russia, here we come!

(kirovsk backcountry, here i come. back in black (and pink... hehehe)

after some office work during the last couple of weeks and bringing the summer issue on the way, its time for another trip again. destination is kirovsk, a small, industrial town well above the arctic circle surrounded by an endless mountain range. perfect for both: backcountry shooting and urban stuff. snow should be still super sick, as the temperature did not rise above -5°C yet and there was one storm after the other coming in throughout the winter.

the crew will be christophe schmidt, dave bertschinger, fipse strauss and colin frei, anne schmidt from planet sports, alex schiller filming for isenseven and öfi and i as pleasure media bitches.

having some backcountry shooting before us, i tried to get some shit done that i already wanted to have for the canada trip: a detachable noboard pad, just fixed by the screws of the EST system... tried around a bit and it now seems to work pretty good: a 2 pieced pad on alloy plates that can be mounted on any board with a channel system.

(yes! the first ever detachable NB pad... it just mounts on a normal board with channel system)

the backpack mount for the gopro cam got some redesign and the curved part (that is used for reverse angle) got a straight brother (sic!) so we can get some nice sled-cams.

can't wait for the trip to begin... i'm super hyped!

stay tuned!

niiice and cold!

just checked sani's blog, he is on the way to kamchatka, which ist the most remote eastern part of russia. a peninsula, the size of germany which is even more east than japan. hella travel to get there, as it is a decent 11 hours flight from moscow.

reason why i'm posting is that they seem to have an exceptional cold period right now. and cold there means F***** COLD... check sani's blog or check out the temperature forcast for today and tonight... including the wind chill, its a solid -80°C... i can see penguins and ice bears moving south:

everybody send some warmth to the crew... good luck & bring some icicles!

how to make 85 grand prizemoney on one day...

(not from this world: peetu, taking an easy run)

well, just win the arctic challenge AND the TTR world tour. just be an alien, name yourself peetu and thats how easy it is... :D hands down: it IS peetu's season finally. he always had been the man for 2nd place in the recent years, so it was about time for him to step out of his own shadow and kill it. 

(ståle was a bit unlucky this time... great riding nevertheless!)

the finals at TAC was amazing (though almost impossible to shoot), just look at the TV coverage. the third round of the finals was one of the best i've seen: first torstein topping mikkels already high score and then peetu cracking the 90 points with his run... ending his run with a massive crail... sooo cool!

(mikkel on one of his switch backside twelves)

peetu can now go the the US open with his TTR overall win already in his pocket and ride without any pressure. well done, bro!

(no party without l'arrogs & arthur, the mustache boys)

oslo was super cool again for parties, sushi dinners (we had 4!) and though i'm a bit disappointed i have to say it is still one of the best places to go for a contest and i am really looking forward for the 2012 world championships with pipe and slopestyle will be happening here...

(öfi and i, having a good time... red wine in plastic cups rocks!)

see you soon, oslo... thanks henning and crew and of course matty swanson!!!

back to the arctic (challenge)

(big oncreeen ad at the oslo airport)

its once again time to go to the best city in the world to attend TOAC 2010... öfi and i flew in early yesterday to be there in time for the qualifications... nothing spectacular going on yet. the course is looking quite well, one of the kickers didn't have enough speed, so the riders had to skip it. slope should be good after some changes though.

(wyllerløypa slopestyle course)

(finnish possee)

(first beer on the bus back from wyllerløypa - first good music of the day b.t.w.)

we took it easy and just had a nice sushi dinner with hasi, hitsch and grilo and crashed the hotel bar afterwards. charging the batteries for the first 'real day' today with the semifinals and the big party going on tonight. weather could not be any better, bluebird, just a bit cold (minus 17 this morning at the slope)...

(hitsch and grilo)

we got word that arlberg was getting a really good dump the last 24 hours... bummer :)

i know, what we gonna do next season!

(pleasure crew, going out in fancytown)

just went to kitzbühel for our big annual editorial meeting. never done the meeting outside the walls of our office, so we thought, it was a good idea to do this in a more relaxed atmosphere. also, we wanted to check out the brand new DC park, so it was kind of logic to combine this and go to kitzbühel for a couple of days.

(xaver visited us for some shredding in the DC/planet sports park)

though we felt a bit misplaced in the city with all the fancy pantsy shops and more fur running around than out in the wilderness, kitzbühel was great and the park really rocks... prefect beginner and intermediate lines and a sick hip and pro jump.

(heads smoking...)

thanks karin for the hookup!