Mägert-Kohli and Fischnaller victorious at season's first parallel event

The two race boarders successfully competed against the international field of almost 100 riders coming from 16 countries at SnowWorld Landgraaf, Holland, where this winter's first parallel slalom was hosted. In the women's big final, Mägert-Kohli relegated last year's indoor World Cup winner Ekaterina Tudegesheva (RUS) to the runner-up position. In the battle for third, Marion Kreiner (AUT) had the better end than surprising fourth ranked rider Nadya Ochner (ITA).

On the men's side, Fischnaller was a nose ahead in the duel for victory with his South Tyrol team mate Aaron March (ITA). Andreas Prommegger (AUT) prevented an Italian podium sweep by edging off Meinhard Erlacher (ITA) to fourth in the small final. Read More

Dakota shows winning style on the slopes

She's only been competing for two years, but that's been plenty long enough for Dakota Craig to make her mark in the snow.

Dakota, 16, has completed a successful snowboarding season, winning three national titles, and is striving to make the grade at international level in the future.

A year 12 student at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, Dakota contested the Grand Prix Junior Nationals at Wanaka late last month, in five events in the 14-to-16 age group.

Although she came second in the big mountain freeride and third in the half pipe, Dakota took national honours because only Australian competitors finished ahead of her. Read More

Urban snowboarding in Occidental Park

Ah, autumn in Seattle, with that nip in the air. Fallen leaves dot the sidewalks, and snowboarders turn Occidental Park into a "giant snow cone."

Organizers of the sixth annual Downtown Throwdown Saturday built a giant ramp in the Pioneer Square park and covered it with 80,000 pounds of crushed ice, which they sprinkled with salt.

And as the "snow" melted, about 25 professional snowboarders took turns making 20-second runs down the ramp — enough time to skid against a rail, jump off the edge of the slope or do a quick back flip before it was time to unstrap their boots, climb the stairs and do it again.

Judges watched two one-hour "jams" and handed out $10,000 in prize money. Read More

Snowboarding one minute then wakeboarding the next

A wild new competition combining wakeboarding and snowboarding has raised $500 for a Wakatipu charity.
The novel Twin Powers event last weekend attracted 20 entrants to its Queenstown venues up The Remarkables and on Lake Wakatipu.
Competitors got a combined score for their slopestyle snowboard runs in the terrain park and wakeboarding passes in Kelvin Grove.
Organiser Richard Milsom, who owns Queenstown’s Waketours company, says the intention had been to run both legs on the Saturday.
The weather roughed up in the afternoon and the wakeboarding was held on Sunday. Read More

Icelandic snowboarding star wins in Switzerland

An up-and-coming snowboarding star from Iceland won The Freestyle.ch competition in Zurich, Switzerland last weekend.

In the Freestyle.ch competition, snowboarders jump from a giant ramp and perform mid-air stunts. Professional snowboarder, Halldor Helgason, from Akureyri in northern Iceland, was one of many famous snowboarders who took part in the event and ended the weekend victorious. A statement from Freestyle.ch stated:

Blue skies prevailed this weekend as over 32,000 freestyle.ch visitors soaked up freestyle sports at its finest. Making its debut on European soil, the impressive mini-MegaRamp stole the show. Snowboarder Halldor Helgason (ISL), freeskier Elias Ambuehl (SUI), FMXer Dany Torres (ESP) and skateboarder Pierre-Luc Gagnon (CAN) all came out big winners during a blockbuster weekend of action in Zurich. Read More

HOT DAWGZ & HAND RAILS 2011 RECAP

Some things just don’t go well together: toothpaste and orange juice, sex offenders and drunk children, flip flops and socks, etc. You would think snowboard contests and summer would fall into the same category, but on September 24th at Bear Mountain it was definitely a different story. 130 tons of ice, two-dozen riders, and thousands of colorful spectators gathered at the base of Bear Mountain for the 8th annual Hot Dawgz & Hand Rails. This year’s setup was the most progressive I have seen at the event, and maybe any rail jam for that matter. The drop-in consisted of two identical wallrides that led the contestants into the main features. On the viewer’s right was a massive wallride containing a creeper rail allowing you to slide the rail or utilize the wallride and air over the whole thing. Along the wall was a stairset with a flat box that dropped off more than Charlie Sheen’s acting career and a down bar. To the viewer’s left was a closeout down bar and a gnarly down-flat-down with an aggressive 3-foot flat making the feature even more technical. And to top it off, in the middle was a large patch of grass, which riders could choose to air over from the upper deck making it a 20-foot gap to the landing. Read More