Burton European Open Blog

Jan 29 2007 / LAAX, Switzerland

Friday 26th Jan 2007.

 

8.30 am. Snowboard contests - they test your liver man. Last night's Mexican wrestling show, followed by The Locos - a Spanish Punk Ska band (a genre I didn't really know existed) - was one of those epic sessions that can cause a lot of regret the morning after. Luckily, most of the crew here at the Burton European Open were as heavily involved as I was, so I think the general vibe as we made our merry way up the lift to the pipe contest could be described as hungover. And to prove that there's still a healthy rock and roll spirit instilled in the modern version of our sport, that included at least 50 percent of the rider list too. Maybe they'd been drinking cokes for every beer I had? But there was no way I'd have fancied hitting anything more than a few gentle kickers today, so much respect from my part was being dished out to the crew who were gonna put on a show for the day. Anyway, I got to the top of the hill to find that the sweet powder we've been hitting for the last couple of days had replenished itself. And to make matters even better, the sun was making a pretty regular appearance. Yes! The first epic powder day of the season was on the cards. Come on!

 

 

10.00 am. With the precision the Swiss are famed for, the girl's pipe training kicked off. I stayed around long enough to check out a few runs before the lure of the powder got too much and I had to sneak off for a cheeky run. Cheryl Maas was looking pretty tech, but there seemed to be a new crew of riders that I hadn't really come across before who were looking super strong. Ellery Hollingsworth from the US was using the pipe practice to get some serious height, as was France's Anne Sophie Pellissier, but it was clearly the Aussie might of Holly Crawford that was holding the crowd's attention. When she dropped in it was like when Terje or Shaun White takes a run. Pretty much everyone within range stopped what they were doing and watched in awe as she threw down easily the highest airs of the girls division, mixed with some back to back 7's and a couple of sick McTwists. She's definitely looking the strongest here. But like I said - the powder got the better of me, and I headed down to get some face shots and to try and blow the cobwebs off this hangover. What is it about cold powder and exercise that gets rid of a good headache? After one run I realised I was here to do a job, so headed back to the pipe to check out more of the action. Actually, I'm calling it the pipe, but I should mention that its full title is the Crap Sogn Gion Superpipe, which has to go down in history as the craziest name I've ever come across. Not that the rest of the mountain has a more sensible moniker. In this region of Switzerland, pretty much everything has the prefix of 'Crap' leading to the slightly ridiculous situation where Laax has a 'Crap Bar', a whole area given the title of 'Crap Mountain', and there's the ever-appetizing 'Crap Restaurant' where the 'Crap Team' (they've got a uniform with the words printed on the back) serves your every whim. As you can imagine, for English speakers, it’s like a mecca.

 

 

11.00 am. The girl's semi final got underway with Holly looking by far the strongest in the field. As ever, the crowds at the No Name Cafe were on fine form, sipping fine coffee, swapping stories from the night before, and occasionally stopping to watch the action in the pipe below. This is the first day they'd installed the huge video screens, so from the terrace vantage point you could check out the riding live, then watch every hit in slow mo on the screens. A very pleasant way to view a snowboard contest I can happily report. Especially if you want to solve potential arguments over whether you’ve just seen a backside 7 or a 9?

 

 

11.30 am. Talk all week had centered around the planned media contest. Basically, each of the snowboard mags had been asked to put together a field of riders, and in between the women's and the men's semi finals, there was a mini contest held on an impromptu spine ramp, and a quarterpipe-to-bench. Burton team manager Hasi got on the MC duties, with TTR Head Honcho (an apt title given that he was wearing a sombraro and had grown himself a handle-bar moustache) helping out with the odd jibe, and letting the assembled crowd know it was Australia Day. Most mags had commandeered a pro rider (Pleasure Magazine had Xavier Hoffman, while Method Mag roped-in Tyler Chorlton) and after what can only be described as a total ramshackle affair, a crew known only as 'The Locals' took the top spot ahead of the 'Method Mag Gaylords'. When it came to the prize giving, Method Mag's Jason Horton hijacked the event, spraying the champagne with a war cry of 'I've always wanted to do this!" You've never seen so many photographers run so fast as their expensive flash equipment got a good dousing. Maybe there was some revenge in there? Either way, the comp was a funny insert into the day and gave the BEO a mellow vibe for the rest of the afternoon.

