Norwegian rookie gets wild at Northstar and puts down two different triple combinations in the same session.

So a bunch of riders from Norway pitched up in Northstar the other week with, it seems, intentions of showing the world that when it comes to contemporary kicker riding then they have the moves like Jagger. With Emil’s edit here following hot on the heels of Torgeir Bergrem’s assault of kicker stunts on the same jump, it looks like Norwegian contingent will be even tougher to beat next season…

Norwegian ripper adds another 180 to this season’s trick du jour… erm… saison and puts down the first backside triple 1620 on film.

“What can beat a triple 1440?” was the question at many a jump contest this season. Torgeir Bergrem now has the answer – he just stomped the world’s first backside triple cork 1620, which is just a little bit mental. Canadian shredder Max Parrot came close to this trick – though whether it was by accident or design is unclear – at the X Games, but Torgeir is the first dude to stomp it on film. This is getting fucking nuts now.

If you speak Norwegian please feel free to chip in with a translation of what he says in the interview, but we’re guessing it’s something like “Pretty stoked, see you in Sochi bitches.”

Torgeir Bergrem is a boss.

Yes, this just happend. A 13-year-old just landed a backside 1440 triple cork. The world’s gone mad. 

We’re sure you’re familiar with pint-sized Norwegian Markus Kleveland from a couple of mind-blowing edits that dropped over the last couple of years, including this one where he puts down Cab double 12s… at a mere 12-years old. Now he’s gone and turned it up to 11 by stomping a back triple 14 at a kicker session in Vierli, Norway.

“I was inspired when I saw Torstein Horgmo landed the triple cork for the first time three years ago,” says Marcus. “Since then I have wanted to try it, and the first time I dared to try was at the Red Bull Performance Camp in Sun Valley last year. But the jump there was too small, and I landed on ice. Now everything was perfect, though.”

However, it turns out that our Marcus has had a seriously unfair advantage over the rest of us. We discovered he’s actually been snowboarding since he was 3 and we guarantee that if we too had started at such a tender age we’d totally be triple dipping all over the shop too and this wouldn’t be a big deal. Sadly the snowboard had yet to be invented when we were three, and more importantly the internet couldn’t play video when we were 13 either, so we missed the opportunity to snag the fame and glory this young kid from Dombås will surely have coming his way.

Billy Morgan is the most recent addition to the back 14 triple cork club, as he stomps one like it ain’t no thang in Breck. Morgan’s already famously whipped himself through a triple back rodeo (discuss the nomenclature at your leisure), but this one – to us at least – looks way more composed and stylish, not to mention the fact that he makes landing one look no more stressful than slipping into a comfy pair of slippers, donning a smoking jacket and firing up a pipe.

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…

You’ll no doubt have peeped the shots and read our blow-by-blow account of the madness at Saturday night’s O’Neill Evolution Big Air, but as they say: if it ain’t on video it didn’t happen. It is; it did. Watch Maxence Parrot’s winning backside triple cork 1440, Kyle Mack’s frontside triple 14, and the front double 10 of Emil Ulsletten. Oof.

Maxence Parrot on his way to stomping the most perfect backside 144o triple cork ever seen. Photo: Burrows.

Maxence Parrot lands triple cork 1440 to win the 6-Star O’Neill Evolution in Davos.

Max Parrot putting down a back 12 dub in training. Photo: Burrows.

Mind. Blown. Yesterday we mentioned how the absence of a raft of big name kicker specialists could have affected the quality of this contest. Bullshit. The riding was monumental and not only did Parrot put down the most textbook triple cork 1440 we’ve ever seen (even having the nonchalance to afterbang the landing), 15-year-old Kyle Mack manned up after a brutal slam to land a front 14 triple off the toes.

Seb Toutant. Back 10 double. Photo: Burrows

But let’s rewind. Proceedings began with the girls’ Big Air which was taken out by 14-year-old Japanese sensation Miyabi Onitsuka, sending a huge front 3 before polishing off the rails with a lipslide and a front board.

Celia Miller. Photo: Burrows.

