AROUND THE WORLD:
FREESKIING FROM NORWAY TO JAPAN and EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN
NIMBUS & LEVEL 1 GET
MEGA DEEP
2 MEGA CREWS IN MEGA JAPAN
2013 COMPETITION PREVIEW WHO WILL WIN, WHAT THEY’LL THROW and HOW YOU CAN GET IN THE GAME
KYE PETERSEN LIVES UP IN THE AIR
DISPLAY UNTIL: DECEMBER 11, 2012
NEVER MISS A MOMENT
ZEAL OPTICS RIDER: WHIT BOUCHER
INTRODUCING
i ON
8 MP PHOTOS
1080 P HD VIDEO
WHATEVER YOUR JOURNEY, iON WILL HELP YOU NEVER MISS A MOMENT.
BEYOND REASON
©2012 Oakley, Inc. | 800.320.9430 | OAKLEY.COM/SNOW
SUMMON YOUR MOMENTS OF CLARITY
IT TAKES VISION AND IT TAKES THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT TO STAND ATOP THE WORLD AND REVEL IN THE FACT THAT YOU’LL SOON BE LOOKING UP AT WHAT USED TO BE UNTOUCHED TERRAIN.
SIGNATURE SERIES AIRBRAKE GOGGLE ™
SETH MORRISON
EPICS P. 024 Blue sky. Red sky. White out. Black out. It’s a new rainbow of photos for December.
BARRIERS P. 082
COMPETITION PREVIEW P. 063 We break down who the big winners are going to be, what they will throw, where the showdowns will take place, and how you can get in on the action.
Tom Wallisch, Alex Bellemare and Mike Hornbeck join photographer Chris O’Connell to film for Level 1’s Sunny and get down in the mean streets of Sapporo, Japan.
CON TENTS SPIN 040
P.
ABOUT THE COVER P. 044 PROFILE KARL FOSTVEDT P. 046 PROFILE LEO AHRENS P. 048
UP IN THE AIR P. 104
HOW TO BUY HELMETS P. 050 COMPANY CALLOUT VOLEURZ P. 052
The story of Kye Petersen, his rapid ascent to the upper echelons of freeskiing, and where he goes from there.
DESTINATION REVELSTOKE P. 054 GEAR GIRL P. 060
Our second Mega Crew in Japan—Eric Pollard, Chris Benchetler, Andy Mahre and Pep Fujas—ski through another wild storm cycle on the island of Hokkaido.
LYNGEN NORWAY 112
P.
Eric Hjorleifson, Aksel Lund Svindal and Eirik Finseth earn their turns in beautiful northern Norway.
WIRE P. 122
FINAL THOUGHT P. 130
[ CONTENTS |
| FREESKIER ]
SKIER: DAVID ORTLIEB PHOTO: RUEDI FLÜCK LOCATION: KLOSTERS, SWITZERLAND
JIBARDY 126
P.
PG. 006
SNOW TRADITIONAL P. 094
We are about to change the way you see in color.
anonoptics.com
Go to KeystoneA51.com for feature updates and videos throughout the season.
the
World s’ most
SECRET G R O U N D. Big, small, fast, super fast... hot laps for days, and as a bonus watch the top pros ride the newest features by riding the lift or riding the lines right next to Main Street (Keystone’s Big line).
GUS IN HIS ELEMENT ON ATOMIC PUNX SKIS WITH FFG 16 BINDINGS AND IN ATOMIC OVERLOAD 100 BOOTS. GET ALL YOUR SEASON’S UPDATES AT FACEBOOK.COM/ATOMICSKIING
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THE NORTH FACE ATHLETE, TOM WALLISCH WEARING THE GONZO JACKET + SKULL HORN BIB. ATHLETE TESTED FROM INCEPTION TO SHRED.
In the subzero temperature of Alaska, The North Face athlete Tom Wallisch is towed up a staircase and over a railing at 45mph. This is Tom pushing the progression of the sport. The North Face collaborates with the world’s most progressive skiers to create, test and refine the gear that protects them in brutal weather and harsh terrain.
SEE THE KIT TOM HELPED BUILD @ THENORTHFACE.COM/WALLISCH
ERIK SEO PHOTO WASILLA, ALASKA
JOHN SPRIGGS PHOTO: PATRICK ORTON LOCATION: REVELSTOKE BACKCOUNTRY, BC
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CAM RILEY PHOTO: ERIK SEO_PBP LOCATION: SPOKANE, WA
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PARKER WHITE PHOTO: BRYN HUGHES_LEVEL 1 LOCATION: KOOTENAY MOUNTAINS, BC
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PHOTOGRAPHER CHASE JARVIS TAKES YOU BEHIND THE SCENES OF THIS YEAR’S ‘BEFORE ASPEN/ SNOWMASS’ CAMPAIGN WATCH NOW
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MARK ABMA PHOTO: ADAM CLARK LOCATION: SMILEY CREEK, ID
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Völkl Team, L-R: Tyler Peterson, Nick Goepper, Dan Marion, Matt Philippi, Dylan Hood, Ahmet Dadali, Ian McIntosh, Jenn Berg, Jessica Sobolowski-Quinn, Dash Longe.
Eric Schramm
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JOSSI WELLS PHOTO: NATE ABBOTT LOCATION: ANCHORAGE, AK
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TODD LIGARE PHOTO: MARK FISHER_TGR LOCATION: VALDEZ, AK
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< A K B L E H @ : G > @ + W W W . E L E C T R I C V I S U A L . C O M CALIFORNIA
DESIGN. INTERNATIONALLY
TESTED
EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR
Matt Harvey Shay Williams Nate Abbott
ART DIRECTOR
Chris Hotz
ONLINE EDITOR
Henrik Lampert
ASSOCIATE GEAR EDITOR EDITOR-AT-LARGE SENIOR WRITER COPY EDITOR SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Damian Quigley Christopher Jerard Tess Weaver Alison Larson Bryn Hughes, Chris O’Connell Alessandro Belluscio, Peter Crook,
Sarah Ely, Ruedi Flück, Mattias Fredriksson, Grant Gunderson, Blake Jorgenson, Ben Meester, Patrick Orton, Joesph Purdam, Bryan Ralph, Austin Ramaley CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mattias Fredriksson, Eric Hjorleifson, Megan Michelson, Katsu Tanaka FOUNDER & CEO ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER SR. ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE FINANCE DIRECTOR ADMINISTRATION & AR SPECIALIST PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Bradford Fayfield Greg Wright Jason Smith, Nicole Birkhold Zach Berman Andrew Fuhrer Erin Gunther Mattie Girard
THIS ISSUE WAS MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE HELP OF Oskar Blues brewery. Union Suits. Darryl. Wolf & Bear’s. The AFP. Gaslamp. CBS fantasy football news. Sideboobs. We-Are-Transport. The Meeting 8. Starbucks venti. Crailtap.com. Bat Bugs. Pearl Izumi. The Denver Mattress Company. Victor Cruz. The Newsroom. Kevin Hart. Ski Utah. Miles, Nate, Kayim & Cooper. Jeremy Forster. The Arcade Fire. Warren Zevon. Odwalla. VLC. Santi Cazorla. Pushpins. Niwot High marching band. Aaron Sorkin. JR. Howler Magazine. The first snow of the year. SUBSCRIPTION REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS: Please send all questions, requests and concerns to Freeskier Magazine at PO Box 469024, Escondido, CA 92046, call tollfree 1-866-916-6889 or visit www.freeskier.com/subscribe CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Address changes should be sent along with a copy of your mailing label to PO Box 469024, Escondido, CA 92046, or call toll-free 1-866-916-6889 or visit www.freeskier.com/subscribe with your mailing label available. EDITORIAL: Please contact: editor@freeskier.com ADVERTISING: For advertising information, please contact Greg Wright, Storm Mountain Publishing Company, PO Box 789, Niwot, CO 80544-0789. TO CARRY IN YOUR STORE: Please call (303) 834-9775 and ask for the Circulation Department. Copyright ©2012 Freeskier magazine (ISSN 1522-1527). Freeskier is published by Storm Mountain Publishing Company. All rights reserved. The content of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express consent of the publisher. Printed in the USA. Freeskier is a trademark of Storm Mountain Publishing Company. Freeskier is published six times a year: Buyer’s Guide, October, November, December, January and February by Storm Mountain Publishing Company, PO Box 789, Niwot, CO 80544-0789. Subscription rates are $9.95 for one year (6 issues). In Canada, $29.95 (includes 7% GST); other foreign $39.95 payable in U.S. funds. Periodicals postage paid at Niwot, CO and additional mailing offices (USPS# 024094). FREESKIER MAGAZINE Storm Mountain Publishing Company *"Ê ÝÊÇn ÊUÊ£ÎÇÊÓ `Ê Ûi ÕiÊ Ü Ì]Ê "Ênäx{{ * \ÊÎäήÊnÎ{ ÇÇxÊUÊ >Ý\ÊÎäήÊnÎ{ n{È freeskier.com
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks / you better run, better run, outrun my gun. All the other kids with the pumped up kicks / you better run, better run, faster than my bullet. A piece of junk karaoke machine balances on the bar, which would normally be wide enough to hold it safely. But the crowd in this dark faux-English pub is pulling it, banging into it and nearly sending it to the floor every few seconds. The loudest of the crowd is fired up, his exuberance has him about 15 seconds ahead of the words halfway into the first chorus. The second verse begins, and he loses the plot, fading into a high volume mumble for a bit before he’s back onto the chorus for his fourth time while the speakers spit it out for their third. A fine sprinkle of spittle is on the bar. The karaoke star and his friends, decked out in Andermatt branded t-shirts and hats— which declare them not to be locals but seasonal workers—dance behind the bar while the bartender twirls her hair off to the side and
PG. 040
looks on without showing the slightest sign of amusement. Foster the People gives way to some ‘80s metal band. It sounds like Slayer, but the karaoke machine is now turned up beyond the point where words or band are distinguishable.
the tan only broken by a week’s worth of grey, bristly stubble.
I’m in the corner hidden beneath a black hood, sipping a monstrous beer waiting for some people I’ve never met. They work for Head skis and they’ve been doing a ski test for the last few days, which means their day ended with serious après and I have no idea if they’ll even make it. They’re an hour late, which gives me time to examine the clientele of the dark and cramped pub, which is just like the ones you can find in nearly every town around the world, from Breckenridge, to Niseko, to Andermatt to, well, London.
To my right are some silent, stout and judgy Germanic youth. They sip tall beers and have an opposite smoking style, their cigarettes held out to show leather bracelets and big gold watches. Through the smoke I see a couple of guys whose clean-cut style and black top-frame glasses suggest spotless Audis shuttled them in from Munich to a soundtrack of Mozart. On Monday, their sedans will be parked in front of a mirrorwindowed office building in a sea of such buildings, while the drivers spend their week in their cubicles—mere whitecaps in the sea of buildings—dreaming of carving the perfect turn when they return to the pistes of Switzerland a couple weeks later.
The atmosphere of the bar comes from all sides. To my left, the bar holds up a tipping grey-haired man, with a crooked hangdog cig in his mouth that never touches his hand between light and filter. His weathered face shows no signs of ever wearing proper mountain eyewear,
With a hat of technical fabric and a geometric design perched high on his head, a middle-aged American skier with scruffy enough hair to cover his ears chats nonstop to two female companions. It all tells me he works in marketing at a software company that got [ SPIN |
| FREESKIER ]
their big break in the late ‘90s, but still looks longingly at Silicon Valley from an office park just outside of Boston. He hears Mumford and Sons break through the metal and pop tunes and exclaims, “Now this is a good song.” The ladies have the pasty, sunscreen-protected faces and, um, powerful upper legs of women who, as teenage racers, out-skied 99 percent of the guys at Stratton. I listen in as he shares stories of weeks at CMH Heli-Skiing and the reasons that the greatest skiers all learned their technique on the icy—I mean challenging— test pieces north of Boston, where great skiers are not born but taught in ski-school lessons. At another table are the Italians with immense eyebrows. We’re not more than a few miles from the border, so it’s no surprise to see three pairs of matching designer jeans, hand distressed just enough to make them slightly unique. One wears a pink striped sweater, the other two shirts buttoned to their navels. In another corner is a table of Swedish mountaineers, sticky with sweat and all rocking thin quilted, insulating jackets and passing cans of snus.
Everyone is now dancing behind the bar, pouring drinks straight from the bottles. It’s mayhem when my new friends show up and take me to a cavelike bar below the pub, where we are given luminescent drinks and highlighters to draw on faces. There are more languages than I can keep track of and none, even the English, that I can clearly hear over the pumping dance beats. Yet names and home ski areas are somehow exchanged. In the morning, I can’t remember any of the names. But we stuff ourselves into the tram, and I see a few faces I recall, not for the stereotypes or the phrases scrawled on them in highlighter. We’re the same now, by the light of day. At the top of the mountain, I take a few deep breaths and stare out over the Alps before dropping in. Nate Abbott Senior Editor
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ABOUT THE COVER
PEP FUJAS
LOCATION:
HAINES, AK COVER PHOTO:
BRYAN RALPH_PBP
ABBOTT
The right place at the right time. Not something that seems to work out for me all that often. But a trip to Silverton, CO seemed to have left me with a horseshoe up my ass. With the help of Fergie Cancade and Tyler Hamlet, I was lucky enough to leave Silverton with a ticket booked on Alaska Airlines. Destination: Haines, AK, a place I only thought I would see in my dreams. Alaska was in the midst of record snowfall and Pep Fujas, Riley Leboe, Sean Pettit and Dane Tudor were there to indulge. There had been talk of skiing “Dirty Needle,” and toward the end of the trip we decided to put the hammer down. First up, Pep Fujas. The result: beautiful. I can only hope that this photo tells that story. —Bryan Ralph
CONTRIBUTORS
ERIC HJORLEIFSON MEGAN MICHELSON GRIFFIN POST
ERIK SEO
PROFESSIONAL SKIER
PHOTOGRAPHER
When Eric Hjorleifson isn’t busy filming banger movie segments, he’s in the shop designing and building new skis with 4FRNT, or dismantling and reassembling boots with Dynafit, with the skills he’s honed from years as a stonemason. Being a stonemason involves “a lot of creative thinking and three dimensional problem solving and fitting things together,” he says. “Developing those skills helped with product development, boots especially.” Last spring, the Banff, AB native Hoji, his new gear and a crew from Field Productions ventured to northern Norway for what was to be a 10-day boat, touring and heli trip. But after scoping a glacier zone in their departure city, they never left the dock. Hoji fills us in on the trip on page 112.
PG. 044
WRITER
“I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid,” says Megan Michelson. “In college, I got a degree in English. I grew up skiing, too, so it only made sense that one day I’d combine those two interests.” This month, we tapped Megan to write a feature on precocious backcountry skier Kye Petersen, found on page 104. “I definitely learned a lot about what makes Kye tick,” Megan explains. “He’s so accomplished and has been so successful in skiing from such a young age, I expected him to be a little overly-confident. But he wasn’t at all. He knows his place in the mountains and he knows he has a lot to learn. I appreciated and respected that about him.” Megan is the current freeskiing editor for espn.com and makes her home in Tahoe City, CA.
