Snowfix : skiing & snowboarding video podcast

As we (probably shouldn’t have) mentioned on the last episode, the free-skiing super-god TJ Schiller has moved from Armada skis to brand-new-brand Coreupt!

Check out the full-team and their skis at www.coreupt.com/

Snowfix have teamed up with Jack Wills to create a global tour of EPIC proportions!

We have decided here at Snowfix HQ that we have spent enough time loitering the slopes of Europe and it is now high time we started slashing punters and licking 1-pieces on the other side of the pond.

So in December this year we are flying over to Vancouver and road-tripping from Whistler down to Aspen.

Now, seeing as our viewers have been so good at providing us with photos and feedback over the years we have decided we are going to make it up to you by throwing a MONSTER PARTY at each resort we visit! And every single one of are you are invited!

Also, because we have linked up with Jack Wills we are going to have a truck-load of exclusive Snowfix Tour t-shirts to give out along the way, to those people who come along and party the hardest!

We are not forgetting about our roots here in Europe, afterwards we are going to be touring the resorts of Austria, France and Switzerland. So no matter which your local mountain is, at some point we won’t be too far away!

Check out the tour dates below:

USA / Canada

• 9 - 12 December 2008: Whistler, British Columbia
• 14 - 16 December: Big Sky, Moonlight Basin
• 17 December: Yellowstone Club, Wyoming
• 18 - 21 December: Aspen, Colorado

Europe

• 4 - 5 January 2009: St. Anton, Austria
• 6 - 7 January: Verbier, Switzerland
• 8 - 13 January: France (Meribel, Courchevel 1800, Val d’Isere, Tignes, Val Thorens)

But it is not like us to make an announcement without some sort of competition, so what we want you guys to do is tell us all your local inside knowledge of the resorts we are visiting. From the best pistes, parks and backcountry secret spots. To the best local bars, local people and hangover recovery eateries!

What’s more, as we come from such a small island, we are feeling a little under prepared by the vastness of our road-trip. So tell us the best ways to kill time, games to play and pranks to keep the journey fun.

Keep it unique and imaginative, and the best ideas will receive a tour t-shirt without even having to leave the safety of the twinkling computer screen!
BUT WAIT, there is a SUPER-prize of Olympic Gold proportions, being a long sleeve T from the first big event of the season Freestyle.ch signed by all your favourite riders! Watch Snowfix #068 to see who has tagged the top.

Send your entries to snowfix@negativegravity.co.uk

SEE YOU ON TOUR!

If you decide you’re going to do something new, you might as well make the experience a memorable one. So that’s why to celebrate the eagerly awaited launch of DC Snowboards in the UK, DC just had to do it right, and what better way than an official ‘Throw Down’ during one of the biggest weeks in the UK snow calendar. Together with Snowboard Club UK, who is celebrating its 4th Birthday, DC and SCUK will be throwing what’s known in the trade as, a ‘MASH UP’ of biblical proportions at The Fire Station, Hammersmith on Friday 24th October.

DC will also be laying down the red carpet to welcome several mystery pro freestylers to the UK, with early rumours suggesting Devun Walsh and Iikka Backstrom could be gracing us all. They’ll be signing posters, t-shirts and no doubt a host of inappropriate items at the Snow & Rock stand (No. 435) during the Metro Show (Information about dates and times to follow, so keep your eyes peeled) and then they’ll be moving onto the more serious business of getting loaded with the mob at The Fire Station and showing us their moves off the hill and on the dancefloor.

The evening will kick off with a chance to watch the UK premiere of Mack Dawg’s highly anticipated anniversary movie, “Double Decade”. Since ‘secret’ was the name of the game for this project, you’ll have to come along and find out for yourself, but what we can disclose is that legendary snowboard moments await you with a concentration of up to date freestyle manoeuvres from some of the best riders out there including, DC’s very own Devun, Lauri, Aaron and Iikka. Destined to become one of the best snowboard films ever produced, the premiere of Double Decade is not to be missed.

As the movie credits roll, the evening transcends seamlessly into a hotbed of cranking beats. Making you bop like Lionel - all night long, DC musical envoys, “Funk Royale” have been flown in from their collective corners of the globe to throw-down a block-rocking jam that sees DJ’s Christian Stevenson, Ben Bailey, Matt Smooth and MC Tukka step up with a mix of raw soul, deep funk, breaks and hip hop to induce a highly infectious strain of bug-out fever into the deadest of feet, along with SCUK resident DJ, TonyB.

And the good times don’t stop there folks, as for those wishing to expand their palate beyond the conventional pint of beer there’ll be free shots up for grabs throughout the evening…we recommend you book now to avoid disappointment!

When

Friday 24th October, 2008, 9pm – 2am (Metro Show 11am – 10pm)
9pm – 10pm: Mack Dawg, Double Decade Premiere
10pm – 11pm: DJ Tony B
11pm – 2am: Funk Royale

Where

The Fire Station, 244 Shepherds Bush Rd, London, W6 7NL (100m from Hammersmith Tube Station, 10mins walk from Metro Show at Olympia).

