Dienstag, 25. Januar 2011

Red Bull Linecatcher FINALE Review

When the pricegiving of the quali was over, all the invited riders were up on the finalface jet to check out the jumps. But we had to check the face as well and we were pretty late so we got flown up. While viewing all the jumps and cliffs which were a bit bigger than at the qualiface, I had to struggle to find a good line for me but when we walked down I saw a nice jump between the trees and then I found a line which worked out pretty good in my mind.

 Final Face
 Tim Durtschi, Wiley Miller and Rory Bushfield checking out the first jump
 on the top
After a pretty exhausting day, the Bibdraw down in the village and a nice dinner with a lot of french cheese I just felled into my bed. Like at the day before we had to take the chair at 7 and hike up for the first run… At the finals we had three runs and for the second and third we had the possibility to fly up with the heli again!

Sage, Nico, Tim and me
 crossing the mountain to get to the start
 waiting on the top for watching the next rider

I was one of the last riders so I had the chance to watch all the others from the top and I really got inspired and pushed. When I dropped for my first run my heart was bumping and I was super nervous but when I landed my flat 7 and straight after the 360 on the big one I was super happy and I just did a mini 180 at the end because I didn’t want to mess up the whole run and for the second run I stepped it up a bit with 540 at the bottom and on my last run I stepped it up with a switch right 5 on the second cliff.

 me flat 7 bow'n arrow
 Wiley
 Wiley doing a butter 7 on the big drop
me doing 360 on the second one
 flat 3 of Tim
 Sean dropping with a 360 on the big naturalcliff on the top

The moment when I arrived to the Red Bull arc at the bottom it was the happiest moment of my life! I came here as a parkskier so I didn’t even expect to qualify and then I had the luck to get second between all of my skiingheroes of the favorite skimovies… That was just amazing.

 happy happy happy
 the judges
3th Tim Durtschi, 1st Sean Petit, 2nd me             
 it's helitime!!!!
The run of Sage was an enjoyment to watch! He had 5 natural hits in his run were he did right and left 360 and a flatspin 3. Tim’s run started with a 180 of a 3 meter cliff into a big switch cork 5 on the first hit. And Sean went way bigger than everyone else! But check out the whole video below….

 the Downdays Media Team





TYEAH

Montag, 24. Januar 2011

Red Bull Linecatcher Day 1&2 Review

The plan for Friday was to check out the Qualliface so we had to hike up for an hour on the backside of the mountain. At the beginning we checked out the first start but the snow seemed to be crusty and the rocks in the landing scared me a bit so I decided to begin my run from the second start. So we had to walk down using the tracks of the shapers to have a clean face and good landings! On the way down to the village I was impressed to see such a sick snowpark. They had three railparks and one sick kickerpark (which was not ready jet) and we had a lot of fun cruising down!

 on the way to Vars we had a little powerlunch at the Mec
 the qualliface from the bottom
 Bine with a biiiig smile on the way up

 checking out the first jump 

At the evening we had the bib draw down in the village and fortunately I picked a good one and I had to start second right after Paddy Graham so I was sure to have clean landings without tracks. Back at our apartment I checked out the pictures of the face with my buddy and teammate Davide Cusini a last time. After some hours of sleep we had breakfast at 6:30 and went straight up on the mountain and hiked again ;) And at 10:00 the contest began.
 on the way up again
sunrise
me almost on the top
drop in from the backside

I started my first run with a sketchy switch right 5 off the first cliff into a misty 7 at the second one and at the end I did a 360 on a windlip. I was super surprised that it went that good and right after I took my first heliride of my life to get to the top. On the second run the start order changed so I had to start penultimate. I wanted to do the same run as before just a little better to get sure to qualify but then I landed into the tracks on the first cliff and so I tomahawked down :-)

 paddy throwing a bio 7 mute on the first cliff
 me doing a turn
 me doing flat 5 on my second run and trying to land switch
big backflip of Davide Cusini aka JJ Jefferson

My Italian friend Davide Cusini aka JJ Jefferson had an awesome run with a huge backflip on the first cliff into a cork 7 on the second one and at the end he gapped some smaller cliffs and went pretty far! He ended up pretty close right behind me on the 4th place.
That was great day for me! First time flying with a heli, first time competing at a comp outside of a park and then I qualified 3th… just an awesome feeling!!!!!
         3th me                 1st Leo Taillefer           2nd Nicolas Vugnier

Sean Balmer filming with cameras for the Downdaysnews









TYEAH


Freitag, 7. Januar 2011

Just stoked!

Just stoked!

Just stoked to get pushed through the next season and be part of THE NORTH FACE Family! Tjeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee