Jon Olsson Super Sessions
For those of you that have not heard of Jon Olsson Super Sessions or Jon Olsson for that matter..quit riding! Just kidding. But, I do hope you’ve heard of him. Jon Olsson is a super pro freestyle skier and racer. He’s been hot on the scene for years and doesn’t do too badly for himself seeing as he drives a Lambo to the hill. Anyways, several years ago Jon started his own competition called the Jon Olsson Invitational because he was fed up with formats and poorly built features of other comps. This competition has turned into JOSS.
JOSS has been voted as the most prestigious freeskiing event of the season. In this competition 21 of the world’s best freeskiers and 12 of the world’s finest ski film makers work together in 7 different teams, representing 7 nations. The teams are: Sweden, Norway, Europe, Down Under, Newschoolers, USA and Canada. Each team consists of 5 people, 2 filmers, 2 pro skiers and a rookie skier. The rookie is new for this year and the only condition to classify as a rookie is that you haven´t participated in X-games before 2010.
The teams have 264 hours to let out their creativity on the features in and around Åre including urban features. The goal is to put together the most amazing and entertaining 5-minute edit. There’s a healthy cash prize and winner takes it all.
The teams’ efforts will be unveiled at the Mix Megapol Arena in front of a massive audience. This venue is somewhat of a gala night. Different nominations and awards are handed out here but instead of rewarding the best sound etc the best trick is rewarded, the most spectacular crash etc. All the 5-minute edits are shown and the judges will present the winner of JOSS 2010.
Keep it real Grouse,
Eric Beckstead
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You Look Good
This weekend, the Seymour stop of the ‘You Look Good Riders Cup’ went off. A course consisting of one rail hit (3 options) and 2 jumps was the venue for professional and amateur snowboarders from all over the world. One mentionable result is Grouse’s own Kevin Dzah brought home first place in the Grom (12 and under) category. The rest of the results can be seen at www.youlookgood.ca.
I, of course, was out taking pictures, here are some of the better shots from the day.
Seymour local, Kyle Jasper, on the second jump
Huge method over the last jump
Big back 1 with some style
That’s all for now,
Frodo.
Go Pro!
Have you ever claimed an epic line just to be shot down by non-believers? Or wanted to have your own personal filmer but no one’s down to miss out on laps? Well, the new Go Pro Hero is basically the best POV camera money can buy. It records on SD cards, is shockproof and waterproof, so you can take the gnarliest of falls and know you got the footy! The only real disadvantage to this camera seems to be the lithium-based AAA batteries, which it kills quickly, but that aside, this camera is the only way to go for you POV fans out there.
Check out Tom Wallisch absolutely slaying some runs at the Breckenridge Dew Tour stop, entirely shot on GoPro cams mounted on a ski pole and the helmet of the man himself.
Keep it real Grouse!
Eric Beckstead
Outdoor Graduation Bail Scenes
Hi,
This is from Voleurz:
We put together a montage of less-than-par clips from 2009. Usually big fancy super-corporations like us would hide such footage as this, but the humor got the best of us.
So here it is… kersmashes, ball-boinkers, snaps, crackles and some pops from the film Outdoor Graduation:
Love,
Chuck
Happy New Year!!
So finally 2010 is here to stay, snow is on the slopes, skis and boards on our feet…or at least thats where they should be…and if that’s the case, then there should also be smiles on our faces!
I thought to kick off the 2010 season, I’d share one of my personal favourite 08/09 season edits, thus ending last season with good vibes and starting this one with the same vibes and limitless possiblities for the upcoming year.
Gus Kentworthy broke his collar bone during one of the Dew tour stops recently.. here is the self edit result of his boredom.
Keep it real Grouse!
Eric Beckstead
Sunny Days and Fast Laps in Quik Park
The Quiksilver Terrain Park is running stronger than ever as we’re nearing the end of 2009. The sun has been shining almost every day and winter break has brought a few new faces to the mountain. I’m not in much of a writing mood as I’m about to head up the mountain, so I’ll let my photos do the talking. Enjoy.
Corey Mcintosh sending a cork 5 over the jump
James Anderson with a tail 720 over the jump
Park Crew Ryan Belich with a backside 180 off the pole-jam
Grousepark's own Sam Masih sending it off the pole-jam
That’s all for now,
Frodo.
Park Skiing and Ben Neil
Throughout my 2.5 seasons of skiing park, I have noticed quite a few things that I think separate park skiers from the rest of the ski industry. Aside from the obvious one of skiing in terrain parks and making use of having tips on both ends of our skis, we also have a very unique dress code that makes most of us easy to pick out of a crowd. The ‘gangster’ trend has completely taken over park skiing. Having a jacket that reaches your knees is no longer looked at as stupid and un-functional, but rather stylish and cool. With a jacket that big, baggy pants are a necessity to keep things looking proportional. As always though, there are some people who go against the trend and wear tight pants, which are slowly making their rise to popularity.
Along with the fashion side of things, we park riders also seem to have more of a ‘connection’ on the hill. Whenever I’m skiing the park alone, I can almost always find someone to do laps with. Whether I know the person well, or even know them at all, we share the common interest of park skiing. This was one of the things that probably kept me interested in the park scene back when I first started out. If my memory serves me well, this is how I started skiing with Ben Neil about 2-3 seasons ago. Ben got into the park skiing scene a season before me, and I remember in my early days before I got to know Ben, thinking to myself, ‘I wish I could ski that well.’ Well it’s 3 years later and Ben is still way ahead of me in the park, but that never stops us from having fun skiing together.
With that being said, Ben and I (along with a few others) spent Saturday doing photo-laps in the park and managed to come out with quite a few shots that I personally am very happy with. Here are the final results.
The man himself
Grabbed 3 over the jump
Corked 7 over the jump
Mid S rail
Small tail press on the down rail
That’s all for now,
Frodo.
Good Vibes
Hey all,
So its finally here. Winter break! Well, for some of us at least. For me, this is a time of shredding, relaxing and then…more shredding of course! Here’s a video by Tim Pierce, the man shooting for Winter of Wells. If this doesn’t get you hyped on riding hard all break, I don’t know what will! Its called Tim Pierce Showreel 2009. Check it out.
Keep it real Grouse!
Happy shredding from Eric B
Quiksilver Terrain Park
The season is already over a month in and it is nice to see Grouse Mountain’s park crew keeping things rolling smoothly with the Quiksilver Terrain Park already being loaded with features and operational from top to bottom. In previous years, it seemed Grouse’s park struggled a bit at keeping good flow throughout the park features. Last year saw quite an improvement and this year is already even better. It seems the only thing the park lacks at the moment is a jump line. But only mother nature can be blamed for that as more snow is definitely needed for jumps at this point. But even with only 1 jump in the park so far, the rail lines are doing a very good job of keeping everyone satisfied. So here you have it, some pictures of the lone jump and current rail features in the park. Enjoy.
Tomas Gibson on the Tram Rail
An Unknown Skier with a Tail 180. If this is you, leave your name in the comments.
Spencer Watson with a Gap to Tap over the C-rail
Shayan tweaking a mellow Japan Air
Peter Warkentin mid Tram Rail, trying to get fanny packs back in style.
Frodo.