Category: Free Ski

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Unleash The Beast – Come With Us

Come with us and drive, ride, fight and surf; the athletes of the Monster Energy roster are nothing short of sensational. From conquering the highest jumps, fastest roads, and toughest opponents; it takes something very special to beast the sporting world at an elite level. What’s more few people ever get to  witness the levels of focus and dedication needed to turn ambition into reality. That was until now… 

Through an incredible six part series, Monster Energy’s Come With Us, charts the lives, careers and journeys of six very different athletes. Each striving to compete and win at the very top of their game, and within their chosen discipline.  

Better still, it’s the raw behind the scenes access that fans love, and you have been waiting for; covering rallying, free skiing, motorcycle Grand Prix racing, big wave surfing, mixed martial arts, and freestyle mountain biking. 

Strap in and hold on; because it is time for a wild ride into sporting greatness, that you definitely won’t want to miss… 

Episode 1:

The rise and rise of Oliver Solberg through the ranks has been as fast as the 19 year old on a twisting mountain rally stage. Son of 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg, Oliver is so much more than just part of an off-road racing dynasty. His talent, focus, and results fly in the face of his relatively young years. Together with his co-driver Aaron Johnston, Solberg is determined and redline obsessed to become World Champion. With thousands of kilometres and corners laying ahead though; it’s going to be anything but easy. Delve into rallying and Solberg’s quest for victory like you’ve never seen before. 

Episode 2:

The pool of incredible talent in women’s Slopestyle skiing has been getting stronger every season and  part of that new wave is Giulia Tanno. The 22-year-old Swiss skier has been competing on the world circuit since the age of 15 and has won some of the highest accolades in her field; including 4 XGames medals, Audi Nines wins and podiums at several FIS World Cups. While a lot of ladies show technical skill or stylish riding, Giulia is one of the rare few who are blending both, blazing a trail for a new type of women’s Slopestyle skier. With huge air comes huge risks and despite weathering multiple injuries and a concussion Giulia is as hardcore as they come. Take a fresh look at Free-skiing with her story. 

COMING SOON…

Episode 3: Wake up in the morning. Charge some crazy slab waves. Welcome to Nic Von Rupp’s world. The 30-year-old surfing prodigy has already nailed a successful competitive career, and has now changed direction to focus his sights on becoming the best big wave rider in the world. For the uninitiated it is a sight to behold; waves that could dwarf apartment buildings; speeds in excess of 80km/h; the full force of the ocean harnessed in a single wave. Yet Rupp stares it all down with a relaxed stance and a sunbathed smile, and hours and hours of preparation. Don’t just take our word for it; Come With Us on a big wave ride like you’ve never seen before.  

Adolf Silva: Ripping on a bike is what 23 year old Silva lives for. He risks his life for it; because it’s what moves him, what makes him feel alive. Knowing that every day he can improve and grow with his sport motivates him immensely. A true lifestyle action sport athlete, Silva’s career has already encompassed dizzying highs and total lows – not least when at age 17 he spent 10 days in a coma due to a crash, only to bounce back from injury to land the first ever triple backflip on a Slopestyle bike. If it’s got wheels he’ll ride it, and if there’s a ramp he’ll likely jump it. Come With Us and witness it all.

Fabio Quartararo: They don’t call him El Diablo for nothing. If ever there was a rider on the very cusp of greatness then surely it is Fabio Quartararo. The son of a former French 125cc motorcycle champion, Fabio cut his teeth in motocross at a very young age before moving to Spain with his family aged seven. From there he quickly progressed through the Pre-GP Mediterranean ranks, counting off the championships with nonchalant ease. In only his first year of premier class racing, in 2019, Fabio scored an impressive seven podiums from 19 starts with the Petronas Yamaha SRT team. What’s more this season, the French ace replaces none other than Valentino Rossi at the factory Yamaha racing team. Come With Us to witness Fabio’s rise and blistering pace, now at the bars of factory machinery. 

Joanna Jedrzejczyk: You don’t get to be a six time Muay Thai world champion, and a leading mixed martial arts fighter in the UFC without being truly and undeniably hardcore. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – or JJ to her fans – knows this, and the string of opponents she’s knocked out don’t need telling again either. There’s an incredible flip side to the 33 year old from northern Poland though, who pushes herself to the limit outside of the ring too. JJ recently said: “My biggest opponent is time because there are only 24 hours in the day and I have so many things going on. I’m just trying to live my best life. In or out of the cage, with or without the belt, I carry myself as a champ and work on my legacy, every single day.”

