KAOS Europe Blog | Action Sports | Music | Lifestyle

Ever worried you'll be stuck on a chairlift...check this out

2010-01-07T11:41:00.001Z

Amazing videos day

2009-09-24T10:15:00.002+01:00

Usually when posting here I try to provide some insight with my writing. Today it's not about that, it is just about posting incredibly amazing videos. It's one of those days. There you go, first ever bs 1620 ( via the Helgasons blog).

And now this.. Skier in Alaska gets buried by an Avalanche, only to get rescued a few minutes later, amazing video, Hollywood could never beat that.

R.I.P. Bodhi

2009-09-16T11:33:00.006+01:00

I've been posting here for a while, but probably most of you guys that read this know nothing about me. I'm 25 years old, I like all kinds of cheese and the first surf film I ever watched was Point Break.

I know very well that is not meant to be just about surf. Of course it wasn't, it was a Hollywood movie with Keanu Reeves and Hollywood does not make surf movies.
However for me it was a movie about Bodhi, his surfing, his coolness, his layback tube ride when he is first being introduced to the film, his escape in maxing "Bells Beach".

Damn, even writing those lines gives me goosebumps. I bet there's many people out there thinking exactly the same.

Thank you for the all this Patrick, RIP.

KISS Mr Pototo Heads...where can i get me one of them apples?

2009-09-09T09:36:00.001+01:00

WAL-MART to promote KISS CD with ‘KISS Korners’
4 Sep 2009
Wal-Mart will promote the new KISS CD/DVD, SONIC BOOM with ‘KISS Korners’ in electronics departments and Halloween aisles in October. Stores will offer KISS T-shirts, wigs, make-up, limited edition KISS M&M candies and KISS Mr Potato Head spuds of all four band members through Halloween. "To complement this highly-anticipated music release, we are excited to bring a unique store experience with KISS merchandise at an unbeatable value for fans of all ages," said Greg Hall, Vice President of Media Services, Walmart US. "It has been both fun and an honour to work with the band and celebrate with fans the new music release and album tour."

That's not a regular title but my god this is in plain WTF territory.

2009-09-03T17:55:00.007+01:00

Whatever happens please keep you children away from the screen. For if the maintain visual contact with it they might become infected and then things won't go down that smooth. This spectacle is even worse than 2 Girls 1 Cup I swear. Are they gone now? Cool.
Without any further adoo allow me to present you the Heelys' National Championships!! I know what you must be thinking:Is this world coming to an end?
Elaborate and discuss.

Via Pierre Wikberg's blog and then some more props to James for sharing it with me.

Eco Marketing this!

2009-07-28T12:11:00.001+01:00

Being eco-friendly apparently is the new big thing these days when it comes to surf brands marketing. Well maybe I am just exaggerating, we all know that having onboard surfers that rip hard is kinda more important, however this is not the point of this post.
So yeah, digg that, Billabong released a press release a few days ago, Dave "Rasta" Rastovich is meeting up with all passionate, anti climate change pioneer, ex vice US president Al Gore in order to be trained by, then discuss and promote policies to stop climate change.
Speaking of Rasta, here's a little update on him. He is not on tour, he rips as hard as ever, although I do not think he would agree with the term rip - rather surf forcefully but gently as you can see on the video below.

That was obviously crazy stylish. Rasta is also married to a mermaid, well human mermaid-model kind of thing. He is the founder of surfers for cetaceans- that's dolphins whales and sea turtles. Surfers for cetaceans released a video lately as well "El Mar, Mi Alma".
Not your typical surf video.

Rasta is obviously having the time of his life doing all that. Although critics would say that flying around the globe every time a swell pops up does not really help the environment, I think it would be fair to give Rasta a pass and not hate, because he is obviously a person deeply concerned with the future of the planet.

Coming back to Billabong they are obviously pushing an enviromentalist profile. Of course they are not alone on that, yesterday I stumbled upon this Reef Brazil Redemption series. Anyway, back to Billabong now. The Rasta story, Design for Humanity, they are all initiatives for a good cause. (Design for Humanity profits go to Water Charity.)
I am not dismissing this kind of initiatives as irrelevant and of course anything that helps and pushes things towards a more sustainable direction needs to be applaused.

However I seem to be missing something as strangely enough, looking at those initiatives I still can only think of waves. And cetaceans. And if you think that by cetaceans I mean the stunning blonde pictured below, well, you guessed right.

The Cake to end all Cakes.

2009-07-24T14:16:00.008+01:00

Breaking news! There are that the cake to end all cakes has been sighted in the Kaos premises. The legendary cake who has been referenced amongst others in Monty Pythons' films, Amy Winehouse's and Metallica's songs is rumored to have been extremely delicious.

Hey, now seriously. If you are looking to intern here, you better know how to make cakes. Just kidding.
Thanks Z, the cake was amazing.

BMX Worlds in Cologne, again through the eyes of Skullcandy.

2009-07-24T12:08:00.004+01:00

Well, as I was saying in the previous post, Kaos is working closely with Skullcandy Europe to produce some content.
This time, we went down to the BMX World Championships in Cologne, Germany that Skullcandy was sponsoring.
Needless to say it was friggin amazing. Check it out!
Hint:24 seconds in best trick of the event: triple asscrack to balls reveal spin!

