4FRNT
News
Finally Gettin Some Pow in AK...
Apr 1st 2011
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With an unusual dry winter and thin snowpack in AK we finally got a well deserved powder day- here's a little edit from Alyeska Resort yesterday... I LOVE MY RENEGADES, thank you! http://vimeo.com/21738916
Twisted Sisters Course Layout
Mar 30th 2011
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We got up to Kirkwood this morning, and immediately started planning out the course. With all of the snow over the last few weeks, we've had to plan this on the fly as features are filling in.After a long day of work, however, we have the initial course layout. You can view it in full resolution here (be patient, it's a big file).It's not too late to register. You can do that here.For an added bonus, here's Wiley holding up the big check (mounted on a piece of wood to hang on your wall) that the winner of the open division will get.
Back on the Podium
Mar 29th 2011
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When this ski season started in December I set myself a simple goal: learn how to enjoy skiing again and get as good as possible while learning. I had a slight idea of getting some stuff filmed, but I wasn’t even thinking of attending a competition. Here’s how my plans changed. Approximately three weeks ago I was on an urban trip with Nipwitz in eastern Finland, when my dear friend Oskari Raitanen told me about a slopestyle comp in Andorra that he and Pekka Hyysalo attended a year before. Apparently the organizers were impressed by their skills (Pekka and Oskari took 1st and 2nd respectively), as this year they wanted three Finns to the contest. Pekka was still recovering from a brain injury he suffered a year ago, so naturally he couldn’t compete. Other than that, Oskari was busy with filming and a couple of guys didn’t answer their phones or just didn’t want to go. Oskari then started to convince me about the comp. He told that last year’s organization worked well, park was good and there was plenty of prize money, but I still didn’t feel like going until I heard they would pay for my flights. At that point I thought there was nothing to lose. I could only travel to Andorra, ski for a couple of days and come back with either a new experience or a new experience and success. I felt anxious and decided that only a minimum amount of people should know about me participating to such event. If I failed, I would come back home without hardly anyone knowing about it. If I succeeded, I would get tons of confidence and it would be one hell of an accomplishment for my comeback year. On March 24th I left for Andorra with Ilkka and Verneri Hannula, two upcoming freeskiers from Jyväskylä, Finland. Our flight was to Barcelona, from where the organizers drove us to Andorra. The following day we had a chance to try out the course, which turned out to be rather unusual, but still a lot of fun. It consisted of two lines - big and small that however were told to be judged equally. The small line started off with an option of a flat-down box and a down rail followed by a medium sized jump, an “X-jump” (which was something I had never seen before) and an option of a polejam and a regular jump at the bottom. The big line had only three features: a 20 metre table top jump, a transfer gap and the same last polejam/jump feature with the small line. Weather was good so I kept hitting both lines and started to form some possible runs in my mind. I went back to the hotel with a good feeling. X-jump (basically just an X-shaped kicker) on the right and transfer gap on the left Big line on the right, small line on the left The big jump Snowboard comp took place on Saturday so we couldn’t get any practice that day. Skiers’ turn was on Sunday and the weather was terrible! It was snowy, rainy, foggy and windy and everybody knew it would be hard to get speed. However, team Finland was well prepared. Before the trip I had visited my dad’s wax box and borrowed some of the best highly fluorinated ski wax you can get. Despite the super wax, we were not completely safe from speed issues, but many riders seemed to be struggling more than us. In the morning we had plenty of training time. First we hit only the small line and then moved to the big one as the visibility improved. I kept hitting both lines and managed to get several good runs before the actual comp. The weather remained sketchy so my strategy was to choose between the two lines according to current conditions. I ended up going for the big one all day. I didn’t feel quite comfortable with the course, but I noticed that nobody else did either. After landing my first qualification run and seeing many others having problems, I felt like I might have one of the strongest packages that day. I was turning into my old competition-mode again. In spite of almost three years of break, I knew I had been there before; this wasn’t my first time stomping full runs while many others were too nervous about the weather. In fact, many of my best results were made in conditions like that. After the qualifications I was first and super heated for the finals. My run was switch bio nine, flat five on the transfer gap and switch right seven on the last jump. It wasn’t the most technical run of the day, but I decided to go for clean tricks, rather than doing something risky and potentially unstylish. In the finals I was the last at the top of the course – a bit more nervous than usually, but much more focused. I landed my first run without mistakes and felt relieved, I could be happy with that day no matter what my result was. On the second run I was filled with stoke and confidence and just wanted to stomp the same run with even more amplitude and style. I did it. Waiting for the results at the prize giving ceremony is always nerve-racking, but this time I was shaking. I hadn’t seen all the other