Westbound Boarder

The Winter X Games is one of the largest annual contests of the year and is notorious for pushing its competitors to the next level and raising industry standards year after year.  This year was no exception, especially since the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver B.C. are right around the corner. The X Games are a great opportunity for women snowboarders to showcase their skills, while raising the bar for womens snowboarding. There were three female snowboard competitions during this past weekend’s event.  Snowboard Cross, a treacherous, windy, and super fast, five person race, the Slopestyle park comp, and of course the 22′ Super Pipe. The super pipe contest was awesome this year, and the U.S. girls ripped it up. In fact, the girls who podiumed where all on the U.S. woman’s Olympic team. First place went to Gretchen Bleiler, a Colorado local, second was Kelly Clark, and third was Hannah Teeter. Kelly was the only girl to do a 900 and absolutely popped the highest out of the pipe, but it was Gretchen Bleiler who had her trademarked crippler 720, which is sort of like a rodeo, but more inverted and stylish. Hannah Teeter had a great bag of tricks with perfect 540’s as well. Unfortunately, one of my favorite riders, Elena Hight, didn’t medal, though she did kill the Dew tour stop at Snow Basin (Ogden, UT), getting first in the woman’s Super Pipe.

Slopestyle was impressive this year, with a few different riders than the Super Pipe and plenty of tricks to go with them. The slopestyle course was made up of a rail garden and three giant jumps, stretching from 50′ to almost 70′ to finish off the run. Jenny Jones from Great Brittan won the Gold, Jamie Anderson won the Silver, and Janna Meyen-Weatherby won Bronze. Janna has been tearing up contests for years - she’s 32 years old and making it look effortless over the jumps. She was also the only girl to stick a 900. Jamie Anderson was great on the rails, doing a 360 nose bonk, and she killed it on the jumps with clean 7’s all around. It was Jones, though, with her perfect run with big air and style over all of the jumps pulling the consecutive 540’s with no sketchy landings, who conquered. Also have to give credit to Eero Ettala for the mens, stomping the best run I’ve ever seen in a contest. His first slopestyle run consisted of the double cork 1080, double backside rodeo 900, and then a double back flip. I knew this guy was good, but wow, taking a safe gold with no one even coming close to his score.

If you look back through snowboard history, females have come a long way from where they were even ten years ago to where they are today, constantly pushing the envelope and upping the caliber of competition.  Recently, Stan Evans (Producer) and Jeremy Miller (Director/Editor) released a snowboard film featuring an all girl cast.  The film highlights the progression of female riding, taking the talents of several different women and combining them into a series of segments to create a powerful story; a story they call “Stance.”

Though I downloaded and wrote about the film a few weeks ago, I finally got around to watching Stance in it’s entirety this past weekend.  With an all-star cast that includes the likes of Gretchen Bleiler, Jamie Anderson and Torah Bright, I knew the film would be good, but I was even surprised at how good some of the riding was.

The film opens with Gretchen recanting her tragic experience at the X-games a few years ago, where one minor fall cost her the title but how she learned that snowboarding is more about “being in the moment” than about winning.  Throughout the rest of Stance, the film makers portray just that - a group of pro riders “being in the moment” and living their dreams.

The film is a really nice mix of backcountry riding and jumps and pipe.  Obviously I was impressed by the usual pros who continue to claim title after title, but my favorite sequence was the second with Kimmy Fasani - her smooth style riding really stood out and she did a phenomenal job filming the part.

Aside from the riding presented in the film, I also really enjoyed the cinematography and editing of the film.  The makers did a really nice job keeping the film fun but also serious and motivational.  The music was great, and the technique was truly amazing.

The film’s full cast included Gretchen Bleiler, Hana Beaman, Jamie Anderson, Kimmy Fasani, Lisa Filzmoser, Jenny Jones, Torah Bright, Raewyn Reid, Molly Aguirre, Gabi Viteri and other riders, and more info. can be found at Stance’s Web site.  Props to all involved, and I hope there are more all female films to come!

On September 30, a new snowboard film “Stance,” produced by Mills Entertainment, will be offering free downloads; one day only (tip from HUCK Magazine).  Stance features an all-female cast of pro riders, including Gretchen Bleiler, Haha Beaman, Kimmy Fasani, Lisa Filzmoser, Jenny Jones, Torah Bright, Raewy Nreid, Gabi Viteri, Jamie Anderson and Molly Aguirre.  Judging by the cast alone, the film is sure to be awesome, but more importantly it portrays the progression of female riding and shows how far women have come in the sport.  Check out the trailer below, but if you want to see the full thing make sure you download on September 30.