Going to Alaska!!

The biggest dream of a Freerider coming true!! Tomorrow I`m going to Valdez, Alaska to film for the FLOW Team video and to compete at "King of the Hill" Big Mountain contest.

tailgatealaska.com

BIG ThÄnx to all the FLOW guys(Anthony, Andrew, Christoph, Sepp, Mark and all others) and to Mark Sullivan for the invitation!!

Keep you up 2 date and will be back mid of April... oleeeeeeeee

FWT Verbier Xtreme # 2

2nd try Verbier Xtreme finals... and the Winner is: Xav De le Rue!! Congrats to the best Freeride Snowboarder and two times World Champion and of course also to Mitch Tölderer, who got 2nd overall!! BIG!!!

Overall 2010: 3. Matt Annetts, 1. Xavier De le Rue, 2. Mitch Tölderer

The Champions: Candide Thovex(Ski) and Xav(Board)

For me it didn`t go that good. With a strong and fast run in the upper part, where I had to deal with lot of sluff, I went this time for the so called "Hollywood" cliff. I droped the cliff to the side with a nice grap but probably I hid a rock seconds after the landing and made a frontflip straight after. F.......k! Back on track I finished my line but a good result was not possible anymore. Right after in the finish I was disappointed because I knew it was a good run but with that mistake no chance for the podium, 8th place. Next time!!

my line down the Bec des Rosses

good snow

Nicolas Halewoods - THE man who makes this all happen...!!

FWT Verbier Xtreme

On Saturday we tried to have the Final of the Freeride World Tour on the Bec the Rosse in Verbier, Switzerland. Due to bad weather coming in after some riders, competition was canceled. So we all enjoy the street flair here in Verbier with live music, good food and lot of people coming to watch.

Verbier Xtreme2010 - Team Austria ;)

BIB draw, all snowboarders

Tomorrow we expect blue sky, another chance to ride the Bec... I feel good with the line I did on Saturday, but I also know I can do it even better. With 20cm of fresh snow from yesterday I try to pimp my run with some more drops and go as fast as I can in the steep and between the rocks!!

middle of the face

lot of sluff... but I`m faster!!

Click here to watch my run:

Chamonix steeps

Mont Blanc du Tacul:

left - Gervasutti Couloir, right - Jäger Couloir (700m)

The last few days I spend in Chamonix with my friends Scherer Reini and Andi Geisler to ride some steeps. We started to ride the Rond Glacier face, next to Cosmiques hut - a 45-50°/ 800m descent. Conditions were good, the snow was pretty hard and some parts icy and rocky. No problem for us, even more challenge...

The next day we went for the 50-55°/ 700m Jäger Couloir down from Mont Blanc du Tacul(4248m). In the morning we took the gondola up to the Aiguille du Midi, rode down to the beginnig of the Couloir and hiked up to the end. To change from crampons to the board in this steep is really not easy, but with my FLOW Bindings I felt safe because I`m able to strap in facing the slope. I started first, the snow was firm and good to ride. Reini and Andi followed down the couloir and we all were super stoked about that day!!!!!!!!

To be continued...

climbing up

close to the top

first turns down the steep 700m couloir

attention: some rocks...

view down to the glacier

after the most difficult part

yeahhhhhhh

Vallèe Blanche

Get ready for Verbier Xtreme

After riding good powder the last few days we were looking for more!!
So we took our snowshoes and hiked some nice peaks next to Innsbruck... What a magic day!

Tomorrow I`m going to Switzerland, first to Nendaz, followed by Chamonix and finally to Verbier. Riding feels good, I`m ready for the Bec de Rosses and the big final of the Freeride World Tour!

freerideworldtour.com

chalkjunkie.at - Thänx Zlu 4 fotos

beautiful mountains

droping in

da dudes: Joggl, Emi, Zlu and Alex on Top

surfing the lip

Filming for Arlberg TV

Today me, Häusl Stefan and Geli hiked two times a nice face next to St. Christoph. After heavy snowfalls we found perfect conditions and no tracks up there. Our lines were filmed by Carsten Darr, Arlberg TV, and after we did some interviews in the studio. We talked about safety stuff and how to choose a line. Funny day and deep powder runs!!

To be on TV daily from next week!

Stefan hiking up

our playground

MANOCA - Beanies!! Thänx to Maria and Nora! Super warm and lot of style ;)

"Green Box" Arlberg TV Studio

FWT Squaw Valley, USA

Go big or go home! Competition didn`t went good this time, finishing 9th place. I tried to go for a nice line and went for some steep stuff with a narrow exit, but unfortunatly I could not make it fluid. Not really happy about that, but can`t change it anyway... it is difficult to ride totally clean all the time! Congrats to the others, good show at Silverado face - Squaw Valley ski resort.
This face was choosen after we tried to have the third stop of the Freeride World Tour on the mystical Tram Face right below the gondola, but conditions did not allow to have a save contest there.

right part of Tram Face

Finally it was a good week here in California, had some fresh powder the first days and sun all day long the last two days up on the mountains!! Totally siiiiiick!!

freerideworldtour.com

Some impressions of the trip...

Mitch and me hiking up

Californian tree runs...

look what I got in the US!!