CPH Pro through the eyes of Skullcandy

2009-07-23T10:02:00.006+01:00

This past year, Kaos has been working with Skullcandy to create relations across Europe and provide content.
Skullcandy was a sponsor of what's generally considered being the best CPH Pro ever. It took place last month in Copenhagen. Here's what we came up with, enjoy.

Hater's guide (for snowboarders)

2009-07-01T10:23:00.009+01:00

Lately I've been finding myself getting more and more interested in articles and journalists that go off the beaten track and say things that are not too pc.
Now that I'm having a second thought about it possibly everybody likes them and that's why we know who guys like Perez Hilton or our action sports' very own Lewis Samuels is.
Well, some time ago I stumbled upon this guide on the mustachio. I've been meaning to write something about that ever since and know its not very recent but you know what? It's a timeless gem that will be worth writing about until the day that snow turns purple.
Here's some hilarious quotes from the Hater's Guide.

"You might think haterism has been a part of snowboarding since the coming of the online communities but this side activity saw the light 2 decades ago. Remember the resorts banning all snowboarders? That was one of the first noticed hater actions. With other words, if you are a hater you are nothing better than the hater skiers from back in the day. But you don't give a donkeyshit because you didn't start snowboarding to make friends. Otherwise you would have joined the scouts.

First of all you need internet, which is pretty obvious because the hater part of snowboarding takes place on the world wide web, unless you're a real douche. To get started it's better to train yourself on the internet. When you've booked online success you can try it in real life."

"- It's easier to use different usernames. You can make your comments look better and hotter by giving props on your own comments with another username.

- You are better and prettier. When you know you're not, better tell them you know people who are. A friend, uncle, aunt, grandpa or whatever.

- When the action is too good to hate on start hating on details. Music, edit, clothing or other comments for instance. (see the holy inspiration list)

- Never be sorry. You will loose kudo's. Saying that you are sorry can kill you. Never use the sorry word, NEVER!"

"Clothing
- How are they dressed up?
- Do you like hippies, gangsters, mainstreamsters, gipsies or maybe even emo-thugs?
- Are they over-dressed for the tricks they pop?

Style & Tricks
- Do you like their style?
- Is their stance too narrow or too wide?
- Can you do it better or do you have a friend/relative who can do better?

Fun
- Are they having too much fun and does it affect their riding?
- Are they having fun or is it too serious?
Fun?"

Read the whole article here.
Via the Mustachio.

Was Farrah Fawcett the inventor of kickflip?

2009-06-30T18:13:00.008+01:00

Rodney Mullen if you are reading this, we know that you invented the kickflip so please, shut up for a moment.
So yeah, that's right, kaos blog has transformed into an endless obituary for dead celebrities who had some kind of connection with skateboarding.
The guys at Barcelona's Unopopmag run this the other day, so nothing original here but Jesus! By looking at this pic all I can think is how would I love to teach her how to skate- and im not even a skater. And by teach her how to skate I mean engage on a long debate over whether this pic has done more for Nike SB than them getting Eric Koston.
Oh well I'm know I'm not fooling anyone..
R.I.P. Farrah, thanks for the memories.

Via Unopopmag.

Micheal Jackson meets E.T. | Alien vs Predator

2009-06-26T16:58:00.010+01:00

Here at Kaos we are really devastated by the loss of MJ.
Nah, just kidding we are not really devastated, slight sad not devastated and anyway we had a small chat about him passing away. Enough with being polite though.
Speaking for myself I will remember him as a very special man.
And by special man, I mean black gone white/sleeping in an oxygen tent/children lovin'/ hip swingin/neverland ownin/ creepy/ crazy talented/sad and weird dude. He also had some good tracks. And by good I mean friggin amazing. Of course all those things contributed into making him an icon, the king of pop. Don't worry this is not an obituary, you're having plenty of those in the press right now.
Without any further ado, allow me to remind you of this legendary Skate Mental's skateboard picturing Micheal Jackson and E.T. and reading Alien vs Predator. Behold, the graphic of all graphics.

Props to Kris for reminding me.

BLUR OFFERING FANS 2 TICKETS FOR THEIR SOLD OUT HYDE PARK GIG

2009-06-26T11:57:00.001+01:00

LONDON JUNE 25TH 2009: On the eve of Glastonbury, Blur are offering fans the chance to win 2 tickets for their SOLD OUT HYDE PARK gig on July 3rd. Fans will need to download the new Blur widget to be in with a chance and is available at www.blur.co.uk

A sneak peek of Blur in 2009 can be also found in the widget, featuring new exclusive footage of the band getting back in gear.

Clips from their rehearsal sessions including songs like “Tender”, “Out of Time” and “Good Song”, will be uploaded regularly on the widget.

