Eric Willett Wins Showdown Over The City

From Quiksilver.com:

Quiksilver Showdown over the city is one of the top snowboarding events in Canada. Located at Grouse mountain in Vancouver BC, competitors compete in this 4Star TTR event for $20,000 in cash.

Eric Willett that took the win with DC’s Jeremy Cloutier in 2nd and Robby Ballharry taking 3rd.

Quiksilver pro Eric Willett came to town and like many other contests this season he ended up on the podium. His winning run was FB 270 out on the down bar into boardslide 270 on the pipe followed by 50-50 BS 1 out on the up rail and then Switch BS 9 and FS 1080 on the jumps.

Click here for a complete wrap-up and more photos on www.snowboardcanada.com.

Flipside 10: Alaska With Wolle Nyvelt

Check out twsnow.com for the latest episode of "Flipside", the behind the scenes look at Absinthe's last film, "Now Here". This episode takes you to Alaska with Vans Team Rider Wolle Nyvelt, along with other Absinthe rippers like Nicolas Muller, Jake Blauvelt, Lucas Debari and Bode Merril. These guys don't mess around, terrorizing some of the biggest mountains in the world with their spectacular shred skills. This is some serious stick-it-or-die type shiz - no handrails in the parking lot for this crew. Take a look to see what snowboarding on the professional level is really all about.

Absinthe Films Launches YouTube Channel

From MethodMag.com

Get up-close and behind-the-scenes with snowboarding's best riders on Absinthe Films’ new YouTube channel. They're loading this online archive with exclusive, rare, and random video - a place for fans to get more Absinthe. Content for youtube.com/absinthefilms is compiled from over a decade of their nonstop documentation of snowboarding's evolution. This new channel will serve as a hub, hosting all the movie trailers, teasers, Flipside shows, outtakes, Websinthes, tour shows, and more. Look for special features, interactive links to bonus content and ongoing updates. The Absinthe archives go deep, and producer Patrick Armbruster says they're "dusting off some classic stuff from the basement - lots of footage that's never been seen."

You might want to check this out: www.youtube.com/absinthefilms.

Cheryl Maas At Winter X Europe

Vans Team Rider Cheryl Maas posted up some photos and a story from her trip to Winter X Games Europe on her tumblr blog. After spending some time in Jackson Hole, WY racking up some shots with Sarka Panchochova, Cheryl heads to Europe to compete in the Women's slopestyle event. Unfortunately, Cheryl had a nasty run-in with a jump landing. Head over to cherylmaas.tumblr.com to see how it all turned out...

TTR Tricks - Eric Willett at Burton US Open

New video of Eric Willett with his winning run in Slopestyle at the 2011 Burton US Open from ttrworldtour.com. Watch how Eric destroyed the fog-filled course which included a Double Underflip, a Double Cork 10, and a backside 10. This run earned him a score of 90.4 which was a full three points higher than second place finisher, Mark McMorris. Eric followed this win with a third place finish at the second Winter X Games Europe less than a week later. This man is unstoppable! Check the video to see how it's done.

Cheryl Maas "Open Air" Teaser

Vans Team Rider Cheryl Maas has just released a teaser for her upcoming film project "Open Air". Cheryl was followed for six months doing what makes her feel the most driven, motivated, rewarded - filming. Most of the winter was spent traveling around Europe and the US in their two person crew, Cheryl and her filmer John Roderick, allowing Cheryl the freedom to push herself in whatever way she wanted. The results will unfold over five short films, released monthly from September 1st, 2011. In the meantime, enjoy a taste of what is to come. To watch the teaser, check out vanssnow.tumblr.com.

Sunday In The Park 2011: Episode 15

From twsnow.com.

In this weekly video From Bear Mountain, we have Darrel Mathes lapping the park with cameos from the homies Lance Hakker, Nick Dirks, Justin Keniston, Justin Bennee, Deadlung, Chris Bradshaw, Harrison Gordon, and Dave Doomey. Ryan Paul finishes this episode off with his free spirited take on the park and every log that crosses his path.

P.S. Who Brought The Tea And Crumpets

It's time for another webisode of Hana Beaman's "P.S..." on snowboardermag.com. This time Hana heads down to Southern Colorado to ride some deep powder at Telluride and Silverton with guide Skylar Holgate. Hana and her English friends navigate the treacherous Red Mountain Pass to get to Silverton and along the way build a backcountry booter and find all kinds of cool stuff to jib on: old mining ruins, an A-Frame building and a couple tree stumps! All in a days work for Ms. Beaman.

To watch the video, go to snowboardermag.com.

Win A Custom Matt Costa Snowboard and Vans Boots

Vans and Signal Snowboards have teamed up with signer-songwriter Matt Costa to give away a custom Matt Costa "Drive" Signal Snowboard and a pair of Vans snowboard boots.

