If you're wondering if you should be a skier or boarder, here's some food for thought...

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/dom-joly/dom-joly-catching-a-tube-offers-a-route-across-the-pistes-grand-divide-1207442.html

Last day - time to see some footage!

_ _ _ _ _.

A picture says more than 1000 words. A film says it all!

Last day of the Kaos trip and it's time for Kaos little brother Dotinc Management to contribute with an update. With clients like the video bloging superstar Jon Olsson we learned that the masses don't like to read, they want the real thing!

/Kristoffer

the adventure continues...

Day four and the team KAOS social experiment has proved at least one fact during our stay in Meribel. Relying only on good faith and optimism is not enough to secure a bluebird start to the day. Despite the low cloud, after dropping the groms in ski school, we set out on our first mission over the mountains and into Les Trois Valleys, Jimmy, The Suit and I optimistically armed with transceivers and camera equipment as we headed towards the morning lifts.
Because I knew exactly what was going on in Val Thorens and how unpleasant a Valley Rally can be for those not partaking in it, and therefore sober, we decided to head the in the other direction and made our way up the Saulire bubble to the top of the run down to Courcheval 1850. The run down through the clouds towards the top of the Verdon’s bubble up from Courcheval was a great way to start the day with the long, chopped up red run proving that the terrain on this side of the valley would be slightly more testing than that on the Meribel side.
As we picked our way down though the rollers and other natural features of the section of the hill dubbed “Supermario Land” smiles were aplenty. We were able to jump around and despite the continuing flat light; the decision to leave the Meribel Valley seemed to have been justified.
We decided to head around the resort to Courcheval 1650 and as we traversed around below the altiport it seemed as if the morning’s optimism was well placed as the sun peeked though the cloud to make its first appearance of the trip. Heading up as far as the lifts would take us looking for fresh lines and tree runs, team KAOS looked like we were going to be able to get the cover shots that Jimmy had brought his camera out for after all. Unfortunately the cloud cover was too persistent and as we headed into Courcheval 1650 the battle for visibility was once again being lost. Luckily not all our photographic efforts were fruitless as my follow-cam on James “shredding up blue runs” on the way down for lunch resulted in a quality You’ve Been Framed moment; watch this space for this on Youtube.
After the stereotypically French lunch we headed back out on to the mountain, still on the promise of blue sky, a promise that by this point in the day was a fading as quickly as the visibility. Indeed as we made our way back around to Courcheval 1850 the cloud had descended right down the visible distance was reduced to merely a few meters in any direction. And so after one final and sadly undefined run through “Supermario Land” we decided to call it a day and head back over to Meribel to meet up with the younger generation of family Knipe.
As we descended into the Meribel valley and dipped below the cloud, the temporary KAOS office came into view and beer o’clock came into sight, it became clear that the transceivers that Jimmy, Kris and I were wearing were a good idea after all as we all made it back to the office in one piece.
Tomorrow is our last full day out on the mountain so please join us in the sundance that we will be doing tonight!

powder powder powder

So Day 3 of the Kaos experiment got off to a late start but a start nonetheless.

Family Knipe had put everyone else to shame and were up and out by 8.30 leaving the rest of us snoozing gently.

Opening the curtains revealed a foot of fresh had fallen overnight and the big snowflakes were still falling as Zinnia and I headed out leaving the boys in bed. Alas, the price to pay for the new snow was the minimal visibility so the orange lenses were in full force.

Bimbling along in the gloom past the ‘piste ferme’ sign, Zin and I discovered that the piste bashers had groomed the slope leaving the fresh powder on perfectly smooth piste. With no one around we did a few laps getting first tracks until we met the boys at the lift.

Deciding that the trees were the best place to be, we spent the next few hours lapping the lift line of a drag lift with a few cat tracks and hips to bust out the freestyling skills. or not as the case may be. The Suit is still convinced that he is the freestyling demon however his attempt at ‘sending it’ off a cat track lead to him going ass first as his legs couldn’t deal with the compression on the run in which lead brilliantly into a natural hip where the suit buried the nose of his board on landing leaving him looking like the (giant?) abominable snowman.

Dusting off the snow, team KAOS pulled up at the Rond Point for an overpriced panini. It being Wednesday (seasonaires day off) the place was packed with excitable young English kids all bright eyed at the sight of fresh powder and the thought of the liver abuse they are all bound to endure tonight. Ah, the life of a seasonaire…
One overly keen young lad was telling me how amazing the freestyle skiing (can I call it that?) was down by the lift, y’know the one in the Olympics where they bounce down the moguls and do a twister spread eagle thing? Yep the one that your dad gets confused with snowboarding. Anyway, I digress…the place also had free wifi meaning the Blackberrys and iphones were brought out so the office could check email in one hand and eat lunch with the other. You gotta love technology sometimes! As it turned out the world wasn’t going to end unless they were all replied to so they could wait until after riding.

After lunch we headed over to Meribel Mottaret picking up the boss and Team KAOS minishredder (Griffin) and all piled into the gondola that leads all the way to edge of the Meribel ski area. The doors opened revealing the conditions that hadn’t changed much since the morning…hmmm. The snow was much lighter up here but the flat light still played havoc with judging with the terrain, deciding that it was time for tea and cake we came down through Mottaret into Meribel village.

Arriving back into the village the day had taken it’s toll with team KAOS feeling the burn somewhat. However the mood soon changed on the sight of a band of 4 Frenchie’s (complete with drummer) dressed in purple spandex and matching wigs playing bad Tom Jones covers to a crowd of bemused 'rosbifs'.

Frenchies are a league unto themselves sometimes

Bring on the sunshine…

James

PS - In case you wondered how it should be done, check out the clip below from Nike ACG's Sweetspots film


Nike ACG Sweetspots Snowboard Teaser from Nike ACG on Vimeo

KAOS relocation - the gang come together

Today’s been the first full one spent on the hill for Zinnia, James, Kris and myself. Harry joined us late morning and of course Paul, Jillian, Griffin and Luella have been living it up since Saturday.

For Kris and myself it was a pretty easy start, the blackberry has its merits, so we left Zinnia and James dutifully going through their mails in the Taverne first thing. Kris’ mood was transformed from yesterday thanks to a waxed snowboard – a happy suit.

Paul, Jillian, Kris and I spent the morning getting some mileage in. The link to Val Thorens and Mont Velais are both shut but the upside of it being so early in the season is there are barely any others competing for piste or patches of fresh (yeah there still is plenty to play with) wherever we head. Kris has decided he’s on follow cam duty so he’s been keeping hot on our heels but seems to spend more time filming himself riding. I gave it a go but retired pretty much instantly after some less than favorable reviews from the gang. I’ll keep to stills later in the week…

Knipey’s turned into even more of a powder hunting machine since I last rode with him – he’s after every bit of pow he can track down. There are more than enough rocks once you venture further afield but it keeps it interesting. Kris did a good job of spotting a line for us earlier so I owe him one now…

We linked up with Zinnia, James and Harry for lunch on the fly – Harry’s been with On The Piste helping run the University groups they had in Val T last week… and it shows. The poor guy looked a shadow of his former self when we caught up with him, sporting face paint and a haunted stare that said much about the antics he’d seen (and probably participated in) over the last week or so. All healthy stuff, I’m sure.