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Winter XGames Norway Gold

The Xgames Winter edition in Norway has been going down and there have been some insane performances. Mark McMorris coming from the death to take Big Air Gold in the snowboard, Henrik Harlaut absolutely blowing away the other men in the Ski Big Air, a last run win for Sven Thorgren in the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle and then what has to be the number 1 pick, Shaun White, getting a perfect 100 score in the Super Pipe for Gold. Seriously, does this guy not stop? Enjoy the vids…

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Who needs Snow… certainly not Candide Thovex

When one of the world’s elite free skiers joins forces with one of the world’s top all wheel drive vehicles, you can imagine they will come up with an incredible way to celebrate the partnership. In this case they simply sent Candide Thovex down an alpine mountain side on his skis… but without the snow. Pretty incredible video, well worth a watch.

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Snow in Africa – Xperia Winter Whip at Afriski

Two weekends ago saw Africa’s top snowboarders and skiers compete in the 2015 Xperia Winter Whip Snowboard and Ski Jam. The event took part on Saturday, 15 August 2015 at the Afriski Mountain Resort in Lesotho, and welcomed athletes from around South Africa and Lesotho, as well as a further 9 international riders from Canada, New Zealand and Slovenia.

The Resort’s Kapoko Park was pristinely groomed and prepared over a number of weeks, in order to provide the competitors with a top-class slopestyle course to lay down their best tricks and vie for a podium position.

The Amateur division was the largest and most competitive of the day, with judges giving progression precedence throughout the day. David Copperfeel, a local rider from the Wits Ski Club put down some impressive runs and finished in 3rd place. Jason Lammers looked good to defend his 2014 title, including some steezy transfers and good amplitude in his runs, but it wasn’t enough to beat the scale and progression from Sean Irwin who claimed victory, leaving Lammers to settle for 2nd place.

JTK returned for another competition year and dominated in the Ski division taking the win convincingly with a variety of big airs, switch backflips, 360’s and a frontflip over the final feature of the course – the Ugandan Stall Rail. Slovenian skiers, Patrick Matula and Karol Hierweg put on a big battle for 2nd place with Matula claiming it in the end and Hierweg taking home 3rd.

Among the cash and product prizes, Amateur Snowboarder and Ski division winners, Sean Irwin and JTK both also took home Xperia M4 Aqua phones.

The only entrant into this year’s Junior division was 10 year old, Erin Nel, who also insisted on riding with the Ladies division in their jam session. Nel didn’t hold anything back, hitting all of the course’s big kickers and technical rail sections, taking the Junior division win. More impressive is that Nel’s overall score would have put her into 3rd place in the Ladies division – a serious future contender in ladies snowboarding.

In the Ladies division, Vanessa Jackson showed consistency in her runs throwing down a solid 180 switch 50-50 to 180 out on the flatbox to finish in 3rd position. Slovenian Martina Molnarova had solid rails, cab 180’s and switch rails featured in her runs to put her in 2nd place. Mawa Jekot was again unbeatable and defended her 2014 title with cab 360’s, frontside 360’s and steezy rails. Jekot’s 1st place also saw her win one of two Club Med prizes consisting of an all-inclusive snow holiday for two to Club Med Val Thorens in France.

The Pro Men division was the last on course for the day, never disappointing with some extremely impressive riding from all the competitors. A very close battle took place between Luke Dutton and Dean van Greunen. Dutton threw down 360’s and front lips over the kickers and a big 360 over the rainbow rail. Van Greunen had Backside 540’s on lock and solid rail riding, but it was van Greunen’s use of course and hitting all the features, that counted in his favour as he edged out Dutton for 2nd place. Canada’s Liam Roy was dominant with his technical rail riding, switch frontside’s, backflips and 360’s to take the overall. Being the top South African finisher, van Greunen took home the second Club Med prize for an all-inclusive snow holiday for two to Club Med Val Thorens.

Xperia Winter Whip organiser, Ryan van der Spuy said, “This year’s event was a huge feat and we cannot thank all those involved enough – from the athletes who continue to share their passion for the sport, judges who gave their time to score each run, the media who have helped spread the word, the medics onsite, Kapoko Park parkies and Afriski Resort who provided us with a top grade course and facilities, the spectators and our incredible sponsors. We have received such great support from our sponsors this year; Sony Mobile, Club Med, Red Bull, Skullcandy, Neff, Jägermeister, G-Form and Burton, all of whom helped to make the 2015 Xperia Winter Whip a great success”.