All you have to do to enter to win is sign up for the Matt Costa Mailing List here to be eligble.

"Drive" is the new single from Matt's latest album.

Matt Costa is from Huntington Beach, California. He has four independent releases: a self-titled five-song EP in 2003, a six song EP titled The Elasmosaurus EP in 2005 , a full-length CD/LP entitled Songs We Sing in 2005, and a second full-length CD/LP entitled Unfamiliar Faces in 2008. Both full-lengths were released via Brushfire Records.

For more info, check out mattcosta.com.

Podium Spots At Winter X Games Europe For I-Pod and Willett

From ESPN.com

If you ever want to hear an expressive crowd of SuperPipe fans, watch an event at Tignes, France. With every hit of Friday night's final event of the Winter X Games Europe, something between a roar and a sigh went up from the crowd of more than 22,000 people. Even during the first of the rider's three runs, which was effectively nullified by that weird twilight hour that renders the pipe walls invisible, the crowd would not be subdued.

Defending Winter X Europe gold medalist Iouri Podladtchikov was one of the few riders able to hold down a solid first run, throwing down a textbook cab doublecork 1080 to frontside inverted 540 to backside double McTwist 1260 to frontside double cork 1080, finishing up with a switch air to regular.

Podladtchikov declared that he wanted to throw the same run, but do it bigger. And that's what he did for his second run, executing his tricks to near perfection and moving into first place with a score of 90.33.

Read More and see videos at ESPN.com.

Asthetiker Win Wangl Tangl 2011

The trophy is back in the valley!

The event designed by snowboarders for snowboarders was abruptly bought forward this week. True to the moto - It's on when it's on! A decision was made to bring the main event forward to the only sunny day forecast. And what a day it was! It was a cracking turnout from both riders and spectators alike. Everyone was there to witness the battle of who was going to claim the Wangl Tangl Trophy for 2011.

Defending champions "Team Absolut" took the trophy back to their home town in Styria last year, but this year they were challenged by 2 homegrown Aesthetiker teams - local names like Steve Gruber and Chris Kroell. During training, "Absolut" team captain Herby Thaler took a stack and injured his shoulder forcing him to pull out of the event. This weakened the defending champion, clearing way for a new podium.

For more info and photos, go to vanssnow.tumblr.com.

offthewall.tv Series Premiere: Pass the Bucket

In church, a passed basket collects money to keep the building lights on. In alcoholics anonymous, a can is passed collecting money to keep the coffee fresh. A musician passes a hat keeping his passion alive. A homeless man holds a cup hoping for handouts to survive.

Each container is filled due to the compassion and generosity of others.

Today, more than ever there is a need for people to become aware of the issues at hand and pro-actively fight for change. The opportunities to be selfless and contribute are endless and the large bucket is passed to you.

Vans is very proud to introduce our new series premiering this week on offthewall.tv, Pass the Bucket, a look into the humanitarian side of today's most celebrated action sport athletes, musicians, artists and foundations. Pass the Bucket presents a raw and transparent conversation of today's shocking realities and potential solutions.

Pass the Bucket, Episode 1: Amy Purdy

Amy Purdy is a snowboarder, skateboarder, makeup artist, actress, model and also a double leg amputee. At 19, she contracted Neisseria Meningitis, a form of bacterial meningitis. The disease affected her circulatory system resulting in the need to amputate both of her legs below the knee. Her spleen and a kidney had to be removed as well. Two years later, she received a kidney transplant from her father. Her friends now refer to her as "Lucky."

Amy's most significant accomplishment to date is in the creation and development of the action sport athletic organization Adaptive Action Sports. In 2005, Amy and her partner Daniel Gale founded the non-profit organization to help adaptive athletes get involved with action sports, art and music. As of 2011, Amy is currently ranked #1 in the world for Adaptive Snowboarding and recently got adaptive sports into 2011 Winter X Games. Amy's goal is 2014 Olympic inclusion of Adaptive Snowboarding.

For more information on how you can support Adaptive Action Sports go to www.ADACS.org.

About offthewall.tv

offthewall.tv is Vans' digital on-line network featuring original entertainment from the worlds of action sports, music, art and street culture. Original series include Adventures with Chris, Jeff Grosso's Loveletters to Skateboarding, Collaboratory, Time & Space, Pass the Bucket and the Vans Comedy Show. Separate channels explore skate, surf, bmx, moto, art and music.

New Photos From The 2011 Wangl Tangl

Matthias Vogt. Photo: Alex Papis.

Welcome to the week of the Wangl Tangl 2011. The World of Skate, Snowboard, Music and Art and probably powder descends on Mayrhofen in Tirol!

