The famous Woodward facilities have been long known for helping skaters, BMX riders, and FMX riders develop new tricks and push the limits of what’s possible. They are now getting their newest facility in Copper Mtn, Colorado, ready to open its doors. The official ground breaking has already taken place and the 19,000 sq ft winter facility is on its way and should be ready for the ‘08/’09 winter season.

Copper Mountain will be the home of the new Woodward project and is sure to help push the limits with snowsports as they have done and continue to do with previous training facilities and coaching in other action sports. Skiing and Snowboarding will certainly benefit from the experience brought to the table by the Woodward staff. In addition to the coaching staff, training tools such as trampolines and foam pits will undoubtedly help progress these sports as it certainly makes a difference when you’re not learning new tricks on hardpack landings.

I am excited to see the results and developments that take place as a result of a season long coaching facility with the reputation and professionalism of Woodward. Stay tuned for updates and news on this story.

Simon Dumont rewrote the record books breaking the world record quarter-pipe air that was previously held by Terje Haakonsen at 32.1 feet. Dumont, earlier in the year had attempted to break the record in Aspen at the X-Games but failed due to a hard fall that ended up injuring his shoulder.

Going back to his home mountain of Sunday River to attempt the record again, Simon showed up with even more determination than ever. Sunday River custom built Simon the quarter pipe upon request and had park staff and patrol on hand to help along the way, tweaking the jump and ensuring the best and most safe conditions for the world record attempt.

On the first day, Simon took a hard fall to the flats and ended up bruising his heel. On the second day, Simon followed suit by punishing himself with a few falls hurting both his heels and re-injuring his knee. Being the competitor that he his, he just kept pushing and pushing. This is something we’ve seen out of Simon before, as he doesn’t let anything stand in his way, not even life-altering injuries to which he’s had more than one that very well could have ended up leaving him paralyzed for life.

Dumont finally broke the record, boosting a massive 35 feet out of the QP. He crushed the record in style too, throwing a cork-nine tail-grab. Apparently just going big isn’t enough, the guy has to throw in a big-smooth trick too. Congratulations to Simon for pushing the limits and setting the new world record!!! Here’s the video….

Thanks to reader Cade Adams for the tip on this story.

The film crew Nimbus Independent has just released its second webisode of Hunting Yeti, putting down some of the most impressive skiing and snowboarding ever seen on film. From huge step downs to lines that will blow you away, the crew makes it look easy while having the time of their lives. The crew travels around from Montana, Canada, and California. Cruising through the back country on their sleds to find absolutely rippable lines and putting their own unique style in everything they do. This is one piece of film that no snow fanatic can afford to miss.

The fun continues in Sweden at the JOSS. Each day Jon has unveiled a new jump with great results. The step up hip, the old school aerial jump, the JOI gap, and the rhythm section so far. Each day the level of riding is pushed also. Today was no exception to that with all sorts of doubles being thrown, including the double cork 1260 by both Jacob Wester and Jon himself. A lot of the competitors followed the double trend throwing Kangaroo flips, double fronts, and other variations throughout the day. Competitors also threw down huge spins and small floaty spins. Grabs were tweaked out to the max with the massive amount of air time and float off the jump. Look forward to remaining features to be hit through the rest of the week. Click here for video coverage.

A new breed of corporation, Surface is independently run, funded, and promoted company. Their goals is not to “keep” up with the mainstream companies out there, rather, focus their energy on what they do best and love the most, skiing. Always open to new ideas and concepts, Surface has its heart in skiing and not the idea of gain and lucre of the corporate world. It’s a group of skiers, and friends that are interested in skiing and making skis. The line up includes three different models, the live life, the life live soft, and the watch life.

In the beginning, Surface was plagued by edge problems. Since then Surface has found a new home in Austria to house their pressing. Unfortunately, I was unable to ski the live life series but I did get the chance to ski the watch life and they’re a lot of fun. A poppy, park inspired ski that is able to go and ski anywhere. I found it a little soft at high speeds in the powder but over-all I liked the ski and felt it was a well made stick that was a lot of fun to ride.

If you are interested in a different ski and a new company check out Surface. The team is made up mainly of local Salt Lake skiers that are extremely talented and approachable. Blake Nyman being the unofficial spokesperson of the collaboration is a dedicated skier and a would be able to answer any questions you may have about the company. Jordan Seldin, also a team rider is much like Blake and would love to talk skiing to just about anyone. Most of the days the Surface family can be found at Alta where they enjoy the world famous snow and terrain.