Celebrations went on late into the night at the Gondola Café with resident DJ Black Sparrow and a live performance from SDO.

2015 Xperia Winter Whip Results

Amateur:
1st Sean Irwin
2nd Jason Lammers
3rd Wesley Schallen

Ski:
1st JTK
2nd Patrick Matula
3rd Karol Hierweg

Junior:
1st Erin Nel

Ladies:
1st Mawa Jekot
2nd Martina Molnarva
3rd Vanessa Jackson

Pro Men:
1st Liam Roy
2nd Dean van Greunen
3rd Luke Dutton

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Insane Ski Crashes

How many big crashes happen on the way to producing a Ski Film? The answer is quite a few…

An awesome Ski Crash edit trailer during footage of this video called Hang Out, product of PVS Company. Featuring team: Sam Favret, Tom Granier, Kévin Guri, Seb Michaud, Jeremie Heitz, Arnaud Rougier, Robin Romera, Tom Barnier, Kelly Sildaru, Mathieu Bijasson, Tim Baud, Guilaume Sbrava, Henry Sildaru,Jessy Cornu, Timo Mazsweski.

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X Games Aspen – Top 5 Moments 2015

So another X Games has past and the levels as per every year just keep getting higher. There were some ridiculous moments in 2015, in Aspen and I bring you my choices for the top moments.

First up in the ladies Superpipe the battle was between Lindsey Jacobellis and 14 year old, Chloe Kim. Jacobellis has dominated the sport for years and when Chloe had one of the biggest falls of the night, most thought the Gold was out of her grasp. But the youngster put on her fighting gloves and came back to win the Gold and become the youngest Gold Medal athlete in X games history.

Staying in the Pipe but in the men’s ski final, it was the first win from a Canadian by, Simon D’Artois. The guy was clearing 21ft out of the Superpipe and hitting double corks like they were straight airs.

In the Ski Big Air it was young rider, Vincent Gagnier, who blew minds with his top 2 runs. This guy was stoked because he made 2 tricks he had never done before in competition.

The top 2 moments belong to one man, Marc McMorris. This guy is riding on another level! In the Snowboard Big Air, he pulled first a frontside triple cork 1440 and then stepped it up with a backside 1620 triple cork. The commentators were actually speechless.

After blowing everyone’s minds in the Big Air, McMorris moved onto the Slopestyle, where he once again stepped up the performance levels to claim his second Gold of the X Games. With a flawless rail game and progressively huge airs, he stepped up the game.

These were by no means the only highlights of a once again incredible winter X Games. Check out the X games rollout video for the biggest moments of 2015. The focus will now turn to summer and X Games Austin in early June.

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X Games Day 1 – Snowboard Halfpipe Insanity

Ok so the first day of X Games Aspen is behind us and what a day it was. There was snowmobile action, Ski Slopestyle, Ski Halfpipe and probably the most anticipated event of the year, the men’s Snowboard Pipe. All eyes were on the return of the flying tomato, Shaun White, but it was the youngsters who held him back and he finished in 3rd. Taka Hiraoka from japan busted some solid tricks with incredible elevation to secure silver. Repeating his victory from last year, it was Danny Davis winning the Gold. I loved Danny’s run, great mix of old and new and especially the monster McTwist to start.

Check out the highlights videos below…

Men’s Snowboard Finals Highlights…

Monster Energy Day 1 Highlights…

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Imagine – Life spent on the Edge

Wow, I really want to see this film. Inspiring trailer with some incredible shots.

Imagine an entire life lived on a knife’s edge… forever dreaming up new adventures, new projects. Riders know exactly where their limits are and although this line is tested, toyed with and pushed back, it is never to be crossed…

These exceptional men and women have built lifestyles around their passion. Doubt is just a part of their daily lives. A thrilling showcase of incredible exploits which were inconceivable just a couple of years ago.

Thierry Donard and his team have set out to bring you closer to these modern-day heroes, to share their lives and their emotions with you. Getting cameras closer to the action means capturing the purest emotions that spring forth in these special moments.

These 95 minutes will help you discover for yourself the passion of this special world, bringing you to the heart of the action.

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Street Ski Mutiny with Sean Jordan

In 2013 — after 12 years of producing ski films — Stept Productions embarked on its largest film project to date. Stept is proud to release its newest feature: Mutiny. The film documents young, progressive skiers as they commence on a mission around the United States; using the biggest cities in the country as their playground, the Stept crew sacrifices their health as they continue to redefine street skiing.Now please enjoy Sean Jordan’s full Street segment.