Next on the agenda was Gian Simmen’s Legends Session in the pipe – a gathering of Gian’s friends from his long career in pro shredding. With guys like Giom Morrissette, Pascal Imhof, Xaver Hoffmann, Michi Albin and more the session was full of huge straight airs, binding-creaking tweaks and a whole lot of style. For the ageing media scrum at least it was definitely a highlight of the event and served as a nice counterpoint to the stratospheric level of technical kicker riding that was to come as couple of hours later.

Gian Simmen bossing it in his Legends Session. Photo: Burrows.

Jan Scherrer, a Swiss kid who’s grown up being influenced by Gian Simmen, throws down in the Legend Session for the legions of Instagram addicts. Photo: Burrows.

Drew Stevenson pays respect to his good bud Gian. Photo: Burrows.

But as much as respecting the legends of snowboarding past is important, this game’s fundamentally about the kids pushing the limits at the apex of the sport and there’s no doubt that in the Big Air finals the level was pushed way the hell out there…

Emil Ulsletten’s front 10 doubles were rad, but on a night like tonight, not enough. Photo: Burrows

After his well-documented triple cork stomp in training we were expecting to see 18-year-old Maxence Parrot in the final and a flawless back 12 double later he’d netted the points he needed to ratchet up expectations of a triple-trading ender with teammate Seb Toutant. But, oh, drama! Clearly Kalle Järvilehto hadn’t read the script and his saurian-sized back 12 double and front board through the kink saw Toutant and his cab 12 dub heading for a early bath. Kyle Mack had impressed in the earlier rounds and the 15-year-old Yank upped his game to take the third spot in the final with clean back 10 doubles and a front double toedeo edging him past Antonio Trouchon, while Emil Ulsletten rounded out the final spot, dispatching Swissman Markus Mathis with a solid front 10 double after a particularly brutal slam.

Kalle Järvilehto came out of nowhere to blow minds. Photo: Burrows.

So, finals. Would we see a triple? O’Neill’s beamer was asking the same question on the side of the jump and it didn’t take long to answer. On his first run Parrot dropped, popped, dipped three times, spun round four times, and landed, albeit a tad sketchy. Everyone went nuts and some called it curtains for the rest. How could anyone match that? Turns out he could but they couldn’t – on his last run Parrot landed another triple but totally perfect, even managing to give his stomp some afterbang. Insane. It feels lame describing guys who can land perfect doubles as also-rans, but with the triple landed that’s essentially what Kalle and Emil became. Kyle Mack certainly came close, having a pop at the front 14 triple toedeo a la Jørn Simen Aabøe. He gave himself a proper beating but was undeterred, went backup and duly stomped it, causing the crowd to explode again. Maxence looked a little nervy waiting for Mack’s score to drop, but the judges rightly penalised his slightly scuffed landing and the 25k went to the Canadian.

Kalle was consistently making front boards through this kink look like the easiest thing in the world. Photo: Burrows.

All in all, despite many opting for a FISting in Quebec, this edition of the O’Neill Evolution is one that will certainly live long in the memory. If this is becoming the benchmark then the future will be frankly silly. Thanks for the goodtimes, O’Neill.

Damn, some of these cats take their ‘practice’ pretty seriously. In the training last night for the upcoming O’Neill Evolution Big Air, Maxence Parrot stomped the back 14 triple cork. This could get heavy…

We got into Davos last night and ran into the TTR guys who were kinda frothing as they’d just got back from training here at the O’Neill Evolution and Maxence Parrot had just stomped a triple. Here it is. This contest might get silly when it actually starts…

Yuki Kadono whirling his way through the second of three backside corks on the final run of the contest. He won. No shit!

16-year-old Japanese rookie wins the prestigious Air & Style Beijing by blowing minds and stomping a backside 1440 triple cork on the last run of the contest. Watch that madness, and that of the other finalists, Peetu Piiroinen, Ståle Sandbech and Mathias Weissenbacher… We’ll have a fuller report on Monday, but that was just nuts. Plain and simple. [UPDATE - You can now read our breakdown of the haps last Saturday beneath these videos.]