[ ABOUT THE COVER/CONTRIBUTORS |
PROFESSIONAL SKIER
“As an athlete, contributing gives your voice an outlet,” says TGR film star and freeskier.com contributor Griffin Post. “With film segments and magazine articles, you don’t always have the final say, but with writing you have total control over how you come off.” Born in Australia, raised in Ketchum, ID and now a Jackson, WY resident, Griffin has traveled the globe as a big-mountain skier, coming up through the big mountain competition scene, which gave him the idea for his first piece, In Search of Street Cred. “I have a lot of personal experiences and mistakes to draw from, and with the lack of coaches and information out there, the story just seemed like something that would resonate well with aspiring athletes.” | FREESKIER ]
“The skiers I work with are the ones keeping my work fresh,” says veteran photographer Erik Seo. “I’m just playing with my lighting, or situation, trying to keep things as clean and polished as possible.” This month, the Salt Lake Citybased photographer worked with a PBP crew in Spokane, WA that included Cam Riley, as seen on page 26. Seo, who has been a pro shooter for over a decade, says this of Riley and his urban cohorts: “They are creative, motivated and truly a cohesive crew. They aren’t selfish, they are looking at the bigger picture instead of just one three-second shot. There’s of course the fact that they aren’t afraid to step to bigger features that were previously thought un-survivable.”
THE ONSET GOGGLE MIKE RIDDLE
SEE MORE: Crisp, clear Optics by Carl Zeiss Vision, a massive spherical lens, and the widest peripheral vision of any goggle today thanks to our new EXV™ technology—on-slope sight doesn’t get any better than this. The Onset™ is fully helmet compatible, with luscious triple-layer face foam for extraordinary comfort and fit. Learn more at giro.com/onset.
PHOTOS: NATE ABBOTT_PBP LOCATION: BOULDER, CO
and as skiers, we obviously have huge environmental footprints. It would be cool to learn some ways to reduce those footprints in the near future while still being able to get up and shred the mountains and get pow turns and live the livelihood of a freeskier. WHAT IS THE LIFE OF A FREESKIER? YOU’VE BEEN UNDER THE RADAR, THEN JUMPED ON THE SCENE THIS YEAR.
Things have changed a lot in the last year, just seeing the way the industry works and the different ways to go out there and follow your mission, whether it’s in the backcountry or the streets or the park or competitions. There’s a lot of support out there and a lot of room to push the boundaries. I think people are so interested in freeskiing right now. It’s just a cool community and now to have some support and work with some really good filmers—it’s cool to work with them and see what they can do to make you look good on the big screen.
COME ON, YOU MAKE YOURSELF LOOK
It definitely takes a crew to make it happen. There’s so many aspects that are an art form for everyone, and you have to get all those art forms collaborating to really create that masterpiece. Everyone has a slightly different vision for it, and in the end it’s cool to see the collaborative effect of how everyone’s input affects it.
GOOD, DON’T YOU?
H O W D I D Y O U S TA R T W O R K I N G W I T H
POOR BOYZ THIS YEAR? Pete Alport just had seen an online edit of me from Park City that I’d filmed with Evan Heath and gave me the invite to come out on an urban trip to Denver after that storm we got in February. I hopped on that opportunity, blew off school for the week, and Pete picked me up in Salt Lake, and we mobbed out to Denver to meet up with Leigh Powis, Seany J, and Matt Walker. It was definitely one of the coolest urban weeks I’ve ever had, being with such a focused crew and having all the tools to make it happen. Between the good filmers and photographers, good light setups, and the Heine winch and bungees, it was an alltime urban trip for me. TELL ME ABOUT THE REDIRECT. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT FOR YOU? IT’S AMAZING TO GET THE COVER OF THE MOVIE AS A ROOKIE.
in with our Poor Boyz crew of the week like a vet. Instead of being a one-trip wonder last year, Karl ended up bouncing around the Western states for the rest of the season, putting together a full segment for WE and, for that segment, eventually winning Rookie of the Year at the iF3 film festival this fall. INTERVIEW: NATE ABBOTT
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FOSTVEDT AGE: 22 HOMETOWN: KETCHUM, ID SPONSORS: ON3P, LETHAL DESCENT,
ANON, BLACKSTRAP ON FILM: WE: A COLLECTION OF INDIVIDUALS_PBP, SET YOUR SIGHTS AND ACT NATURAL_TSP
PG. 046
I was able to get in-state tuition, coming from Idaho, and the proximity to the mountains and the sick ski scene made it seem like a good move. I’m on the six-year program, slowly hacking away. I’m a junior now and should be done by next fall. I’m studying environmental and sustainability studies.
WHY DID YOU MOVE TO SALT LAKE?
Crazy Karl is an apt moniker based on the skiing I witnessed the first time I met him. Karl put on a three-day clinic of gaps, rails and trannies in Denver. Which isn’t to say Karl Fostvedt is actually crazy. He also showed he is a hard worker, willing feature guinea pig and a generally mellow, funny character to have around, such that he immediately fit [ PROFILES |
IS THAT SOMETHING YOU’RE INTO BECAUSE
OF SKIING OR IS IT JUST A MAJOR? It was a good major being a skier. It was a pretty open curriculum so it enabled me to take the spring semester off. Other than that, it is going to be a big field in the coming years,
| FREESKIER ]
Yeah, that was so fun, and honestly, I just can’t believe I was able to get the cover of the movie. Seeing all the prints and seeing it in the magazines is totally surreal ‘cause just last year, it kinda seemed like a farfetched dream to even be filming with Poor Boyz. The redirect was just an awesome feature. Blake King, the same cat driver that made the loop back in Propaganda was ecstatic about the whole idea. We’d hit a few trannies in Denver and really liked the redirect thing, so we said, Why don’t we just make it massive and totally out of snow? We made a 30-foot gap from the lip to the wall. And when it was time to give her, I said, “Maybe this is my chance to get killed by a Pete Alport feature.” But we were working with Blake, and I had some input and it went really well. Tanner [Hall] happened to be up in Hood, just filming some stuff for Inspired, and he could see the feature from Timberline. He was just stoked to see that going on and wanted to come check it out. It was a really cool thing to have him there. To have him stoked watching me ski was just insane because that’s always been a one-way street of me being stoked watching him ski. To see that turn around was a pretty monumental point for me. Riding with someone you’ve looked up to your whole life is insane.
MIKE RIDDLE THE ONSET GOGGLE
Sun up to sun down, the kickers are calling. Mike Riddle, testing the new Onset™ goggle’s Optics by Carl Zeiss Vision as the shadows lengthen. Boreal, California. Find out more at giro.com/onset.
PHOTOS: GRANT GUNDERSON LOCATION: MT. BAKER BACKCOUNTRY, WA
[James Heim] and that was awesome. Growing up, Abma was my idol, so to finally get to film with him was just ridiculous. I grew up at Alta without a terrain park, so whenever I watched Abma ski, he was jumping like he was in a park but in natural terrain, I could relate to his skiing.
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INTERVIEW: TESS WEAVER
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AHRENS AGE: 19 HOMETOWN: ALTA, UT SPONSORS: SALOMON, SMITH, BACKCOUNTRY.COM, LEVITATION PROJECT, JOYSTICK ON FILM: SUPERHEROES OF STOKE_MSP SALOMON FREESKI TV_SWITCHBACK
HOW WAS SOUTH AMERICA? Amazing. I was in the Santiago region of Chile. The snow kinda sucked, but it was still a lot of fun. The first couple weeks, I was with the Salomon Freeski TV crew. After they went home, I spent another month and a half hanging down there. I met some friends skiing, and they let me live in their house in Santiago. I usually travel with US friends, so being on my own, I was able to meet all these local kids. It gave me a new experience. A couple of the kids were some of the best skiers in Chile.
Leo Ahrens and his Little Cottonwood posse are some of the best skiers in Utah. He’s put his time in—he lived with his parents at the base of Alta for the first three months of his life and was in ski school at age 2. At age 19, he’s got the travel bug. He bought a truck last year and in the first three months, put 10,000 miles on it. One of the places he traveled to was Chatter Creek, BC, where Ahrens filmed a segment you can see in MSP’s latest release, Superheroes of Stoke. HOW WAS FILMING WITH MSP LAST SEASON? I went to Chatter Creek for two weeks and brought my sled. It was easily the deepest snow I’ve skied in a couple years. It was consistently dumping for two weeks. It was mindboggling. I was with Mark Abma and Heimer PG. 048
WHAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP AT ALTA? I was really lucky to have parents who worked up there. The mountain was my babysitter. I got to ski every day, whether it was after school or weekends. [ PROFILES |
ANY FILMING PLANS THIS SEASON? Hopefully, I’ll get the phone call, but my main goal is to ski with Dubsatch.
years ago. On the Headwall, I did a double backflip and landed somehow. I realized I could maybe compete with the adults.
EXPLAIN DUBSATCH COLLECTIVE. Growing up, I was always skiing with a core group of friends. We all skied in LCC [Little Cottonwood Canyon], and that defined us as big-mountain skiers. We made a group and turned it into a film production company. It’s fun to put our effort into that and promote our skiing together. Everyone has different personalities, but we have a common love of skiing. Sam [Cohen] is addicted to rock climbing. Carston [Oliver] loves mountain biking. I love traveling and surfing. We’re in different lifestyles, but we all love the same thing.
UTAH FOR LIFE? I don’t know. I could see myself living in Utah when I’m here, in Chile when I’m there. I tend to fall in love with where I am.
We pretty much ski together every week— every day when we’re all home. The majority of our skiing is at home in Utah, but the core group does travel together. We went to Alaska last season. We like running our own production. We have control over the creativity behind the project. It’s cool to be able to have a lot of input in what you’re doing. YOU JUST GOT A SLED? Last year was my first year with a sled. At first, I sucked. One of my first trips with it was to Canada with guys who had been sledding forever. I was so bad. I got stuck every two seconds. I’m getting a lot better. It opens a whole new world of terrain. But I’m also super into touring. We can’t sled in LCC. Some of our favorite lines are Gargoyles and lines in Wolverine Cirque. It fully got us into the swing of hiking. WAS THERE A LINE THAT TOOK YOU FROM KID TO PRO SKIER? One of the first times I realized I could have a future was in Crested Butte at the freeride contest three | FREESKIER ]
ARE YOU COMPETING THIS YEAR? I have no idea. When I’m in town and there’s a contest I’ll do it, but I’m not going to go out of my way. HOW DID YOU GET INTO BOULDERING? Everyone in our crew loves it. We can all get together, throw a pad on the ground and hang out. It started a few years ago when Andrew Pollard was on the Momentum climbing team. He got a pad, and we all went bouldering and fell in love with it. It’s just like skiing—we go on adventures all the time, climb new rocks, scope lines. YOU SEEM TO REALLY LIKE TRAVELING. Growing up, I was on the Snowbird Freeride team. We started traveling for contests when I was 15. We’d go to Washington, Idaho and all over. I realized there were other awesome places beyond Utah. Three main trips defined my season last year—Canada, Alaska and Chile. Road tripping through Canada with a sled was all-time. And AK was a life changer. I’m going every year from now on. I practiced my Spanish while I was in Chile. I’ll definitely be back next summer. Some of my friends there are just as good as my friends here. For having one of the worst seasons at home, I had one of my best. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO TRAVEL? I have yet to travel to Europe. I’d like to ski in Switzerland, France and Italy. I’d like to go to Japan.
WORDS: DAMIAN QUIGLEY
TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN. WHAT USED TO BE A BULKY AND UGLY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT HAS BECOME A STREAMLINED PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY THAT COULD ONE DAY SAVE YOUR LIFE. HERE ARE SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE YOU SHOP FOR A NEW LID.
SHELLS AND LINERS Expanded polystyrene, or EPS, is the rigid foam that is used to create the inner lining of most helmets. The liner’s job is to absorb the impact to the head by temporarily deforming or breaking apart upon impact. The frosting on this EPS cake is a protective shell, usually manufactured in one of two ways. In-mold construction is the process by which a polycarbonate outer shell is bonded to the EPS as the foam liner is formed and results in a lightweight, single-piece design. This thinner outer shell is around one millimeter thick and will deform with slightly less force than a hard-shell helmet. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it allows the foam liner to do a better job of absorbing impacts with less force involved. Lyndsey Johnson, helmet product manager at Smith, says, “This construction tends to be lighter weight but slightly less durable to dings and dents from normal wear and tear.” Hard-shell helmets, also known as injection-molded, are constructed primarily from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic. This outer shell is about 2-3 millimeters thick and gets bonded to the EPS liner for a two-piece construction. Oscar Huss, head of product development at POC, points out, “Advantages of the hard-shell helmet are good resistance to penetration and durability as well as the possibility to make full-face helmets.” One downfall of the hard-shell design is that impacts of lesser force will not deform the thick, rigid shell as easily and will therefore cause a more abrupt stop to the head. Depending on the force of the impact, this abrupt stop could cause a minor concussion but the extra protection against major head trauma makes hard shell helmets an attractive choice. PG. 050
CERTIFICATIONS Between the US and Europe, there are two main safety certifications. The US certification (ASTM F 2040) is adhered to on a voluntary basis, while the European market requires that all helmets be certified (CE EN 1077). Both involve testing helmets in vertical drops but from different heights and at different speeds. While it’s generally accepted that the European certification is more rudimentary and easier to pass, it’s not exactly an apples to apples comparison as the European certification also tests the effects of sharp objects on the helmet. This is meant to simulate things such as ski poles and tree branches piercing the outer shell. Be sure to look for one, if not both, certifications when considering a helmet.
NEW TECHNOLOGY It is important to note that both of the previous tests rate helmets based on a vertical impact. While this provides some indication of helmet durability, most impacts to the head come at an angle, putting rotational force on the brain with a potential to cause serious damage. A layer of fluid between the brain and skull provides cushioning and energy absorption to combat this. MIPS AB, a Swedish company founded in 2001, has developed a helmet design based on the human body’s protective capability. According to CEO Niklas Steenberg, “MIPS imitates the brain’s way of protecting itself by giving the helmet its own low-friction layer between the outer shell and the liner to absorb much of the energy created by an oblique blow to [ HOW TO |
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the head.” This simple yet effective design is a great step forward and has been adopted by a number of major helmet companies such as POC and Scott. Look for the MIPS logo.
REPLACEMENT As with most things, helmets aren’t forever. If you’ve owned a helmet for a number of years and have been lucky enough to not hit your head, you should still consider a replacement. “Similar to a piece of bread left on the counter, the protective materials of a helmet age over time and become more brittle,” says Johnson. “We recommend that users replace their helmet after three years to ensure you are utilizing the best protective qualities.” Most of the lids on the market today are single-impact models and should be replaced after one considerable blow to the head. POC, however, is one company that produces a large portion of multi-impact models. Huss points out that “both kinds work according to the same principle, to compress an expanded foam liner. But the difference is the multi-impact liner’s ability to recover and maintain almost identical performance over multiple hits.” Multi-impact models are nice in that you don’t have to replace them as often, but there is no standard by which to test them, and it can be hard to know exactly when their time is up. Hopefully, you aren’t hitting your head that often. If you are, maybe it’s time to make some adjustments to your skiing.