 

12.00 pm. Right on cue, the men's Superpipe semifinal got underway. With the occasional snow shower drifting through, there was an element of luck going on for the riders. And with the live TV feed on the go, when you had to drop you had to drop- no waiting for the clouds to move past. Early standouts included the UK's Dan Wakeham, dressed head to toe in an almost fluorescent green outfit (it almost lit up the pipe when he rode through the fog), who was the only rider to take the full drop-in. His first hit frontside 7's were as high as most straight airs. After 45 minutes though it was clear that all eyes were on either Markus Keller, the Swiss ripper with a similarly bright outfit and a super-smooth style. Markus's frontside ally-oops were the stuff of legend. Yeah it's only a 360, but with height and style it's one of those timeless tricks that just makes you want to snowboard. It'd be a shame if snowboard contests went the same was as ice skating or another judged sport, where the contestants simply span to win, and used some phony hand gestures or whatever to inject some style into their runs. With people like Markus in the mix, throwing tricks like that into an otherwise super-tech run, it's good to know we're probably still on track.

 

12.47 pm. I made a mental note to mention the Finnish rider Peetu Piirionen. He won last year's Slopestyle contest, which was quite an event due to the fact that he took down such riders as David Benedek and Joni Malmi, and also because he was only 16 at the time. A year later, and he's filled out a bit more, and has some serious style to go with his obvious fearless runs. Without doubt he was pushing the highest frontside indy's of the session. And yeah yeah - if you want to call them just frontside airs that's fine, but I think the distinction needs to be made between whether you're grabbing or not, so I'm sticking to my guns on that name. Anyway, ramblings aside - keep an eye out for Peetu, he could be one of the best riders to have come out of Europe for a long time. It's also kind of fitting too that some of the older riders in the comp didn't really make the kind of impression their reputation would have expected. Freddie Kalbermatten and Iker Fernandez for example. Now they can both still ride a pipe - don't get me wrong. But either through pressure, or conditions or whatever, but both sketched out on McTwists, tricks riders of their caliber should have on the lock-down. Maybe the guard is changing?

 

 

13.38 pm. After the second runs it's pretty clear that the judges are going to put either Keller or Markus Malin from Finland in first place. They both laid down solid, sketch-free runs and hit back to back 9 combos and some pretty sick McTwists. Keller's ally-oops were giving him the edge as far as I was concerned but I wasn't in the judges booth so I don't get a say. With the giant TV screens dishing out the scores live, as the contest finished we knew the Fin had taken the top spot going into tomorrow's final. I also realised that this BEO is living up to its title. Of the 16 riders going through, only three weren't European: Luke Wynen of the USA, Mitchell Brown of New Zealand, and Crispin Lipscomb from Canada. Whether any of them will take the win tomorrow is anyone's guess. Today proved one thing - the men's standard is tight, and the placings only matched whether a rider had put a hand down, or sketched on a landing, or had to revert a spin. If everyone one of the final 16 puts a flawless run in, the judging is going to be a tough one to call.

 

 

14.28 pm. Powder, sweet powder. You obviously don't want to read about my riding, but lets just say that as the results were handed out live, as soon as the last rider had exited the pipe, the whole area dispersed into the clouds to mop up the last of the untracked. Myself included.

 

15.18pm. At the bottom of the hill, event sponsor Motorola had put up a huge tent, with beanbags outside and free coffees and hot chocolate in. As such, the place has been filled pretty much 24/7 with blaggers like myself. It's also where to get the heads up on what everyone else thinks is going down with the contest. So over a nice hot cup of tea (hey I'm English, what can I say?) I found out that pretty much everyone in Laax is expecting Holly Crawford to lay down the law in tomorrow's final. If there were a betting shop in town there'd be a lot of money exchanging hands there. But in the mens? Man that's a tough call. Right now I wouldn't want to call that at all. My hope is that Keller takes everyone down, but with Henning Marthinsen, Iouri Podladtchikov, Roger Kleivdal and Rolf Feldmann also in tomorrow's top 16, it's gonna be possibly the best matched contest the BEO has ever held. Luckily, there's no contest event tonight, so I should make it on the hill for first lift. Check back in for the lowdown on the event.