1st PLACE – YUKI KADONO – BACKSIDE TRIPLE CORK 1440

2ND PLACE – PEETU PIIROINEN – CAB 1260

3RD PLACE – STÅLE SANDBECH – BACKSIDE 1440

4TH PLACE – MATHIAS WEISSENBACHER – BACKSIDE CORKED 1080

“Unexpected”. That’s perhaps the word that could best sum up events at the Air&Style Beijing last Saturday. Big names fell by the wayside early on, rookies made it all the way to the Super Finals, landed triple corks were deemed not good enough, and finally, on the last jump of the night, a 16-year-old Japanese kid put it down when it mattered to win the coveted Ring of Glory. Another word that could work equally well is ‘Insane’.

The early rounds saw a couple of dudes you’d expect at the business end of things sent for an early bath. Last year’s winner, Ulrik Badertscher, was dispatched in the first round by  Torgeir Bergrem, Seb Toutant was knocked out in Round 2 by Roope Tonteri, as was Seppe Smits (falling on Mathias Weissenbacher‘s sword). In our Air & Style Beijing predictions post prior to the event, we’d staked our dubious reputations on Mark McMorris to walk away with the win, and to do so with a backside triple cork 1440. Well, in an effort to make us appear smarter than we are, we were right in a way – McMorris did put down the bs 1440 triple, and a bs 1440 triple did win the contest, but sadly for Mark – and our reputation – when he put down the triple dipper in Round 3 (the first ever triple cork at an Air & Style, nonetheless) against Mathias Weissenbacher his landing was a little off, his hand drag significant and the judges gave it a harsh, but in our opinion fair, score that wasn’t enough to see him progress to the Super Finals.

The Super Final itself was a mix of newcomers and established names. As everyone should know by now, ‘Never Bet Against Peetu Piiroinen‘ is a good thing to bear in mind at major events, and Piiroinen’s huge pop, clean style and solid stomps saw off an on fire Sage Kotsenburg (whose double cork backside 10 Japans were epic, it must be noted) to see him face off against last year’s World Snowboard Tour winner Ståle Sandbech and his backside 1440, and the relative unknowns of Mathias Weissenbacher and Yuki Kadono. Ståle took the early lead, putting down another 1440 with consummate ease and for a while it looked like that would be enough – the others fell or looked like they were out of ideas to answer his score of 92 points.

But cometh the last run, cometh the man, as they say. All of a sudden Peetu fired off a textbook Cab 12 which, despite us having seen countless times before is really pretty hard to fault, and 93.33 points was his reward. It looked like he was a shoe-in for another Air & Style trophy for his bulging cabinet. Anyone who claims that they knew what would happen next is either lying or should have our jobs. Up until this point Yuki Kadono had been riding strong and putting down back double 10s and switch back double 12s, but we were of the opinion that the pressure would get to him and that it would be near impossible for him to pip Peetu’s perfection. Clearly, he had other ideas. The last jump of the whole contest, Yuki whirled through a backside triple 14, stomped it clean enough and immediately his hands reached for the sky.

After a short wait the judges confirmed it. 16-year-old Yuki had won the whole shebang with a score of 97.67 and you could tell he couldn’t quite believe what he’d done. Pulling something like that out the bag at the critical moment is a rare thing at this level, but he managed it and deservedly took the champagne shower, the cash, the ring and all the adulation that goes with it.

With the Air & Style celebrating its 20-year anniversary when it drops in on Innsbruck in January, this was the perfect pre-party party with a defining moment that rivals any in its previous 19 outings.

Watch how many tries it took Mark McMorris to put down the back triple 14 in Burton’s new team movie. Here’s a hint: a lot.

In a moment of stunning insight, Burton have release this clip to prove once and for all that triple corks are still tough. Mark McMorris is the man to demonstrate this, and sets about falling over a bunch before finally getting his landing gear to work. You can also see the stomper in the new Burton movie, which is pretty sick. Watch it.