Tickets

£7 (£6 to SCUK members) - www.snowboardclub.co.uk.

Or buy it with the Metro Show ticket for £14 total at www.seetickets.com/skishow/.

LAAX announces the date for the EUROPEAN FREESKI OPEN by SWATCH 2009: March 17 – 21, 2009

The organizer and hosting resort LAAX is proud to announce the date for the EUROPEAN FREESKI OPEN by SWATCH 2009. For the fourth time in a row the season highlight of European freeski sport will take part from March 17 – 21, 2009 in LAAX, Switzerland.

About 200 competitors from all over the world are expected to show their skills in slopestyle and halfpipe, riding for a total prize-money amount of US$ 50.000. All action will happen in the contest area around Crap Sogn Gion mountain, side-events and live-concerts in the valley will complete the programme.

The open format offers all amateur riders the opportunity to participate in the same contest like international invited freeski-pros. Among the former EFO winners are e.g. Virginie Faivre/SUI, Sarah Burke/CAN, Simon Dumont/USA, Candide Thovex/FRA, PK Hunder/NOR, Jossi Wells/NZE, Russell Henshaw/AUS and Mike Riddle/USA. For further information check out www.laax.com/freeskiopen.

28th March - 4th April, Laax, Switzerland

Celebrating its 20th Birthday next year, Europe’s ultimate and longest established winter festival leaves adolescence well behind, as The BRITSprepares to hit, jib and tweak its twenties in style. Returning to the premiere freestyle resort of Laax, Switzerland from the 28th March to 4th April 2009, The BRITS is back for an unmissable winter week. As quoted by BBC Ski Sunday presenter, Ed Leigh “The BRITS is Glastonbury meets the FA Cup final on snow, and that’s one hell of a recipe for entertainment”.

Over the past two decades, thousands of like-minded folk have descended upon The BRITS to join in the worship of all things snow and music and score the best winter week of their lives. Born back in 1989 at Sheffield Ski Village, The BRITS has since dropped in on 14 alpine resorts, played host to internationally acclaimed DJ’s and artists, crowned over 130 British Champions and delivered more than its fair share of sun-burn along the way. 2008 witnessed the biggest and best BRITS to date and we’re not letting that stop us, we’re raising the bar even higher for next year’s double decade celebrations.

Stretched across Laax’s mountains, pristine snowparks, new hotels, bars and nightclubs, The BRITS 2009 will see more great live bands, acoustic sets, unforgettable parties, Home Run style antics and inspirational World-class riding. Offering riders prestigious 3-STAR TTR World ranking points, The BRITS unites kids, rookies, pros and Olympians to compete in the SNO!zone Halfpipe, Quiksilver Big Air, Animal Slopestyle and Trespass Snowboardcross / Skiercross disciplines.

Come join in the fun and festivities with unbeatable packages out to The BRITS now available and starting from as little as £239* which includes 7 nights’ accommodation, 6 days lifts pass and most importantly your BRITS event pack and wristband: your very own Willy Wonka golden ticket to a world of melodic revelry and resort privileges.

So, to be part of this legendary event, and keep up to date with the latest music, acts, parties and competition schedules, including the unmissable BRITS 20th Birthday Bash, get your riding legs on, dancing shoes ready and get booking: www.brits09.com

The world’s best snowboarders and skiers will be coming to London to take part in the UK’s biggest ever Big Air competition as part of the Freesport on 4 Freeze snow and music festival.

The event will be held at the old Battersea Power Station in London, England from the 23rd to the 26th October.

Among other things, the event will feature:

• 17m table top real snow jump
• The LG London Snowboard Big Air Event, part of the LG FIS World Cup
• $25,000 prizefund for the riders, who in the past have included Stefan Gimpl, Iikka Baeckstroem and David Benedek
• International Freestyle Ski Event featuring riders such as Tanner Hall and TJ Schiller
• British Championship with the top performers going through to the main event
• Grass-Roots Air Bag Finals
• 10,000 person capacity tent hosting the best live music on offer in the UK
• Apres ski bars bringing the real feel of the mountains to England. Let’s hope for Mutzig.
• Ski village with shops for buying everything you need for the new season

If you’re planning on going, join the event on Facebook and you’ll be alerted with news and when tickets are available.

We really do have another episode of Summer Snowfix coming soon, but in the meantime, feast your eyes on these brand new highlights from the world’s only BMX dirt slopestyle event, the Red Bull Empire of Dirt 2008.

Brownie points for whoever spots a previous Snowfix guest, who taught Tim a thing or two about 360s, boxes and combining the two.

Saturday 26th July, 2008 – Today Corey Bohan (AUS) conquered one of the most insane BMX courses ever constructed, to be crowned winner of Red Bull Empire of Dirt 2008. It wasn’t easy: forty of the world’s best BMX riders descended on Devon and for the last two days have competed for one of the most desirable prizes in BMX: winner of the world’s first BMX dirt slopestyle competition.

