Snowboarding Redefined

 

Every year, snowboarding takes a few steps forward, whether it’s with an extra spin, a few more feet of air, or just an increase in consistency. 2006 was no exception, as riders strove to go bigger and do better tricks. With snowboarding’s growth in popularity, the obstacles and venues for it have improved, equipment has gotten better, and riders have more experience, allowing the sport to reach new levels. A few years ago, no one would have been able to have a contest strictly for the sake of progression, in a stadium. Snowboarding wasn’t always in the Olympics. Women weren’t always charging as hard as the guys. But in ’06, what once seemed impossible, or at most, something in the distant future, is now reality. Here are a few people who helped make it possible last season.

 

Norwegian ripper Mads Jonsson is no stranger to big air. In 2005 he unleashed a 187 foot backside 360 over a 130 foot table, and it doesn’t seem like it gets much bigger or better than that. But in 2006, Jonsson went back to Hemsedal, Norway, the site of his giant 360, and took on another impressive obstacle -- the largest hip ever built, nearly 90 feet long and over 26 feet high. This time, it wasn’t how far he went as much as the combination of distance and height. Mads showed no fear, charging at the hip, and although no one measured how high he actual got, he certainly had some air time. “I was about a foot away from clearing the landing a couple of times,” Jonsson said. “It’s really hard to say if it was the biggest (hip air ever.) Looking at the photos in the aftermath, it might have been.”

 

 

In March, German rider David Benedek and fellow pro snowboarder Cristoph Schmidt decided to put on a competition in a stadium in Garmish, Germany, for the purpose of fostering progression. “Snowboarding is at such a ridiculously high level that even when you are filming for a video part you can’t just try crazy sh*t all the time because you need to make sure to land tricks and get shots,” Benedek said. “Pro snowboarding seems to be more in a state of delivering as opposed to experimenting. I wanted 10 guys that are capable of pushing the envelope to simply spend time at a perfect set up and try stuff they’ve always wanted to try.”

 

The result was a dream jump, designed after a backcountry hit that Benedek had ridden in 2002. The gap was a step-up, which means the riders had to clear up as well as out, which makes for more airtime, and a slower landing than regular jumps. The catch is riders had to approach the jump at speeds nearing 60 mph just to make it to the landing. The pay off was worth it though—a full three seconds of air time, and enough tries at the jump that riders were really able to experiment with what was possible. Travis Rice pulled off a first, a double backflip 180, but it was only good enough for second place. That’s because the brains behind the operation really delivered on his promise, pulling off a frontside double cork 1260. In laymen’s terms, that’s three and a half rotations, spun off-axis, giving the trick an almost flip-like quality.

PHOTO GALLERY Click here to see Mads Jonsson, David Bendek, Jeremy Jones and more going big in 2006.   View Gallery>

Competition is one of the best proving grounds for snowboarders. And the spirit of competition also tends to foster progression. Two years ago, only a select few riders were throwing 1080s in their halfpipe runs. These days, you have to have them back to back to make the podium. And that fact makes boy wonder Shaun White’s undefeated season in 2006 even more impressive. From the first event he entered, a Grand Prix Olympic Qualifier in December, to the US Open in March, no one was able to hold a candle to Shaun’s riding. And his winning streak didn’t just include the halfpipe. When all was said and done, White had won every snowboard contest he entered, 12 total including X Games halfpipe and slopestyle, the Session-at-Vail rail jam and slopestyle and of course, an Olympic gold medal. “My main goal last year was to win the Olympics,” White says on Burton.com. “It was an amazing feeling to make that happen.”

 

Jeremy Jones has always been known as one of the best jibbers in the world. And in 2006, he really got to prove it when he got Snow Park Technologies (the company that builds parks and competition courses for some of the most prestigious events of the year) to build him his own personal jib park at Northstar-at-Tahoe, CA. Included in the park was an impressive double kink handrail that ran down a double set of nearly 60 stairs total. Jones gapped from a take off at the top of the rail, to the second kink, airing an entire set of stairs before his board connected with metal. It was just one of two scary stunts Jones performed while filming for videos in 2006. He also dropped an obstacle nicknamed the Caveman, which pushed his limits and the limits of snowboarding. “I did them for the same reason I do anything really, to step up my game in the video world and push my riding, plus the fear is awesome to get the blood movin’,” Jones said. “When you man up to something you’re scared of and then make it, it's unexplainable the feeling you get!”

 

Not long ago, women’s halfpipe competition wasn’t much to watch, especially compared to the guys, who would soar over head, while the women barely made it over the top of the halfpipe. But in 2006, although she fell just short of an Olympic medal, 23-year-old Vermonter Kelly Clark managed to step women’s snowboarding up in a big way in Torino. Her frontside airs, at around 12 feet, were easily the biggest ever done by a woman in pipe competition. Keep in mind that’s on top of the 19 foot tall halfpipe walls (some of the biggest ever in pipe competition) meaning Clark was more than 30 feet off the ground. And with the exception of Shaun White’s monstrous first hit (more like 15 feet high), Clark’s amplitude rivaled the guys who won medals.

 

-Brooke Geery