So, with the full complement of the senior party complete we chowed down on door-stop wedges of bread complete with ‘steak’ (forgive the editor’s cynicism but we are in France and monsiour le cow can ‘oft be found with a mane and a bigger nose over here) and enough cheese for a raclette. Fires duely stoked we set off again minus the suit who spent the better part of the afternoon wheeling and dealing on behalf of his clients – what a pro, always on call.

We hit a few of the same runs as this morning but the novelty of being able to play on our own terms, without a comp to get to or a film to shoot is yet to wear off: we’re cruising on our own schedule and it rocks. Kris and James are definitely the most tech freestylers/jibbers, although Kris comes up with stories of floated 3s continually that we’re yet to see. Funny that they’re normally told with a snowy hat perched precariously on his head – concussion can do the funniest things.

In all seriousness though, this is our chance to improve our freestyle safe from the stares of pros so we’re all getting involved without fear of ridicule beyond the wider group. Zinnia’s learned some flat land tricks and had a coaching session on how to pop from James this morning. She’s also taking on the universally labelled ‘punter kickers’ switch before stomping her 180s – next stop the TTR me thinks. James is showing off his butter skills and has been nose and trail pressing ‘til his heart’s content; he’s also been the most adventurous in picking a line through the off-piste. Harry’s been going at mach-3 all day and put us all to shame in putting in the styliest ally-oops in a naturally shaped pipe we found late afternoon. Jillian’s efforts in said pipe were hampered by her attempted front-flip stalling mid-way in the proceeding off-piste: the superman flip may need a bit more work but I dare say none of us here are qualified to give her the tuition she needs. Jillian will just have to stick to the 540 mutes until she’s found the right take-off I guess.

They’ve started shaping their park here much to our collective joy and so there will be more visits there this week, but we managed to play on the small kickers (if you can even call them that) and there was the odd boardslide on a box or two. However, the coolest feature we’ve found is a quarter-pipe with a curved box sitting on the top. The run in is super steep but the coping’s probably 12ft up so it’s more than enough to keep us entertained. First in (what a champ, we didn’t even have to ask) was James who over-cooked it and a few moments later was seen digging himself out of the powder behind the box. 10 out of 10 for commitment Bobby. Harry was next up: shortening his run-in by approximately 2 metres his eyes must have been as wide as saucers as he was spat out of the QP at a jaunty angle and fortunate that he went just wide of the box. I totally ruined my effort by claiming it at the end, but having never been able to put anything of worth down in the park I was happy just to rotate 180 and stall on the coping. I think the acrobatics of James and Harry tempered the other’s need for speed but there were some sweet air to fakies on display.

The suit joined us late in the day. He’d been riding by himself for an hour or so and had endured a close encounter with a skier that ended up pretty unpleasant for all concerned. Kris was well and truly had by some Frenchie who fortunately ended up worse off. Kris is sporting a cut lip but the guy who collected him apparently covered the front of his jacket in claret and properly opened up his nose. He (monsieur bansai) also has to endure an angry mob who were none to pleased with what they had seen – the less fun side of being on the hill.

Anyways, we’re all back in the chalet enjoying some sofa time and sampling Knipey’s playlist. There’s a rumour of profiteroles for pudding tonight, sweet. Here’s to more great days on the hill.

And so begins the KAOS experiment…

It’s 6:30 am in Gatwick departure lounge:

Kris [aka Suit] is savouring every last sip of his giant sized starbucks coffee – who knows when he will next have a ‘proper’ coffee?

James, having blagged his way through check-in after a late arrival to the airport [no surprise there], had not been so lucky in blagging his entire wash bag contents through Secuirty, and thus currently sits complaining about ‘The System’.

After two wrong attempts at entering my pin number into the Gatwick ATM, I am putting in some acute early morning brain work before my third and alas final attempt at the pin entry.

Jimmy sits bleary eyed whilst seriously questioning his decision to pull an all nighter

The plane journey itself is thankfully non-eventful, except for the sheer disgust from Suit at the quality of the complimentary coffee courtesy of British Airways. ‘You can see the bottom of the cup through the coffee – I think it might even be tea’. Subsequently the said beverage was returned and the in-flight questionnaire received a notch in the ‘unsatisfactory’ box.

With all of us experienced flyers on the London – Geneva route, we were in shock as the view from the plane showed miles and miles of snow-covered landscape. It had not been a myth – the reports of snow dumps across the Alpes were true.
It was going to be a good week in the new KAOS office…

An easy transfer with the Cool Bus, fully equipped with its makeshift dvd system. So in standard KAOS routine, we settled into some snowboard films (film of choice: DC Mountain Lab] questionably enhanced by the running commentary from James and Suit.

Chalet Epena – base camp for the week, and Paul had not been lying when he’d said it was ‘pimp’. Still no time to dwell – the mountain was calling.
Donning our Nike ACG attire [the boys in matching outfits - clear evidence of a lack of pre-trip outfit consultation] we headed to the central lift station in search of our ski legs – and of course the boss.

Ski pass and steeze in check, Team KAOS were in business. Well not quite…Suit was dragging his feet [and board] behind. It was fast becoming apparent that it was not Suit’s day. Where to start….the coffee [or rather lack of], the unbelievable pain in his feet [‘trying wearing ski boots’ – the unsympathetic response from the skier], the board [unwaxed and generally sh*t] and the hunger [the unsatisfactory British Airways coffee had also been accompanied by a somewhat substandard ham and cheese roll]

However an intricate extraction of the inner sole of Suit’s boots, an overpriced lunch (the sterling:euro conversion has not been kind to us humble tourists) and 3 hours of playing on the empty snow covered pistes later, and we were all strongly in favour of this office relocation malarky.

Team KAOS returned uninjured to basecamp where we were reunited with Family Knipe and a tempting lemon drizzle cake. Jimmy [making an example of the rest of us] dutifully took himself and laptop in search of internet access. It just so happened that the only place offering this service free of charge was La Taverne – a good English Apres Ski Bar…

The rest of us settled down with Griffin and Luella to watch ‘Surf’s Up’ – justifying to ourselves that watching a film centred around penguins surfing and featuring cameos from Kelly Slater and Rob Machado was essentially ‘industry’ related.

