Todays carving action wasn’t too succesfull for Nicolien either but fortunately I was able to do some decent freestyle shooting today. First some shots at the half-pipe (in between parallel slaom heats) and then some difficult shots with slave-flashes at the nightly big-jump practice session.
Tomorrow: half-pipe qualification and perhaps a couple more bigjump shots…
Some images from Today’s GPS event. Jetlag got me up early on the mountain, right in time to catch the sun rising above the hills.
Early rise!
Nicolien Sauerbreij memorizing the course.
Nicolien Sauerbreij in action.
The steep course made for some great crashshots!
Amazing lightshow.
A quick back-and-forth to the halfpipe for a shot of David Mol.
From South-Korea this week I’ll bring some updates on the 2009 FIS Snowboard World Championships.
Munich take-off
Seoul arrival… hmm!
A bit of a thing: driving 8 hours through heavy fog to Munich to catch a plane to Korea. But, it’s a small price to pay for a dream-assignment like this! So, after an easy but mostly sleepless flight (compensated for by gin-tonics) we arrived at Seoul Airport with a gentle but nagging jetlag of eight hours.
Getting close to the contest.
After a mad and three hour VIP Taxi transfer that took us past the edge of the capital city, traffic jams, heavy snowfall and a highway though the mountains (hills, if you live in the Alps) and the crazy Hyundau Sungwoo Resort in Hoengseon-gun in the Gangwon-do province. How about a mounthfull! As the Koreans were convinced I was an important competitor the drive was fast and furious and ended up with a police escort for the final 5 kilomters, cool!
Bell Berghuis and coach Frank Germann discuss the course.
Some high-grade board preparation.
From the taxi it was straight to the slopes to watch Bell Berghuis compete in the Boardercross qualifications. It’s a pity she fell on her second run because she had a very good chance of competing in the finals. Still, a nice day for me photograph-wise. More updates this week as there are plenty more Dutchies competing.
Practice run on the first rollers.
First quali-heat on the massive corner!
Over and out…
With the last dump of fresh snow being weeks ago in the European Alps a powdertrip throughout Austria perhaps wasn’t the brightest of ideas. But, hey! The snow must go on and we just went a bit higher to get to those last bits of untracked freshness. Luckily a cold spell kept those tiny heavenly spaces a bit better than expected.
Anyway, since a photo says more than a thousand words, and I’m to lazy to write down a full report I thought a photostory might be in order. Please enjoy! The full story is featured in this months Snowboard Magazine.
First shot of the day, not a bad way to start out in the overtracked Silvretta Nova region. Bit of scary-ass hiking from Bas Elhorst was all it took.
A bit of black and white freshness, Bas Elhorst again.
A long easy hike, a few relaxing turns and finally: a nasty hike out of the bow. Anne-Fleur Eiff and Martine Veldhoen don’t mind at all. This was perhaps the last bit of untracked snow for miles around. Not any more!
Silvretta Nova actually has quite a good park for Euro standards. The wallride is particularly nice at the end of the day. Bas rocks to fakie.
The drive from Silvretta to Arlberg is a supernice, and not too long, one. Especially when the mountain pass is open (it hadn’t snowed for a while, remember!) you can enjoy some crazy views.
It’s extra fun by the way when the Volvo dealership lends you the new C30 T5, a small (not very practical with tons of snowgear but who cares) 250 horsepowered piece of metal that will set you back about 40.000 euro’s but manages to do a decent 230km/h on the highway with roofcarriers on it and three people and their bags in it…
Timo Hermeler and his girlfriend Irene Bauer live in this mountain paradise and managed to squeeze out some minute pieces of powder. Perhaps it wasn’t that smart to visit this place in the highest of high season…
Expensive resorts have expensive lifts… this whole thing lifts up the gondolas so you don’t have to take some stairs… whatever, it looks cool though!
Scary rocks don’t scare Timo Hermeler.
I love backlight! Irene Bauer too.
Anne-Fleur Eiff.
Perhaps the smallest lift in Austria? It holds six people… barely.
But the view is worth the cramped ride to the top of the Valluga. Normally a great place to find the last bits of fresh snow…
Some of those last bits…
Tijs Goossens in action on the Valluga.
And so is Timo.
So the day ends.
Mayrhofen
This place needs no introduction bus just as our luck had it: the pro-line was closed for some massive building action for the Ästhetiker Wängl Tängl in two weeks. Bummer!
Fortunately rookie Steef van de Meer doesn’t mind using the massive rail instead.
Ahhh… Mayerhofen park pizza.
Too much stuff and Gin&Tonic. It’s nice being a photographer!
No animals were harmed during the making of this Austrian funtrip, some snowboarders didn’t get away that easy… it’s nice having weird layers underneath powder!
Now in stores all over Holland, the new Snowboard Magazine. Keep an eye open on this site for more new wintersports photo’s and articles from this issue.
Flatlander Dolf van der Wal ended his season with a well-deserved first place at the Burton Half-Pipe Invitational in Åre, Sweden. Great solid run that finished off a grey and miserable day on the slopes.
Pity the whole week of shooting didn’t give us more than just one morning of nice weather. As to be expected: we left a day after the contest under bright blue-skies!
Check out the fall edition of Snowboard Magazine for the full report of our week with the Dutch Snowboard selection. A lof of different pictures for a change!
UPDATE: Check out a full video of the event (and the shitty weather on the final day) over here. Swedish-language alert!
Finally got a video that was aired in Rotterdam on RTV Rijnmond last year on my work as a wintersport/snowboard photographer. It’s in Dutch though, the item was taped at the Oxbow Opening of the 2007 season in Les Deux Alpes (France).
Now this is the way I like it: action & party in one big event, that must be the Belgium Ski and Snowboard Open 2008. Why have a contest only when you can go big with live performances by Triggerfinger, Milkshakerz, Luc de Vos, Turntable Dubbers and the amazing guy in the green mask: Dr Lektroluv. All of this in the European Alps version of Vegas: the French partytown Les Deux Alpes.
It’s Sunday now and I have just one day to recuperate from a crazy week of snowboarding that is used as an excuse by about 850 belgiums to party bigtime! The Belgium Champs were never bigger than this, that’s for sure so it’s going to be interesting how they are going to top this one next year.
Enjoy the full series at the Snowjam website or get more info at the VSSF site. Tomorrow I’m off the the last wintershoot of this season in Swedens Åre. Pics soon!
A month ago we headed out to Austria to see wether we could still find fresh powder snow. Not an easy task as it hadn’t snowed in almost three weeks. But then it’s good to have some Dutch locals with you, as long as it’s cold you can still find pow. These pictured wallpapers prove it. Check out the full teaser at Seshn.com or wait for autumn as Snowboard Magazine will feature the full story.
Widescreen wallpaper (1600×1000 pixels):
Martine Veldhoen, Silvretta Nova.
Bas Elhorst, Silvretta Nova.
Bas Elhorst, Silvretta Nova.
Timo Hermeler, St.Anton am Arlberg
Irene Bauer, St.Anton am Arlberg
Martine Veldhoen, Silvretta Nova.
Anne-Fleur Eiff, Silvretta Nova.
Or go to the Hi-res wallpaper gallery for non-wide versions (1600×1200 pixels):
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| Wallpapers Hi-res |