VENTILATION AND INTEGRATION
THE RIGHT FIT
Ventilation comes in many forms and its importance varies depending on your type of skiing. It’s nice to have adjustable vents to open or close when the temperature rises or falls, but beyond that, you should think about your activity levels. If you’re hiking around in the backcountry, regulating your temperature is essential and so you’ll want to opt for adjustability. If you’re more of an inbounds lift rat, minimal venting might do the trick for you.
Sizing up a new helmet is simple but important. “The ultimate fit is one that needs only a thin liner and a small amount of adjustment to the fit system to be comfortable and stable,“ says Ephraim Learned of Pret helmets. “In other words, the helmet’s shape needs to mimic your head’s shape.” Throw it on, buckle it up and use the palm of your hand to roll the top around. It shouldn’t shift around at all and should sufficiently cover your temples and the side of your head. If you’re a beanie rocker, make sure you try the helmet on with your favorite one. If the helmet doesn’t sit correctly on your head, then it won’t be very useful, so be sure to tighten up that chinstrap before you send it.
Helmet companies put serious effort into integrating both the fit and ventilation of goggles with their helmets. Buying the same brand of each will usually guarantee a good match, but different companies play well together for the most part. Try them on together to check for gaps and look for vents under the helmet’s front brim. Goggles are designed to vent heat and moisture out the top, but this doesn’t do much good if it runs into a barrier with the helmet. Johnson also points out that “goggles with articulating outriggers are best suited for helmet integration.”
GT RIDER: TYLER HOLM PHOTO: ANDY CAMPBELL LOCATION: VOLYMPICS 2012, WHISTLER, BC
are doing, and I have connections to produce whatever you guys want,’” says Rayner. “Back then, I was still trying to hustle through wholesalers in the US. We were just trying to do whatever we could while we were studying at university, trying to pass classes.”
WORDS: NATE ABBOTT
Companies that produce T-shirts and stickers are never in short supply. And while it isn’t unfair to dismiss the long term prospects of those new companies until they’ve become established, a touch of cynicism surrounds the idea that a group of friends wearing homemade T-shirts with a graffiti tag or rolling out a sticker campaign can become the next Billabong or Quiksilver. Sometimes, however, a ragtag band of friends throws parties, spray paints Walmart tees, produces movies and becomes something special. That’s the story of Voleurz, created back in 2003 by two University of Victoria students, Darren Rayner and Bruce Goivando. Along with a few friends, the two began throwing sizeable frat-house-style parties. For the original members, they created T-shirts. “We printed these six shirts for the six of us,” recalls Darren Rayner, now the vice president of marketing. “We put a name to the face, I guess. Voleurz was our label, who we were. Everyone was always going to party at the Voleurz house.” Quickly, a brand—based on a group of friends and a common love of snowboarding, skiing, mountain biking, BMX and skateboarding—started to look like a business. A website and blog brought them requests for product, something that didn’t exist at the time. While they sourced blank shirts, the demand grew, and in 2006, a chance meeting led Voleurz into their next life cycle. Harvey Li approached Rayner at a party in Whistler. “He came to us, and he said, ‘You know I’ve been looking at what you guys PG. 052
That meeting with Li led Voleurz to step into the realm of cutand-sew, custom-designed production. And with their stable of friends and athletes marking a compass point of design inspiration, the reality of a clothing business was solidified. “We’ve always had guys like Mike Riddle, Matt Margetts, even good friends like TJ [Schiller], come into the office and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a cool design,’ or ‘I like that cut,’” says Rayner. “We design our clothing so we’ll wear it. And by ‘we’ I don’t mean Harvey, Bruce and me, I mean our crew and our family. These are the influential people within their own environment and their own industry. We’re inspired by each other—everyone who is involved in the brand.” Now, with 70 retail outlets in Canada, the US and Australia, matched with a strong online sales presence, Voleurz is a business that requires day-to-day management and an eye to the future. Although Rayner studied psychology, he is learning to forecast sales, organize distribution and handle a sales team that has grown to nine reps. “We’re not 50-year-old CEOs, we’re skiers and snowboarders trying to run a company,” admits Rayner. But somehow, Voleurz has become the soft goods company that dominates ski media. No small part of Voleurz’s brand image is their moviemaking tradition. From the beginning—Galactic Alliance was their first film, released in 2003—the boys were all about sharing their love of certain sports with, well, their friends. That audience has grown, but the idea remains. In 2009, Outdoor Education was released for free on the Internet, a move that garnered a lot of media attention. With consideration of traditional movie distribution, there were doubts within Voleurz. But the move proved prescient, [ COMPANY CALLOUT |
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and Rayner’s voice is clear when he says, “Now, it’s the way to go. There is so much content on the Internet. We’ve affiliated our brand with releasing this annual film for free, and I don’t think we’re ever going to go back.” That certainty belies the tribulations of starting a brand in the snow-sports industry. While Voleurz shows sustained, steady growth, Rayner points to last winter’s less than wintery snowfall totals across western North America as the company’s biggest challenge thus far. “It was a big realization that the weather has such a huge influence on our industry. Not just ’cause we don’t get to ride fresh pow when we have a horrible winter, like last year. It really hurts a lot of businesses. When it hurts the big businesses, it still hurts the small people.” In the end though, the long-term success of a snow-sports business is not solely based on marketing or sales. It’s not as simple as numbers on a spreadsheet. It is dedication to a family. No one can state that better than the person who embraces that family and makes something of it. “We’re so much more involved with [the team] than just saying, ‘Here’s what you’re getting. Go out and do your thing.’ We travel with them, we film with them, we party with them.” Originally, the name Voleurz was just an intentionally misspelled random word grabbed from a French dictionary because of how it looked. Now, Rayner can sum up its definition as a brand, “I think Voleurz is a collaboration of a hundred plus people. We are the collectors of what these 50 athletes and 50 friends say. We’re the guys who bring that information and inspiration and try to create some sort of a material product for that.” Voleurz’s next movie, Kill Your Boredom, will be available free at voleurz.com starting November 19.
REVELSTOKE, BC
A playground for grown-ups rises above the clouds in BC WORDS: NICOLE BIRKHOLD
Picture a nine-year-old waking up on Christmas morning and unwrapping a ticket to Disney World. For the next six months, she dreams in anticipation of the rides, the characters, the magic and the fun. In October 2011, I was that nine-year-old, and Revelstoke was my Disney World. For me, the word “Revelstoke” conjures up a mystic, dreamlike picture of a perfect ski resort complete with endless snow, perfectly spaced trees, steeps, backcountry bowls, cats, helis and an authentic ski town full of friendly Canadian ski bums. Magical. PG. 054
Getting to Revelstoke takes a bit of planning. The closest airport is Kelowna, BC, and a shuttle can take you to the resort in about three hours. We flew into Spokane, WA, to make some pit stops at other ski areas on the way, to get us prepped. The drive through northern Washington and into the interior of British Columbia along Highway 6 then Highway 23 is beautiful, and as we made our way across the breathtaking Upper Arrow Lake from Galena Bay to Shelter Bay on the car ferry, the ear-to-ear smile set in. The remote mountains, forests and bodies of water that make up the geography of the BC interior only add to the mystique and adventure of traveling to one of the most remote, yet celebrated ski areas in North America.
construction and upgrade mode. The plan is to eventually have over 5,000 new housing units, 500,000 square feet of commercial space and a golf course. Things were well under way, and we were able to enjoy the new Rockford Wok Bar and Grill as well as Wino, the incredibly cool winter bar, while we discussed our attack plan for the following two days as well as the history of Revelstoke.
We didn’t make it to the mountain in time to ski the first day, so we met up with Sarah Windsor, Revelstoke Mountain Resort’s marketing and communications coordinator, and Kevin Manuel, the marketing manager, at the base of the resort, a quick 10-minute drive up the mountain from town. The base of the resort is in full
The plan is to expand Revelstoke’s terrain to more than 100 runs serviced via 20 lifts. Not only is the lift-accessed resort terrain expected to be massive, the size of the tenure that Revy’s partner operation, Selkirk Tangiers, offers—thousands and thousands of acres—is mind boggling.
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“We opened here in 2007 as Revelstoke Mountain Resort, but there was a previous, much smaller resort here prior to RMR opening called Powder Springs,” said Windsor. “What is now Revelstoke has the longest running ski club in Canada—over 100 years.”
worldwide to offer on-piste, cat skiing and heliskiing options all in one package. The Double Dare package combines a day of heliskiing at Selkirk Tangiers with a day of skiing at Revelstoke and two nights of lodging at the Sutton Place Hotel for a mere $1,000 CAD. To add a day of cat skiing and an additional night, a $445 CAD upgrade will get you the ultimate lift, cat, heli three-day experience. With our bellies full, our knowledge of Revelstoke much increased and visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads, we retired to our suite at the new Sutton Place Hotel and fell asleep with the fireplace ablaze. None of the legendary white stuff fell for us overnight despite my fervent wishing and dreaming, and clouds socked in above us, so we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t rush in the morning. Instead we filled our stomachs at the base of the mountain at La Baguette, a coffee and pastry shop that actually got its start in the town of Revelstoke but opened up a second shop at the resort. The PG. 056
homemade granola and yogurt gave us fuel to get out on the hill and explore. Luckily, in what was a dismal snow year for the majority of North America, Revelstoke received more than its fair share of precipitation prior to our arrival. We started at the Revelation gondola and took the 13-minute ride to the top. About two-thirds of the way up, our gondola broke through the clouds on top of a perfect cloud inversion. We were awarded with an incredible view of the surrounding Selkirk mountaintops peaking out from the clouds. We zipped over to the Stoke chair that took us even higher on the mountain and closer to the legendary North Bowl. After navigating our way as far as possible skiers right with a mellow boot pack, we dropped into a steep pitch that dropped us into the cloud. We ended up at the top of the Ripper chair and in tree-skier heaven. We played peek-a-boo in the Chopper trees for hours, finding pockets of fresh snow and rolling pitches through the aspens and pines. [ DESTINATION |
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We then headed back over to the front side and burned a couple top to bottom runs. After all, with the longest vertical drop in North America (5,620 feet), we had to make sure we skied it all. We finished the day getting lost in the far skiers-left trees, chasing stashes of fresh snow, and, after possibly dipping out of the ski area boundary and having to hike out, we made it back to the base, all smiles with dreams fulfilled. We cruised into town to meet some of the aforementioned happy Canadian ski bums and landed in the Village Idiot bar and restaurant on Mackenzie Avenue, the heart of the town of Revelstoke. For a Wednesday night, it was packed, and the dĂŠcor and ambiance were right out of a classic ski movie. The food was better than we expected from a ski town pub, and the service was great. The friendly bartenders directed us to the best microbrews on tap and even where to check for stashes on the hill the next day.
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Athlete: Sascha Schmid Location: Schilthorn Photographer: Markus Zimmermann
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SKIER: BOBBY BROWN PHOTO: NATE ABBOTT LOCATION: EURO X GAMES, TIGNES, FRANCE
The competitive freeskiing world changes fast. Every year, new events appear, old ones fade away, rookies become stars and stars retire. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with the pace. That’s where we come in. This guide serves to help you make sense of it all. In the following pages we predict next year’s big winners; we map out the season’s major contests; top pros break down the tricks that may get them to the next level; we show you highlights from last season’s Fantasy Freeride League; we explain how to get involved as a competitor; and lastly, we try— perhaps with futility—to make sense of the Olympic qualification insanity. Turn the page and get in the know.
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PRE VIEW
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I won X and a Dew Tour stop, they pulled me aside and said, “What do you think now?” I said, “OK.”
AND THE WINNER IS...
Who will take home some of the coveted AFP titles this coming season? We’ve made our predictions for the slopestyle and superpipe winners and caught up with each of them to see how their seasons are shaping up.
What kind of competitor are you? I like to try to keep it relaxed. If you’re too intense, you don’t perform well. I like to crack jokes at the top, but when it’s time to drop in, there’s a concentrated, focused moment. When I hit the top of the wall, everything else is gone. I don’t hear the crowd or the music. It’s just me and the halfpipe.
jen HUDAK INTERVIEW: DAMIAN QUIGLEY
Jen Hudak is no stranger to the podium. Her technical ability, style and dedication to the sport have made her a dominant presence in women’s freeskiing. Among her accolades are two AFP titles and two X Games gold medals. We believe her experience will put her on top of the AFP standings once again.
How is your knee? My knee is doing well. I just strength tested, and I’m at 90 percent of my strength from last fall. Considering the seriousness of my injury, I feel really good about that. Do you feel like the surgery was a success all in all? Yeah, it was definitely a huge success. I had it scoped a few months ago to clean out some scar tissue, which has proven to be a really good decision and helped me to progress a lot faster. After multiple injuries, has your attitude toward the sport changed, and do you feel like fear will play a larger factor in the upcoming season? You know, fear always plays a factor. The first knee surgery I had was the hardest to come back from because it was all new to me. This one is definitely going to be a little tough. I haven’t skied since Sarah passed away, and that I think is going to be my biggest obstacle. Every day that I’m training, I still feel lucky to be able to continue working hard.
Are there any competitions this winter that you’re particularly looking forward to? I am very much looking forward to competing in X Games. I’m hoping that I get invited to compete in X Games [laughs], but it’s by far my favorite event. The environment, the atmosphere there is just… so incredible. Would you say the Olympics are the biggest goal for you in the long run? Yeah, I would. I was at the first ever halfpipe World Cup in Saas-Fee, Switzerland in 2003, and from that day I was like, “This sport is going to the Olympics, and I’m going to be a part of it.” But it’s important to not forget about everything else that we have besides the Olympics: X Games, Dew Tour, the Grand Prix events and all the World Cups. There’s a huge opportunity for us to continue excelling in this sport, and I think it’s important to take everything one step at a time.