January 21st, 2007
 

7.45 am. I hit the first lift for the second time in two days. It's only just light and the world's best riders are looking as groggy as I am. There's lots of chat about the good news that it's snowing outside. It's pretty clear though that most minds are ticking over whether the contest will go ahead. As long as the wind stays away, it should be fine, but from the odd blast the cable car is getting, that's looking pretty unlikely. Uh oh. Looks like it might be a repeat of yesterday. But seriously - if the light snow that's coming down turns to decent sized pizza flakes, then there'll be few complaints from most people round these parts.

 

 

 

 

9.00 am. Did I mention just how far it is from the bottom of the mountain up to the Slopestyle course? I know it's probably not that interesting to read about, but seriously, it's like going on a scout adventure or something. And in the flat light conditions of today, it'd have been nice to have one of those compasses that doubles as a necklace. Luckily, I learned my lesson from yesterday, so today I arrived at the glacial summit with two scarves, a couple of coats, and more jumpers than a pair of impromptu goal posts at a kids soccer game. I guess that won't mean a great deal to most people reading this, but when David Beckham arrives in LA I'm sure it'll all start to make sense. Anyway, back to the contest - after arriving at nine, it was straight into if for the riders. Now I have to confess that it was pretty hard to make out who was throwing what tricks off what kickers, as even walking around the course was tough call. With the wind increasing, and visibility shifting as the clouds blew through, the look of frustration was equally evident on both the photographers and the riders themselves. I'd say the spectators were unhappy too, but apart from myself, and a few poor souls who had been employed to make sure the right passes got you to the right spectator areas on the course - there wasn't anyone around. Although the fact that some of the staff here were wearing mexican hats and carrying on the moustache theme, it's pretty evident that the hopeful spirit is still strong. Personally, I was much more pessimistic, and having just recently watched the documentary The March of the Penguins, I could completely empathize with the Emperor Penguins and their long, cold winter stood guarding their eggs. Or maybe I'm being a little melodramatic?

 

10.00 am. Nope - this is definitely more like the Antarctic than Switzerland. With the winds increasing it's almost impossible to see what's going on. Luckily though, when I did managed to catch a rider on course, it was Shaun White who popped a perfect backside 10 right in front of me, then stopped and decided to hike back up the course instead of taking the drag lift. The t-bar is about a kilometre long, and at the top the wind funnels through a gap in the mountain and creates a blast so refreshing it makes your teeth feel strange. So I could see why he preferred to hike. What made it kind of funny was the fact that he was battling against the wind, and the sight of one of the world's most accomplished snow experts floundering around as he tried to get a grip in the ice brought a wry smile to my scarf-covered face. In the end he gave up, strapped his board on and rode down to the lift. It was just around then however that word came through that they were halting the practice session and retiring to the mountain restaurant at the bottom of the t-bar for a quick riders meeting. To say the course emptied quickly is to flirt with understatement. I doubt it would have been a faster exit had there been free hot chocolate and a bikini fashion show. Not that my mind was wandering or anything...

 

10.49 am. I was kind of on it with the hot chocolate, way out with the bikini show shout. Which is probably more PC anyway. OK so where was I? Oh yeah - with the 100 best riders holed up in the mountain cafe there was some serious bro-downing on the go, and a much more sociable attitude on the go than off the hill. Mathieu Crepel was on especially fine form, chatting to different tables and generally wandering around with the air of a confident young man. It was a situation noted by Tom Copsey from Onboard Magazine, who came up with the theory that without laptops - and even the youngest of kids at the comp spend their evenings downloading stuff - people do tend to talk to each other more. And as if on cue, course organiser Flo Weidel stood up on a chair and gathered everyone's attention. It was like being at a wedding where people make unannounced speeches. I was hoping he was about to go on a drunken rant about someone in the audience, possibly slurring their character or insulting their honour or something, but unfortunately he disappointed me by talking about the competition instead. The gist of which was - the day's event is cancelled and everyone was free to head down the hill and pack for the X Games. If that's where they were heading. I can't imagine anyone was surprised, expect perhaps the very few holiday makers who were sharing the cafe with the riders, and who must have been confused as to why they were being addressed by this personable Swiss gentleman, and why they were being thanked from the bottom of his heart for turning up.