runs so it was tough to say how far mine would take me. The announcer started to drop names beginning from fourth place. Andorrans Toni Riberaigua and Albert Martinez took 4th and 3rd respectively and Verneri Hannula from our Finnish crew got 2nd. When my name was announced as 1st I felt maybe better than ever in any contest. I had travelled to Andorra Total Fight without any expectations and come back with 4000€ and lots of confidence to continue training. It was also my first win on 4FRNT, which will hopefully encourage them to keep sending me new skis. Read more: When this ski season started in December I set myself a simple goal: learn how to enjoy skiing again and get as good as possible while learning. I had a slight idea of getting some stuff filmed, but I wasn’t even thinking of attending a competition. Here’s how my plans changed. Approximately three weeks ago I was on an urban trip with Nipwitz in eastern Finland, when my dear friend Oskari Raitanen told me about a slopestyle comp in Andorra that he and Pekka Hyysalo attended a year before. Apparently the organizers were impressed by their skills (Pekka and Oskari took 1st and 2nd respectively), as this year they wanted three Finns to the contest. Pekka was still recovering from a brain injury he suffered a year ago, so naturally he couldn’t compete. Other than that, Oskari was busy with filming and a couple of guys didn’t answer their phones or just didn’t want to go. Oskari then started to convince me about the comp. He told that last year’s organization worked well, park was good and there was plenty of prize money, but I still didn’t feel like going until I heard they would pay for my flights. At that point I thought there was nothing to lose. I could only travel to Andorra, ski for a couple of days and come back with either a new experience or a new experience and success. I felt anxious and decided that only a minimum amount of people should know about me participating to such event. If I failed, I would come back home without hardly anyone knowing about it. If I succeeded, I would get tons of confidence and it would be one hell of an accomplishment for my comeback year. On March 24th I left for Andorra with Ilkka and Verneri Hannula, two upcoming freeskiers from Jyväskylä, Finland. Our flight was to Barcelona, from where the organizers drove us to Andorra. The following day we had a chance to try out the course, which turned out to be rather unusual, but still a lot of fun. It consisted of two lines - big and small that however were told to be judged equally. The small line started off with an option of a flat-down box and a down rail followed by a medium sized jump, an “X-jump” (which was something I had never seen before) and an option of a polejam and a regular jump at the bottom. The big line had only three features: a 20 metre table top jump, a transfer gap and the same last polejam/jump feature with the small line. Weather was good so I kept hitting both lines and started to form some possible runs in my mind. I went back to the hotel with a good feeling. Snowboarding comp took place on Saturday so we couldn’t get any practice that day. Skiers’ turn was on Sunday and the weather was terrible! It was snowy, rainy, foggy and windy and everybody knew it would be hard to get speed. However, team Finland was well prepared. Before the trip I had visited my dad’s wax box and borrowed some of the best highly fluorinated ski wax you can get. Despite the super wax, we were not completely safe from speed issues, but many riders seemed to be struggling more than us. In the morning we had plenty of training time. First we hit only the small line and then moved to the big one as the visibility improved. I kept hitting both lines and managed to get several good runs before the actual comp. The weather remained sketchy so my strategy was to choose between the two lines according to current conditions. I ended up going for the big one all day. I didn’t feel quite comfortable with the course, but I noticed that nobody else did either. After landing my first qualification run and seeing many others having problems, I felt like I might have one of the strongest packages that day. I was turning into my old competition-mode again. In spite of almost three years of break, I knew I had been there before; this wasn’t my first time stomping full runs while many others were too nervous about the weather. In fact, many of my best results were made in conditions like that. After the qualifications I was first and super heated for the finals. My run was switch bio nine, flat five on the transfer gap and switch right seven on the last jump. It wasn’t the most technical run of the day, but I decided to go for clean tricks, rather than doing something risky and potentially unstylish. In the finals I was the last at the top of the course – a bit more nervous than usually, but much more focused. I landed my first run without mistakes and felt relieved, I could be happy with that day no matter what my result was. On the second run I was filled with stoke and confidence and just wanted to stomp the same run with even more amplitude and style. I did it. Waiting for the results at the prize giving ceremony is always nerve-racking, but this time I was shaking. I hadn’t seen all the other runs so it was tough to say how far mine would take me. The announcer started to drop names beginning from fourth place. Andorrans Toni Riberaigua and Albert Martinez took 4th and 3rd respectively and Verneri Hannula from our Finnish crew got 2nd. When my name was announced as 1st I felt maybe better than ever in any contest. I had travelled to Andorra Total Fight without any expectations and come back with 4000€ and lots of confidence to continue training. It was also my first win on 4FRNT, which will hopefully encourage them to keep sending me new skis. Read more: http://www.downdays.eu/freeski/28/articles/leinonen-wins-in-andorra/