Today marked both the final of the Swedish Open and the continuation of the Jon Olsson Super Sessions. The day began with the Swedish Open showcasing the local talent and there was plenty of it. The open brought out a lot of young kids that threw down in hopes of winning the grand prize, an invitation to the next Jon Olsson event.

Oscar Sherlin and Kim Boberg battled the day out but in the end it was Kim that was victorious. The Jon Olsson competition format was a jam session with Jon and Phillou Poirier judging the field. Competitors threw everything from switch 5’s to 10’s to switch 10’s. After the day’s events ended, the Super Sessions continued with a night session on the rhythm section.

The rhythm section is a bmx style section with 3 jumps back to back. Once again, it took a while for the athletes to adjust to the unique jumps, but in the end the riders threw down as usual. Simon Dumont rode a sick line consisting of a massive lawn dart to a double frontflip. Colby West zero spinned all three jumps. Jacob Wester and Sammy Carlson were also going huge right of the bat and laying down super stylie, smooth tricks. The session was under the lights allowing riders to go well into the night. It seems Jon has done it again with every feature he builds bringing out progressive tricks, huge air and style in spades. For video click here.

Jon Olsson Super Sessions day 2 has come to an end. The day started with riders hitting the step up hip feature. It took a moment for the athletes to adjust to the jump but soon after the practice session things got going full bore and style was the name of the day. Andreas Hatveit, Sammy Carlson, Jon and Oscar were all killing it.

Andreas was throwing down his signature rodeo and cork 7’s, such money tricks. Sammy threw down his ultra smooth flat spin 3’s and 5’s all afternoon. Oscar spent the day styling out 360’s boosting huge off the hip. Not all the riders were all that into the hip style step up (why? I’m not sure) and the day ended with Jon changing the jump for future sessions in the week to come. Look for updates coming soon. For video click here.

Day 1 Recap.

Today was the first day of jumping and filming at the Jon Olsson Super Sessions and it was amazing. The jumps are huge which is giving riders maximum air time to bust out their stylish tricks. I would say riders are going close to the 120ft range off the jump which is insane for a comp jump. All invited riders that were able to ski today threw down in a big way, which is what you’d expect when you get all these guys together and give them a 120ft jump to session on. All types of spins and rotations were laid down through out the entire day. Jon sure knows how to put on an event! Check out the video here.

In the past, Jon Olsson has held his signature invitational, JOI, upon feeling he had completed the task of reinventing big air comps he decided to step it up and create the Jon Olsson Super Sessions, or JOSS.

The idea is similar to the JOI, but differs in the fact that the event is held over a longer period of time and there are five different features instead of just one big-air kicker. There are 8 of the world’s best skiers, filmers, and photographers invited and 2 more spots in each of these categories is being chosen by Jon via submissions. In the end 10 of the best skiers, filmers and photographers will compete in an 11 day session for $20,000 in cash and prizes. The winner will be determined by professionals in each of the 3 fields and awarded the $20,000. Here is a list of invited riders and their filmers and photographers.

Rider Filmer Photographer

1. Colby West Christian Begin Damian Cromwell
2. Simon Dumont Riley Poor Blake Jorgenson
3. Sammy Carlson Dom Janiszewsi Nate Abbot
4. Jon Olsson Johnny DeCesare Mattias Fredriksson
5. Jossi Wells(is injured) Steven Rozendaam Erik Seo
6. PK Hunder Filip Kristianssen Alex O’Brien
7. Andreas Håtveit Jon Håtveit Vegard Breie
8. Charles Gagnier Erik Simard Charles Spina
9. Jacob Wester Andreas Olofsson Ben Zucker
10. Mike Clarke Drew Lederer Annaleah De Masi

Each skier will have a three minute video segment and a 2 minute slide show displaying their skiing on the five features. Once all videos and slide shows are judged there will be a 2 part video open to the public. Part one; a behind the scenes look at the competition and a compilation of the 10 rider segments and slide shows. During the competition there will be daily updates available at josupersessions.com and other news pertaining to the contest. This is a new type of contest that will display talent and progression within the sport.

How many of you have ever wondered about how your board is made? I certainly have until I happened to read a story the other day on Transworld about it.

The process is really simple despite there being quite a bit of things that go in to the process; the edge, the core, the top sheet, and the base. I have always felt that before buying a board, the consumer should know exactly how it is constructed; whether it is a cap construction or a sand witch construction with side walls. What the core is made of and the quality of the base. Before you buy you should be familiar with these basic terms and know how they might affect the way you ride.

This is a really cool video and it shows the complete process of making a snowboard. Although it doesn’t go into a whole lot of detail about certain materials used, it does give the basics of what goes into the process.