 

10.55 am. Talk turns to who gets the prize money and who gets the points. It turns out that in the men's event, all 58 riders in the finals are to share the prize money, meaning each rider takes home $350 US. In the women's event, apparently only the invited riders share the cash, as none of the qualification rounds for the girls took place so their 50 places had been completely un-contested. Now I do have to put in the disclaimer that all of this info is purely hearsay from the restaurant, so I couldn't vouch for its authenticity. There - factual reporting at its finest. Just hand over the Pulitzer now and we'll not bother with the fanfare eh? 

 

11.00 am. With $350 to spend, plenty of riders decided to splash out on coffee, cakes and a few plates of fries before heading down. I ditched that plan and sped off down the course with a few magazine editors and pro riders, joining what can only be described as possibly the longest, and most skilled jib train down the mountain that has ever existed. Ruined only by my pathetic jumps and some of my fellow non-sponsored colleagues. Ah! White-out jibbing, the staple diet of any European rider.

 

12.21 pm. After several lifts and runs back to the Laax mid station, it's all eyes on the Superpipe, where the junior practice session has kicked off. I stopped by the No Name Cafe to talk with some of the team managers, parents, mag editors and general snowboard industry folk, all of whom were tucking into the ham and cheese toasties on offer and firing into a variety of fine coffees. From the cafe terrace there's a great view of the pipe, plus the small jib park that's accessed from the same t-bar. It's here that the young kids have been practicing for their Slopestyle comp, with follow-the-leader style runs through the various lines on the go from first lift. What's great is that from the cafe terrace, you can see the whole scene - the lift, the park and the pipe, and so when someone like Shaun White or Antti Autti, or Travis Rice turns up - as they did as soon as I walked out on to the terrace - all eyes turn upon them, especially from the assembled juniors. It's heartwarming stuff: while you couldn't say the riders are mobbed, there's a few high fives from the smaller kids, obviously stoked to have met their idols, and it's cool to see the top dogs sessioning the hits with a load of kids then going on to copy their every move. 

 

12.36 pm. Travis - snaking runs through the park and having to dodge a crowd of photographers camped out on the up and over rail - hit the gap in the downside of the rail from an awkward angle and pulled a clean 270 on, 270 off frontside boardslide like it was nothing. It got a huge cheer from those watching. The cafe terrace included. Behind him, the pipe session was in full swing, with Antti Autti snaking a few runs and the men's practice opening. Britain's Dan Wakeham looked like he was going highest, although none of the major pipe shredders seemed to be in effect. Most runs were simply the younger kids getting used to the icy transitions. Over the course of the next hour, most have it dialed, with a few McTwists, some decent-sized ally-oops and lots of switch and frontside 720's getting thrown down.

 

1.38 pm. The pipe session was in full effect, and with the weather closing in but the sprayed walls still perfectly visible, it looked like the contest could run should the atmosphere not deteriorate any more. Talk around the No Name is of whether the junior slopestyle will run tomorrow, with most agreeing that it's likely to be cancelled.

 

14.15 pm. Practice shuts down, and bags are collected from the No Name and taken back down the hill. Meanwhile (although I'll admit to finding this out later) the event organisers got together and wisely decided to change the event running schedule so the juniors ride the pipe tomorrow. It's a good move, with all hopes of less wind on Wednesday so the kids Slopestyle can go ahead. But with the snow starting to fall heavily from 3pm onwards, that's currently looking unlikely. Ying and yang eh? While Europe desperately needs this injection of snow and sub-zero temperatures, it couldn't have come at a worse time for the BEO crew. As the great Homer would say: doh!