Together with the rehearsal footage, the widget also delivers fresh information on Blur, previously unpublished photos from EMI’s archive, a preview of tracks from the upcoming album “Midlife: a Beginner’s Guide to Blur” (including the non-album single “Popscene”)

“Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide To Blur” is the first collection from the band to span every studio album and that offers a complete look at Blur’s career, from the post-Seymour beginnings to the magnificent Think Tank - every stop on the journey is here! “Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide To Blur” is out now.
Download the widget at: www.blur.co.uk

Action Sports In Schools article in Boardsports Source

2009-06-17T10:23:00.004+01:00

Boardsports Source published an article on Kaos' initiative, Action Sports in Schools. Check it out here!

Snoop Crusher from Skullcandy

2009-06-17T10:09:00.004+01:00

Hold tight people - Skullcandy have teamed up with the Snoop D-O-doubleG-Y Dog and produced the Snoop Crusher. It's a bespoke design from the man himself, based around the Skullcrusher meaning its own built in subwoofer

If you want your ears to purr try these puppies out

HMV will have an exclusive distribution period (90 days) from later this month with all other stores getting them late July / early August

Morgan Maasen: prodigy photographer.

2009-06-16T16:56:00.008+01:00

Morgan Maasen is his name. Ever heard of him? Neither had I. Well you can say its normal, since he is an 18 year old photographer. Don't let his age fool you. He happens to be amazing. I was completely blown out by his pictures. Most people take years to achieve this level of excellence but well he just makes me feel bad for myself since I was never -and obviously shall never be- a prodigy.
Check his pictures out at http://www.bogus-media.com/ and keep an eye open for him in the years to come.

Found Via PostSurf.

Jordy Smith Rodeo Clown - Stomped!!

2009-06-16T08:59:00.001+01:00

Teahupo'o? Choopoo? Teahupoo? Chopo? Teapo? How the £$*£ do you pronounce that?

2009-06-09T11:30:00.008+01:00

The Hobgoods can sure surf. They can also blog, but hey this will be covered in another post. I am thinking of something that will be along the lines of "ASP surfers: the act of self-promotion".
Well until then, check this absolutely SICK video out. Hobgoods ripping in Tahiti. Yes I am only writing Tahiti because how the heck do you really pronounce Teahupo'o?
Just imagine coming out of the barrel (hey, thats already unfathomable) and then having to ride out this 20 foot wall thats about to close on your head. SICK.
OK that makes it two times I have already said SICK in this post so it has to end here.

Video found Via the goods' blog.

J. Mascis can skate and the band rides BMX...check it out this great new Dinosaur Jr song

2009-06-09T09:32:00.001+01:00

KAOS Sponsors HNC Fine Art End of Year Exhibition 2009

2009-06-03T16:58:00.005+01:00

KAOS is sponsoring the HNC Fine Art Exhibition that will feature some of not only London's but the world's best up and coming artists. Were we inspired by the art, the BBQ, bar or the music?..who cares cause the private view on the 18th June is gonna be an amazing evening all round. Some of us here at KAOS attended the mid-year show and were totally inspired by the talent of this lot and suggest anyone who can, comes along and checks it out. The exhibition runs from the 19th through to the 26th if you can't make the opening night. Click the flyer above for all the other details.

Lewis Samuels: Simply Hysterical.

2009-06-01T15:32:00.012+01:00

You ask: Now who the f**k is Lewis Samuels?
He answers: Simple; I'm a rabid, hyper-knowledgeable surf fan who isn't shy about telling it like it is. Or at least how I see it. I have access to pretty much the same data you do, except I actually waste my time looking at every bit of it.
I answer: He's that dude that got hired by surfline; or even better convinced Surfline to offer him a salary in exchange for his ASP world tour surfer power rankings. He later on got fired because his writing was too critical of Surfline's policies of content moderation (a.k.a. they would not allow him to talk shit about surfers that were sponsored by Surfline's advertisers).
After getting fired he went on and started posting his "unfiltered thoughts on surf culture" on his blog, postsurf.com.
Simply put he is the Perez Hilton of the surfing world. Well no, he's even more than that. Imagine a Jewish, surfer, Da-Hui hated and pursuied writer and you've got the picture.
His voice offers a new perspective to the corporate, Hawaii ruled world of modern surfing- and its absolutely hilarious.
Please, do yourselves a favour and check postsurf.com.
Or if you are not yet convinced, here is what he has to say about Joel Parkinson following his two wins and early exit at BillabongPro Tahiti.

"Joel Parkinson can find solace in recent history. Like Joel, Slater started last year with two wins, only to fall early at Chopes. Fortunately for Slater, all the other contenders fell early, too. Same story this year, as Parko’s real rivals (Mick, CJ, and Kelly) dropped the ball. Instead, two more toothless quasi-contenders emerged from the shadows – Taj Burrow and Bobby Martinez. Only trouble is, Parko is not Kelly Slater. So there’s no guarantee he’ll win the next one. Preserving a big lead is mostly a mental game. The rest of Parko’s year might play out like a teenager on mushrooms taking a phone call from their grandparents. The internal monologue running like this: “Don’t freak out man, don’t freak out. Just act normal, do what you’d usually do… wait, what do I usually do? What does being normal even mean?? Why am I talking to myself? Am I saying this out loud? Am I licking the phone? Why am I licking the phone? Are my pants wet? Did I pee on myself? I can’t tell if they’re wet or not. OH SHIT! I forgot how to breathe, I forgot how to BREATHE!"