The Vans Penken Park is ready and open. The IOU Mega-Miniramp is in Mayrhofen and ready to for skating. Stages and sound systems, musicians and artists, riders and enthusiasts have already started arriving in town. Preparations for the upcoming event week are all but complete. destination - Mayrhofen in Tirol. Once again, the week of the Wängl is on!

An unexpected visitor is also turning up. The long awaited dump in the Alps looks set to arrive on Wednesday and set to stay through to the weekend. While this is great news for all the powder hungry shredders around Europe, it obviously creates some technical difficulties for the planed Wangl Tangl snowboard contest window scheduled from Wednesday 16th to Friday 18th of March.

For more info and lots of photos from the first day, go to vanssnow.tumblr.com.

Vans Riders Win Big At US Open

Eric Willett 1st place. Photo: Shem Roose.

Vans Team Riders Iouri "iPod" Podladtchikov and Eric Willett wrapped up the TTR World Tour contest series right over the weekend, with iPod grabbing a second place finish in the Men's Superpipe and Eric taking the win in Slopestyle.

Despite battling nasty weather conditions all weekend, both riders put down solid runs to earn their spots on the podium. With his second place in Superpipe, iPod also scored his second consecutive 2nd place in the TTR World Standings for the season, while Eric moved up to #7.

For more photos and video from the event, check out opensnowboarding.com and www.ttrworldtour.com.

Wangl Tangl At Vans Penken Park In Austria

Thomas "beckna" Eberharter hit us up from Europe with some shots from the set up at the 2011 Wangl Tangl in Mayrhofen, Tirol.

"Been up at the hill this afternoon to check the developement of the park and things are looking pretty good," he said. "It's crazy warm here these days: like 17 degrees (Celsius) down the valley and 14 up the hill in the afternoon but the crew is doing an awesome job."

The www.aesthetiker.com crew also has updates throughout the week leading up to the main event.

To see more photos from the Vans Penken Park, check out our new tumblr blog vanssnow.tumblr.com.

Look Who's Calling Hana Beaman

Hana Beaman. Photo: Stan Evans

From ESPN.com:

In today's society, it's hard to imagine calling a female a beast without getting a nice slap to the face. Hana Beaman's a beast, though -- a beautiful, graceful beast, but she'll shut down a male ego in no time flat when she steps on her snowboard. And she has been known to head butt people from time to time. If Tara Dakides was the first female to hit the same jumps and rails as the boys, Hana was the one that picked up the reigns where she left off. We caught up with Hana to talk about dating rock stars, her new web series, and shredding in Alaska. - By Matt Vanatta

To read the full interview, go to: espn.go.com.

The Looking Sideways Project

Launching in Tignes during the Winter X Games week, looking sideways is a new project which aims to bring art, photography, music, film making and riding together in an ongoing series of events, exhibitions and, of course,
rocking parties.

Snowboarding's (boardsports) relationship with film, music and art is undeniable - from the classic video parts that inspired us all and introduced the soundtracks of our roadtrips, to the art and graphics which adorn boards, tshirts
and the stickers that we leave in hard to reach places everywhere we go. The surf, skate and snow industry is built on a culture of rampant creativity. About time then, for a project which celebrates this... and gives a little back.

Read More

P.S. For A Good Time Head To The J-Hole

Snowboarder Magazine posted the fourth installment of Hana Beaman's webisodes, "P.S...". Like last time, Hana is still posted up in Jackson Hole, WY to session the new Stash Park with Natasza Zurek and Snowboarder's Pat Bridges, and she gets into some more sweet backcountry action with legendary female snowboarder Tara Dakides. Freshies galore up there in Wyoming I tell ya. Head over to www.snowboardermag.com to check it out.

Blog Update From Cheryl Maas

From Cheryl Maas' tumblr blog:

Never been to Jackson Hole before. I just got out here a couple of days ago to do a shoot with the volcom girls team for Snowboarder Mag. And this place is sick!!! So much cool terrain to ride. We went hiking with Guch (the legend) and he showed us some sick terrain!

Today I rented my sled for the week! So stoked. I can't wait to do some sledding around to find jumps. Sarka is flying in and then we will be a sick little crew of four: (Vernon (Photographer) Pat (Filmer) Sarka and me. We are going to try to get some good powder jump shots and get creative out there!

For more photos and other blog entries from Cheryl, check out cherylmaas.tumblr.com.

Resort Report With DJ Z-Trip

There are not many resorts in North America that can offer a lift-accessed backcountry experience. These are places where you can find bottomless, untracked powder turns all day long with very few, if any other people around. Mountains that feel like your own private playground. Silverton, Colorado, Mt. Baker, Washington and several in Canada would probably make that list. But among the hidden gems is a special place called Grand Targhee. Grand Targhee could very well be the best-kept secret in snowboarding.