January 20th, 2007


7.45 am. Wow - first bin. I haven't seen that for a while. But then the Slopestyle contest is at the top of Laax's glacier, so you've got to take the main cable car, then another cable car, then ride for a couple of miles, then take what might be the world's longest gondola, then when you reach the top - where you can just see the course - you've got to take a t-bar for 15 minutes. Man, that's a long journey, so even with the alarm clock buzzing at some un-earthly hour this morning, I still didn't see any snowboard action until way past 9.30am. Luckily, by the time I got there, the Slopestyle was abuzz and the invited riders were just starting to cruise through the course. So there were rich visual pickings for the early risers here. I looked around though and soon realised that I was massively in the minority. Maybe it was the cloudy skies and high winds that had put people off?

9.45 am. Full-on winds and clouds moving in are generating some crazy turbulence for the riders, as well as rumours that the comp might get postponed for the afternoon. Antti Autti took a couple of runs through the course, looking pretty relaxed as he hit the main kicker line with some chilled-out 720 combos. I guess they're his safe trick? Shaun White took one run after turning up around 10-ish, and Travis Rice was cruising around checking all the kickers. But the winds and drifting white-out conditions meant it could hardly be called a session. Apart from a skeleton staff manning the course, and a few hardy photographers, the mountain was relatively empty, and the rumour mill gathered pace that the contest would be postponed. Luckily, with a cafe at the bottom of the run, salvation was at hand.....

 
10.30 am. News came through on the text-message grapevine (if it's the Coconut Wireless in Hawaii could Switzerland's be the Toblerone Telegram?) that the qualifications had been cancelled. God bless those organised folk at Motorola! The buzz around the cafe was almost one of relief, and it was pretty funny seeing virtually the whole place receive their text at the same time. There was talk amongst the different groups littered around the restaurant that the weather might pass and the course could re-open, but looking out of the window, only the most optimistic of snowboarders would have genuinely wished to hit such booters in that visibility.  So I jumped the gun and rode down to the mid station where the clouds had dispersed and the sun was actually shining. It's such a shame they couldn't have held the comp here, like they did last year, but talk early on was of appalling snow conditions that meant the slopestyle at least had to be moved up to the glacier. Higher altitudes mean you've got to deal with more weather, but what could they have done? Europe has had so little snow the decision had been made for the BEO before any of the riders had arrived. Anyway, none of that mattered as most of the younger riders took the mini park at the mid station apart, and before long the No Name Cafe overlooking the park was filled with pros checking out the rail session on the go. Funny times.
 
11.35 am The No Name Cafe is also home to Switzerland's best coffee, although that might be a tainted opinion due to the fact my hands were pretty cold having ridden down from the glacier. But it's not a bad brew whichever way you arrive at it. Travis Rice obviously thought so, and hung around the cafe signing autographs and talking to fans. All around him, kids from the age of six upwards were hitting every rail, pipe and box in the park in an almost continuous stream of jibbing. Meanwhile, Switzerland's lax (no pun intended) laws on marijuana smoking were being upheld by locals and visitors alike, complimenting the dub reggae pumping from the cafe's speakers. Maybe this was like a contest of yore?
 
12.43 pm - Everything is closed for the day. There's talk of it being the fault of the gondola - apparently it couldn't run in high winds and that meant people would be stranded at the contest and the pisteurs wouldn't have been able to skidoo everyone of the mountain should the winds have gotten up. But it doesn't matter, talk around the cafe turns to tennis, pool sessions and watching DVDs in the afternoon, but the mid station sun is shining so most riders are happy to hang around the cafe and do the occasional lap with the groms in the funpark. I take a few runs with the Forum Youngblood crew and their team manager Jon Weaver. Getting stuck in a train of kids and following them off every rail, box and wallride, is a fantastic way of wasting an hour or so.
 
13.50 I'm all jibbed out, and anyway, the pipe is shot so it can be cut for an hour or so. Everyone got another text saying the 40 riders had been chosen for the heats tomorrow so the No Name naturally emptied and it was back to the apartment for a warm down, a stretch and nice hot shower. Perhaps not the perfect day on the hill, but some riding was salvaged, and Monday's finals look set to be one of the contest highlights of the year so it's not such a bad deal. Check back in and hopefully there'll be some chat about some actual snowboarding!