Posts Tagged ‘Shaun White’

At the age of 23 Shaun White is already a veteran of the extreme sport of snow boarding. He turned professional at the age of 13 and is now the biggest name in the sport. Last week he won the gold medal in the men’s half pipe at Whistler – but how much was down to a sponsor with limitless funds, or was it just good luck, or was it the great professionalism that White emulates.

Photo courtesy of Connie Scheer from The Meeting Network

The answer is they were probably all involved – let us explain.

The Red Bull connection

Our old friends Red Bull, White’s main sponsor, generously created a half pipe for White to train on in the middle of the mountains in Colorado – only accessible by helicopter. Fair dinkum and there is no doubt that White used this facility to his great advantage. Check out what was created in this video from redbull

The Good Luck

You could refer to this as bad luck, depending on which side of the table you sit. Two of White’s main rivals, team mates Danny Davis and Kevin Pearce were both unable to compete due to injury. Davis has a spinal fracture after an accident on a quad bike some ten days ago and Pearce is in a bad way after a very bad crash whilst practicing at the end of December. We wish them both a speedy recovery but their absence was for White a bit of luck.

The professionalism of White

Whatever is said about the benefits of a personal training space and the fortunate absence of two main rivals we most certainly bow to the great professionalism of White. He had won the half pipe in Turin in 2006 and wanted to win again. But it had all been done before, snow boarding was deja vu. Not for White, he went up to his private training ground and with his coach, Bud Keene, determined to create something new – a ‘WOW’ factor.

They came up with the dramatic spiraling Double McTwist 1260 which became known as the Tomahawk. White was so far ahead after his first run which in his own words included a “good-sized” backside air, a front double cork 1080, a cab-double cork 1080, a frontside stalefish 540 and a backside 900 to finish that it was all over in respect of the gold medal.

Ever the professional White wanted to show the world what he could do and so in his second run, which scored an amazing 48.4 points, he pulled off the perfect Tomahawk. Incredible stuff and testimony to the professional.

Peetu Piiroinen of Finland was the only one to put serious pressure on White, with a second-run score of 45.0. He finished with the silver medal. The bigger podium surprise was the presence of the American Scotty Lago, who used a big first run to capture a somewhat surprising bronze medal.

We are able to show the Tomahawk in this video from jamieoverlooked and wonder what the flying Tomato will come up with when he defends his gold medal again in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. The Tomato may need more than a Tomahawk.

The 14th Winter X Games are coming to Aspen, Colorado at the end of this month – January 28th – 31st to be precise. What a feast of extreme sports will be on display.

Winter X Games 14 will feature new events with two new disciplines making their debut – Skiing SuperPipe High Air and Snowmobile Knock Out - it is just getting more and more extreme.

The action is on skis, snowboards or snow mobiles and with extra coverage from sponsors ESPN you are guaranteed to see most of the competitions even if you cannot be in Aspen.

There will be snowboard big air, snowboard slopestyle and snowboard superpipe for both men and women. The skiing will involve big air, superpipe high air, slopestyle and superpipe events. The snowmobile schedule will include best trick, freestyle, snocross both knockout and adaptive. And with mono skiier X, skiier X and snowboarder X all featuring on the X course you are bound to see some thrills and spills.

See for yourself in this crazy action packed video of the 13th X Games kindly provided by marcgb10 . The best in the world are coming to Aspen with names such as Scotty Lago, Charkes Reid, Peetu Piirionen, Shaun White, Kelly Clark and Jamie Anderson among a very international list of invitees the competition is going to be very fierce.

Don’t miss it – January 28th to 31st on ESPN - for further information go to the following link:

http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/2010/wx14/index

Silverton Resort in the San Juan Mountains,  Colorado is what is known as ‘a perpendicular resort’. Strictly skilled skiers only.

It offers a remarkable choice of off-piste and hike-to terrain, heli-skiing and snowcat skiing. Its terrain spans 1,819 acres that descend 3,100 vertical feet through 45-degree chutes, huge powder bowls and a zone called Nightmare. For any extreme thrill seekers out there – this is the place to come.

Silverton Mountains’ webpage says it all: “Imagine a place where the average total snowfall of over 400″ exceeds the amount of daily visitors. Advanced and expert only riding, no groomers, no clearcut runs and a real mountain experience with plenty of adventure on tap. All thrills no frills.“

Am I successfully whetting your appetite?

