Adam’s Apples #11 Take a bite of snowboarding knowledge
Hey, my name is Adam Bowcutt and I am a snowboarder. Welcome to this week’s tasty round-up of snowboarding blog posts, articles and forum topics from around the world.
From Russia with Style
Halfpipe snowboarding has been embraced by the public. After witnessing the superhuman skill of Shaun White performing his Olympic gold medal winning run surely people want more snowboarding at the Games? A Slopestyle event allows riders to hit a course of jump and rail features to gain maximum scores for trick difficulty, amplitude and flow by the judges. If slopestyle is accepted as an Olympic sport in time for Russia in 2014 then perhaps UK’s golden girl Jenny Jones might have a shot at gold.
Read more about it HERE via bbc.co.uk/blogs
Speed versus Style on the slopes
At the next Winter Olympics would you rather see spandex clad hard boot wearing snowboarders racing each other around flags or progressive snowboarders landing big smooth jumps and stylishly jibbing rails ? The debate is on between PGS Parallel Giant Slalom and Slopestyle for the 2014 Games. Without a doubt slopestyle is a more popular choice for many. It feeds a hunger for pushing progression in snowboarding and its identity not only as a sport but also a culture. Snowboarding is more than just who can go the quickest it’s also the way we choose to ride. PGS certainly has a place and let’s take nothing away from an athletes hard work and training. However, it’s limited essentially to which rider is the fastest. This surely has more ties with ski racing than snowboarding and it’s future.
Check more HERE and join the discussion via blog.thehouse.com
Under the influence of Slopestyle
Canada is not only home to moose and beavers it’s also home to many important slopestyle events. On one hand there’s the Grenade Games held in Whistler B.C and on the other there’s the LG snowboard World Cup at C.O.P Calgary. The latter holds a more official significance to the possible inclusion of Slopestyle at the next Olympics in 2014. The former is less official but nonetheless strongly influential to the wider snowboard community. (Mutterings of “4/20″ can sometimes be heard from Breckenridge all the way to Whistler) This LG contest was the first time slopestyle has been included at a World Cup event. This got the bureaucratic ball rolling towards satisfying criteria allowing it to become an Olympic event.
Check out the article HERE via CalgaryHerald.com
Slopestylers go big
Putting together a solid slopestyle run can be extremely difficult. In comparison to halfpipe where the walls of the pipe are pretty similar and consistent for each hit, in slopestyle each hit is different whether it’s a large kinked rail or the third and biggest kicker of the course. The rider has to have the skill to adapt and stomp each feature with style and flow. Eero Ettala proved he is one of the world’s best slopestyle riders (he’s pretty good in the backcountry too!) by winning X Games gold. He shows how he chooses to ride the slopestyle course at the highest level. Maybe we’ll see Eero at the next winter Olympics.
Watch Eero’s epic run including his switch double backflip HERE via Youtube.com
Check it HERE via HuckMagazine.com
Elite level snowboarding comes in many forms from slalom racing to halfpipe to slopestyle. As long as you’re enjoying being on snow it must be a factor or we begin to forget the reason we all started snowboarding in the first place. More snowboarding events at the Olympics or at any level will help to raise awareness for snowboarding and snowboarders. Surely this is a good thing for the future of this sport and lifestyle.
Check back next week for more.
