Burton riders Peetu Piiroinen and Kelly Clark both won their fourth Burton European Open halfpipe titles on Saturday, January 15, 2011. Piiroinen’s run went like this: a frontside 720 indy grab, Cab double cork 1080 mute grab, frontside air and backside 900 mute grab, and an alley oop rodeo nose grab.
“I am very surprised to win, I was not expecting this,” said Peetu. “Winning here is what every rider dreams about, although I believe that Ipod’s run was much more technical than mine. In any case, the riding level here today was super high and the new guys coming up are really strong… I hope this doesn’t mean that I am getting old!”
Kelly Clark was likely a little less surprised by her win with a run that included: a frontside 900, backside 540 mute grab, frontside 720 indy grab, and a Cab 7. “It’s great to win here again,” said Kelly. “I really enjoy the pipe at Laax because I get to push my riding and take it to a new level.”
Follow the jump for all the official details, results, and a couple photos. [click to continue…]
For those who (like us) were unable to wake up at an ungodly hour to watch the Burton European Open live online, here a little of what went down in the Slopestyle finals from Laax, Switzerland.
Roope Tonteri (FIN) shook up the men’s podium on his last run, beating competition powerhouse Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) by less than three tenths of a point. Roope won the BEO slopestyle title, his first major contest win ever, with an impressive run that included a pivot 270 out, backside 360 nose bonk, alley oop 50-50, gap to boardslide, backside 720 mute grab, Cab 900 indy grab and backside double cork 1260, finishing things off with a jaw-dropping Cab 1440 indy grab. Roope had the highest scoring tricks of the men’s competition, sealing his victory and first Burton European Open title. Last year’s BEO slopestyle champion Peetu Piiroinen almost had today’s competition on lock-down, but his best run, which included high-scoring tricks on the kickers like a backside double cork 1080 mute grab, backside rodeo 900 nose grab and a Cab 1260 mute grab were not enough to win it. Peetu took home second place followed by Chas Guldemond (USA) in third.
Today Burton Snowboards officially dedicated the 10,000 square foot Craig Kelly Proto Facility, a new “state-of-the-art” prototype manufacturing facility, in Burlington, Vermont.
“Craig Kelly was an engineer at heart, and one of the big reasons he chose to ride for Burton back in the late eighties was because he saw how committed we were to R&D and taking snowboard technology to the next level,” said Jake Burton, Founder and CEO of Burton Snowboards. “During the 15 years that he rode for Burton, Craig had a huge impact on snowboard design, technology and the sport as a whole. So it was an easy decision to name the new prototyping facility after him. I think that Craig would be proud that every new board that comes out of our new R&D space reflects his spirit and legacy.”
Mike Ranquet, Terje Haakonsen, and Kevin Pearce were all in attendance. Follow the jump for the official details and photos. [click to continue…]
Suffer from Insomniac? Looking for an quiet apré party cruise on the Interwebs? The 2011 Burton European Open live webcast may just be the perfect way to spend the wee hours of the morning on Friday and Saturday.
The men’s slopestyle finals will be going down at 4:45 AM PST (7:45 AM EST) Friday (Women start at 3 AM PST/ 6 AM EST) with the halfpipe beginning Sunday at 3 AM PST (6 AM EST).
By looking at the list of snowboarders the US is taking to the 2011 FIS World Snowboarding Championships it would appear that being FIS world champion isn’t that big of a deal to anyone anymore (which seems kind of strange).
Who will be leading the US charge for the men in the World Championship halfpipe in La Molina, Spain Jan. 15-22, 2011? Paul Brichta, Benji Farrow, and Taylor Gold. Who? Looks like the disconnect between the best snowboarders in the world and the “world championships” continues. It really is a completely different universe.
Follow the jump for a breakdown of the rest of the team and the event. [click to continue…]
Nearly 300 people were stranded for two hours on Whistler’s Village Gondola yesterday (Monday, January 10, 2010) around 9:45 AM, according to a story on The Province.
[One trapped woman] said she phoned the mountain’s toll-free number twice, but was disconnected both times. She then checked the mountain’s social media pages, only to be frustrated by a lack of details. . . “Being stuck that long and not being able to contact the staff at Whistler was really aggravating,” she said. “We kept checking Facebook and Twitter and they weren’t saying anything except that it was a mechanical issue.”
The gondola finally moved enough to allow all the guests to exit. Those stranded were reportedly given food and drink vouchers and free lift passes. The gondola is reportedly closed until the cause of the problem can be completely investigated. This is just the latest in a seemingly annual lift and/or gondola failure at the financially troubled resort.
After having been reported missing at Montana’s Whitefish Mountain Resort on Saturday afternoon, an unnamed 29-year-old snowboarder was found dead by patrollers. He was in a tree well, according to a story in the Whitefish Pilot.
The victim is a Flathead County resident, but his name is being withheld pending notification of family members. The man was snowboarding alone, but had gone to the resort with friends, according to the sheriff’s report. . . This is the second tree-well related death on Big Mountain in the past two weeks.
Sadly, the snowboarder (who is the 10th snowboarder to die in North America since December 20, 2010)was one of two deaths on the mountain Saturday. Another unnamed man was also found unconscious and died later at the hospital, according to a story on KRTV.com. Our thoughts are the families and friends of both men.
We probably would have scored the men’s final of the O’Neill Evolution Slopestyle a little differently than the judges did, but that shouldn’t take anything away from the guys on the podium in Davos. Official details results after the jump [click to continue…]
