinking about it… Now it’s still on iTunes in full HD, and also online [watch Horgasm here]. And people seems to be pretty hyped on it, so I’m stoked about it. It’s 2 years of my life, and it turned out to be a little different from what was there before, so I’m really pleased.

So now after this winter, even though it’s not finished yet, is it not too hard to do contest and filming quite intensively all in the same season?

I’m kind of used to it now! I just had to skip a bit the street stuff. It was a bit of a late start as far as powder goes, but I want to catch up on this, maybe do some heli and discover some new terrain.

A couple of questions on the X Games now. Mark McMorris was saying yesterday that the slopestyle course is pretty mellow compared to what you guys are used to these days, would you agree?

We had practice yesterday, the sun was shining and the conditions were perfect. Mark said that and it’s pretty much true, it’s very straight forward, quite a simple course as far as features go, but still pretty creative, you have lot of options, and the jumps are really fun. They are not the biggest, for sure, but you still have a lot of air time and it will possible to throw the big tricks. This is the kind of stuff I’m actually looking for: more air time for less impact. For me it’s perfect to end my contest season that way. I’ll have a smile on my face no matter what happen on the results.

Do you think this kind of mellow course opens up possibilities for other riders that would not generally have much chance for a podium?

It’s really tough to say, you never know what’s going to happen. This season we’ve seen a lot of new faces on podiums. Somebody does something new every time. The overall level has been pushed real hard this season, and it’s really exciting to be a part of that. Practice yesterday was pretty mellow compared to a lot of practices this year, so it’s even hard to say at this time.

Last question, who’s your favorite for the pipe Gold for this coming Friday?

That’s a tough one because you’re missing a couple of big players. Iouri [Podladtchikov] has got a good shot, Luke [Mitrani] as well, maybe Louie [Vito] too. I might put my card on Iouri though.

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

With the finals cancelled Torstein Horgmo takes his first place spot in the semis to the bank ahead of Mark McMorris and Seb Toutant.

High winds and an incessant deluge of snow meant all today’s action was cancelled here in Laax, which resulted in the women’s BEO slopestyle being abandoned while the standings from yesterday’s men’s semis became the final results.

In such situations it’s always a double-edged sword: on the one hand you can’t help but feel for all those invlved behind the scenes who’ve grafted long and hard to ensure an event will be as awesome as possible, and for the missed opportunity to see the world’s best stuntboarders go wild, but on the other hand… well, there’s a LOT of pow.

At the end of the day no one would have been surprised had this podium come at the end of a mindblowing final, but when you saw the standard of riding in the semis and knew the guys would be turning it up to 11 to make it count it’s understandable that the riders, organisers and even us hacks can feel a sense of disappointment at would could have been. But the positive thing is that this was a call made by the riders and organisers together – it would have taken hours to clear the overnight snow that had accumulated, and even then the clouds kept socking in and the wind was howling making speed a serious issue.

Torstein bossing the semis. Photo: Olav Stubberud

Torstein had mixed emotions on the result: “It does feel a little weird to win like this, but I’m just stoked they made that call and didn’t try to run it like a lot of other contests this year have done. It’s weird and it doesn’t feel 100% right to win this way but at least we got some really good pow days. It’s my first pow days of the year so it’s been a good vacation [laughs].”

With any luck the wind and snow will ease up and we’ll have a banging pipe final tomorrow to write about. More tomorrow…

Remember the RK1 boys’ banging Colorado edit that dropped over the holidays? You know, the one that’s probably the best park lapping edit you’ve seen in a long while? The one with Len Jorgensen’s awesome handspring knuckle thing? Yeah, that one. Here’s an edit made of B-shots from the sessions there. It’s still decent.

Not only does Torstein stomp the arse out of a back 14 triple and a switch back 14 triple in this video, he also finds time to tell the FIS to SORT OUT THEIR CRAPPY JUMPS. Necessary.

As far as we’re aware this is only the second documented switch back 14 triple, after Pat Burgener stomped it a while back. Horgmo’s is cleaner, for sure, but we’re also stoked to hear him call out the FIS for their lame kickers at recent events. We heard a fair deal of grumbling about the setup at the recent Olympic qualifier in Quebec (an event that we, unlike some other ‘core’ media, politely declined an invite to) from riders who’d had to ride the course and it seems that Torstein for one has had enough. As he says, “You need more snow in your jumps,” the important factors being pure airtime and smooth landings, not mere length of table. It’s safer for the riders and allows them more scope for progression. Will the FIS take note? What do you think…

Torstein Horgmo, Mark McMorris and his bro Craig fully smash the Keystone park in the latest Shred Bots edit. Watch how stupid good at snow surfing these boys are…

Oh, and if you were as confused as we were as to what Shred Bots actually is, then this will clarify things. Head over, check their shit and get down with the crew.

If you needed more proof that the Scandis – specifically the Norwegians – are owning park snowboarding these days, then be sure to check out this edit from the RK1 crew as they put the beatdown on Keystone and Breckenridge. Humbling skills and a bang bus of an edit from bossman Olav Stubberud, this even features a cameo from Steve-O of all people and some of the best knuckle tricks you’ll ever see. Check it…

Torstein Horgmo hosts the latest installment of a game of In Your Face, with Norwegian homies Alek Østreng and Torgeir Bergrem battling it out to avoid a double faceshotting. These dudes are way too good.