ABBOTT
PG. 064
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RAMALEY
Not to put any pressure on you, but we’re predicting that you’re going to win the women’s AFP halfpipe title this year. Wow! I am flattered! I’ve got some work to do. [laughs]
Who do you feel will be your stiffest competition as you try to snag your third AFP title? I think that Roz [Groenewoud] is definitely going to be a major competitor. She’s extremely consistent and has one of the most technical runs in the game. We had a lot of injuries last year and just lost Devin Logan [for part of the season] so it’s definitely going to be a battle between Roz and Maddie Bowman. Maddie is on an upswing and is going to be one to watch out for as well as Anais Caradeux.
david WISE INTERVIEW: TESS WEAVER
When 22-year-old David Wise won Winter X Games gold in 2012, he was the first father to stand atop the superpipe podium. His wife Alexandra and daughter Nayeli were there to celebrate. The Reno, NV native has the tricks, the amplitude, and after finishing second in the AFP superpipe race last season, he certainly has the confidence to take the title this year. What’s the problem with halfpipe skis? A lot of manufacturers get away with making cheaper, less powerful skis. In the park, you go through a pair of skis every two months, so a lot of people don’t see the need for a high-performance ski. They use lower quality cores and not as much fiberglass. What’s it been like creating a ski with 4FRNT? I wanted a ski that was designed specifically for what we do in the halfpipe. I told Matt Sterbenz [of 4FRNT] my vision, and with their engineering and building expertise, we came up with four prototypes. We tested, picked the best one and kept honing it in. The skis I won X Games on were round-three prototypes. Each ski got better and more effective. We played around to find that perfect amount of stiffness—you need enough for power and solid landings—but it has to have enough play to be fun. We went with a full maple core. It’s pricier, but it’s more solid. What’s it like to have a signature ski? It’s really cool, kind of funny. Starting off with those guys, it was brought up. I told them I didn’t feel like it was worth it for them to put my name on a pair of skis. After PRE VIEW
What events are the most important to you? Looking back, winning X Games was a pivotal moment. It was this perfect moment, where I was doing it 100 percent for the love of sport rather than trying to win or make money. That was a turning point. That’s going to be my approach from now on. The Olympics are where we have our sights. I’m excited for it, for the good of the sport. We’re being careful to keep our sport’s soul intact. It’s going to be so cool for the world to get a glimpse into our world. I hope to be there to represent my sport and my country. What drives you outside of the competition scene? What I really love about action sports is that we’re at the forefront of what is humanly possible. There are people on all different fronts pushing the sport—bigmountain competitors, the mountaineering guys, rails… There’s innovation everywhere. That’s what drives me. What tricks are you working on? I always have something in the works. If people are nipping at my heels, I have to do something about it. I have some things in the bag for this season. Who do you look up to? What’s cool about skiing is that everybody has something they do that is really inspiring. I look up to [Justin] Dorey for his technical difficulty and how many unique tricks he can do. I look up to Andreas [Håtveit] for his personality. He’s always happy when he’s skiing. And to Tanner [Hall] because he was one of the fathers of our sport. What’s it like being a father and competing? Being a father is a lot more natural than people think it is. People say I’m so young and I travel so much, but it’s really not that hard. It’s just another part of life. I love my family, and I love what I do. Both get equal attention and neither draws from the other. It’s an aspect of life I didn’t expect, but it has enriched my life. During contest season, so much time away can be draining, so we travel together as much as we can.
kaya TURSKI INTERVIEW: TESS WEAVER
Kaya Turski, 24, has been ranked No. 1 in women’s slopestyle by the AFP four years in a row. Last season, she won X Games, Euro X, both Dew Tour stops, the US Grand Prix at Mammoth, and was nominated for an ESPY. We picked Kaya to win the AFP title because we think history will repeat itself, for a fifth straight season. Do you feel prepared for the season? I’ve had lots of down time, but I’m also training. I’ve been training in the gym a lot, on the tramp and went to Utah for nine days for water ramping. I feel relaxed and ready.
Are you working on your mental game for Sochi? I want to get to the Olympics, and be in that same state of mind that I’m in when I’m dropping in for the Dew Tour or X Games. I don’t want to play it up too much. It will
What event means the most to you? There’s something magical about X games. It’s so much fun. The crowds are awesome—still the biggest of the season. Everyone is working on new tricks. There’s a nervousness in the air. Plans for the season? I want to do the same tour I’ve been doing— Dew Tour, Euro X, X Games, anything I need to do to qualify for the Canadian team. But nothing above and beyond that. I want to stay as close to my normal routine as possible. What drives you outside of the competition scene? Through my skiing and the way I live, I want to reach as many people as I can. I want to relay the message: work hard, it pays off. Believing in yourself gets you a long way. I want to work closely with the younger generation, kind of what Sarah did for me. I’m so inspired by what she’s done. I want to follow in her footsteps. Every day is a new day to learn more about people and life. How did your past shape who you are today? Injuries have made me a smarter athlete and more determined. I go to the gym, take care of my body, eat and sleep well. Coming back after my second knee injury was a huge mind game. You know what to do on the physical side, but it was a struggle mentally. It brought me to work with a sports psychologist, who I still work with. Injury woke me up.
ABBOTT
Do you work much with the Canadian national team? I don’t. They’ve been great at letting me do my own thing. I work closely with my Red Bull coach and their performance team. I talk to my national team coaches at events, and they’ve helped with travel, doctors, nutritionists. It’s great to have a team around in such an individual sport. But I’ve mainly been on the solo program. That’s what worked for me. TION COM PE TI
ABBOTT
What kind of competitor are you? I really try to zone in. I don’t pay attention to what everyone else is doing. I want my friends—really every competitor—to do the best they can. But I’ve worked a lot on not paying attention to all the distractions. I realized I won’t be changing my runs 10 minutes before dropping in, so I try to trust the work I’ve done and go with what I’ve got. People might label me a stress case. I get nervous, but I think I’m in love with that feeling. That’s why I’m still doing this—I love the adrenaline rush and feeling of my heart beating faster.
be the same type course, I’ll be competing with the same people. I just want to absorb it and live in the present.
More than anything, it’s the opportunity to travel and to ski the best parks in the world. The places, the venues—these contests are set at the world’s most premier resorts. Tignes, Aspen, Whistler, these places have so much history. They have the best parks, and they’re amazing mountains to ski. Whether you’re skiing the park, going out the day after an event to ski the hill or getting together for a big ol’ party the night after, it’s such a good group of people, all together in one place, for the same reasons. It’s a good vibe. Oh, and you can make a little bit of money while you’re doing it, which is good. I do have tuition and mortgage payments to make. [laughs]
Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to about the upcoming competition season? Same things as always, the major contests, for one. I’m looking forward to seeing how the FIS World Cup events are run and the opportunity to maybe go to Russia for an Olympic test event. I’m hoping we can be involved in the planning and processes leading up to Sochi. I’m hoping we’ll have the opportunity to have a say in the course design and layouts, the number of features—all these things that will become very important questions as we come down to the wire with Olympics approaching. I’ve never done a World Cup event, so doing some of those for the first time to get a feel for that whole side of the sport will be fun and interesting. I’m hoping it goes well, and it’s as fun as we want it to be and not all crazy like FIS can sometimes be.
tom WALLISCH INTERVIEW: HENRIK LAMPERT
Why did we pick Tom Wallisch as the likely winner of the 2013 AFP slopestyle title? Even over heavy hitters like Bobby Brown, Nick Goepper and Gus Kenworthy? Maybe it’s the fact that he’s the defending AFP champion. Or maybe it’s because he won slopestyle gold last season at the X Games. Or that he’s the 2012 slopestyle Dew Cup winner. Truth be told, it’s all of these things, coupled with the fact that Tom is one of the most consistent skiers in the game and shows no signs of slowing down. You had quite the 2011-12 season. To what do you attribute your success? I guess just staying healthy and being able to ski so much last season. I wasn’t trying to do anything differently. I was just skiing the best I could and putting together runs I was very, very confident with, throwing tricks I knew I could land. It was such a good year. We had great courses and good weather. With slope, it can go any way at any time. Every course is different, so to be able to be consistent and to win a good bit last year, it was amazing. I was super fortunate. What keeps you pumped on contest skiing? It’s definitely a little stressful and hard to keep up with all season long, but what keeps me stoked is that it changes a lot every year. There are a lot of different people coming in and out of it, and each course is different every year. Also, there are so many good friends that I ski with at those events that I don’t have an opportunity to ski with throughout the season. PRE VIEW
The Olympics are a big goal for you. Is that changing the way you’re approaching your skiing? No, definitely not. It’s a common question. I don’t ever want to have to change my skiing or the way I go about skiing, and I don’t think kids should get the idea that they have to change their skiing or become so regimented or follow some strict plan to get to the point where you can go to the Olympics. There’s no training regimen you can do. It’s just about skiing and being out there every day, becoming more consistent in the tricks you’re doing. I’m still going to ski handrails and ski the backcountry with my friends and film edits in the park. I’m going to just keep doing what I’m doing and try to have the most fun I can every day that I’m out there.
PG. 065
RUNNIN’ THE NUMBERS
There were a lot of winners (and a few losers) in the Fantasy Freeride League last season. Below, we broke down the numbers. Play in this upcoming season of FFL at fantasyfreeride.com.
MOST POINTS PER MONTH
GUS KENWORTHY
DEVIN LOGAN
TORIN YATER-WALLACE
DEC
JAN
FEB
DEC
JAN
FEB
DEC
JAN
FEB
122
221
23
0
307
172
44
172
72
MAR
APR
MAY
APR
APR
285
292
23
TOTAL
MAY
283
TOTAL
213
142
934
794
TOTAL
TOP FFL Picks
These athletes all pulled double duty last year, competing around the globe in their respective disciplines as well as doing battle online in the Fantasy Freeride League trenches. Here are the top four athlete FFL finishers last season, and their picks for this upcoming FFL season.
643
MOST POINTS PER DISCIPLINE GUS KENWORTHY MEN’S SLOPE WOMEN’S SLOPE MEN’S PIPE WOMEN’S PIPE
SUPERPIPE
SLOPESTYLE
BIG AIR
TORIN YATER-WALLACE DAVID WISE THOMAS KRIEF
TOM WALLISCH NICK GOEPPER GUS KENWORTHY
GUS KENWORTHY BOBBY BROWN RUSS HENSHAW
MEN
MEN
501 416 320
WOMEN
MADDIE BOWMAN ROSALIND GROENEWOUD DEVIN ANAIS LOGAN CARADEUX
MADDIE BOWMAN
77
431
237 192 177 JOSS CHRISTENSEN
545 527 ( TIED )
383
KAYA TURSKI DEVIN LOGAN ANNA SEGAL
MEN’S SLOPE
500
WOMEN’S SLOPE MEN’S PIPE
411
WOMEN’S PIPE MEN’S BIG AIR
403
(minimum 5 starts)
TOM WALLISCH
88
ROSALIND GROENEWOUD
87.8 SHUTOUT
MEN’S SLOPE WOMEN’S SLOPE MEN’S PIPE MEN’S BIG AIR
Big names who didn’t produce a point:
72
COLBY WEST PHIL CASABON IAN COSCO JACOB WESTER ELY
1,406
EMILIA WINT MEN’S SLOPE WOMEN’S SLOPE MEN’S PIPE WOMEN’S PIPE
THAT’S MORE THAN 2 MONTHS, 24/7.
TION COM PE TI
26TH PLACE TOM WALLISCH KAYA TURSKI NOAH BOWMAN JEN HUDAK KAI MAHLER
TORIN YATER-WALLACE
WOMEN’S PIPE
DEVIN LOGAN
HOURS SPENT MANAGING TEAMS
PG. 066
8TH PLACE RUSS HENSHAW EMILIA WINT JUSTIN DOREY BRITA SIGOURNEY KAI MAHLER
WILLIAMS
100
471
MEN
WOMEN
MOST POINTS PER EVENT
KAYA TURSKI
622
MEN’S BIG AIR
7TH PLACE TOM WALLISCH KAYA TURSKI NOAH BOWMAN BRITA SIGOURNEY BOBBY BROWN
PRE VIEW
MEN’S BIG AIR
38TH PLACE RUSS HENSHAW KAYA TURSKI TORIN YATER-WALLACE MADDIE BOWMAN KAI MAHLER
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WINTER EVENTS
A list of this year’s biggest events, when they take place and where they’ll go down.
6.
7. 2. 8.
6.
1. 3.
4.2. 4. 1.
1. 5.
3.
6.
5.
5.
3. 7.
2.
4.
SWATCH FREERIDE WORLD TOUR BY THE NORTH FACE
AFP WORLD TOUR PLATINUM EVENTS
*SPECIAL EVENTS
AFP WORLD TOUR PLATINUM EVENTS
1. THE DEW TOUR
1. RED BULL LINECATCHER
LEGEND
BLUE STEEL
BOBBY BROWN
*SPECIAL EVENTS
SHORT BUS YELLOW
VARS, FRANCE
BRECKENRIDGE, CO
January 12 – 19
December 14 – 17
2. US GRAND PRIX AT PARK CITY PARK CITY, UT
SWATCH FREERIDE WORLD TOUR BY THE NORTH FACE 1. REVELSTOKE, BC January 7 – 12
2. COURMAYEUR-MONT-BLANC, ITALY January 19 – 25
3. CHAMONIX-MONT-BLANC, FRANCE January 26 – February 1
4. KIRKWOOD, CA
February 27 – March 3
5. FIEBERBRUNN PILLERSEETAL, AUSTRIA March 9 – 15
2. DEEP WINTER PHOTO CHALLENGE WHISTLER, BC January 19
December 20 – 23
3. US GRAND PRIX AT COPPER COPPER MOUNTAIN, CO January 10 – 13
4. WINTER X GAMES 17 ASPEN/SNOWMASS, CO January 25 – 28
5. WINTER X GAMES EUROPE TIGNES, FRANCE
3. RED BULL PLAYSTREETS BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA February, 23
4. WAR OF RAILS
BEAR MOUNTAIN, CA March 1 – 3
5. NINE QUEENS
SERFAUS-FISS-LADIS, AUSTRIA
March, 10 – 17
March 21 – 23
6. THE DUMONT CUP SUNDAY RIVER, ME
6. JON OLSSON INVITATIONAL ÅRE, SWEDEN April, 5 – 6
March 29 – 31
7. WSI/AFP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WHISTLER BLACKCOMB, BC April 18 – 21
7. NINE KNIGHTS LIVIGNO, ITALY April 8 – 15
8. SAMMY CARLSON INVITATIONAL
6. VERBIER, SWITZERLAND
MT. BACHELOR, OR
March 23 – 31
May 25
*Event dates are subject to change PG. 068
TION COM PE TI
PRE VIEW
QUALIFYING... OLYMPIC-STYLE COUNTRY QUOTA ALLOTMENT The FIS World Rankings List uses results from World Cup and World Champs to determine the Olympic Nations Quota (by event and gender)
Everyone knows halfpipe and slopestyle skiing will make their debut in the 2014 Winter Olympics. What most people still don’t know is how skiers will be selected. Here is the road to the Olympics by the numbers.
OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TIMELINE IS JULY 1, 2012 TO JANUARY 19, 2014 2012
2013
JULY
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
MAY
JUN
JULY
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
JAN
JAN
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
19
2014
MAX TEAM SIZE
INDIVIDUAL ATHLETE OLYMPIC ELIGIBILITY
80
MEN
4 4 4 4 +4
WOMEN
4 4 4 4 +4
20
20
Skiers must have X amount of FIS points: 80 points for halfpipe skiers 50 points for slopestyle skiers
40 -26 14
TOP
30
TOO MANY
Each athlete in the top 30 men or 24 women earn their nation a quota spot (up to four per nation).
50
A nation can send a max 26 freeskiing athletes (max 14 per gender) that is split between pipe, slope, skierx, aerials & moguls. That means even if a country has four quota spots for EACH of those events, they can’t send 20 dudes and 20 chicks. Tough choices must be made between each discipline, as well as gender.
And they must have a top 30 finish in FIS World Cup or World Championships event.
LEGEND
04 PG. 070
Countries cannot send more than their quota from the Olympic Nations Quota, and no more than four per event per gender. In the event countries have more than four spots secured in the top 30/24, remaining spots will be chosen from outside the top 30/24, until suitable spots are filled. TION COM PE TI
PRE VIEW
SUPERPIPE
MOGULS
SKIER X
SLOPESTYLE
AERIALS
.TV
ASHLEY BATTERSBY RIDES PARK CITY.