Siiiick Surf Footage (with mega bucks camera)

2009-05-11T15:53:00.000+01:00

This is brilliant. Angry Anderson is an Aussie legend. Check his band Rose Tattoo http://www.myspace.com/rosetattoo

2009-04-28T19:39:00.003+01:00

KAOS helps Nike ACG Sweetposts win the webby award....

2009-04-20T15:02:00.002+01:00

A great result for the Nike ACG Sweetspots campaign with content and PR driven by the KAOS team.....

http://socialworkout.com/2009/04/14/webby-awards-announced-nike-wins

...and the moral of the story is 'use experts'

2009-03-17T15:40:00.003Z

Check out this 'Marketing Gone Wrong'.

Check these photos...amazing beach breaks

2009-03-04T10:00:00.003Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/27/clark-little-photograph-waves?picture=343885006

NISSAN OUTDOOR GAMES 09 in Chamonix

2009-02-23T14:52:00.002Z

This years Nissan Outdoor Games, held last weekend in Chamonix, made way to a spectacular film festival with 5 short films by top international athletes. Each team had 7 days to film, edit and produce a 5 minute short film, showing sequences of each sport.

Congratulations go to Rudi Kroll and Flo Koffer, along with the rest of TEAM ARGON, who won with their film 'The Devils Ride'. Check it out, along with the other 2009 entries at the following link: http://winter.outdoorgames.org/en/gallery/index.php

Shaun Whites personal halfpipe...

2009-02-23T11:29:00.002Z

check out the news and photos here;

2009 Powder Video Awards and Reader Poll announce hosts and their online giveaway

2009-01-23T14:44:00.003Z

LIVE WEBCAST THIS FRIDAY at www.POWDERAWARDS.com

The biggest night in the ski industry, the 2009 POWDER Video Awards and Reader Poll Presented by We Ski &Snowboard™, is only one day away. This Friday, January 23, the event will welcome a host of skiing's best and brightest stars to The Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado for a unique night honoring the greatest ski performances, tricks, films, cinematography and images. Ensuring this will be a night like no other, hosts Chris "Uncle E" Ernst and Luke Van Valin will return to usher us through the mayhem. An exclusive sponsor prize pack giveaway featuring ski goodies has also just been announced, and entry is open to all.

"When we started this event nine years ago, there was usually a clear cut winner and three or four contenders," says POWDER Editor Derek Taylor. "These days, it's a struggle just to narrow down five nominees from the 30 or so movies that are released every year. The level of skiing, cinematography and film production this year is unprecedented."

Known for his way with words and often a silly hat, Uncle E has hosted the POWDER Awards for the past six years. A ski industry icon, Ernst has announced for events including Lord of the Boards, The Gambler, Mayhem with Moseley, and most notably, the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. He is also the on-air host for ESPN and ABC for all skiing events in the Winter X Games.

Luke Van Valin will again join Ernst as co-host. Considered one of the more well-rounded and stylish skiers, Van Valin's MC skills have also gained him notoriety in recent years. Bouncing from coast to coast, he can be found with mic in hand at all of the major freeskiing events.

An exclusive online giveaway features a selection of goods from the event sponsors including: a Wii console and We Ski and Snowboard game, K2 PBR skis, Helly Hansen Men's Ekolab™ Jacket, Helly Hansen Women's Zera Jacket and Aspen/Snowmass Lift Ticket. Go to the Powder Awards giveaway page to enter.

Coinciding with the Winter X Games, the POWDER Video Awards and Reader Poll presented by We Ski &Snowboard honors the top 10 male and top five female skiers of the year as voted on by the general public, and the year's top ski films and filmmakers as chosen by a POWDER-appointed expert panel. Considered the "Academy Awards" of skiing, guests include the biggest names in skiing, a bevy of professional athletes and industry heavy weights, as well as surprise guest presenters, celebrities and entertainers.

To catch all of the action LIVE from the 2009 POWDER Video Awards and Reader Poll Presented by We Ski &Snowboard, watch the webcast at www.powderawards.com beginning with red-carpet arrivals at 7:30 p.m. MST on Friday, Jan. 23, followed immediately by the Awards show beginning at 8:00 p.m. MST.

Watch for We Ski &Snowboard, a fun and exciting new winter sports experience developed by Namco Bandai Games for Nintendo Wii™, which will be available beginning in March 2009.

A brave new world?

2009-01-23T10:50:00.002Z

Get yourself along to this..Rip Curl Rail Sessions

2009-01-22T18:06:00.003Z

...Skullcandy are running the after-party and Dot Inc's Helgason Bros are riding. Looking forward to a cracking start of the ISPO week.

Rip Curl Rail Sessions presented by Renault: top riders at the start
Finest rail riding at Munich’s Theatron • After Show Party at the Club Ampere

At the Rip Curl Rail Sessions presented by Renault on the 2nd of February 2009, some of the best rail riders in the world will rip the Theatron at Munich’s Olympic Park. On two ten-meters rails, they will show tricks and moves you normally only spot in snowboard videos. The entrance to this spectacular contest that takes place during the Munich sports trade show ISPO is free. Snow-safety is ensured by a delivery from Austria’s Kitzsteinhorn: 70 cubic meters of snow will be brought from Salzburg County to Munich.