Wined and dined, it was an early night for the KAOS team in preparation for tomorrow’s exploration of the Meribel terrain. Here’s hoping the stiffness doesn’t set in over night. An altogether successful Monday at the KAOS office

Zinnia

Oh and in case you were wondering…after a week of repping a few hundred university students in Val Thorens, Mr Quartermain (aka Harry) is missing in action.

KAOS Relocates to Meribel (….well, for one week anyway)

It's been snowing like the bejezzuz and the KAOS team has scored a good deal on a 10 person chalet in Meribel. So Knipey’s unlocked the chains binding us all to the KAOS London office and we're outta here for this week.

WE'RE calling it an office relocation to Meribel. Now, before YOU say 'that sounds like a jolly and an outrageously indulgent office Christmas party', then please note…our relocation will be something of a social experiment.

KAOS theory is that any office team can work from the mountains for a week and not skip a beat. And that’s with your team actually enjoying themselves and not being holed up in the chalet all day banging away on the laptop.

So we're gonna test that theory and tell you all about the result right here, this week. We'll be blogging daily our experience and also writing a feature article on our antics. Hopefully our experience will inspire more bosses to take their teams away meaning not only more enthused staff but also more punters getting out there helping the ski and snowboard economy to keep ticking.

The KAOS Crew:

1. Paul and Jillian Knipe – The two directors of KAOS have been the advance party. Heading out on Saturday 13th before everyone else arrives Monday. In tow, the two KAOS groms (in photo), Griffin and Luella. (Jillian and Paul’s kids!!). To make the trip, the groms have had to wag the last two days of school for the year (renamed ‘sick days’ as far as OFSTED is concerned).
Paul will be equipped with a Lib Tech Banana, Laptop, LG mobile for calls and Blackberry for emails.

2. Jimmy Goodrich – Equipped with ski’s, Dan Wakeham Head pro model snowboard, laptop and Blackberry.
Since joining KAOS about four years ago, Jimmy has been on more ski press and filming shoots than you can shake a stick at. As a skier, he’s outnumbered in the KAOS office and has taken some stick that he can’t board. In addition to continuing to run all the sports marketing and PR missions for KAOS, this week Jimmy will be bringing his snowboard. How much time he spends standing sideways will be interesting.

3. Zinnia Higson – Equipped with new Head snowboard (courtesy of Xavier), Laptop and LG mobile phone.
Zinnia has been trying to convince us she’s crap at snowboarding since joining KAOS three years ago. However, she’s managed to ride across some of the gnarliest back-country in Europe earlier this year on the Nike ACG Document press trip so she must be pretty handy. Expect to see male testosterone at work egging Zinnia on to hit kickers and get some major air-time in memory of all the LG Air Bag hits she took when managing that project. Work wise this week, Zinnia will have to keep up with all the developments on LG and manage some team back and forth for Nike ACG. Note: Dan Wakeham had some great results in Breckenridge this weekend so things looking good for his Olympic lead-up.

4. James Dalziel – Equipped with Volkel board, Laptop and mobile.
For a Brit with a job, James has spent far too much time on the snow. His youth and boarding skills combined should leave the rest of us behind particularly in the park. I’ve found James to be a great park teacher as he carries the motto of his major PR brand, Nike. ‘see that rail….just do it’. This week, James will probably be launching a couple more Nike ACG Sweetspots to the European media and updating us all on the research he’s been doing for a new client.

5. Kristoffer Hansson – Equipped with one or more of his quiver of boards, laptop and Blackberry.
Kris is the MD of Dot. Inc, one of KAOS’ partner companies. Now Kris is the ‘coulda been champion’ of the group. He genuinely can snowboard like a pro as he tries to keep up with all his clients like Hampus Mosesson, Markus Kellar and the new kids like Eiki and Halidor Helgasson. The downside to Kris’ snowboarding is that he still thinks he can do all the moves he could when he was ten years younger and a few pounds lighter. Also, being the ultimate deal maker, he never has the blackberry far from his ear or his fingertips. He has been known to restrict his time on snow chasing deals for his clients. So it will be interesting to see how Kris fits work with pleasure this week.

6. Harry Quartermain: Equipped with at this stage unknown brand of skis, LG mobile and laptop.
Harry is the newest recruit to the KAOS team and was instrumental in producing the LG Air Bag tour all over the country and at the LG Freeze. He has been working last week on a project in Val Thoren so his journey to the KAOS chalet involves him bunging on a pair of skis. Harry could be busy working on organizing an LG sales incentive trip to Bardoneccia this week so we’ll see how much slope time he fits in. Harry has been very quiet about his skiing skills in the office but rumor has it he can handle things pretty well on snow.

Pre-week stats
- Skiers total 4
- Boarders total 5
- Proficiency Expert: 3 (Jimmy, James, Kris)
- Proficiency Intermediate: (Paul, Jillian, Zinnia, Griffin)
- Proficiency Beginner: 1 (Luella)
- Proficiency unknown: 1 (Harry)

The snow report;
It has been snowing a lot here over the past weeks so there is plenty of cover. Hardly anyone is in resort but there are limited lifts running so the piste seems reasonably busy regardless.

Chalet Epena;
We have amazing chalet hosts – Zara and Coops who will no doubt look after us a treat. Ski Basics have looked after us so far and they seem like a great company with some very nice chalets. Check them out at www.skibasics.co.uk . The cool bus is doing the transfers from Geneva and have done the business so far so google those guys as well.
The 'ability to do any work' outlook;
There is no internet in the chalet and no free hook-ups in the vicinity so that’s an interesting start. A couple a bars nearby have internet so expect us to be logging on whilst downing a pint or two in the evening. Blackberrys could come in handy.

That's about it so away we go…….

Danny has a bit of a spill

It seems the inventer of the Mega Ramp Danny Way has had a few problems with his landing and busted a couple of bones in his back. Hoping he gets back to it soon.
Copy this link and there's a film that makes your eyes water!!

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FROM THE STEEPS OF AK TO FIRST DESCENTS ON ANNAPURNA; SWEETSPOTS RETURNS FOR A SECOND WINTER SEASON

17^th October sees another epic reel of Sweetspots films go live on NikeACG.com as the Nike ACG team takes you on a journey all over the globe searching for the freshest of lines in the most unique locations.

French compatriots Mati Imbert & Laurent Niol head deep into the Nepalese Himalayas to register first descents on the exposed faces of Annapurna and explore the Buddhist temples of Kathmandu.

No series of Sweetspots would be complete without some of the crew venturing to the freeride mecca of Alaska. Jules Reymond introduces himself to the team with a flat out, adrenalin charged Sweetspot. Richard Permin heads to AK for the first time bringing along his finely honed park skills, and delivers an explosive Sweetspot you wouldn’t want to miss.