3 PARKS + NEFF LAND + MERRILL MINI PIPE + 22’ SUPERPIPE
LOG ON TO IRIDEPARKCITY.TV
TO SEE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF ASHLEY BATTERSBY, JOSS CHRISTENSEN, TANNER HALL, JEN HUDAK, ALEX SCHLOPY & TOM WALLISCH
PHOTO : ROB MATHIS
WORDS: HENRIK LAMPERT
WHY COMPETE Whether you’re competing with dreams of fame or simply for the thrill, open events provide equal opportunity for growth within the sport and plain ol’ good times. “Open events are really helpful for up-and-coming skiers,” says Torin Yater-Wallace, Gatorade Free Flow champion turned X Games champion. “I recommend people compete in open events because that’s where it all starts. Most of the high-caliber events nowadays are invite only. By doing an open event, it’s a chance for you to get recognized and to get invited to those bigger events.” While open events can indeed prove to be a fast track to stardom, there’s more at stake. “Open events provide you a chance to ski against your idols and a chance to be a part of the excitement of competition,” says Nick Goepper, The North Face Park and Pipe Open competitor turned Dew Tour stop winner. “Plus, you get the chance to ski some of the sickest terrain parks in the world with all your friends. Comps are about more than competing to win. It’s the all-around experience, the excitement of the sponsors, the media, the pressure of having to land a run, the camaraderie in the start gate and in the finish corral after you stomp a run.” Whatever proves to be your main motivation, be sure and make the most of your experience. And how do you do that, you ask? Big-mountain pro Griffin Post notes, “These contests give you unarguable results and street cred to present to sponsors, but more importantly, they’re a means to learn, meet like-minded athletes and become part of a family of skiers with an unbridled enthusiasm for the sport, which, after all, should be motivation enough.” And it’s true, these events are a great place to do some networking and to make some friends. Don’t be shy. A quick introduction could be your ticket to travel or accommodations at your next event. Better yet, that introduction could lead to a lifelong friendship. At the end of the day, it might be about measuring yourself and achieving rockstar status, but more than anything, it’s about having fun and making memories while you’re at it.
PG. 072
FOR THE ASPIRING FREESKIER, OPEN EVENTS PROVIDE A GREAT MEANS OF 1) MEASURING ONESELF WITH THE COMPETITION, AND 2) RISING TO THE PUBLIC SPOTLIGHT—SHOULD YOU BE WORTHY OF THE RECOGNITION, OF COURSE. WITH FREESKIING ADDED TO THE OLYMPIC ROSTER, A SURGE OF SKIERS COMPETING IN OPEN EVENTS WILL UNDOUBTEDLY MATERIALIZE IN THE COMING YEARS. SHOULD YOU BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION; WE’VE OUTLINED SOME OF THE KEY THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT OPEN EVENTS.
WHERE TO GO
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU First off, which event is right for you? Are you yearning for slopestyle or halfpipe glory? You might GET consider The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series, THERE the Aspen/Snowmass Open, the Dumont Cup or one of the many other open events sanctioned by the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP). Bigmountain skiing more your thing? You might explore the Junior Freeride World Tour or the Freeride World Qualifier (FWQ) Tour events.
Sit down with your calendar and pick out a couple of the events that suit you best. Let’s pretend you’re a park and pipe athlete for simplicity’s sake. Are you living in Colorado? The Aspen/Snowmass Open would be an obvious choice. Are you in New Hampshire? You’d certainly want to check out the Dumont Cup. Are you in Europe? There’s always the Polish Freeskiing Open to consider or the Norwegian Open Tour or the Austrian Freeski Open. There’s no shortage of events, so pick a couple that fit your schedule and are relatively close to home.
REGISTERING AND GETTING THERE Once you decide where you want to compete, you’ll need to register before spots fill up. An easy way to register for the park and pipe events is to visit afpworldtour.com, which links to the various contest websites where you can register. For the big-mountain events, stop by freerideworldtour.com. If you take our advice and opt to compete in an event near where you live, the best bet is to organize a road trip. Ideally, you recruit some friends to compete with you, and you can all pile into the car together. This will alleviate the gas money situation and will make for a much greater adventure in the long run. Need to fly? So be it.
TION COM PE TI
PRE VIEW
Whether you’re dropping into a superpipe or into the Cirque at Kirkwood, there’s one simple rule that any veteran competitor will tell you: Stick to what you know. Don’t huck a trick you’ve never done before or send it off the biggest cliff of your life. Instead of gunning for the win straight off the bat—which certainly can be tempting—use your first run (or your first event) as a means of gauging where you stand in comparison to the rest of the field. This will allow you to explore questions like, “What do I need to do to improve?” Post says, “Most importantly, remember that competition isn’t the end-all determinant of a skier’s prowess.”
AFTER YOUR FIRST BIG WIN If you happen to find yourself at the top of the podium, be warned. You’ll need to spend 10 percent of your winnings at the bar later that night. Not of legal drinking age? A pizza party will likely suffice. The 10 Percent Rule is binding, so don’t try to snake around it. When the party is over and a new day dawns, try to set aside some of those prize winnings. You’ll need to book some travel and register for your next open event before too long—you’ve got a reputation to uphold.
Photo: Matt Berkowitz
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BREAKING OUT THE BIG GUNS
Russ Henshaw and Justin Dorey are two world-class competitors in their respective disciplines. We had each of them break down a big trick in their aresenal. Don’t try these at home.
INTERVIEWS: DAMIAN QUIGLEY
JUSTIN DOREY
Switch Double Flip 1080 in the pipe How long were you contemplating the switch dub 10 before you gave it a shot? I started thinking about trying it during the 2009-10 season, then Jossi [Wells] beat me to the punch and was the first one to do it that spring. A couple months later I went to New Zealand and did my first one at Cardrona, so I’d say it was on my mind for almost a year.
How do you feel the trick compares on a technical level to other tricks being thrown down these days? Switch dubs are definitely a lot harder than any other dub that I’ve done. The hardest part is going big enough to get two flips around while also being able to handle the G-forces of hauling-ass into that tranny switch and not collapsing into the wall.
Did you take some punishing hits before you landed it? I actually got the first couple around to my feet but just landed really low so it was one of the least painful tricks I’ve learned.
What’s going through your head when you’re doing it? The main thing I focus on for that trick is just being patient... If you’re impatient and pop too early (like I did at X-Games last year)
“I actually black out during my comp runs quite a bit and can’t remember what I just did.”
you end up getting broken in half with your feet in the pipe and your back/head on the deck which is definitely not a good look. Landing it for the first time in competition got you on the podium in Tignes, 2011. How did that feel? Funny story actually. I had absolutely no intention of doing a switch dub in that run until I was halfway up the wall on that last hit. I tried a couple a week before Euro X with Simon and we both got broke off so I kinda wrote it off as a trick that wouldn’t be in my bag. That first run was supposed to be my safe run but last hit I blacked out and my body just did it without me thinking about it. I actually black out during my comp runs quite a bit and can’t remember what I just did. Any new tricks in store for us this year? Yes. I landed a new one this summer at Momentum in Whistler, so I’m hoping to have it dialed before the first contest in December. I’m not saying what it is.
SKIER: RUSS HENSHAW PHOTO: JOSEPH PURDAM LOCATION: THREDBO, AUSTRALIA
RUSS HENSHAW Triple Cork 1440
When did you first start thinking about throwing the triple cork 1440? It all happened really fast at an MSP park shoot. I was doing some double cork 10s on a really big jump and I thought to myself, “I probably have enough time to do another flip.” That’s about as much thought as I gave it before attempting it. I had no idea if it would go to 14 or 16. After the first attempt I hit my head so I didn’t get another chance to try it on that jump. I basically waited until I had found a jump and had the conditions I thought were necessary to try the trick again. Turns out Bobby [Brown] landed it a few days before I landed mine. PG. 074
After hitting your head on the first attempt, was it tough to keep that out of your mind when you tried it again? It was definitely on my mind. But you can hurt yourself doing pretty much any trick. I just blocked it out of my head and focused on what I wanted and needed to do to land the trick. It’s a pretty insane trick to watch. What’s going through your head when you do it? Lean back and hold on. [laughs] Nah, but seriously I am really focused at the top of the in run. I know what needs to be done and when I finally get in the air, it feels like I stop thinking and everything just happens. It’s hard to explain but it’s like that with all my tricks. Time seems to slow down once I’m in the air doing the trick. TION COM PE TI
PRE VIEW
Are there any technical aspects that make it more difficult than a double or is it mostly about going bigger and throwing it harder? Yeah it’s definitely more technical. I have found that if you miss your grab in the first rotation, you’re pretty much screwed. Another thing is knowing how to position your shoulders throughout the trick. If your shoulders make any slight movements then you end up spinning more than is required and you crash. Now that you’ve got the triple in the bag, what’s next? I honestly don’t have a clue. I guess try and get them more on lock and try some different variations.
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UNIFIED WORLD TOUR 2013 BRINGS A SINGLE SIX-STOP FREERIDE WORLD TOUR
WORDS: TESS WEAVER
The North American-based Freeskiing World Tour, The North Face Masters of Snowboarding and the European-based Freeride World Tour have officially joined forces to create a unified global championship series called the Swatch Freeride World Tour (FWT) by The North Face. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exciting to have this collective effort,â&#x20AC;? says Adam Comey, president of North American-based Mountain Sports International (MSI), which runs the Freeskiing World Tour. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We now have a European partner who has the same goals. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an unknown for us as to what we can accomplish, what we can do on a global level to bring big-mountain freeriding to a bigger audience. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a ton of potential.â&#x20AC;?
"
Tour locations include Revelstoke, BC; Courmayeur, Italy; Chamonix, France; Kirkwood, California; Fieberbrunn, Austria; and the World Tour finals in Verbier, Switzerland. Athletes who qualified from each of the 2012 tours, along with five wild cards, are invited to each of the six events in 2013. Each competition includes freeskiing and snowboarding, and women will compete at all but the Courmayeur event. " "! ! "!""! ! ""! ! " ""
The 2013 Freeride World Qualifying Tour (FWQ) consists of more than 40 events with different point values from 1- to 4-star in which competitors will compete for one of the coveted 14 spots on the 2014 FWT. Four men and three women will qualify from each region: the Americas (North and South America) and Europe/Oceania (Europe, Asia and Oceania). The riderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best three results from the season will create their FWQ ranking. A worldwide seeding list will be issued each week to help FWQ organizers select athletes for the FWT. It will rank riders among qualified FWT riders, previous year FWT riders not qualified for the current FWT season and FWQ riders with the best three results from the previous 52 weeks. The qualifier calendar will be announced in November. With Europe hosting 10 four-star events and North America hosting six or seven, European competitors will have more opportunities to gain points, but their region will still only qualify four men and three women to the 2014 FWT. Verbier will hold this seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world championships, but MSI says the event will bounce back and forth between Europe and the Americas. Same goes for the FWT stops. In 2014, each region will host three events. A pro freeridersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; board, consisting of seven prominent competition skiers and snowboarders, has been created to ensure athletes have a voice in the organization regarding the season calendar, competition format, judging rules, qualifications and rankings. "!
Athletes and organizers met in Squaw Valley in September to formulate a global freeride system, which they say incorporates the best aspects from IFSA, the Freeride World Tour and The North Face Masters. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a formula of judging thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not overly lengthy or overly complicated,â&#x20AC;? says MSIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bryan Barlow. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Both tours used â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;categories,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and Europe used â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;overall impression.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Now, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;overall impression based on categories.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Competitors will be able to look at their score cards and be able to clearly see where they did well or not. The new judging criteria will be officially announced in November. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to take some time for people to understand the structure, but it will eventually be clear that this system makes sense for the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth and everyone involved,â&#x20AC;? says Barlow. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This system is going to help empower other organizers and resorts to hold their own Freeride World Qualifiers around the Americas. Any event can be a part of our system if it falls into the guidelines. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to support the demand and keep the sport growing.â&#x20AC;? If you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it out to the event, tune in. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Surf has a big audience that tunes in on a live basis,â&#x20AC;? says Comey. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to deliver the content in a compelling and complete way. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be a constant story line. From a desk in a city far from the mountains, you can still be part of it.â&#x20AC;? Visit freerideworldtour.com for more info.
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TION COM PE TI
PRE VIEW
THE NEXT GENERATION
THIS YEAR’S CROP OF SOON-TO-BE BIG NAME COMPETITION TALENT
BELLUSCIO
HOLDEN/REDBULLCONTENTPOOL
O’CONNELL
Alex19,Bellemare Saint-Boniface, Quebec
Noah Bowman 20, Calgary, Alberta
Brita22,Sigourney Carmel, California
Kai17,Mahler Fischental, Switzerland
Style in competition; that’s the age-old debate. Does perceived style add to the overall score? Can a skier make a technical run look smooth and unique? Alex Bellemare, product of Quebec and a Level 1 journeyman, can. Sure, he’s a small kid who is relatively inexperienced at competing. He’d rather spend his time hitting urban. But think about it, he parlayed a random Euro X invite in to a fifth place finish and a Dew Tour invite into a sixth. He outgunned stylish comp skiers Casabon and Harlaut. He’s only going to get better and better, hitting his prime right around February 2014.
Noah Bowman was an alternate at the start of Winter X Games 16 last year. By the conclusion, he was a bona fide silver medalist. Luck and circumstance may have given him the chance, but confidence to compete and insane natural talent are what put him on that superpipe podium. His ability to ride switch in the pipe is off the charts. He’s got a double flip that no one can step to. He’s as consistent as anyone on tour. Last year he was hoping to get his shot at the big time; this year, he’ll be shaping what’s possible in the superpipe.
She’s bubbly. She’s bright eyed. She’s in college. You know what else? She’s a two-time Winter X medalist, she won a Dew Tour and she can do 1080s like nothing. She’s got the amplitude to back up her big tricks. She can take a hit and get back up. She’s what women’s pipe skiers nowadays should be: determined, driven and not afraid to lay it on the line under the lights. Sarah Burke’s passing left a giant void in women’s halfpipe skiing that’ll never fully be filled, but with girls like Brita hitting their stride, the sport is in more than capable hands.
Kai is the latest competition prospect to come out of the European ranks. At 17, he’s logged seven major big-air podiums, becoming the second youngest Winter X ski medalist in the process. The Swiss youngster has a polite demeanor, but on course, he’s anything but reserved. Kai brings an aggressive style to big air, jumping with a unique blend of trick difficulty and individual style. But he’s not out there forcing too big of tricks on small features, and he’s not tripling just for the sake of tripling. Or as one of his competitors said, “He’s just a grade-A boss.”
Age
Age
Age
Age
TWERPS: THE BEST TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER DURING CONTEST SEASON Jacob Wester @westerjacob
Trennon Paynter @trennonpaynter
Matt Margetts @MattMargetts
DEW TOUR
X GAMES
X GAMES
9:36 p.m. – Jan 22 _ @RussHenshaw good skiing mate. flip off a judge.