Although technically Grand Targhee Resort lies in Alta, Wyoming, it can only be accessed from Idaho, or what locals have appropriately dubbed, "Wydaho". Bordering Idaho on the western slope of the Teton Mountains, Grand Targhee is the oft-overlooked cousin of neighboring Jackson Hole. Despite lacking the vertical rise and massive size as Jackson, Grand Targhee boasts over 500 inches a year of incredibly light, cold Wyoming snow. And the best thing is, there's hardly anybody around to ride it!

Just four lifts access the entire mountain, which is filled with large gullies, gladed tree runs and secluded fields of untouched powder. Minimal grooming leaves plenty of natural terrain to be explored, and a couple of backcountry gates access some steeper lines with rock exposure, challenging chutes and various cliff drops. There is even a guided snowcat tour limited to 12 people per day that operates in a 600-acre powder reserve if you really want to get away from it all.

The base area features only the essentials you need and nothing you don't: Fred's Board Shop (a Vans retailer), The Trap Bar ($2 PBRs, of course), The Branding Iron (great burger and salad bar lunch special) and three separate lodging options mere feet from the lifts. It's the perfect place to escape the crowds and bares no resemblance to the typical condo plagued resorts of the Rockies. Check out the video below and see for yourself...

Red Bull Jibmunks

Iouri Podlatchikov. Photo: Lorenz Richard.

This report in from our hard working Europe TM Thomas "beckna" Eberharter:

"Just got back from the first edition of the Red Bull Jibmunks 2011 in Grindelwald/Switzerland. Coming from the idea of Markus Keller, this event had a unique format which is simply to jib/ride down a part of a piste/slope and make the most out of the natural terrain that the slope offers. It's a good change to the other events these days where you barely get to see a stylish BS air or some creativity as the format does not allow anything like that normally. Simply taking it back to the spirit of snowboarding.

The event had a legend class where people like Peter Strom, Tonton Holland, Christoph Weber, myself and none other than Mr. Jamie Lynn got invited to have some fun and show the kids that the old cats still have some skills and can throw down. The main event though was open to everybody and around 90 people entered the event to conquer the 16 invited pros. In the end, Vans rider Iouri "Ipod" Podladtchikov took the victory and host Markus Keller came in third place. All in all the event was a big success and everybody who was participating had a good time and shared lots of smiles. I'm sure there will be a second edition of the Red Bull Jibmunks in the incredible scenery of Grindelwald next year and I will make sure to be back - hopefully Jamie and his amazing BS airs and Cab 5s from the toes will be too!"

Big ups to Markus Keller, Red Bull, Volcom and everybody else who made the event possible. For more info, check out www.redbull.ch.

Empire Backyard Party Snow 2011

If you're anywhere in the Northeast this month, don't miss the Empire Backyard Party presented by Vans. It's all going down in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Canada on March 19th. The jam format street rail contest goes from 2-9pm, with an after party from 10pm - 3am. And if you know anything about French Canadians, it's worth going up there just for the party. BBQ and beverages available during the contest, which has a total cash purse of $20,000! Now that's a whole lotta looines. Vans Canadian Team Riders Will Lavigne, Benji Ritchie and Phil Jacques will be there, along with every other East Coast jibber extraordinaire. Don't miss your chance to go head-to-head with the best and win some chedda. For more info, check out www.thinkempire.com.

Holden X Vans Photos on RadCollector.com

Action sports lifestyle and product blog www.radcollector.com posted some nice photos of the new Holden X Vans collabo snowboard boot that we twitpic'd from the SIA Tradeshow in Denver, CO last month. Check out the exclusive images by Peter Williams for Radcollector, highlighting the subtle details of next season's beautiful collaboration between the most stylish outerwear company in snowboarding and the timeless quality of Vans. Look for more info about the pack, which also features a Holden X Vans sneaker, right here on the Vans Snow blog soon.

4th Jib City Nights At Mountain High

Vans and Pro Tec held our 4th Jib City Nights Rail Jam at Mt High on February 23rd, 2011. It was a 2-hour session on 3 different obstacles in the Mt High Playground. Top 3 riders on each obstacle got a free pair of Vans shoes, and the rider with the best trick on each obstacle walked away with a Pro Tec helmet. Competitors were able to have 20 to 30 minutes on each obstacle to show off their snowboarding talent. Remember, this is a free event for all ages. All of the riders that compete get a free Vans Jib City Night T-shirt and everyone that shows up will walk away with a hand full of Vans product. At the 5th Jib City Night Rail Jam, Vans will be giving away a GoPro Camera for the top all around rider! As always Vans will have the grill going during the event for anyone that wants a free hotdog. Please join us on March 9th at Mt. High for this season's 5th Jib City Night Rail Jam. - Words and Photo by Dave Doomey.