The second season of Sweetspots launches with;

SS #23 : Laurent Niol & Mati Imbert; on location with Audience 33 on Annapurna (Nepal)

SS #24 : Laurent Niol; on location with Audience 33 in Ste Foy (France)

There will be a new Sweetspots film released every two weeks throughout the season featuring stunning locations and superb riding.

The product section of NikeACG.com has been completely redesigned and is now fully loaded with all the freshest products for the coming season.

Come and check it all out on www.NikeACG.com

Skateboarding on Mother London

Mother London has shown how coporate companies are taking an interest in skateboarding. The advertising company has various skateboarding clips on their website

See how cool skateboarding is at www.motherlondon.com

Zoe Gillings competes in the LG FIS World Cup SBX

On Saturday, Zoe Gillings competed in the first LG FIS World Cup SBX event of the season in Chapelco, Argentina. Despite her preparations being badly hampered she stormed through her heats and had an outstanding result of 4th place. Read on to hear Zoe’s account of what went on.........



I have just finished my first world cup of the season and I was battling through the whole time!

The course was really tough, it was long with a tricky first section and loads of massive jumps, some of which you had to jump off the lip of as hard as you could just to make it to the landing. The helicopter was pretty busy ferrying injured riders to hospital during training.

I had a hard time in qualifying yesterday, after I took a big fall in practice and hurt my back, neck and head I had to sit down for 20 minutes before I felt good enough to ride again. I kept going with practice anyway and had time to get one full run in before qualifications began.

I had a very good top section on my first run but I misjudged my timing on a roller in the mid section which cost me a lot of time as this prevented me from making it to the landings of the next 4 jumps. Despite that my time put me into 10th place before the second qualification run.

My second run went a lot better with me riding everything well until the final jump where I fell on the landing, after falling I started rolling towards the finish line so instead of trying to right myself onto my feet again which would have taken a lot of my momentum away I just kept on rolling and crossed the line horizontally. Surprisingly the time from this run beat my first one and I moved up into 7th place. That’s one of my best qualifying places in a while.

Today was finals day and when I woke up I didn’t feel too good at all! 7 different places on my body hurt. Namely my foot, knee, thigh, back, shoulder, neck and head. Due to finding cuts I no longer have a physio at competitions this season which sure didn’t help. When I got to the hill a couple of people mentioned to me that they had seen my crash in practice yesterday and was surprised I was still riding but wished me the best of luck for the day.

In my first heat I had a good start but was in 3rd going into the first turn. I managed to pass one girl 2 turns later and the other shortly after that to take to lead and won the race.

My next heat was even better. My main competition was Mellie Francon who was ranked 3rd in the world last season. I had another good start but Mellie got in front of me into the first turn, I followed her for a few features gathering speed before passing her on the straight section. I was then in the lead again and won that race too.

I was now in the final against numbers one, two and three in the world. My start out of the gate was ok but I fell on one of the tricky features near the start unfortunately, I tried to catch up but there was no chance.

Anyway I am pretty happy because I finished in 4th which means I am now ranked 4th in the world!

LG AIR BAG TOUR 2008

Snow sports enthusiasts across the country have a treat to look forward to this autumn. Thanks to technology and style innovators LG, skiers and snowboarders will have the opportunity to practise their jumps and Big Air tricks with the confidence of having a massive Air Bag to catch them – whichever way up they land!


The LG Air Bag Tour is visiting eleven regional slopes across the country during September and October 2008 (see Notes to Editors for other tour dates and destinations), culminating in Freesports on 4 (FS04) Freeze, sponsored by LG at the Battersea Power Station in London on 23rd – 26th October 2008. This event will be a real spectacle with some of the world’s best snowboarders and skiers displaying their Big Air skills on a 40 metre high ramp.


Each stop of the LG Air Bag Tour has been arranged to coincide with the local ‘Freestyle Evening’. As part of LG’s commitment to the development of British snow sports, the Air Bag is provided free of charge so snowboarders and skiers will only need to pay normal slope fees for the evening. Spectators can also attend free of charge. LG will also be on hand at every stage of the tour to show off their latest handsets and will be giving away free goody bags to every visitor at the events.


The number of LG Air Bag participants at any one time is limited for safety reasons. For your chance to be one of the lucky riders, register online at www.londonfreeze.com/lg


Snowboarders and freestyle skiers riding the Air Bag at the regional events are also in with a chance of being part of the FSO4 Freeze in London. One person from each region will be selected based on their Big Air skill and style; and will win an all expenses paid trip to London to ride alongside selected professionals at the LG Big Air Invitational Finals.


Number one British snowboarder Dan Wakeham, who is sponsored by LG, will be attending as many of the LG Air Bag Tour events as possible. Dan is passionate about the LG Air Bag Tour and creating opportunities to develop tomorrow’s Olympic hopefuls. Dan commented: “this is a fantastic initiative allowing snow sports enthusiasts to build their confidence and skills in a safe environment”.


As part of their commitment to bringing new ideas to life, LG is proud to support the British snow sports community “LG is delighted to be associated with the Air Bag Tour” explains Jeremy Newing, Head of Marketing for LG mobiles. He continued “as a brand we’re always trying to bring new ideas to life and that matches well the young and exciting nature of snowboarding and freestyle skiing”.


LG AIR BAG TOUR DATES

September
Thursday 18th Norfolk Ski Club 18:00 - 23:00
Friday 19th Sheffield Ski Village 18:00 - 23:00
Thursday 25th Sno!Zone Braehead, Glasgow 18:00 - 23:00
Friday 26th Sno!Zone Braehead, Glasgow 18:00 - 23:00

October
Friday 3rd Chill Factor-e, Manchester 18:00 - 23:00
Saturday 4th Chill Factor-e Manchester 18:00 - 23:00
Monday 6th John Nike Ski Center, Plymouth 18:00 - 23:00
Thursday 9th Sno!Zone, Milton Keynes 18:00 - 23:00
Friday 10th Sno!Zone, Milton Keynes 18:00 - 23:00
Wednesday 15th Sno!Zone, Castleford 18:00 - 23:00
Thursday 16th Sno!Zone, Castleford 18:00 - 23:00
Friday 17th John Nike Ski Center, Chatham 18:00 - 23:00
Saturday 18th Snow Dome, Tamworth 18:00 - 23:00
Monday 20th John Nike Ski Center, Bracknell 18:00 - 23:00
Tuesday 21st Bromley Ski Center 18:00 - 23:00

Red Bull Empire of Dirt Results

Red Bull's Empire Of Dirt contest just wrapped up and here are the top three results:

1. Corey Bohan
2. Gary Young
3. Dane Searls

Wiggoly Dantas Wins The Rip Curl Boardmasters

It was an exciting final in Newquay England for the ASP 5-Star Rip Curl Boardmasters with four to six foot waves at Fistral Beach. Wiggoly Dantas of Ubatuba Brazil who is only 18 years of age took the crown defeating fellow countryman Pablo Paulino in an all Brazilian final. It was no easy task for Wiggoly to take the crown as he faced some of the top surfers in the world including Leigh Sedley of Australia, Chris Davidson of Australia and Eavid Weare of South Africa.

