Snowboard

The blue of the train station is the only friendly color of our destination. Apatity was founded because of the occurrence of "apatite", a rare mineral used for fertilizer. And that's how it looks here too...

The station is located in the middle of the taiga on a small river and is comfortably furnished. There is even a log cabin sauna with a small footbridge to the river, where a hole has been cut into the mighty ice sheet for ice bathing. Valentina, the resolute cook, a soul of a person, welcomes us with a hot soup.

Normally, I'm not really into baggy pants and railing slides. But this movie has broadened my horizons. For one thing, "you" no longer wear baggy pants but leggings or bell bottoms. What's more, Justin Mayer's first snowboard movie is an absolutely varied and original jibb flick.

Has the development of freestyle finally come to a standstill? We've seen films like this quite a few times now. But I shouldn't get too personal here, because the guys from IsenSeven have put together a really finely produced snowboard film with sophisticated shots in their latest video. On their 10th birthday, the crew give their all to entertain us and "Lets go get lost" is certainly the highlight in the IsenSeven series.

Filmed mainly in North America, the new film from Transworld covers the entire spectrum of snowboarding. Only the sequences in the halfpipe are a little short. Otherwise, the scenes involving Ikka Bäckström, Chris Greniers, Eero Niemela and the others are truly impressive.

"This Video Sucks" that's the name of the movie and it does. Hard rail action from Walker, Chamberlain, Solberg, Koski, Sexton & Friends, partly well filmed and staged. For the most part, however, it's always the same, peppered with rather boring and repetitive scenes that have been seen 1000 times before.

You will look in vain for top-class freeride action or railslides in this freeride film. With Signatures, Sweetgrass Productions present their second film, which once again offers a different perspective on deep snow and off-piste skiing away from the mainstream. An absolute must-see!

At her first Freeride World Tour participation, German snowboarder Aline Bock surprisingly climbed to the second step of the podium. Shortly before the start of the FWT 2010, PowderGuide spoke to the runner-up freeride world champion about her attitude to freeriding and her personal risk management...

Winter sports in Argentina begin for us with a wine tasting in a bodega in the "Valle de Uco" in the hinterland of Mendoza. It is mid-July, we have come from the European summer and are in search of South American powder snow. But here at 700 meters above sea level, it's not as cold as we expected and the sky is so clear and blue that it almost looks fake. Only the view of the snow-covered Andes towering high into the sky suggests a little winter.

However, before we are allowed to plunge into one of the gullies, we have to get accredited as freeriders at the lift. This means that we are familiar with alpine dangers, can assess the avalanche risk and are prepared to take the risk of an accident ourselves. Then everyone gets a neon-colored sticker stuck to their ski goggles and the guys from the piste control give the go-ahead.

The 80 women start first. The fastest is the Swiss Katrin Kellenberger (CH) ahead of Regina Lind (AT) and Heidi Gunesch (DE). Kati has already stood on the LBC podium several times and is super-happy to finally be on top at the 10th anniversary and take the title home to Zurich. After the ladies, it's the turn of the old-schoolers.

You'd have to be a poet to put the 10th edition of the Longboard Classic into words. How can you describe an event where a good 440 riders simultaneously and harmoniously conquer an altitude difference of 1001m? Where the legends of our sport cruise edge to edge into the valley with lesser-known riders? Where an 8-year-old is honored on stage just as much as a 73-year-old? Where the organizer personally congratulates everyone who crosses the finish line and where every participant goes home not only with a gift, but above all with a big smile?!