9:32 a.m. – Jan 30 _ Seeya next year XGames, thanks for bringing everyone closer together. instagr. am/p/mOTE3/
12:43 p.m. – Jan 26 _ @casablunt you are a tough bows
EURO X GAMES
6:21 p.m. – Jan 28 _ @Noah bowman winning second at x games. That’s my son. You need twitter now. Your famous [sic]
For honesty, insight and snark.
X GAMES
10:07 p.m. – Jan 28 _ Dear XGames judges - @HenrikHarlaut deserves WAY more than 35 for that bio 12 blunt. wtf are u thinking? 10:09 p.m. – Jan 28 _ fun time doing sub 900 rotations on a skierX jump. 10:57 p.m. – Jan 28 _ ok skier friends in finals: remember to grab your knees and huck! trips or gtfo! JON OLSSON INVITATIONAL
4:31 p.m. – Apr 5 _ @FrejJonsson has the steeziest dub in the game. AFP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
8:09 p.m. – Apr 20 _ @JamesWoodsy i remember when u were throwing the skeetttchiest dub lincoln japans in London. those days are gone...#steezemaster 7:30 p.m. – Apr 21 _ hmmm, trying to come up with a big air trick. keep coming back to the same boring decision. PG. 078
For insider knowledge and information.
5:59 p.m. – Jan 27 _ Heading to the mountain for pipe qualies. So stoked. 9:20 p.m. – Jan 27 _ DOES ANYONE HAVE A NOOSE!!
9:12 p.m. – Mar 16 _ 2AM and there’s tons of ppl in ski and snowboard boots rockin the dance floor. Even a swimming cap too. I love partying in Europe GRAND PRIX
10:27 a.m. – Mar 1 _ Competition postponed due to weather... again... Winners will prob be whoever is best at staying focused during these days. #challenge 11:55 a.m. – Mar 1 _ Hey everyone in Mammoth, what say we all go to Bishop, have a bowling comp and use those results for slope and pipe qualifiers.
TION COM PE TI
For athlete insight and self-referential snark.
PRE VIEW
EURO X GAMES
2:27 p.m. – Mar 7 _ Does anyone in Van/Whis have a pair of padded shorts I can borrow for Euro X Games pic.twitter. com/2SNdd3jc
Photo: Ben Meester
Photo: Blake Jorgenson
Michelle Parker | KICKER
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PHOTO: NATE ABBOTT LOCATION: SAPPORO TRANSLATION: KATSU TANAKA COMPOUNDGALLERY.COM
JAPAN, DEEPER AND DEEPER Freeskier explores two sides of Japan and two sides of skiing through the wild and frantic street stylings of Level 1’s jib crew and the classic pow-shredding of Nimbus Independent.
文化の響き
CULTURE OF ECHOES
It’s constant, the rhythm of sound and silence. A calm voice rings out over a vast resort, muffled by fat flakes of snow. After five seconds of silence, it begins again. The loudspeakers that hang from lift towers, buildings and trees play music in some places and repeat announcements and warnings in others. Fleets of greeters and helpers splash ohaiyou gozaimasu and other phrases against our ears over and over again, even when we can’t see who is talking. The reverberation condemns the phrases, whether in Japanese or English, to fade into our subconscious. Japanese culture can be so calm, so controlled; yet there is a huge amplification of every message through repetition. You find warning signs, with their cartoon characters and loose translations, at frequent intervals. A hundred different kinds of instant coffee line the walls of the Seicomart, and thousands of those stores are spread over the island of Hokkaido. The bows that are so special and personal on your arrival in the country become nearly invisible, reflexive movements like the feeding of a pigeon.
And the snow, well, it barely surprises you when, for a sixth morning in a row, you wake to see it has coated the mountain. The flakes fall and fall. And your tracks are made and disappear, run after run, as physical echoes. In January of 2012, two groups of skiers and two of Freeskier’s senior photographers went to Hokkaido and experienced these echoes. They also served as echoes of skiing itself. The Nimbus Independent crew has graduated from the contest scene to a distinct style of far-flung exploration combined with freestyle tricks and deep snow. And the Level 1 crew, with a young streetfocused group for this trip, took advantage of the same deep snow to toss themselves down handrails, onto transitions and over stairway gaps. Skiing transformed through age and circumstance. Over the next 20 pages, you’ll see our vision of these echoes of Japan and of skiing through the wonderfully deep snow that graced Hokkaido during early 2012.
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フリースキーアー
音と沈黙 よる不断のリズム。 穏や かな声が、雪で覆われた広大なリ ゾ ートに響き渡る。５秒間の沈黙, そし てまた声は響く。 リフトの柱、ビルディング、樹々などい たるところに設置された大型スピー カーから、ある場所では音楽が、他の 場所ではアナウンスや注意が繰り返 し聞こえる。たくさんの従業員が お はようございます などと私たちに幾 度となくあいさつをする。誰が話しか けたのか、時にはわからないほどだ。 そして声の残響は英語、 日本語に関 係なく私たちの潜在意識の内にだん だんと入り込んでいく。 日本の文化は静寂でとてもコントロ ールされた文化のようだが、 こうした コトバのくり返しが音を自然と増幅さ せ、大きな響きとなっている。あちら こちらにはコミカルなキャラクターと 意味の持たない英語で書かれた道の 標識があり、セイコーマートには数百 種類のインスタントコーヒーが陳列 されており、 またこのようなコンビニ エンスストアは北海道のいたるところ にあるのだ。 この国に着いたときには 特殊で人間的なものに感じたお辞儀 という動作も、あたりまえに繰り返さ れる、ハトがえさを食べるような反射 PAGE | 081 FREESKIER
的な動きになってしまう。 そして、雪。 朝、目が覚めて外を見 ると積雪が山を覆っている。 もう６ 日 間連続してみるこの光景に、驚くと いうことを忘れてしまう。雪は降り、 ま た降る。 トラックは作られては消えて いく。滑っても、 また滑っても。それは あたかも自然法則の反響のようだ。 ２０１２年１月、 ２つのグループ のスキーヤーたちと2人のFreeskier Magazineのカメラマンがこれらの響 きを北海道で経験した。ニンバスイ ンディペンダントクルーはコンテスト スタイルのスキーからは卒 業 し、深 雪を求めて走る冒険的なスタイルに フリースタイルのトリックを組み合わ せた独特な滑りへ進化させた。 そして今回のレベル１のグループに は若い、 ストリートに重点をおくスキ ーヤーが多く、 この冒険的スタイルを とってさらに、ハンドレールを滑り降 りたり、階段を滑り降りたりする。 スキ ーの滑りも歳月が経つにつれて変わ っていくものだ。 次の２０ページで、あなたは素晴 らしい北海道の深雪とともに、２０１２ 年の始まりに私たちが経験した、ー日 本の響きー を見るでしょう。
BARRIERS
Level 1 skis the streets and navigates the barriers of Sapporo, Japan WORDS AND PHOTOS: CHRIS O’CONNELL
It was our second night in Sapporo, and it ended before it began. We had a couple of local ski kids guiding our group around as our real guides couldn’t join us. We had already hit the wide-bar down-flat-down rail setup a few times when the first two police officers arrived. And as soon as they did, our “guides” vanished. Our attempts to extinguish the situation entailed fake smiles and sign language negotiations. Then four more police officers arrived. No one in our crew spoke a word of Japanese, and the token English word uttered by the cops was “passport.” Within 15 minutes, a mellow 14 police officers were on scene and, while they were astonishingly polite, the situation seemed much gnarlier than what we were used to. Our entire crew, along with all of our gear—generator, lights, cameras, tripods—was corralled into a Japanese paddy wagon and driven away. While planning the trip, I neglected to inform the crew that a fellow photographer, and friend of mine, had been to Sapporo two weeks before with a snowboard crew and told me that the urban features were the biggest bust ever and we were going to spend a lot of time talking to the police. At the time, I felt that sharing this with the athletes and video guys was counterproductive; it could have swayed the decision on whether or not to make the trip. Banking on our inability to speak the language seemed a solid enough plan to keep us out of trouble. No need to trip anyone out before flying over 6,000 miles to slide down some metal. Much later that evening, after a complete passport check by both uniformed and undercover police, we reconvened with our elusive “guides.” They then talked about the cops, informing us, “Japanese like foreigners, but they hate other Japanese.” They coupled that with the “little bit of weed” they had on them as the reason for their rapid departure. I conceded. In Japan, even 20 bucks worth of weed will land you in the slammer for easily a year. Japanese skiers rightfully keep their distance from police. So our trip moved to features further and further outside the city center to avoid the cops—a shame because, with its modern architecture, hilly landscape and frequent snowfall, Sapporo has more potential for urban shredding than anywhere in the world.
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Tom Wallisch and his new puppy have something in common: they’re eager to please. On this flat-gap-down rail Wallisch pleased photographer Chris O’Connell with a simple layed–back slide on the flat before he skied up to O’Connell for a scratch behind the ears.
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180, nose to tail press, 180-out. Skier: Mike Hornbeck.
The northern Japanese island of Hokkaido is an absolute snow magnet. It’s rare that a January passes that isn’t all-time epic. Last winter, the calls from Japan started flooding my voicemail late in December, all claiming multiple 3-foot storms with no end to the storm cycle in sight. By New Year’s Eve, the mountains outside of Sapporo had received 20-plus feet—more snow than many of the world’s ski resorts receive in an entire year. A sprawling urban landscape with over 2 million inhabitants buried in snow for most of the winter, Sapporo is the most populous snowlaced city in the world. With last winter shaping up to be exceptionally good, a few phone calls to Level 1 Productions were made and the dream jib crew, comprised of Tom Wallisch, Mike Hornbeck, and Alex Bellemare, was assembled and booked. We convened at LAX, jumped over the Pacific to Tokyo, then up north to Sapporo. Nuclear reactors exhaling steam miles into the sky were visible from above during our Tokyo to Sapporo flight, which brought the Fukushima disaster to mind. Some people feel the radiation is blowing into Tokyo. “The government is lying to the people about how dangerous it really is,” a resident informed us. The surf break near Fukushima power plant has been rendered unsurfable for years to come—some 25,000 years—by the meltdown that followed the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. It was previously one of the more consistent and desirable surf breaks in Japan, but now it breaks empty of surfers. Adventure tourism in Japan could use a boost. That is the one thing on this topic that seems safe to say.
On our final approach to Sapporo, we could see man-made mountains of snow, larger than many resorts in the Midwest, dotting the outskirts of the city. Those mountains turned out to be snow removed from the city by thousands of large dump trucks working around the clock, seven days a week. Some peaks towered over 200 feet and had trucks and excavators compressing and shaping them to allow for more heavy equipment to drive over them. These 21st century snow pyramids were not expected to completely melt until midJuly. The average city would be in a state of emergency from the meter plus of snow that fell during the one week we were in Japan, but Sapporo ran as silky smooth as New York City on a sunny April day.
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Upon our arrival at Sapporo’s airport our guide, a skier named Bull, met us with a rental van stocked with generators and lights. Bull is one of Japan’s best all-around skiers and conveniently, he speaks very little English. Shredding bottomless pow in the mountains of Hokkaido and jumping off three-story buildings to very small transitions in Sapporo is Bull’s MO.
It took us very little time to realize that Bull was a loose cannon in a good way: crazy and ridiculously hilarious. Throwing dual peace signs, laughing and saying, “No Engrish!” then laughing more was his go-to expression. He lives in Breckenridge for the early part of each ski season and has an American girlfriend who speaks no Japanese. When I asked how they talked to each other, he held up his phone to show us Google Translate. You could call him the Mike Hornbeck of Japan: everyone loves him, and his hilarity and style trump all language barriers.
Hornbeck calls rails like this mega-grinds in a mocking tone. Wallisch got the last laugh, and the shot, on this curvaceous, elevated mega-grind.
Bull was nursing four broken ribs from a ski stunt gone awry but was more than happy to drive us to the local spots, smiling the whole time. He instantly became the mascot of our voyage. He was so dialed in to his country, still in the formative years of freeskiing, that Hornbeck and Decker called in more of the Level 1 Productions bros from America to join them for another two weeks and stayed with Bull at his parent’s house to take advantage of the record-breaking snow year.
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Is Alex Bellemare a pacifist? Who knows? But doesn’t the crossed-up tail grab 360 he’s throwing match up well with the double peace signs his fans are throwing back at him?
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Evidenced by his willingness to concede, Japan has indeed had a very rough go of it in the tourism industry as of late, and everyone, including this principal, has felt it. It didn’t hurt that the high school was the alma mater of Japan’s only female Winter Olympic gold medalist, Tae Sotoya, who won the moguls title in 1998. The principal gladly let us hit the gap and even helped us by coordinating some students to pose underneath it for a photo.
Following our release from custody, we had to come up with an explanation for our presence at the local urban jibs. Thanks to Hornbeck, the perfect solution fell into our laps the next day as we were preparing an urban gap jump on the grounds of a school. After being informed of our illicit activities by a few concerned locals, the school’s principal came out and asked us in Japanglish what was going on. “We are making a movie to promote skiing and tourism in Japan,” Hornbeck deadpanned. “We love it here, and we want to encourage more Americans to visit Japan.” The rest of our crew joined in, embellishing our “tourist video” as we saw the demeanor of the mid50-year-old man quickly change from suspicious and accusatory to interested and appreciative.
Tom Wallisch proceeded to throw a huge double backflip over the gap, and Bellemare crushed some stylie rodeos. “Who needs to go to the backcountry when you can build kickers in the city?” Wally joked. As a photographer, going on a rail trip with Tom Wallisch is sometimes a little frustrating. There isn’t much doubt that he’s king when it comes to gnarly, technical rails, but the switch ups he likes to do don’t always look so hot to us photo types. This trip Wally said that he was going to do a few rails “Hornbeck style.” “Hornbeck’s the most emulated skier in the world,” Tom said after he tail-to-nose pressed a down-flat rail with a foot-long gap.
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Some might focus on the next level street-rail grinding executed by Hornbeck. But honestly, take note of the steezy follow-cam stance from the King of Afterbang. GTS.
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(RAW CRAB BRAINS) The best sight in Sapporo during the winter isn’t the annual Snow Festival, where they build multistory replicas of famous buildings such as the White House out of ice. Rather it is the miniskirts on the local female population in the blustery minus 15-degree nights. They all wear skirts shorter than most girls would wear during summer in Stockholm, with stiletto-heel boots to complete the outfit. The snow blows sideways and the girls flinch a bit, but it’s just another Tuesday midnight, and the streets are full of impressively long, wellkept legs. Japan is internationally known as an iconic country when it comes to style, but this takes it to another level. Hopefully
There are 1,033 Seicomart stores on the island of Hokkaido. The crew stopped every day at a Seicomart, sometimes twice a day. Think 7-Eleven with more interesting snacks, a huge liquor selection and great Japanese schoolgirl magazines. This was Bellemare’s first international trip, and he was diving right in, eating all kinds of crazy dried fish and weird shit from Seicomart. He also got the award for being the only one in the group to eat pureed raw crab brains. Yum.
Toronto, Helsinki, Ottawa and other cold, snowy cities will pick up on this aspect of culture. It would make a few million men a lot happier in the depths of winter. Just because you should be wearing a full length down parka and beanie doesn’t mean you should.