“I had a great time in England and people were so nice to me all week,” Dantas said. “We had great waves at the start and tough ones today but it was always lots of fun. So stoked to get this first title, such a big thing. It is a great confidence boost for the upcoming events.”

Dantas was definitely the outsider coming into the final whose ranking at the time was 122. With this win, he will be bumped up all the way into the Top 80 and is now going to France for the next competition with confidence.

“Pablo (Paulino) surfed so well and I want to congratulate him,” Dantas said. “It was one of my dreams to win the event here as I really love the waves and the atmosphere here. I am very happy and I hope things can keep going as good for me.”

Full story at www.lat34.com/

Danny Way on Letterman after X Game Slam

Interesting interview with Danny Letterman after his silver medal in the X Games.

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn3yRvjPiMU

It also includes the current debate about whether skateboarding should an Olympic event. Danny's opinion is that skateboarders already have their own kind of Olympics and that making skatebaording an Olympic event might take the edge off the sport. Many pro skaters such as Tony Alva have agreed with Danny whilst others such as Mark Gonzales thinks it should be included. Full articles about the debate can be found at www.lat34.com and http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/for-the-moment-skateboarders-should-be-gold-medalists-too/

Kelly Slater Wins J-Bay; One Step Closer To World Title Nine

JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Thursday, July 17, 2008) – He’s done it again. Eight-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) beat reigning ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS) today to win the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, earn his 38th ASP World Tour victory and claim the fourth event on the 2008 ASP World Tour.

Slater beat Fanning 16.73 to 9.40 in the Billabong Pro Final. While conditions early this morning were clean and six foot (two metre), onshore winds made the semifinal and final tricky.

With six events remaining, there is still a possibility the title could be clinched by another surfer on the ASP World Tour roster, but the probability that will happen is small – something Slater’s competition knows all too well.

“I guess it’s not over ‘till it’s over, but it’s like climbing Everest and he’s halfway up the bloody hill,” Fanning said of the race for the world title.

The tour continues July 30 with the Rip Curl Pro Search in a location TBD.

Jon Olsson signs with DotInc Management

.INC
ACTION SPORTS
MANAGEMENT

London, UK (10th July 2008) – Dotinc Management, Europe’s leading action sports management agency, has signed freeski superstar Jon Olsson to its roster of clients. Jon Olsson is the defining athlete of the new school freeskiing movement with 10 X Games medals to his name as well as his own signature events, the Jon Olsson Invitational and the Jon Olsson Super Sessions.

“We are incredibly excited to add the greatest freeskier in the world to the Dotinc roster of athletes,” comments Kristoffer Hansson, Managing Director of Dotinc. “What makes Jon such a unique athlete and of extraordinary value to his sponsors is his skiing talent combined with his entrepreneurial spirit. His website, video-blog, proprietary events and cutting edge marketing initiatives are achieving broad consumer reach. We are looking forward to developing Jon’s personal endorsement deals and taking his brand to the next level.”

Jon’s accolades include a nomination for Male Skier of the Year at the ESPN Action Sports and Music Awards and winner of the Powder Magazine Reader Poll and Video Awards. At the X Games, Jon has won the Big Air title and has medalled in both Slopestyle and SuperPipe four years in a row.

“I’ve found the perfect career partner in Kristoffer Hansson and Dotinc Management,” says Jon. ”They are poised to help take my business part of my career to the next level but also help me realise a couple of new dream projects.” Jon is now combining his freeski talents with his racing roots and is making a serious commitment to the FIS tour in Giant Slalom. This will take a lot of determination and organization, but Jon proved that he has got the talent by taking 1st and 2nd in two FIS sanctioned races last season.


Editors note:
Dotinc Ltd is a full range management company that connects brands with action sports through representation of Europe’s leading action sport athletes, creative talent and properties.
Dotinc’s roster includes snowboarders: Hampus Mosesson, Markku Koski, Markus Keller, Kjersti Buaas, Jakob Wilhelmsson, Chris Sörman, Johan Olofsson, Tore Holvik.
Skiers: Jon Olsson, Jacob Wester, Henrik Windstedt, Henrik Harlaut, Thomas Dolplads.
Snowmobiler Daniel Bodin and Skater Mathias Ringstrom. Photographer Daniel Blom.
Production company Actionhorse Films. The Jon Olsson Videoblog and Jon Olsson Super Session (JOSS).

Dotinc Ltd (dotinc.co.uk) is part of the KAOS group which includes action sports marketing agency KAOS Brands In Action (kaosbrandsinaction.com) and creative agency Creating Kaos (creatingkaos.com).

For more information about Dotinc, please contact
Kristoffer Hansson
kristoffer@dotinc.co.uk
ph +44 207 288 2332
mob +44 7854 388 7588

For photos of Jon, please visit www.redbull-photofiles.com

Shaun White And The Magic Horse

He shoots, he skates, he scores: Get on the trail with American hero Shaun White

Billabong acquires Sector 9 Skateboards

Billabong International Limited today announced the acquisition of Sector 9, a premium Southern California-based skateboard brand. Sector 9 was founded in 1994 and has emerged as a market leader in the design and manufacture of skate longboards, a fast-growing niche segment within the skateboard market.

Billabong International Limited Chief Executive Officer Derek O’Neill said Sector 9 operated in the specialty boardsports channel with a unique product offering.

“Sector 9’s products, primarily its longboards, really differentiate it from other brands in the boardsports channel and have appeal to surfers, skateboarders and the broader youth market,” said Mr O’Neill.

“The company has not only proved the viability of the longboard segment, it has
experienced sustained growth over the past decade and has become synonymous with the California boardsport lifestyle.”

Co-founders and owners Steve Lake and Dennis Telfer and co-owner Dave Klimkiewicz are being retained as part of the acquisition in their current roles. Mr Lake, Sector 9’s President, said he was excited by the prospect of teaming with a boardsports industry leader.

“While Sector 9 continues to maintain solid growth in the US, we are most excited at the prospect of combining our brand’s growing international awareness with Billabong’s proven global distribution network,” said Mr Lake.

The purchase of Sector 9 includes its Gullwing skateboard trucks brand. The bulk of Sector 9’s revenues are generated by skateboard and associated hardgoods sales, while apparel is a small but emerging category.

Sector 9 is expected to contribute approximately 2% to Billabong International Limited’s sales in the 2008-09 financial year. The acquisition is expected to be earnings per share accretive in year one.