24 invited pro snowboarders will show their best rail tricks on the impressive ten-meters down rail and the ten-meters flat-down-flat rail that will be erected on the stairs of the Theatron amphitheatre. Under the floodlights of the Theatron and with the legendary buildings of the Olympic Park as an extraordinary backdrop, the spectators will experience riders like the young Icelanders Halldor and Eiki Helgason (ISL). The brothers have taken the snowboard world by storm with their progressive rail sliding and great video parts in movies like “Pony Tale” and “Notes”. They’ll meet the third of the Crans-Montana Champs Open 2007, Rip Curl rider Nils Arvidsson (SWE), and Louif Paradis (CAN), who is known from the Transworld video “These days“. Gulli Gudmundsson (ISL), Max Legend (CAN), Victor Delerue (FRA) from the Rip Curl team as well, and a surprise guest will complete the list of the seeded riders. The qualification will see starters like Alex Tank (GER) and Peter Koenig (AUT).

The best of the best will show their rail slides and 270s at the finals where they’ll fight for a € 10,000 prize-purse and wild cards for the TTR event Crans-Montana Champs Open from February 4th to 8th 2009 in Switzerland.

After the prize-giving at 10 pm, the party will continue at the Skullcandy ISPO Party at Munich’s Club Ampere/Muffatwerk where DJ Kid Sid will send riders and spectators into raptures.

The Rip Curl Rail Sessions by Renault are part of a series of four events. Les Deux Alpes/FRA, Modena/ITA and Lausanne/SUI were the other locations. These events offered rookie riders the possibility to gain contest experience and to qualify for the Crans-Montana Champs Open. The Munich edition is the last session of the series and a pure pro snowboard contest with a strict invitational character.

Key facts Rip Curl Rail Session Munich:

What: International snowboard rail contest
Where: Theatron, Olympic Park Munich, Germany
When: February 2nd 2009
Entrance: Free!
Prize purse: € 10,000 & Wildcards for the Crans Montana Champs Open by Rip Curl
Sponsors: Rip Curl, Renault, Kitzsteinhorn

Schedule:
04.30 pm Doors open
05.00 - 06.30 pm Qualifications session (90 minutes)
07.00 - 08.30 pm Main session (90 minutes)
08.30 - 09.00 pm DJ set with DJ Kid Sid (30 minutes)
09.00 - 09.45 pm Finals (45 minutes)
10.00 pm Prize-giving

After Show Party:
What: Skullcandy ISPO Party 2009
Where: Club Ampere at Muffatwerk (Zellstr. 4, Munich)
When: Monday, February 02nd 2009 at 10 pm
DJ: DJ Kid Sid

Seeded riders
Number Last Name First Name Nation Sponsor
1 Helgason Halldor ISL DC
2 Helgason Eiki ISL Rome
3 Arvidsson Nils SWE Rip Curl
4 Legend Max CAN Rome
5 Delerue Victor FRA Rip Curl
6 Gudmundsson Gulli ISL VANS
7 Paradis Louif USA Salomon
8 tba

Skullcandy Europe appoints KAOS for Pan-European Role

2009-01-20T09:34:00.001Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 19.01.09

Skullcandy Europe has appointed action sports and music integrated agency KAOS following a four-way pitch. KAOS will be focused on Pan-European PR for core/action sports, music and lifestyle digital and press media. KAOS’ action sports marketing and creative resources were also a factor in the appointment.

‘KAOS provide us the perfect avenue to action sports and lifestyle media across Europe’ says Skullcandy Europe MD, Anders Håkansson. ‘We needed an agency that had affinity with Skullcandy and understood how to express our message credibly and effectively. They are emerging as one of the most forward thinking and creative agencies out there and we are excited about working together.’

Paul Knipe, KAOS Managing Director said; ‘Having Skullcandy as part of the KAOS family is a great buzz for the agency. It’s one of those brands with immediate appeal to those interested in action sports and pretty much anyone that cares how they look and the quality of their sound when listening to music. We’re all going to work really hard to help keep building Skullcandy and spread the stoke amongst their media partners and consumer audience.’

KAOS’ appointment commenced from January 2009, coinciding with preparations for the launch of the ’09 product line at ispo in Munich (1st – 4th February). Over the course of the next 8-10 months Skullcandy will roll out several new products and continue to unveil artist collaborations that notably included Metallica in 2008.

New board anyone?

2009-01-08T10:13:00.002Z

NEW YORK — Like the artist and designer who inspired the new collection, Louis Vuitton is heading downtown for its new Stephen Sprouse collection.

This week, the company’s boutique on SoHo’s Greene Street will be transformed into a Sprouse destination in time for the collection’s arrival.

“SoHo is a special place for the entire launch of the Sprouse collection,” said Daniel Lalonde, Louis Vuitton North America president and chief executive officer. “It’s in the proximity of where Stephen Sprouse hung out, so we are going to give the entire store a Stephen Sprouse feel. It will have a lot of reminders of Stephen Sprouse. We will be giving it a new identity.”