Although the Quebecer Bellemare is only 18 years old, he’s already secured the cover of Level 1 Production’s After Dark, which was the first major ski movie he appeared in. Bellemare is part of the new guard of freestyle kids. He grew up in the park, has mentors like Phil Casabon and absolutely crushes all things technical and street. He’s got a quirky sense of humor and comes off a little spacey, but he’s not. “The kid’s the real deal,” Hornbeck claimed about Alex. “He’s just crazy enough to be really good, and he makes everyone laugh, so I am sure he’ll be staying around.”
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Although we already ran this feature on the cover of our Buyer’s Guide, we decided to revisit Wallisch’s death defying gap with this angle that shows the sunset. Everyone knows you get more likes for a photo of a sunset. #iPhoneonly #Sunset #OneMillionLikes #TomWallischWillYouMarryMe
The last day of the trip brought us to a pair of tall, rectangular cement structures off the side of a road on the outskirts of town, near where Bull was born and raised. Surrounded by nothing but farmland, the structures were probably used to store grains like rice. Hornbeck and Bellemare went wild doing tow-in wall rides with Bull behind the wheel of the minivan, gunning it to about 80 kph for the lofty, elongated wall. Bellemare crushed it in a few tries and sat down. Hornbeck rocked out numerous still and video shots. But Wallisch just sat there, took it all in and cheered on the other two. Wally sitting out a feature is a rarity, for sure. When all was done with the boys’ wall riding, Wally climbed to the top of one tower, looked out at the other and said he thought it would go. The “it” was a transfer from one tower across a sizeable gap, landing on the vertical wall of the other tower with a 4-foot-tall snow transition built at the bottom. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have allowed him to hit the feature. I don’t need people getting broke off on shoots. I am getting too old and the kids are getting too damn good. The consequences of missteps on some urban features have gotten to be as serious as a wrong turn in Alaska, and this transfer feature was foreboding.
(the LOCALS)
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At the very least, if you’re going to get a ride in a paddy wagon, you should get a shot published in the magazine. Skier: Mike Hornbeck
Tom sized it up and called for the bungee to spring him into the feature. I still thought it was insane, but considering that many of the most consequential urban features done in the past few years have Tom’s stamp of ownership on them, I held my tongue and shot. Even Kyle Decker, Tom’s primary filmer, held his breath for this one. We could tell that even Tom was a bit nervous, but he nailed it first try with just a little wheelie out. It was game on, and Tom hit it a half dozen more times. Just before the sun set on our time in Sapporo, he had the shot of the trip in the can. “That’s the gnarliest urban feature I have ever hit,” he claimed—a heavy comment from Mr. Wallisch.
Another quest came to an end for our crew, and we couldn’t help but think, “Maybe we’ll make a movie about our time in Sapporo so more Americans go there to visit.”
:25'6 3+2726 NATE ABBOTT_NIMBUS
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From top to bottom, left to right: New &KLWRVH $LUSRUW Sapporo. Snowy URDGV LQ .XWFKDQ +HLQ] NHWFKXS DQG &RFD &ROD DUH ZRUOGZLGH %DUEHFXH RQ WKH WDEOH 5XVXWVX resort (three times).
SKIER: PEP FUJAS LOCATION: NISEKO HIRAFU
Here are the reasons shred legends like Pep Fujas and Andy Mahre keep coming back to Japan: wide-open turns in steep trees, a near guarantee of an overnight 8-to-12-inch reset, the bonus of zero crowds. So even if the snow cycle shuts EPXO ZPV SF TUJMM POMZ m HIUJOH ZPVSTFMG and your friends for fresh tracks. Clockwise from top left: Andy Mahre in our Black Diamond Lodge van. Mahre dropping into the storm at Rusutsu. With the sun setting, Mahre spins out of a tree in a top secret snowmobile zone near Niseko. “Hey, check me out, I’m ripping,” says Pep Fujas at Rusutsu.
captain. Aside from the fact that he spearheads the artistic and business ventures of a video company, he continues to set the aspirational target for 99 percent of freeskiers. Clockwise from top: Tail grab, (n): A trick performed on skis in which one jumps off of an obstacle and grabs the tail of the ski like, whoa. Hiking for turns on the deepest day of our trip. A 180 on a classic roadside avalanche barrier line.
Oh, contradictions. This sign claims that skiing off-piste terrain is prohibited. But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a clear path into the area, and the marketing people from the resort directed us to this location. A ski patroller yelled at me as I rolled past the sign one day, but then he followed me through the gate and was clearly enjoying the turns he made all the way back to the legal run.
get. So the end of the day just turned into a crew shredding laps together, enjoying perfect moments and whooping and laughing as we hit jumps and chopped up QPXEFS m FMET Unfortunately, Chris Benchetler caught a tip as we were messing around on the cat track home, which left him with a broken collarbone. A couple of hours later, he was headed back to the US as a perfect example of why paying for travel insurance is a smart idea.
So deep and dark, but I stopped and let Pep ski past me. The only frame of eight in which I can identify the skier is WKLV RQH ZKHUH 3HS¡V SROH LV YLVLEOH ,¡P QRW WU\LQJ WR EUDJ ,¡P MXVW WU\LQJ WR tell you all, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Go to Japan and get deep.â&#x20AC;?
PHOTO: BLAKE JORGENSON LOCATION: TROUT LAKE, BC
UP IN THE AIR
WORDS: MEGAN MICHELSON
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AT 22, KYE PETERSEN IS ALREADY ONE OF THE BEST SKIERS OF THIS GENERATION. BUT HERE’S THE THING: HIS BEST YEARS ARE YET TO COME. PHOTO: DAVE HEATH_SHERPAS LOCATION: RETALLACK, BC
Kye Petersen is busy packing for yet another ski trip. It’s late August, and he’s heading to Bolivia with Sherpas Cinema to film a ski mountaineering expedition, the first major trip of this kind that Petersen has ever done. Their objective is to climb and ski 21,122-foot Illimani, the highest peak in the Cordillera Real range and the second highest in the Bolivian Andes. Illimani, a massive, glaciated crest, towers over the skyline of the Bolivian city of La Paz. Kye, at home in Whistler, British Columbia, is collecting a pile of gear for the trip: camping stove, ice ax, crampons, sleeping pad, touring skis, backpack and more. He was invited on the trip just two weeks prior, and he’s spent the days since cramming in as much training as he could, climbing peaks and trail running around Whistler.
“This is a wild opportunity, an out-of-thisworld ski trip for me,” Kye says. “I’ve traveled a lot, but this is my first time at such high altitude. I’m definitely a bit nervous, but I’m going with a bunch of good people, and I’m just going to take it as it comes.” At 22 years old, Kye is already used to getting thrown into experiences that he may or may not be completely prepared for. But in many ways, that’s when he shines, relying on his natural talent as an athlete and a gutsy determination that’s been passed down through his genes. A sponsored freeskier since he was 11, Kye’s star rose once he turned 17, thanks to a standout segment in Teton Gravity Research’s 2007 film, Lost and Found, and a win at the 2009 Red Bull Cold Rush contest. Over the years, he’s appeared in six TGR films and was a featured athlete in Sherpas Cinema’s award-winning 2011 film, All.I.Can. He spent much of last winter filming with the Sherpas around Whistler, Revelstoke and Bella Coola, BC, for their next two-year project, which will premiere in the fall of 2013.
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Kye is a true Renaissance skier, exceptional in various disciplines and nearly always at the top of his game. He can session the park with the most elite slopestyle skiers, casually slash a big-mountain line while throwing 360s off 40-foot cliffs, and climb and ski massive peaks alongside veteran mountaineers. “Kye’s style is pretty aggressive,” says Seth Morrison. “The last time I skied with him, it was in Alaska, the way he wanted it. He was skiing in a new place for himself and letting loose.” Although he’s ducked in and out of the spotlight for over a decade and has often been called one of the most talented skiers of this generation, the truth is, Kye Petersen continues to grow into himself. “I’m still young,” he says. “I have a lot of goals, a lot of things I haven’t had a chance to ski yet. It seems like there’s more than a lifetime of things I want to do. But for some of my objectives, things will start coming together this winter.” All of which is to say, Kye’s real time— the era when he’ll set the benchmark for the highest, the biggest, the best—hasn’t happened yet. But it’s coming soon.
PHOTO: MATTIAS FREDRIKSSON LOCATION: BACKCOUNTRY SNOWCATS, HURLEY PASS, BC
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On February 26, 1996, Trevor, then 34, set out to ski the Exit Couloir in Chamonix, France, a standard route off the Aiguille du Midi for a skier of his caliber. He was skiing the narrow chute alone when an avalanche struck; his body was found two days later. His death left behind his wife, Tanya, his four-year-old daughter, Neve, and his six-year-old son, Kye. After Trevor’s death, the family uprooted their life in BC and moved to Maui, where Kye got into surfing and skateboarding. They moved back to Whistler when Kye was 10, and he got his first pair of twin-tip skis and started venturing into the park, alongside peers Chris Turpin, Dana Flahr, and Sean and Callum Pettit. Within a year, companies like Oakley were floating Kye gear.
At age 14, Kye appeared in his first movie, the Poor Boyz Productions film by Eric Iberg and Tanner Hall WSKI 106, alongside a then 12-year-old Sean Pettit. A year later, at 15, he made his first trip to Chamonix with Glen Plake for the documentary The Edge of Never to ski the same couloir where his father had died.
For years, Kye lived in the shadow of his dad’s reputation. A Sports Illustrated profile on a 15-year-old Kye in 2005 was titled “Here Comes the Son.” Now, although he has his father’s genes and the memory of his dad’s legacy, Kye is his own man, an athlete of his own making. “What makes Kye stand out is his DNA,” says Whistler pro Ian McIntosh. “I see his dad’s drive in him and his skiing is a true reflection of Trevor. It’s rare to see a guy as young as him be so comfortable and skilled in the big-mountain environment, from mountaineering to charging huge faces. Trevor was thought to be one of the best skiers in the world during his time, and Kye is simply a new generation version of his legendary father.” Last January, after four days of relentless storms, the clouds finally broke on Revelstoke’s Mount Mackenzie. Top skiers from around the world had descended on the sleepy town in eastern British Columbia for the newly merged Freeskiing and Freeride World Tour, the first contest of the winter season. Kye had only competed in one Freeride World Tour stop before, in Chamonix in January 2011, where he placed sixth. But as a wild card invite to Revelstoke, he decided to show up. He’d been skiing hard early season around Whistler and was feeling strong. The first day of the bigmountain contest in Revelstoke’s snow-drenched North Bowl, Kye says he set out to take it easy and see how things went.
BLAKE JORGENSON
“Way back then, you would never see an 11-year-old ripping the mountain the way Kye did, so it was a no-brainer to sponsor him at that age,” says Greg Strokes, Oakley’s international ski sports marketing manager. “I was super impressed with how he carried himself at such a young age. I felt like I was talking to an 18-yearold. Kye has always been an all-mountain skier. He ripped in the park back then and skied the mountain with such good style and with confidence.”
“Around that point, I decided that this is what I wanted to do for a long time,” Kye says. “My life would have been totally different if my dad had been around. There are so many ‘what ifs.’ Maybe I would have done other things. Maybe I wouldn’t be a skier. But I think my dad would be proud of where I am now.”
PHOTO: MATTIAS FREDRIKSSON LOCATION: BACKCOUNTRY SNOWCATS, HURLEY PASS, BC
Trevor Petersen was the kind of skier that everyone looked up to. A humble talent and constant explorer, he and Eric Pehota climbed and skied dozens of first descents around BC’s Coast Range throughout the ’80s and ’90s. Trevor was one of Whistler’s many freeskiing legends.
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PHOTO: BRYN HUGHES LOCATION: COAST MOUNTAINS, BC
He nailed his line, hitting a double-stacked cliff at the top, skiing fast and aggressive through the bowl, and then finishing off with two back-to-back 360s. He got the highest score of the day. The next day, on the steep, out-of-bounds Mac Daddy face, he cleaned his run again—a huge 360; fast, fluid turns; and a massive air at the bottom—earning a high enough score to secure the overall win. “I was surprised when I won,” Kye says. “There were so many rad skiers there, it could have been any of them.” Kye’s style in big-mountain terrain is assertive and calculated, but it’s also playful. “I love sending it, but I also love trying to get creative and finding little nooks and side hits and transitions,” he says. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always skied everything on the mountain and adapted to that.”
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Although his film schedule doesn’t allow him to compete in many bigmountain contests, world tour organizers say he’s a natural. “Kye is one of the few top natural talents I’ve witnessed,” says Nicolas Hale-Woods, the director and founder of the Freeride World Tour. “He makes it all look easy, even when he’s throwing a 360 in an exposed area. He reminds me of Candide Thovex in some ways—he has excellent technique, a freestyle approach to looking at a mountain as a playground and a head that follows. My guess is his progression curve is only beginning.”
PHOTO: MATTIAS FREDRIKSSON LOCATION: BACKCOUNTRY SNOWCATS, HURLEY PASS, BC JORGENSON
As for this winter, Kye is still hatching plans. But he wants to do another trip to Northern BC and get on some big lines around Whistler. “Managing risk is such a giant part of being a good skier,” Kye says. “That takes a lot of experience. I’m always learning more and getting more confident. In the backcountry, it’s not the same as learning a new trick in the park—it’s more of a long road and every day, I learn something else.” Kye has finished packing his bags for Bolivia, and it’s time to set out on his next adventure. A chapter that’s totally unknown.
“I look up to my dad a lot,” Kye says. “He did it for the love of skiing. That’s why I do it, too.” P
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Photography: Gabe Rogel
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Flirting with danger requires a good opening line.
marmot.com s facebook.com/marmotpro
Marmot Ski Collection Just one way Marmot helps you bond with nature.
POPULATION (2010) Total 3,152 Rank 262 in Norway Density 4.0/km2 (10/sq mi)
Lyngen, Norway // Page 112
Aksel Lund Svindal is one of the best alpine ski racers in the world, with gold medals at both the 2010 Olympics and World Championships. In his spare time he loves to ski powder. Every spring he JRHV RQ D Ă&#x20AC;OP WULS ZLWK )LHOG Productions and he improves every time. In this photo he skis a steep line by KĂĽfjord.
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The majestic landscape of northern Norway with the fjords diving into the landscape, the sharp mountains jutting out. A vintage boat, remodeled to artisanal perfection, replete with sauna and sleeping quarters. Three RI WKH ZRUOG¡V EHVW ELJ PRXQtain skiers, tourers and ski racers. Plus one helicopter.
Hoji would join Aksel Lund 6YLQGDO DQG (LULN )LQVHWK on the boat for a 10-day mission. They were set to explore the vast waterways looking for lines, with the heli at the ready. A dream trip for even seasoned veterans.
Eric Hjorleifson that he had secured closely held heli-skiing permits in and around Koppangen, Hoji knew he had to be there.