4FRNT Heads to Twisted Sisters
Mar 29th 2011
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This afternoon we are packing up and driving to Kirkwood for the first ever Twisted Sisters event. Twisted Sisters is a big mountain and freeride completion wrapped in one. Competitors will begin their runs at the top of ?Cliff Chutes? ridgeline/cliff ban at Kirkwood Mountain Resort. After testing their big mountain skills in ?Cliff Chutes? skiers will play their way through the natural terrain of the ?Fingers? before dropping into ?the drain? where they will find man-made features to jump and jib on their way to the finish line.There are both pro and open divisions. The open division will be judged by the pro riders, and the pro division will be judged by the open division competitors. Each entrant gets a free t-shirt, dinner after the comp, a one-year subscription to Powder Magazine, discounted lift ticket for the day of the event and a chance to win other prizes. The winner of the open division will receive a one-year sponsorship from us (4FRNT Skis). Kirkwood has been getting DUMPED ON lately, so the snow conditions are shaping up to be all-time for a competition of this nature. We have team riders Wiley Miller and Finn Anderson on their way to throw down in the pro division.We'll be on-snow tomorrow to take a look at the venue, building features and generally getting stoked on the event. We'll keep you up to date throughout the week as the venue shapes up.You can pre-register for the event here. Big thanks to Kirkwood Mountain Resort for setting this event up, as well as the other event sponsors: Snowbomb.com, Smith Optics, Clif Bar, Hi Ball Energy Drink, Powder Magazine, Teton Gravity Research, Dalbello, Ansai, Backcountry Access, Porter?s Tahoe, Go Pro, and High Fives.
Verbier XXXterme!
Mar 19th 2011
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Back once again on the vicious Bec des Rosses, and tomorrow it's finally on. Not too good conditions, but it's snowing as we speak and a thin layer of snow has hidden the sharks so at least we don't have to see them. Qualified as lucky number thirteen after three events with no results, so really don't have too much to loose. Exept my good health. Planning on keeping that one. Follow live on www.freerideworldtour.com from 11.oo local time.
US Trip
Mar 10th 2011
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Howdy! Since my last update in Breck, the trend of constant movement continued and my schedule was essentially non-stop travel, bringing me from Colorado to Utah and then onward to Montana. Following several days in the Breckenridge/Keystone area where Sandy Boville, Shay Lee and myself were trying to get some much needed training in before Aspen Open, we hopped in the car and made our way to Aspen via a night in Vail. Although the first training day was cancelled due to a storm, the next 3 days were perfect and we had a blast lapping the massive Aspen course, which had hosted X-Games just a week earlier. After learning some new tricks in practice, I was able to qualify into semis, where despite putting down a run I was happy with, I didn’t get the score I was hoping for and did not advance to finals by a few spots. Although the outcome didn’t go the way I wanted, I was still happy with the way I skied with only having had 2 jump days all season prior to the event, and was stoked to put some solid runs down. Immediately after the Open, we jumped into Shay’s Subaru once again and pointed ourselves towards Salt Lake City, where I had the chance to visit the 4frnt Headquarters and to hang out with the crew and pick up some new boots from the guys at Daleboot just down the street. Thanks Mike! While in Salt Lake, we were lucky to stay at photographer Ian Matteson’s house, who took us up to the Canyons to shoot some photos in their super fun park. The next day we linked up with Inspired to do a little bit of filming at Park City, I was super happy to finally be able to finally ski there as it’s always been a place I’d wanted to ride. Once we were all done in Utah, we continued our journey by making the long trek to Montana in order to meet up with the guys at Toy Soldier Productions in Bozeman. After only a night, we drove up to Lost Trail Ski Area several hours away for a week of fun and filming. Lost Trail is a small resort with awesome terrain, an absolutely awesome staff, and a really friendly vibe that made us feel right at home the whole time. During our week there, we built several jumps in the surrounding backcountry, and were able to hit some super unique features that cat driver Andy Schulz created for us. Despite the weather not fully cooperating with us and new snow being a little scarce at times, we managed to get some shots that we were really happy with and had an amazing time in the process. Thanks so much to Will Moss and Andy Schulz at Lost Trail for giving us such a great experience. Check them out at ltparks.com! On the way back to Bozeman, we decided to stop over in Butte, an old mining town that was once projected to be the largest city in America at the turn of the 20th century. Although most of the mines have closed since its heyday in the early 1900’s, it is now a town with rich history and awesome urban rails. We only spent a night there, but were able to get some shots on a super cool rail with major consequences after waiting until almost 5 a.m. for our setup to solidify. Once we were done in Butte, we cruised back to Bozeman for a day or two before driving to Billings where Sandy and I had to catch our respective flights back home to Canada. Since being home I’ve been shredding some of the local hills that Ottawa has to offer with Sir Matthew Tirrell, and am looking forward to a busy next couple weeks! I’ll be heading off to Retallack next week with the 4frnt Crew and then down to Utah once again!