“Silverton Mountain” says Chris Davenport, professional skier and Red Bull athlete, “is pretty close to the most pure skiing experience one can find today, an epic mountain, bountiful snowfall (the deep and light Colorado kind!), and none of the distractions of other ski areas (crowds!)”

There are no groomed runs, no cut trails, just loads of nature’s finest black diamond skiing in the U.S.A.

Ben Gibson from Canaccord Capital Corporation, Montreal,  Canada is equally impressed with Silverton, “Silverton Mountain is a fantastic mix of the modern steep and deep free-riding experience and a simple throwback to the days of skiing lore when ski areas were the sole domain of passionate snow-sliders. Silverton offers a unique guided backcountry skiing experience similar to cat-skiing at the cost and safety levels of lift-accessed skiing. Silverton defines the pure essence of snow-sliding: great terrain, great conditions, wonderful people!”

You’ve got to carry a shovel and a probe at Silverton, and it is essential that you make good decisions. This is a no frills resort – a throwback to the forties when ski areas just had a lift and a hut. But, you get what you came for… 100% off-piste skiing in awesome powder. You might only get 5 runs a day, but each one will be memorable and you will be exhausted at the end of the day.

	Chris Davenport (courtesy of Aaron Brill/Silverton Mountain)

It’s not all perpendicular. Silverton backcountry offers some wonderful snowkiting opportunities too, with thanks to zooter67 for the video.

This is also the resort where Red Bull built a half-pipe for Shaun White to practice on…

If you are a keen snowboarder and extreme winter sports enthusiast and have been wondering what happened to Shaun White between the end of the 2009 winter season and his re-appearance in New Zealand late August, wonder no further…

This is what a powerful sponsor (redbull) can do to on behalf of a top athlete.

Shaun White is an incomparable snowboarder who has constantly taken the sport to extreme levels. He is the first athlete ever to land back to back double corks and remains the only skater to land the body varial frontside 540 (The Armadillo).

He is also the first snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medals in the Winter X-Games Superpipe. He is the first (and only) person to win both a Summer and Winter Dew Cup. He won the Revolver Golden God Award for “Most Metal Athlete” and he has won TransWorld SNOWboarding Rider Of The Year twice, once in 2003  and again in 2006.

Red Bull, a keen extreme sports promoter, has reason to put their faith in Shaun White.

In February 2009 he teamed up with Red Bull to create a custom-made half pipe in the rugged depths of the San Juan mountains outside Silverton, Colorado. This would allow him to work on a series of new tricks that will change the sport forever

This was Project X.

“I’ve had all these tricks I wanted to try. I just needed a place to figure them out,” said White. Not only the place, but the privacy… not only then privacy but perfect conditions… imagine a half-pipe never touched before by another soul…

It took 2 months and 30 heli-bomb dropped avalanches to get enough loose snow to form the perfect pipe.

Not only 30 heli-bombs to move 250,000 cubic yards of snow, but 300 man hours, 7,200 foam blocks and 8,000 lbs of welded steel were used to create the world’s first on-mountain snowboarding foam pit to allow White to practice his death defying tricks.

“You have to keep pushing yourself as an athlete” he says, and in his vocabulary this means pushing himself beyond what has been, to date, considered possible.

He aerial assaulted the foam pit trying out trick after trick allowing the conditions to give him the freedom of seeing whether the tricks in his mind could actually be carried out. And when he had perfected them in the pit, he took them to his very own pipe.

And so, with help from Red Bull, he has taken the sport from today into tomorrow…

A front double cork 10, a switchback 900, double back rodeo and cab double cork 10 are all things to look out for when White performs this year.

That formidable training has already born fruit. He won the NZ Open World Cup late August by pulling off a frontside lein air, backside 900, frontside 720, cab double cork 1080, to a front 1080 in his first run, and a straight air, backside 500, frontside 720, cab double cork 1080, front double cork 1080 on his second run.

With Project X, Red Bull demonstrates how the company is ‘changing the game’ when it comes to investing its marketing dollars. While some brands are investing millions of dollars in signage and presenting sponsorships, Red Bull is radically changing, owning, and creating sports properties and unique concepts of its own.