For instance, the company is wrapping the store in vinyl and spray painting neon graffiti all over the facade. The window display will feature a 6-foot neon light installation in Sprouse’s Rose motif. The store’s interior, enhanced with black brick wall facing, will also be sprayed with the neon graffiti.

The collection will launch in its entirety at the SoHo boutique on Thursday. The complete worldwide launch will follow on Feb. 2, though the Rose pieces will be available at Louis Vuitton stores worldwide starting Friday.

For the launch, the luxury goods company is also creating two limited edition pieces, which will only be available at the SoHo location: a Stephen Sprouse graffiti skateboard replete with a hard case monogram skateboard trunk, and a Stephen Sprouse “Roses” T-shirt. The company hopes to sell three graffiti skateboards with trunks for $8,250 each, and 70 T-shirts for $250 each. “I don’t expect them to last very long,” Lalonde said. “By Friday, there probably won’t be any more left.”

Proceeds will benefit Free Arts NYC, which provides underserved children throughout New York City with special arts programs. Vuitton is also making an undisclosed donation to the Sprouse Estate, as well as the Stephen Sprouse Memorial Scholarship Fund at the National Academy for Design here.

Sprouse became known in the Eighties for his graffiti art and fashion designs. In 2001, Vuitton artistic director Marc Jacobs collaborated with Sprouse and created an instant must-have accessories collection with the Monogram Graffiti collection. Sprouse died in 2004, and Vuitton made its first donation to the fund in 2006 when Jacobs created a scarf in Sprouse’s honor, using one of the collaboration’s leopard prints.

Vuitton will honor the late artist with three events this Thursday. The night will kick off with cocktails at the Vuitton boutique on Greene Street, with a simultaneous event at nearby Deitch Projects’ Wooster Street Gallery for the opening of the “Rock on Mars” Sprouse retrospective. Afterwards, Vuitton and Jacobs will host a bash at the Bowery Ballroom, featuring a performance by Sprouse’s friend Debbie Harry, followed by DJ Jus Ske. The venue is expected to have a Sprouse feel, with a special graffiti-and-neon decor.

“It’s something new from Vuitton to start the year off,” Lalonde said of the collection. “The product, design, and expression are uplifting and rejuvenating. That’s the feel we try to provide for the evening and for the collection.”

KAOS takes to the world of dance

2009-01-07T19:20:00.004Z

Enjoy

www.breathecostarica.com

2009-01-06T18:56:00.004Z

Hey Guys,

A good friend of ours is running this really innovative event in Costa Rica that you should all check out and see if it's your kinda thing. see www.breathecostarica.com If the break at Santa Teresa is not enough to get you there, maybe a the Yoga sessions or music events is your your thing but there's plenty on offer this Feb.

Here's a brief intro....

Any Yoga master will tell you concentrated, deep breathing is the start of all
healing. For body, mind and soul, learning to breathe relieves stress, relaxes
the body, creating greater clarity of mind. At a time in our history where
complicated, inter related issues face us on a global scale, clarity of mind,
strength and conviction can be the difference between action or non-action.
Breathe is an organic concept that believes both the answers and solutions
to many of the world’s challenges are inclusive in nature. No single solution
will resolve all the issues. No single action is too small to make a difference.
The biggest issue we face is ignorance or the feeling of helplessness creating
an inertia or failure to act.
Breathe challenges people to leave their regular surroundings and to re-
immerse themselves with a living, breathing ecosystem. A week of isolation
from the market driven distractions of the modern Western world, it at-
tempts to increase awareness of today’s major issues, the individuals and
organizations working to address them.
Breathe promotes awareness through music, art, surfing, eco tours, yoga
sessions, horse tours, offshore fishing, beach combing, local food & culture,
workshops, documentary screenings and much more…
Pura Vida…

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

2008-12-22T10:51:00.003Z

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!

2008-12-20T22:25:00.013Z

_ _ _ _ _.

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...

2008-12-18T18:15:00.001Z

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

2008-12-17T19:02:00.002Z

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

2008-12-16T21:06:00.001Z

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…

2008-12-16T09:38:00.002Z

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)

2008-12-15T08:08:00.004Z

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

2008-12-01T15:58:00.004Z

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

2008-10-17T09:32:00.011+01:00

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

2008-10-02T12:36:00.005+01:00

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

2008-09-15T15:45:00.004+01:00

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

2008-09-11T09:45:00.008+01:00

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

2008-08-12T12:26:00.001+01:00

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

2008-08-12T12:17:00.004+01:00

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

2008-08-12T12:04:00.003+01:00

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

2008-07-17T17:37:00.003+01:00

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

2008-07-11T10:15:00.003+01:00

.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

2008-07-08T11:50:00.001+01:00

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

Billabong acquires Sector 9 Skateboards

2008-07-03T12:49:00.002+01:00

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

2008-06-28T11:34:00.000+01:00

Action Sports In Schools Hits Devon

2008-06-24T10:18:00.003+01:00

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

2008-06-19T11:50:00.005+01:00

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

2008-04-29T13:42:00.000+01:00

Sport Business Article

2008-04-09T12:38:00.007+01:00

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

2008-04-07T12:36:00.002+01:00

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.