When the crew arrived at Koppangen, they put their skins on and rocketed up to the nearest glacier. What they found was a zone with enough lines to keep them more than happy for the duration of the trip; endless options with a stable snowpack and no further exploration needed. Though the boat served as their hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; which Hoji likened to staying in a backcountry hutâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it never left the dock. The heli
These are the fruits of their ODERU ZLWK 0DWWLDV )UHGULNVson capturing the moments and giving the backstory.
happily bounced them from line to line surrounding the Koppangsbreen glacier. ´,¡YH QHYHU VNLHG WKDW ORQJ ¾ says Hoji, remembering the northern daylight cycle. ´:H ZHUH XS LQ WKH DLU à \ing at 4:30 in the morning. We would land at 10:30 at QLJKW ¾
CAPTIONS AND PHOTOS: MATTIAS FREDRIKSSON
At the Lyngen peninsula in northern Norway, the rugged mountains meet the sea and FUHDWH RQH RI WKH ZRUOG路V PRVW spectacular coastal landscapes. Traveling by boat along the coastline gives access to ski terrain where no road can take you. This place is every ski tourLQJ QHUG路V GUHDP
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DEMONYM_ Lyngsfjerding TIME ZONE_ CET (UTC+1) Summer (DST)_ CEST (UTC+2)
JANUARY -3 FEBRUARY -3 MARCH -0 APRIL 4 MAY 8 JUNE 13 JULY 16 AUGUST 15 SEPTEMBER 11 OCTOBER 4 NOVEMBER 0 DECEMBER -1
AVERAGE YEARLY HIGH TEMPERATURE (C)
This past spring Eric Hjorleifson came to Norway to explore the ski WRXULQJ SRVVLELOLWLHV DQG Ă&#x20AC;OP ZLWK )LHOG 3URGXFWLRQV IRU WKHLU XSFRPing movie. He was blown away by the mountains and had already planned his return trip before leaving the country.
Lyngen, Norway // Page 114
In Norway, wine and liquor is only sold in a monopoly store FDOOHG ´9LQPRQRSROHWÂľ ZKLFK WUDQVlates to â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Wine Monopolyâ&#x20AC;?.
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Lyngen, Norway // Page 115
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COUNTRY_Norway COUNTY_Troms DISTRICT_Nord-Troms MUNICIPALITY CENTRE_Lyngseidet.
The Lyngen Alps are beautiful, but also steep and scary. This is the real deal and no place for mistakes. Eirik Finseth points his skis in the fall line and goes for it.
7KH DOO WLPH KLJK WHPSHUDWXUH in Norway is 96.08ÂşF and was measured in Nesbyen, Buskerud in 1970.
Eirik Finseth sends it mid-line at KĂĽfjord, which is actually located on the mainland overlooking the Lyngen peninsula (in the background of this photo) on the other side of the fjord.
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Lyngen, Norway // Page 117
FISKEBOLLER /E K\VH Ă&#x20AC;OHW GHFLOLWHU KDOYH RJ KDOYH Ă ÂĄWH NRSS melk 2 egg 1 ss maisstivelse 1-ts salt 1/8 -ts hvit pepper
7KHUH DUH D ORW RI ZRUNLQJ Ă&#x20AC;VKLQJ villages on Lyngen. The Lyngen fjord reaches into the Barents Sea DQG KROGV VRPH RI WKH ZRUOG¡V richest stocks of cod, halibut, VWHLQELW DQG FDWĂ&#x20AC;VK 'XULQJ D GRZQ GD\ LW¡V WKH SHUIHFW DFWLYLW\
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Earn your turnsâ&#x20AC;? gets a new meaning in Lyngen. After a 10-hour day ski touring, Eric Hjorleifson boot packed to the top of this line (see his track to the left of his line) and caught the last bit of light on his route down.
AREA Total 812.74 km2 (313.80 sq mi) Land 796.95 km2 (307.70 sq mi) Water 15.79 km2 (6.10 sq mi) Area rank 134 in Norway
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GLEN PLAKE DISCUSSES THE MANASLU TRAGEDY On September 23, skiing icons Glen Plake and Greg Hill were caught in a deadly avalanche on Manaslu in Nepal and survived. At press time, 11 climbers are dead; an account of the incident can be seen at frsk.me/2tb. Plake appeared on Anderson Cooper’s AC360° discussing the incident only hours after disaster struck. The videos (frsk.me/2sq) are among the most-watched features on the site this month.
4FRNT Skis commented on the story via its Facebook account, stating, “Plake, the united ski world is comforted on your survival and mourns the loss equally for those who are still missing. Thanks a lot for speaking about the event. If there was someone capable of surviving and summarizing an event of this magnitude, it’s you.”
COMPETE IN YOUR FIRST BIG-MOUNTAIN COMPETITION For the aspiring big-mountain
competition skiers out there, be sure to check out one of this month’s most-shared features, In Search of Street Cred: The beginners’ guide to big-mountain contests (frsk.me/2ta), written by Freeskier Contributor and TGR athlete, Griffin Post. Griffin reflects on years of competition experience to draw five key pieces of advice for up-and-coming skiers.
Jeremy Cooper, Park and Pipe Team Head Coach at BC Freestyle Ski Association, commented on the site: “Well worth the read, you put together a great article Griffin. In freeskiing as in life, you learn so much along the way that it’s impossible to try and figure it out in just one or a few days. Take your time, love what you do, always try your best and ski with your friends because at the end of the day that’s what makes skiing hard so much fun. Sharing the stoke of skiing from dawn till dusk and respecting the power the mountains hold over all of us mortals.” Korbin Walden, a student at South Lake Tahoe Community College also chimed in on the conversation, commenting, “Great read for me, this will be my first season competing in freeskiing comps up at Kirkwood! Thanks for the advice.”
ALL OF THE YEAR’S BEST GEAR IN ONE PLACE
Freeskier.com/gear is teeming with activity daily, as people browse the hundreds of gear reviews and check out our Editor’s Picks for 2013. Need skis? Be sure to check out our top 10 all-mountain skis for 2013 (frsk.me/2pi). On that page, you’ll find links to the top 10 powder skis, top 10 big-mountain skis, top 10 park skis and top 10 microbrew skis. Joe Turner, Owner-Operator at Ski South West Montana, commented on the site: “I think ‘ski reviews’ should be about the ‘all skis and their overall performance’ and not what companies paid for their products to be put in the mag!” In response to Joe’s comment, we note: “Freeskier doesn’t charge manufacturers to come to the Ski Test. It is completely free for any brand to bring skis. (Some
other mags do charge, though.) A couple companies each year don’t make it to the test, for one reason or another. The results of the test are based entirely off of the scores given by our team of awesome ski testers. They don’t care about the brand name on the topsheet, they just want to know what skis are best. This is how our Editor’s Picks are chosen. The Freeskier Buyer’s Guide features a Brand Guide—this year featured on pages 181-238. The Brand Guide is a place where manufacturers can showcase their product. Those are not reviews and are not eligible for Editor’s Pick status. We take a lot of pride in producing the best skiing buyer’s guide in the game and want to be sure everyone knows how it all goes down.”
HOT GIRLS IN BIKINIS
Also popular this month is the skis.com model search contest. At press time, more than 140 girls have entered for a shot at becoming the model featured in skis.com’s 2013 ad campaign. To enter or to check out the babes, head to skis.com/modelsearch.
ALL-NEW WEBSITE
Staying ahead of the digital world and staying connected with our readers is a point of pride for us at Freeskier. That’s why in September, we launched a brand new website, nine months in the making, loaded with features you won’t find anywhere else, like huge photo galleries and videos, the most expansive ski gear guide and snow reporting and weather services for every resort in North America. Plus, the new site is custom-tailored for everything from your mom’s PC to your shiny new iPhone 5. David Amirault, Interactive Marketing Manager at Aspen/Snowmass, says, “Big ups to everyone involved. New responsive design works great on all my devices. Keep slaying.” And slay we will, Mr. Amirault.
SCAN TO WATCH THE VIDEO
SIX ISSUES of FREESKIER In September, Tahoe-native Michelle Parker was picked up by Red Bull. “There are so many opportunities to better yourself as an athlete, a creator, a human, the list goes on with Red Bull,” Parker said. “I suppose that I am most excited about the endless opportunities they provide. It’s really exciting.” Michelle joins recent signings Nick Goepper and Kai Mahler for the energy drink.
maintaining separate identities for both 4FRNT and ROXA. “As skiers, we realize boots are critically important,” says 4FRNT’s Matt Sterbenz. “While our heart will always be in developing ski shapes, the opportunity ahead, to participate in the advancement of boot technology from a freeskiing perspective, is one we are collectively psyched to pursue.” Park City Mountain Resort added US Freeskiing team member Jen Hudak to the program. Salomon snatched up big-mountain slayer Josh Daiek. Chris Davenport made the move from Garmont boots to Scarpa for all his mountaineering adventures. And Nike has signed Kevin Rolland, its first European, to join the program. The contract extension department is fairly healthy with a number of re-ups. Alex Schlopy and Nordica agreed on a two-year extension. Blizzard and Tecnica retained Aidan Sheahan’s services, while Patagonia added the Aspenite to its roster.
$8.99
SHAY WILLIAMS
BEN MEESTER
Full Tilt has been busy recently, signing Henrik Harlaut and Phil Casabon to the boot program. The duo recently tore up Freestyle.ch, with the former winning and the latter taking third. Full Tilt will also be producing 500 pairs of limited edition boots in collaboration with Level 1 Productions. The boots went on sale October 15 and are available at Full Tilt dealers, fulltiltboots.com and the Level 1 store in Denver, CO.
for just
+ EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL ISSUES CORRECTIONS Ouch, we noticed a couple more mistakes in the 2013 Buyer’s Guide. On page 110 we printed the 2011/12 version of the BCA Float 22 Airbag pack. Shown here is the 2012/13 iteration. And on page 82 we called out the Patagonia women’s Rubicon Rider jacket and Insulated Snowbelle pant. Unfortunately, we published images of the wrong outerwear, so shown here is the correct gear. Visit freeskier.com/gear for all the gear reviews and up to date information.
JOSH BERMAN
N O W O N i T U N E S N E W S S TA N D
In other Level 1 news, founder Josh Berman and his wife Lindsey welcomed Forrest Berman to their family on October 8th, in Denver, CO. “He’s already working on hand strength and should be pressing the record button on a second angle for us in no time,” said Berman. Congratulations to the happy couple.
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION. 1. Publication title: FREESKIER 2. Publication number: 024-094 3. Filing date: 10/01/12 4. Issue frequency: 6x: monthly September thru February 5. Number of issues published annually: six 6. Annual price: $9.95 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: PO Box 789, Niwot, CO 80544 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: PO Box 789, Niwot, CO 80544 9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor and managing editor: Publisher Bradford Fayfield, PO Box 789, Niwot, CO 80544; Editor Matt Harvey, same address; Managing Editor Matt Harvey, same address. 10. Owner: Storm Mountain Publishing Company, PO Box 789, Niwot, CO 80544; Stockholder Bradford W. Fayfield, PO Box 789, Niwot, CO 80544 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: None 12. Tax status: Not Applicable 13. Publication title: FREESKIER 14. Issue date for circulation data below: Sept. 2012 15. Extent and nature of circulation: Average No. copies of each issue during preceding 12 months. No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date a. Total number of copies (net press run): 58,929; 66,300 b. Legitimate paid/requested distribution (by mail and outside the mail) 1) Outside county paid/ requested mail subscriptions stated on PS form 3541: 22,540; 25,458 2) In-county paid/requested mail subscriptions stated on PS form 3541: 0; 0 3) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, and counter sales: 4,136; 9,116 4) Requested copies distributed by other mail classes through the USPS: 0; 0 c. Total paid and/or requested circulation: 26,676; 34,574 d. Non-requested distribution (by mail and outside the mail) 1) Outside county non-requested copies stated on PS form 3541: 7,949; 8,250 2) Incounty non-requested copies stated on PS form 3541: 0; 0 3) Non-requested copies distributed through the USPS by other classes of mail: 0; 0 4) Non-requested copies distributed outside the mail: 2,285; 4,306 e. Total non-requested distribution: 10,234; 12,556 f. Total distribution: 36,910; 47,130 g. Copies not distributed: 22,019; 19,170 h. Total: 58,929; 66,300 i. Percent paid/requested circulation: 72%; 73% 16. Total Circulation does NOT include electronic copies 17. Publication of statement of ownership is required and will be printed in the December 2012 issue of this publication. 18. Signature and title of editor, publisher, business manager, or owner: Bradford W. Fayfield, Owner/CEO. Date: 10/01/12. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).
Canadian pro Matt Margetts recently swapped K2 skis for Volkl. “It was a long process but we finally sealed the deal,” said Margetts. “I am very excited to be supported by a company that believes in me. I am so excited to start this new chapter in my career.” Eira will have a new team manager in Peter Olenick. “I am very excited to be working even closer with the Eira team. It will be awkward the day I have to fire myself,” joked Olenick. Peter will be pulling double duty as TM and an athlete for the foreseeable future. Upping its clout in hardgoods, 4FRNT has reached a deal to become the North American distributor for ROXA, an Italian boot manufacturer. In addition to distribution, the Salt Lake City based company will be involved in branding, product development and consultation, while
PG. 122
[ FREESKIER |
| WIRE ]
THE RULES:
This is a battle of two minds. No physical prowess necessary. Cheating not allowed. No Google, no Wikipedia, no smart friends. No set time limit, but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take forever, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not rocket science. Points are awarded at the discretion of -YLLZRPLY Z[HÉ&#x2C6; In the event of a tieâ&#x20AC;Ś well, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a tie. Winner does not move on, this is a one issue deal.
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0U ^OH[ *HUHKPHU WYV]PUJL JHU `V\ Ă&#x201E; UK Lake Louise Ski Resort?
LOGAN Ontario.
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Was it Bobby?
To date, how many Winter X Games competitions have been held globally?
20. [1 pt.]
In outerwear, what does the abbreviation DWR stand for?
Durable Wearâ&#x20AC;Ś I dunno. French. [1 pt.]
What language does the word après come from? What is the world record time for solving a Rubikâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cube? (Closest to the answer)
Oh itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something crazy fast. Four seconds? [1 pt.]
In the movie Dumb and Dumber,what was Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last name?
Wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it Mary Jane?
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650,000. [1 pt.]
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30. [1 pt.]
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19â&#x20AC;Ś. 82? McConkey.
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Ontario. Goepper. 16. Durable Water Repellant. [1 pt.] French. [1 pt.]
12 seconds. Samsonite! Just kidding, Swanson. [1 pt.] 1,000,000.
12. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m gonna go with 1973. No idea who won.
3 pts.
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ANSWERS:
01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10.
THE
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SKIER: CODY TOWNSEND PHOTO: BRYN HUGHES LOCATION: STEWART, BC
“The thing about tricking off natural terrain is that most of the time you can’t see the takeoff, you usually don’t know how far you’re going to travel and you never know exactly what the snow will be like below. It’s like trying to hit a home run without ever seeing the pitcher, not knowing the distance to the wall and never knowing exactly when
PG. 130
[ FINAL THOUGHT |
to swing. As you can probably gather, what I’m trying to say is that throwing tricks off of natural terrain is a hard proposition with a low probability of success. On the other hand, sometimes you can just be a total gaper, underrotate an easy backflip and land on your head like a total moron.” —Cody Townsend
| FREESKIER ]
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