With Project X, Red Bull takes athlete/partnerships/endorsements to a new level. Both brands (Red Bull and Shaun White) will clearly benefit from this campaign – and this will also help Red Bull’s exposure leading into the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The might and power of Red Bull allowed this dream to become a reality for White and perhaps one day Silverton too will benefit from Project X. The half pipe is completely visible from the ski area so perhaps one day it can be used by everyone…

You can see more about Project X here: www.redbullprojectx.com

After the big air event last week in London the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup moved to Saas Fee in Switzerland where the usual suspects were evident on the podium.

Torah Bright from Australia demonstrated impressively why she definitely belongs to the world’s best freestyle ladies. She amazed the spectators and judges likewise with technical and spectacular jumps like the cap 720 which meant she won the half pipe competition in the ladies division.

“I was so glad that we had a good weather today, it’s much more fun then. I had to get used to the pipe first, but then I could demonstrate some good runs” said Torah.

In second place was China’s Xuetong Cai who said  “I felt really good today. Unfortunately some of my hits were too short, but I’ll keep on practicing and hope to perform a great run at the Olympics in a couple of months”.

The third placed Sophie Rodriguez of France also didn’t have a reason to complain: “It was the first time I landed my planned run. So I’m for sure really happy and hope to keep that level and can even improve some tricks this season”.

Torah Bright – Australia’s half pipe winner in Saas Fee

Photos courtesy of FIS-Florian Ruth

When it came to the blokes it was Kazuhiro Kokubo from Japan who carried off the top spot.

Kokubo was on fire in the perfect shaped super pipe of Saas-Fee’s  freestyle park. With a clean first run and spectacular jumps he claimed the victory ahead of Mathieu Crepel from France and Peetu Piiroinen of Finland.

Kokubo said, “I didn’t expect to win here against the strong international riders. But it’s a great feeling and an honor definitely”.

Mathieu Crepel was also well pleased with his second place having had such a difficult time through injury in recent months: “It was a great day in a great pipe. It’s really good to be back after dealing with two injuries within the past six months”.

Piioinen could not catch the Japanese even with big tricks like the Alley-oop backside rodeo and a cap 1080. “I can do better, but I’m pleased with my riding and the third rank here in Saas-Fee”, said Piioinen.

Kazuhiro Kokubo of Japan who won in Saas Fee

This leaves Kokubo the overall leader in the men’s division of the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup with 1600 points – chased by a pack of four men on 1000 points which includes Stefan Gimpl and Benjamin Karl from Austria, Pierre Vaultier from France and Shaun White from the USA.

There is no outright leader in the women’s division at the moment. The top spot is shared by four girls all with 1000 points – they are Jiayu Liu of China, Amelie Kober of Germany, Torah Bright of Australia and Maelle Ricker of Canada.

It is going to be a fantastic season of competition and we will keep you posted – the next event is scheduled for November 21st when the men are in Stockholm for a Big Air Event.

Cardrona, on New Zealand’s South Island and an hour’s drive from Queenstown, has one of the very few halfpipe’s open at this time of year… and the world’s best snowboarders and skiers are taking advantage of it as they train in the lead up to Vancouver 2010.

It has had the most epic season with record amounts of snow, record number of visitors and Olympic Medalist Shaun White (USA) making history in the pipe and establishng its position as one of the top favourite resorts for winter extreme sports.

Cardrona was coming to the end of its season when they were approached by national teams from all over the world looking for a training facility during October.  They were happy to oblige and retained the services of John Melville, Cardrona’s Parks & Pipes manager. The pipe camp began on the 5^th October and will continue through to the 24^th October.

Shaun White (USA) flew back to New Zealand specifically for the first week of the private Pre-Olympic Pipe Camp and was grateful for the training opportunity. “I had a great time, it’s awesome to be able to rely on a mountain to have great terrain during the summer time when there’s no snow in the U.S,” he said.

The Japanese national team is bringing in a 900kg inflatable stunt bag this week (the Bag Jump) and with the support of the park crew will build this into the snow to practice double cork and spin combinations that are the emerging standard in competitions.

Although there is still 135cm on the upper slopes and 65cm on the lower ones, this resort is now officially closed for the season.

Enjoy this  video (caryv1) from the 5 Star Burton New Zealand Open at Cardrona Alpine Resort, New Zealand in August 2009… the video ends with some bold and adventurous spirits pushing the boundaries of what one can do with a snowboard…