Snow Reports

Action Sports In Schools Hits Devon

Students at a Barnstaple school are the envy of youngsters elsewhere in Devon - after skateboarding was included in PE lessons.

Skateboarding has finally made it onto the school curriculum - at one Devon school at least. Now, enthusiasts at other schools across the county must be hoping their teachers follow the example set by Pilton Community College in Barnstaple.

The college has incorporated skateboarding into the school's PE lessons - and, not surprisingly, it's been a popular decision! At the moment, it's only a trial period to see how the lessons go, but staff argue that skateboarding is a sport, so should be included in PE.

College teacher Wendy McQuillan believes that although it's not a traditional sport, like football and rugby, there's still a place for skateboarding in school PE lessons.

"For many of the students it's a sport they're trying for the first time, so it's developing a lot of new skills. And for those who've done it before, they're developing a range of co-ordination skills. And there's also the physical aspect of skateboarding."

The skaters have now started a petition to try and get a skate park in the town, which, they say, would keep everyone happy. In the meantime, they're making the most of the lessons on offer at school.

For the full article visit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/community_life/features/skateboarding_lessons.shtml

Dragon take the leap to independence

Dragon was started by Will Howard in his garage in San Clemente over 13 years ago when he saw an opportunity in the market for new blood. From this humble beginning Dragon grew and to fund the growth of the business brought in a number of investors who were also involved in the Oakley business. Dragon continued to evolve to become a diversified and global brand, deeply rooted in surf, snow and MX core/specialty distribution in over 35 countries worldwide. Meanwhile the ties with Oakley developed into a shared private partnership and with the purchase of Oakley by the optical giant Luxottica, Dragon became one of the portfolio of brands at the biggest player in the global optical market.

The purchase by Luxottica presented Dragon with two opportunities , one to remain part of the global leader and reposition the brand as a purely optical business, the other to regain its independance and continue with the development of the brand by offering a variety of products in the action sports market.

CEO Will Howard and General Manager Aaron Behle decided the time was right to to break away from the parent company. There were a number of strategic as well as passionate reasons as to why Dragon chose independence. Firstly Will got his baby back, nothing like being back in complete control of your own destiny to reinvigorate brand energy. Secondly Dragon's product mix was moving in a different direction from its parent. Oakley and Luxottica are fully focused on the optical market, whereas Dragon is positioned as more of a youth lifestyle brand connected with core retail specialty shops . This is reflected in their product spread with two thirds of Dragon's turnover coming from outside the optical market. Dragons more diversified product range was never going to fully benefit from being part of Luxotticas vertical optical business model.

So whilst there was always a lot to gain from being part of a larger company (eg. Lower production costs, increased distribution network etc...) there was a danger that Dragons brand development would stall.

With one of the most iconic logos in the industry, Dragon is now looking to build on its global branding mission and progressive product offerings and return to what Howard calls the “specialty power band of the action sports industry”.

“We have now restructured Dragon to fully leverage a decade of brand authenticity and capitalize on what we believe is a paradigm shift in the action sports market,” said Behle. “We have a unique position with a unique plan. More importantly, we have a young and passionate team with the ability to ‘zig’ while the market ‘zags’ and enjoy ourselves along the way.” Dragon now embarks on its independent journey with a familiar yet refined mission statement to be the leading eyewear and accessories brand in the youth lifestyle market.

This bold decision is in completely the opposite direction to what has been one way traffic as the major brands have been scooping up smaller independent brands in the boardsports market- Maybe this is the first of a wave of brands regaining their independence .

Article from Boardsport SOURCE

David Lynch on product placement

Sport Business Article

Here is an interesting article from this months Sport Business. KAOS are noted as one of the 'brilliant indies' with an expertise in action sports....enjoy! (Click on the images to read)

Save Harrow Skatepark

For the past 30 years, Harrow Skatepark's unique and timeless design has been enjoyed by thousands
of skaters from all over the world. Also known as ‘Solid Surf’, it has also provided a breeding ground for
generations of World class skateboarders, and a safe spot for riders of all ages and abilities to do their
thing. As well as being something very special to skate, the layout and size of the skatepark allow
several groups of users to session the park at the same time without getting in each others way.

Harrow Council are planning on knocking the skatepark down as well as the Leisure Centre next to it.
The land is to be used to build houses on, bringing in revenue of over 40 million pounds. Thats right,
over £40000000. Yet the Council ar! e only planning on spending £300k on a new skatepark, although
the current (perfectly good) skatepark would cost nearly a million pounds to replace. So Harrows youth
are being robbed of over 600 thousand pounds. And skateboarding is being robbed of an irreplaceable
piece of its history, identity and culture.

Other countries are spending millions on making bigger and better skateparks,yet Harrow council are
planning on knocking this great skatepark down and replacing it with one of a third of its value. How
does this make sense? Especially when councils are supposed to be encouraging more activity for
young people, not less!

So on the 19th April 2008, join us for SAVE HARROW SKATEPARK DAY! It could be the last big
session, theres going to be cash prizes for best tricks in the pool, half pipe etc as well as cash for best
transfer line. There will also be a BBQ, refreshments, ! product tosses, board signings from various pros,
and a late nigh t (maybe all night) flood lit pool session/party with various live bands playing to keep the
session amped!

We desperately want to save this park. But if we can't, we want to say goodbye with this mega session.
And raise awareness to the fact that if the council are to go ahead with their plans and bulldoze this
skatepark, they are going to have to spend way more of the money gained from building these new
houses than they have currently budgeted if they are to build an any where near comparable
replacement.

Harrow Skatepark is situated behind Harrow Leisure centre, a few minutes walk from Harrow and
Wealdstone station.

‘History is not replaceable or disposable- harrow skatepark is part of British skateboarding’s legacy,
lets make sure it’s still there for generations to come’
Ben Powell, Chief Editor of Sidewalk magazine

‘Harrow skatepark made it pos! sible for me to stay on the straight and narrow, I’m sure its done the
same for many others. It would be a crime to lose it’
Rodga Harvey, Involved in the original build, and skated Harrow skatepark since 1978.

‘An end of an era, but what an era, lets hope whats next inspires future generations as solid surf did.
The H Boyz "sworn to fun loyal to none."
Steve Douglas. Pro skateboarder who grew up skating Harrow and now an international skate
industry mogul.

'I spent most of my childhood at the skatepark, I practically grew up at the place. I made the best
friends I've ever had there, friends I will have for life and I would be heartbroken if other people didn't
have that same opportunity for friendship and fun and skating in the future.'
Dave Hopkins, Harrow skater.

Nike ACG Sweetspots kick-starts summer with a celebration of its athletes’ most prized achievements on film.

A Sweetspot is a moment in time when effort and talent combine perfectly. It’s an experience of purity when everything comes together and the spectacular is achieved.