Jessica Warll Checks in
Mar 9th 2011
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Jess Warll, park skiing phenom, sent in an update for us about here season:"Hey there! So I've had a pretty busy season thus far. I competed in my first Dew Tour , came 3rd. Chilled for a bit in Summit County then headed to X games in Aspen. Lucky for us it was sunny all week and was a gorgeous day on finals where I placed 6th.Right after this I was invited to the World Championships at Park City Utah where I qualified for finals. I managed to be 10th in the world. Maude Raymond, who has been shredding Mammoth all winter invited me to come ski with her for a week. So off to Cali where it's like spring riding everyday!Unfortunately, I broke my collarbone and am hangin' out 'til it heals up!"Get well soon Jess!
Action!
Mar 8th 2011
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Hello again! The past two months have been really intense! I’ve been skiing almost every day and learned again many of my old tricks and also some completely new ones. Skiing feels really good and my operated knee is not an issue at all. In fact, I think it has only gotten stronger or at least used to taking big hits again. I still don’t enjoy putting the knee brace on every day, but when it comes to skiing it’s totally worth it. Right now it’s early March. Two months ago it was early January and two months from now it’s May. This season has gone really fast and I hope the snow doesn’t melt too early as I still feel like December! I’ve been filming a bit with a crew called Nipwitz. We film mainly urbans and especially the kind of urbans you wouldn’t expect. There is definitely some room for imagination and creativity and and that’s how I like it. Check out www.nipwitz.com for the first episode of 2011 and stay tuned for the becoming ones. Powder in Finland! Photo: Teemu Heljo
Sunsets and Contests
Mar 7th 2011
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Last week we had a little sunset session. Here's a few shots. Today I'm packing for Jr. Nationals in Jasper, Alberta. From that I'll be coming home for a couple days then heading to Mount Snow, Vermont, for the Carinthia Open. Then I'll make my way over to Sunday River to do the qualifiers for the Dumont Cup. It's gonna be an exciting couple of weeks! Charlie.
CRJ Day - Feb 24, 2011
Mar 3rd 2011
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Last Thursday, all of us went up to Alta on a cold, stormy day to remember our friend, and skiing legend, CR Johnson. CR left us a year ago on Feb 24, and we wanted to honor his life and his legacy that he's left behind.We met up at Alta Ski Area in the morning to find a storm rolling in. After a few minutes of chatting, everyone headed up the lift. A few laps on the High T, and some back flips down on Westward ho, later, we all gathered at the base of the hill in Goldminer's Daughter to laugh, remember and watch a montage of all of CR's video clips. Some of his segments from MSP, PBP and The BIgger Picture could still close out a modern movie. Our event in Alta ran parallel with an event in Squaw Valley, CA put on by the High Fives Foundation. They had a day of skiing on KT-22, followed by a fundraising dinner for the CR Johnson Foundation. Here are a few photos from our day at Alta: Special thanks to everyone at Alta for helping us get this set up, and everyone who came out for CRJ Day at Alta, Squaw, or any other mountain.
DaleBoot
Feb 25th 2011
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Just wanted to release my recent partnership with DaleBoot. Big things to come from a killer ski boot company. Check it! www.daleboot.com
Let it snow
Feb 25th 2011
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Snowing like a mothercrankyo here in Kirkwood, and no signs of any weather clearing up soon. Still early here and the jetlag is doing wonders with my ability to get up in the morning. Check out www.totheprovinggrounds.com for more! And guess what, the Norwegian delegates for the FWT-event in Sochi has doubled it's numbers. Thorsen going FWT, that's what's up!
Japan Pillow Party
Feb 22nd 2011
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Had a go at some avy barriers here in japan o' land... success from the level 1 crew. Trip is wrapped up. Ready to get home and party in the north american snow... whew!