2008-04-04T13:00:00.005+01:00

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

2008-04-03T10:57:00.001+01:00

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!!

2008-03-27T09:28:00.003Z

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"

2008-03-14T14:17:00.000Z

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!

2008-03-13T16:08:00.003Z

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

2008-03-10T10:34:00.004Z

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!

2008-02-20T12:20:00.006Z

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

2008-02-04T14:24:00.000Z

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

2008-01-28T12:04:00.000Z

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..

2008-01-28T12:03:00.000Z

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

X-Games live update from Aspen!!

2008-01-28T11:49:00.001Z

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!!

2008-01-24T14:04:00.000Z

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

2008-01-24T10:10:00.000Z

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

2008-01-18T12:43:00.000Z

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.

Jenny Jones gets top in the BEO Slopestyle Semis

2008-01-17T13:00:00.000Z

Britain’s Jenny Jones won today’s Burton’s European Open 2008 Slopestyle semi-finals in Laax.

With her flawless performace on the slopes, she beat 21 riders, including Jamie Anderson (US). Jones is now ranked number 2 in the TTR rankings. She, and seven others, made it into the finals, which will take place tomorrow. ...In the men’s competition, Shaun White (US) won again. The men’s final will have 16 competitors in all.

Today's Women’s Slopestyle Semi-Finals Results:

1 Jenny Jones UK BILLABONG 66.33
2 Jamie Anderson USA SALOMON 61.50

3 Silvia Mittermueller GER OAKLEY 61.33

4 Sina Candrian SUI BURTON 57.17

5 Meri Peltonen FIN PROTEST 56.00

6 Lisa Filzmoser AUT ELAN 54.67

7 Kjersti Buaas Oestgaard NOR ROXY 54.00

8 Margot Rozies FRA ROXY 52.67

Breaking Industry news: Volcom gets Electric

2008-01-17T12:42:00.000Z

as reported by EXPN

Volcom today announced it has reached an agreement on an all-cash offer to acquire privately held Electric Visual Evolution, one of the most recognized and respected eyewear brands in action sports.

Under the terms of the agreement, Volcom shall pay to Electric shareholders $25.25 million in cash upon the closing of the transaction. Electric will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Volcom and will be maintained as a stand-alone brand.

Electric was founded in 2000 by industry veterans Kip Arnette and Bruce Beach and is headquartered in Orange County, California. "We are very excited about this partnership," said Richard Woolcott, Volcom's president and chief executive officer. "Electric is a powerful brand with a lot of potential, and together, we look forward to leveraging each other's strengths and expertise.

"Culturally, Electric is a perfect fit for our company," Woolcott continued. "We've known the Electric team for a long time, and we recognize they share the same passion and love for action sports as we do here at Volcom. Our companies are very much on the same wavelength, sharing similarities in product distribution, marketing efforts and a strong commitment to quality and innovation. Everyone here is stoked to welcome Electric into the Volcom family."

"Volcom has an amazing team and an incredible heritage in the action sports industry," said Kip Arnette, co-president and chief design officer of Electric Visual. "We could not have hoped to partner with anyone more capable on an operational level and more in-line with us culturally, than Volcom."

Surf's Up in London

2008-01-16T11:50:00.000Z

Great news for surf enthusiasts!!

As of 2011, surfing lovers will be able to get a taste of the waves at London’s first year-round surf beach. The project builds a part of the massive £ 1.5bn regeneration project of the Silverton Quays, adjacent to the Royal Victoria Deck. The 100m wide sandy beach will accommodate more than 200 swimmers, sunbathers and surfers at the same time; the surf centre will include a wave making- machine. The project is the brainchild of Steve Jones, and adventure sport enthusiast who believes in “urban surfing” as an after work activity instead of going to the gym.

Surfers can expect to pay £30 for an hour of wave action that will offer at least ten waves per rider. The venue will also have a 100sq metre screen and the UK’s largest climbing wall for people not into water sports.

Nike ACG UK Team Update

2008-01-14T09:49:00.000Z

The competition season has kicked into gear at long last and it means for the first time in 8 or so months we have all the team in the hills. It’s been a great start to 2008 with some excellent results

Dan Wakeham
Dan’s had a really good start to the season. He drove out to Davos on New Year’s Day to ride at the O’Neill Evolution (TTR 6* event). This is one of the most prestigious comps worldwide and had a line-up of top international talent. Dan had to qualify at the beginning of the week in both Half-pipe and Quarter-pipe. He came third in his heat in the HP qualis, a massive result for him considering he was up against the likes of former Olympic Gold medalist Gian Simmen. Unfortunately it didn’t go quite so well semis but he managed to turn heads all week.

Straight off the back of Davos, Dan jumped in the car and headed over to Tignes for the Airwaves comp. The prize money is always high and unsurprisingly a lot of the world’s best who have already made the journey across to the O’Neill Evolution are out in force. With confidence high after Davos, Dan stepped it up again and bagged 2nd place, beating the likes of Janne Korpi and fellow team-mate Gary Zebrowski. I won’t spill the beans on his earnings but suffice to say he won enough to get the beers in after. Check out the above shot of him and Gary on the podium with his new board graphic from Head.