After last year’s was cancelled due to poor weather conditions, this year’s competition and course exceeded all expectations. 5,000 people negotiated the tight lanes, flocking to a small field to witness the gravity defying tricks on the 400m long dirt and wood course. From the very first practice session on Tuesday afternoon all the way through to today’s final the standard has been sky high… just like many of the tricks!

Yesterday 33 riders started the qualifiers and by the end of the day the number had been whittled down to an excited 16. The finals read like a who’s who of the BMX world. In the Super Final it came down to just four men, and after one spectacular run each it was Aussie powerhouse Corey Bohan (92.67) narrowly beating US legend Gary Young (91.00). Another Australian Dane Searle grabbed third with 90.67 with event creator and Devon-local hero Kye Forte taking the last spot on the podium with a score of 86 after crashing on this run.

Kye Forte said: “At this event I’m a rider and an event organiser so it was hard to juggle both, especially after qualifying first yesterday. On the start ramp, for the Super Final, there was a lot of pressure on me and I knew Corey, Gary and Dane were going to go full out to take top spot. I tried to step it up, took a risk, and crashed in my run but it was an amazing event and I’m really happy everyone had such a good time. It was rad.”

The construction of the Red Bull Empire of Dirt course took three months alone and it is the only one of its kind on the planet. The course required 10,000 tonnes of dirt to sculpt the huge dirt superpipe, massive double jumps, hip, wall rides, and the many other features which have never before been combined.

Red Bull Empire of Dirt will be broadcast in a one hour Freesports on 4 program on Channel 4 on Sunday 3rd August at 8am (Channel 4+1 at 9am).

So we have just been at the ISPO (huge tradeshow for next seasons gear) in Munich. Like last year here is preview from most of the brands. At the bottom of this post is a download for a load more pictures and be sure to check out the next episode for a full review of the event!

Click on each image for the large version.

4FRNT

Apo - Now do skis!

Atomic

Dynastar

Elan

Faction - These have to be my pick for best new designs!

Fischer

Lib Tech - Technically not skis, these are “Narrow Ass Snowboards!”

Line

Movement

Salomon

Scott

Click here for a load more pictures, and make sure you watch episode 56 for loads more previews!

We’ve just added another way you can keep up to date with Snowfix and catch up on the latest videos - if you’ve got a Facebook account (and who doesn’t these days?), hit the link below and add us to your TV shows.

You can leave us messages, watch videos, write reviews and support the show telling your friends about it.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=14177600353

Make sure you join our ‘Page’ and not the group as that’s old news… Though you could join both of course.

We’ve just received reports on our advanced newswire (OK, my email) that Morzine, our resort in the French Alps, has had it’s first day of snow! We’d already heard other places like Zurich and several places across Canada and the US have had some decent snow, so looks like we may be in for a good season…

Let us know in the comments if you’ve already had snow in your area. And if you haven’t already, hit the subscribe link on the site to get the latest episodes and updates as soon as they’re released.

Guys, one of our viewers Pierre has entered a competition where he can win a customised campervan, which he promises to get branded with Snowfix! We really want him to win and until today he had climbed up to first place. However out of nowhere a new contestant has entered and somehow stolen it!

Please, please, can you all click on his myspace link and then vote for him!!

http://www.myspace.com/pierrecardoso

So unforetunately no episode this week, but for a very good reason! We are partying hard at Snowbombing in Mayrhofen. Lots of action and highlights going to be in next weeks episode, so stay tuned!

How I injured myself - unfortunately not as exciting as a ‘groin’ injury could be…

The video makes it look like a pretty lame crash but I can assure you it was quite painful afterwards!

So, just got back from the Candide Invitation, which ROCKED!

Just an incredible course, the biggest kicker I reckon I’ve ever seen (45m apparently), and some really interesting features. The first day was awesome, changeable weather but some good sunny spells. And then there was a nighttime Jib session, where we saw Candide throwing a corked 810 onto a rail! There was a couple of pretty nasty crashes, but other than that great atmosphere. Candide just wanders around like a god, which I’m starting to think he pretty much is!

Today was a bit of a shame because the weather was shit, really bad visability. So they had to cancel the super kicker again, which meant that noone actually got to hit it, and everything was pretty much done by 3pm. But a great event all in all, make sure you check out Wednesday’s show for the footage, in the meantime here’s a few pics:

photos by Ben Burnett

Candide was the only person I saw attempt this and he just nailed it first time……job done, move on!

Ahh the Octograb….not Gagnier this time, although I think I did see him ripping about.

?!?!? As I said, some pretty cool features!

Just been at a party over at the Boomerang bar in Les Gets. They filled the bar with snow and had a surfboard as a box and built the snow against a car for a quarterpipe. Oooh the ‘crazy’ things seasonnaires get up to in spring!

Great atmosphere and at 3 euros a pint, we were laughing!