SLC,UTAH
Feb 12th 2011
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Finally arrived in the states 4 days ago. After some initial problems, witch usualy is solved by using moore money, thing started to go better. We me up with the Saga guys and they showed us arround. Our two first days on skiis was up at the legendary spot house jump and yesterday we were in Park City for the first time. This place have the best of two worlds, park and insane terrain for jumps and freeride. And not to mention the snow!!! I´ll get back to you! Erik
JAPANPOW
Feb 11th 2011
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Been in Niseko Japan filming for Level 1′s new flick to release fall of 2011… the pow is deep to say the least and and the trip has just got going. Check out this shot o’ P white I pulled from my POV. This was amongst the deep and dirty’s to come compiled in an edit from the future… WHEW! [video:http://vimeo.com/19824611 500x500]
Chad's...i mean Pyramid Gap.
Feb 5th 2011
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So a few weeks ago i got a phone call from Toy Soldier filmer Andy Hahn. I was like wasup dawg, he was all yo come hit pyramid. So i drove down to Salt Lake the next day...this is what i arrived to: [video:http://vimeo.com/19463342 500x500] Eventually we finally found pyramid, built it, and got a little session on it. Mandatory group photo: (Left to right: Jonny Durst, Andy Hahn, myself, Justin Brodin, Shay Lee, Mike Mcleod, A.J. Meldahl) mandatory sunset shot: (shay and I) (also, check out the landing where i knuckled a bit....sketch) alright, blog session complete, I'm going to go take a poop now. More blogzzzzz to come yall!
My first podium. Bangin!!
Feb 3rd 2011
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Check out my run in St.Moritz, Switzerland this Sunday. It got me my first podium ever on the Freeride World Tour, and pushed me up on fourth in the overall ranking. Stoked! Arrived in Bansko, Bulgaria yesterday, just in time for Dennis Risvoll's birthday party. Perfection. Bansko had pretty good conditions last week, but as tempratures rise, the snow are slowly getting more firm. Still good skiing though, and the alps did not seem to be much better, so this will be a good place to stay and prepare for the Kirkwood event late February. Pics to come on www.totheproovinggrounds.com Gopro action: (gopro did not stick the second hit of my double, therefor only first half of my run..) [video:http://www.vimeo.com/19542272 400x400] Heli action: [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ZOPCjnwYI 350x350]
SIA
Feb 1st 2011
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Hey Guys! Since last checking in, I've done quite a bit of moving around. After leaving Whistler, I flew back home to Ottawa, Ontario on the east side of Canada where I was able to hang out with all of my friends, see my awesome parents TJ and DJ, and get some much needed skiing in at the local resorts that surround the Ottawa area. My second day back, I went up to Mont Tremblant with the man himself, Matty Tirrell. Tremblant is an easy 2 hour drive from Ottawa, so after an early morning, we found ourselves in Tremblant where the temperatures had dropped to a cozy -39 with the wind chill. Despite absolutely freezing temperatures, I had a super fun day cruising the South Side park and trying out my new 4frnt Switchblades, which are by far the best park skis I've ever had the pleasure of riding. 5 days later, after skiing several days at the always fun Edelweiss Valley, I hopped on a plane to Denver in order to attend the SIA Snow Show. SIA is a 4 day event in which all ski and snowboard companies showcase their gear for the upcoming season, and it was my first time attending this amazing event. I had lots of fun wandering the massive exhibition fall with Espen Bergh and my PYP counterparts Pat King and Dane Degruyter. I had the chance to meet some great people, attend some awesome night time events, and most importantly hang out with the 4frnt family. An awesome time was had by all, and I'm already looking forward to next year! Immediately following the conclusion of SIA, I met up with my fellow Ontarian Sandy Boville and Shay Lee to head up to Breckenridge and Keystone to get some jumping in before Aspen Open next week! Although the temperatures have now dropped after our first day riding, I'm super excited to ski their amazing parks and hopefully have some more good days! That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by... but mainly stay classy.
Check my line on the freeride world tour!
Jan 25th 2011
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Finished twelve in the first comp of the 2011 edition of the FWT this Sunday. Not superstoked on my position although I had a good feeling when I got to the bottom. But hey, what can you do.. [video:http://www.vimeo.com/19145772 100x100] As for now we're back on the road again. Drove from Meiringen, a small resort with promising terrain, but not half the amount of powder snow-forecast.com promised, to Engelberg a resort more famous for it's night-life than the skiing. There is alot of snow here, though so I hope we'll get stuff done here before next weeks FWT in Engadin, Switzerland. The night life will have to do without us for now. Us, means me, Vegard Breie and Aasmund Thorsen, who just got back from an impressive performance at the Red Bull Linecatcher in Vars, France. Right now dinner is up here in Engelberg, and Vegard get's a bit grumpy without his food. Gotta go...