These unique stories will be showcased in 3-4 minute films which will launch on 4th April 2008. During the course of the summer a new Sweetspot will be added every few weeks.

Nike ACG’s athletes have pushed both themselves and their sport in the creation of these new Sweetspots. Each has been given the opportunity to fulfill their ultimate goals and then showcase their accomplishments. Having partnered with some of the most prestigious filmmakers in the business each Sweetspot is able to be shared courtesy of http://www.nikeacg.com/

Sweetspots launches the summer program with three stories (Sweetspot numbers 14, 15 & 16) featuring some of the world’s best talent. Follow established BASE jumper, Tom Erik Heimen, as he chases flying nirvana in his wingsuit. World respected whitewater kayaker Brad Ludden returns to conquer his nemesis on the Mekong River. Axel Ballay and Micky Fuselier travel to southern China where they explore epic walls and open up the hardest route in the country.



Following this launch, there will be five additional Sweetspot films released during the summer:
Andre Bach; BASE jumping with Plastikk Media in Eikesdalen (Norway)
Micky Fuseilier; climbing with Evrard Wendenbaum in Choranche (France)
Laurent Niol; BASE jumping with Happy Ride in the Atlas Mountains (Morocco)
Liv Sansoz; climbing with Evrard Wendenbaun in Hampi (India)
Mariann Saether; kayaking with Revolutionairy Innovations on the White Nile (Uganda)

Keep an eye on http://www.nikeacg.com/ throughout the summer to see these films arrive and check out Nike ACG’s competitions. Aspiring filmers, photographers, directors and a journalists are in with the chance to be a part of creating next winter’s first Sweetspot in South America. For more info head over to the ‘Join The Crew’ section of the site, but be quick as the comp closes on 1st May.

ONBOARD CREW TAKE OAKLEY JIB-VID 2008 TITLE

ONBOARD CREW TAKE OAKLEY JIB-VID 2008 TITLE.

EVENT CHECKLIST:

Filming day: Perfect park, powder and sun
Poker party: Pimp
Jib-Vid deadline: On schedule
Best trick contest: Sun, fun, music and money – PERFECT
Film projection: OFF THE HOOK
Afterparty: Great beats

What an event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For full event write up and results check out www.jib-vid.com

For all of this years Jib-Vid films check out our bebo site, www.bebo.com/jib-vid where you can also become a fan and get notified immediately when new films are uploaded.

Keeps your eyes peeled for more great footage coming soon such as the behind the scenes documentary to show you exactly the hard work all the teams put in along with some great interviews from the teams.

Slater shows he is still the best at Bells - unbelievable talent!!

BELLS BEACH, Australia (Thursday, March 27, 2008) – Kelly Slater (USA) has further asserted that he is the best surfer on earth after winning the Rip Curl Pro pres. by Snickers today. Launching a huge air to earn a last minute score and beat Bede Durbidge (AUS)in the final, the 36-year old has claimed his 36th event win and rung the bell for the third time.

“It feels awesome; it feels really good, ” Slater said. “The Bell is arguably the best trophy you can win in surfing. I do have a couple, but to get there and have the chance and get a third one feels really good. I’ve just joined my good friend Sunny (Garcia) with three, and I think MR (Mark Richards) and MP (Michael Peterson) have four or five – those guys are crazy.”

One Eskimo - "Hometime"

British Animation Awards 'Public Choice'

Friends of KAOS, One Eskimo, London's finest exponent of emotive electronic folk rock, are proud to announce that the video for 'Hometime' created by the band and 'Gravy Media' has been awarded this year's 2008 British Animation Public Choice Award. Check it out on You Tube.

The Awards run every two year - One Eskimo following in the footsteps of Gorillaz, who won the award in 2006 (along with Jamie Hewlett and Pete
Candeland) for 'Feel Good Inc'.
The video for the band's debut single 'Hometime' is a beautiful intricate visual voyages of family, innocence and magic. Crafted in Gravy Media's offices - a bedroom in South London. One Eskimo and Gravy Media are two unsigned, fully independant artists.

A labour of love, committment and vision.

For more information please contact Rudy at rudy@cyngmedia.com

Skateboarding hitting the news down under!

Skateboading made big news in Australia today. Check it out!

(as reported by Guardian news)

It’s been 20 years in the process but skaters win
Skaters around Nambucca shouted out in celebration on Thursday, when Nambucca Shire Council approved a plan for a skate park to be built at Coronation Park.

The fight for a skate park has been ongoing for almost 20 years, and local youth worker Shayne Teece told council’s February 7 meeting it was time to invest in the young people of the community.

“Approving the development application at Coronation Park will help rebuild a good relationship between council, the local youth and the community,” he said.

A Coronation Park skate park would fulfil the wishes of local skaters, because it was close to amenities, the town, beaches, and other sports, he said.

Valla Beach mother Gloria Penny said the move would open up opportunities for local youths, with skateboarding growing as a professional sport and hefty sponsorships available for talented riders.

“Skaters will be here, whether there’s a skate park or not, they’re not going away,” she said.

Ms Penny’s sons, 12 and 14-year-olds, are avid skaters. She told the fortnightly council meeting that her sons were lucky because, at Valla Beach, there was a skate park for the youth and they were not forced to skate on the streets.

“On the streets, it’s a danger to residents, skaters and drivers,” she said.

Coronation Park was safe and very central.

Most of all, Ms Penny said she would much rather her sons out on skateboards than on the lounge at home, with an X-box glued to their hands.

Mr Teece said it was positive the sport was being recognised for its ability to take young people out of the house and keep them fit – skateboarding was on track to be included in the Olympic Games.

The council vote, in favour of approving the development

application, took some time to sink in to the crowd of skaters in the council chambers.

When it did, a shout of joy went up and the skaters celebrated on the front lawn of the council’s Macksville chambers.

Some of those celebrating were not old enough to remember the time when the campaign for a skate park began, but were looking forward to enjoying the planned facilities at the northern end of Coronation Park.

A sneak preview of next season's Nike ACG product line

Courtesy of Freecaster we can give you a glimpse of Nike ACG's 2008/09 winter collection, filmed at ISPO in January.

Enjoy

http://www.freecaster.tv/1000009_1004076

The KAOS Boys go surfing!

So it is possible to surf in February after all! The past weekend saw some mellow waves grace the North coast of Devon under blue skies and a gentle offshore breeze. Now don't get me wrong, the water was bloody cold but with my spankin' new Excel wintersuit im happy to say it was worth every penny as after the initial shock i was toasty warm for over 2 hours!!
After a winter spent driving a laptop with only a few days snowboarding, paddle fitness was at an all time low, but me and the G scored some right beauties.
Bring on the next swell....

James on the left, Big Daddy G on the right

trim tastic

Air and Style Quarter Pipe Event Innsbruck

The KAOS crew were at the Air and Style Quarter Pipe event on Saturday night. We were pretty stoked cause this was the return of the Air and Style to Innsbruck and proved to be the worlds next best quarter pipe event to the Arctic Challenge. Also, Queens of the Stoneage were playing and well, particularly their first album and a couple of tracks of the second totally rocked.

We arrived at about 5.30 to some kinda ski jumping venue which was to provide the riders an insane run-in to the the quarterpipe. Unfortunately we were greated at the entrance by the sight of what seemed like half the male event attendees pissing against the fences. One bloke was having a spew in front of us after indulging in too much booze....so you can tell the audience were there for a good time!! With one toilet in the whole place for 30,000 people what did the organisers think would happen? For the girls it was a case of just not drinking anything all night cause the queue was just stupid.

After calming the girls we were with that everything would be ok, we managed to fight through the crowds and find a viewing position where we could see the riding. Immediately we could tell we would be witness to superb riding and some massive slams.

Over the night, the superb riding came courtesy of pretty much the top five finalists. Antti Autti's first hit in the finals was an inverted 7 which i reckon should have given him a place for sure but it seems in this contest, you're better leaving the best tricks to last. Arthur Longo was exceptionally stylie with massive method airs but it didn't get him a place. Peetu Piiroinen used the full width of the pipe to float perfect backside 5's that got him a third. Second went to Scotty Lago with a massive f/s ally-oop 7 on his last hit. Kevin Pearce of the US who is pretty much winning everything he goes in right now won the event with a backside ally-oop 5 which didn't look that special to me from the stands (e.g. comapred to Antti's earlier 7) but if you're hot you're hot and he got the judges nod for the cash.

Special mention goes to the streaker that appeared when the awards had been presented and the champagne was flowing. This bloke came from no-where in is boxers, dropped them and ran around nude until sceurity pinned him down. It was a fine effort on a cold evening.

After all the riding came the Queens. This should have been a highlight of the event except for what can only be put down to poor planning, the band where located at least 50 meters from any of the crowd. So there was no mosh-pit and critically, no energy going back to the band from the crowd. The boys did their best to put on a top show but this could have been so much better if they had let the crowd onto the snow area so they could get up close to the stage. Instead, about 50 industry vips who were all just standing about, got the best views. If i was a Queens fan who had dropped my €45 to see 'em, i wouldn't have been pleased.
So overall, the riding and level of commitment from the athletes was all time but i couldn't help but feel this event could have been so much better with improved planning and fore-thought from the organisers. It's was a long way off the quality Air and Style Big Air event is in Munich.

Andreas wins slopestyle at X Games

Andreas Hatvait finally has an X Games gold in his pocket.

Check his gold winning run out at www.expn.com and then see the videos section

Check out Grahams X Games blogs..

See them at http://team.blog.nikeacg.com/

X-Games live update from Aspen!!

Hey Guys,

It is super long active days here (9-22), so we are really tired.

So far only the skiers had their HP-finals and I guess that you all heard by now that Andreas got 4th and Miss Jaeger got silver!

Kjersti rode sooo god all week with big mctwists and back-to-back inverted 7:s, strangely she didn't fell once on the training and we were all confident that she had a really good chance on a podium place, but in the qualifications she fell in both her runs on the inverted 7. She was super angry...

So today she was going to get a final spot at the SS instead, but midair(!) she dislocated her shoulder when she tweaked her fs 3-stalefish. Very strange, but she was happy anyway and walked around with her ice-bag on her shoulder (see left pic). Both Jenny Jones and Cheryl is killing it so I think that it can be a EU slopestyle medal.

Jacob Wester was one of 4 that was selected to de the ski big air. The jump has been super sketchy. In the end the jump was acceptable, but both Jon and Jacob couldn't do anything since the jump was to small. In the first knock out run Jacob was up against Charles Gagnier and he got frustrated and pulled his kangaroo-flip (double back roll - 180) and landed perfect in the bottom and had to revert it. The judges had a 50-50 decision but Gagnier got through with his fakie 12. Jon was super surprised that Jacob could do it and started to do the same trick, but had 2 runs to fine tune it and knocked out Simon Dumont and Gagnier in the finals and won his first X games gold. He dedicated the win to Jacob in all his interviews.

The snowboarders are totally the kings of the X games. The slopestyle eliminations was really good to watch. Girls superpipe had the best standard ever. Kelly Clark went higher than most of the boys and even went for a 1080 two times in the final, and they are not far off!! Torah rode super smooth and technical, but Gretchen deserved the gold.

Check out all the x games results at www.expn.com

Hope everything is good,

Kristoffer

Zoe awarded Olympic Athlete of the year!!

The British Olympic Association (BOA) recently announced the full list of recipients of the 2007 Olympic Athlete of the Year trophy. Amongst them, Nike ACG teamrider Zoe Gilling!

Congratulations to Zoe for being awarded 2007 Olympic Athlete of the Year for Ski and Snowboard by the BOA. Zoe’s 7^th place at Winter X last year was an immense achievement and confirms here place amongst the elite in SBX. Zoe goes again this Saturday – fingers crossed for her!

Winter X Twelve

Brace yourselves folks, Winter X Twelve is under way. I just had a quick nose around the site (http://www.expn.com/) and thought I'd share this with you: a sweet 'little' feature on the Slopestyle course

photo: Dave Lehl

Heads up to all KAOS' extended family who are competing and watching out in Aspen. Also, don't forget that http://www.freecaster.com/ will have plenty of coverage for European audiences.

Enjoy

KAOS Birthday Party

KAOS celebrated their 5^th Birthday in style towards the end of December upstairs at the Old Queens Head in London attended by a lot of people that have helped us grow over the years and friends and family.

The party had a ROCK and ROLL theme – ‘Rock’ being covered with three great bands playing through the evening and ‘Roll’ with a selection of classic skateboarding films being shown on the big screen. People dressed according to Rock Memorabilia or Rollerama.

We started with a 70’s theme and Matt Quinn and the Darth Vader’s rocked out with killer cover versions of 70’s rock classics. Whilst our 80’s band, Caimbo are actually one of the best up and coming young bands around, we reckon they look a little bit like the boys from Poison and that’s good enough for us to claim them as our 80’s representatives. Check out Caimbohttp://www.myspace.com/caimbo. They have an upcoming gig at the Barfly and for £6 you won’t go wrong. Creating Kaos. Creative Director Andy Hunns has agreed to run down Oxford Street naked if Caimbo aren’t topping the charts very soon…is there a time limit on that Andy?

The final band, Feral Sun came courtesy of our man Jay Stephenson and rocked out with acoustic versions of classic 90’s grunge tracks.

Thanks to all the bands and people that came along to help us celebrate the evening and to all the current and past KAOS staff, clients and suppliers that have helped us get to where we are in our first five years.