INAUGURAL RED BULL BIG AIR, ÅRE, SWEDEN
With the freeskiing movement growing rapidly in North America, Red Bull brought an annual big air event to the small town of Åre. The event attracted thousands of spectators and gave skiing much needed international attention in Europe. This five-year series of competitions had a positive and direct correlation to the fan-base and interest in freeskiing in Europe. “Red Bull Big Airs brought a lot of foreign riders to Åre. Candide, Simon, Boyd and even Philou; lots of people came to see those guys. The events made the pros and the sport seem accessible and it played a huge part in stoking out kids in Scandinavia and all of Europe.” — Mattias Fredriksson, photographer and attendee.
NO TURNING NECESSARY
While filming with TGR in Valdez, Alaska, Jeremy Nobis, Shane McConkey and crew decided turning was over rated. “It was ridiculous,” quips Scott Markewitz about the first time he saw it happen. “We thought he was just going to ski this line, make some turns and he just straigtlined it so fast. It was mind blowing. It is still one of the sickest things I’ve seen up in the Chugach.”
ATTITUDE BY HOLMES
“I have a whole bottle of that shit at home. I don’t use it. That was just Holmes doing what Holmes does.”
— Kent Kreitler on bad-boy Brad Holmes’ signature cologne, Attitude by Holmes
DORION POPULARIZES THE UNDERFLIP
The first time most of us saw someone do an underflip, the reaction was something along the lines of: “Wow! What great style.” In the year 2000, great style was hard to come by, but a little guy named Vinnie Dorion was turning heads. Little did Vinnie know, his new trick would play a huge part in the creation and progression of corked tricks. “It was the beginning of the cork 5 and corked tricks,” says Phil Belanger. “I think it was an important part of the freeskiing generation.” It seems hard to imagine now the importance of a relatively simple trick like this, but at the time, it was one of the most progressive moves ever put down on skis.