Next up is the Burton European Open in Laax which really gets going this week

Zoe Gillings
Zoe has been in Bad Gastein over the weekend where she rode in the first World Cup event for quite a while. Having qualified in 7th Zoe was up against Lindsay Jackobelis in her first knockout stage and unfortunately ended up 3rd. Thanks to her pace in qualifying it meant she finished up 9th. This keeps her world ranking at 6.

Almost all the remaining SBX World Cup season will be crammed into Feb and March but before that it’s the big one: the Winter X Games in Aspen. Zoe travels out in just under 10 days to look to improve on last season’s 7th place. Getting an invite to the World’s most prestigious SBX comp is an honour in itself and having got a taste for it last year Zoe will be up for it no question.

After X Games Zoe will be getting in the Air Miles when she travels back to Leysin and then out to Korea, Japan, the US, Canada and finally Italy for the World Cup tour.

Rebecca Cullum
Becky has started at 6th Form College this year and has been enjoying her diploma in Media Studies, Art and Photography which she’s loving by all accounts. Over the summer she focused on getting as much riding time as possible in New Zealand where she was able to ride with some of the Swiss Team and get some great experience along the way.

Along with Zoe, Becky put in an appearance at the ‘Changing The Game of Women’s Sport’ event in London in November (see above)

Becky has managed to get as much time on snow as possible to train but, as with the rest of the gang, it’s now competition season. Becky is with Dan at the BEO, her first time at a senior level which will be a great experience for her.

Paddy Graham
Paddy has been out in Laax since Christmas where he’s been getting as much time as possible in the pipe. He had a quick trip across to Dublin over New Year to support a retail activity with 53 Degrees North but then it was straight back out to the hills to get the training in.

His main focus at the moment is the US Open at the end of this month. Paddy’s heading over to the States for 3 weeks to ride in the Slopestyle and the Pipe. It’ll be his first visit to Breckenridge but having done so well at the New Zealand Open over the past 2 seasons he’ll be heading over with bags of confidence.

On his return he’ll be straight into the RedBull Playstreets event in Austria before building up to the European Open and then into the Brits where he’ll have 2 titles to defend and a certain team-mate snapping at his heels…

Murray Buchan
Murray’s been back on snow after spending much of the early season handling his school commitments. Since riding in the Saas Fee Ride at the end of the summer he’s had to get his head down now his GCSE year is upon him. He did however make an appearance at the London Ski & Snowboard show and turned heads as always in the demos he was involved with.

He travelled out to Laax on Boxing Day to link up with Paddy before getting himself over to Les Contamines for the weekend’s World Cup Half-pipe event. The comp ran last night with Muz bagging a highly credible 25th in a truly international field.

Murray flies back today and will now be back at school until mid-Feb when he’ll be able to use his half term break to get some time in the mountains.

Murray has also signed with Volkl skis after 6 years with LINE.

Noddy Gowans
After 5 years of hanging out with the best of British ski and snowboard talent Noddy’s finally succumbed to Blighty and traded in his Kiwi passport for a UK one.

As if to celebrate the fact, he’s basing himself in sunny Brighton as opposed to Serre Chevalier this season, with the aim to get as much travelling done as possible. Details are still being planned but Norway is very much on the cards as are a couple of other big mountain ‘missions’ as he likes to call them.

Between this free-ride trips Noddy is also fronting another film project that will see fellow pro-Brits and enthusiasts document their season. After a metre fell in Serre Che last weekend he’s heading out this week to get things moving on that front (and to celebrate being able to travel for the first time in 3 months)

The free-ride comp season took a battering last year for obvious reasons but if the top events get the green light this year there’s little doubt that Nodds will be in amongst it.

Look out for our updates each week and we’ll keep you posted on the big competition news as soon as it comes through

Changing the Game of Womens Sport

2007-11-28T14:37:00.000Z

Yesterday saw the launch of Nike's new sports exhibition, 'Changing the Game of Women's Sport', at the Blink Gallery in Soho. The exhibition is designed to celebrate the country's finest sportswomen highlighting their strength, passion and individuality. The exhibition has features on different female athletes from the entire sporting spectrum, including world championship 5000m Irish gold medallist Sonia O'Sullivan and sbowboard ace Zoe Gillings. The athletes were present at last weeks press launch (pictured below), and it is hoped the exhibition will do a lot to raise the profile of Women's sport in the U.K. and encourage more youngsters to follow in the footsteps of the stars. The exhibition runs from the 27th November until 7th December, so get yourself down there!

Above: Nike ACG Snowboarders Zoe Gillings and Rebecca Cullum, and all the athletes (top right).

Permin the King of Style

2007-11-20T11:28:00.000Z

This past weekend France's Rich Permin clinched a sensational victory over a top class field in the King of Style Big Air, at the 2007 Winter Jam in Stockholm. He narrowly beat Canada's TJ Schiller into top spot, with American Simon Dumont in third. Sammy Carlson and Oscar Sherlin finished 4th and 5th, with Jon Olsson back in 9th. Each of the riders had three jumps, with the best two jumps counting, but each of the two tricks had to be different, adding a little twist to the traditional big air format. Jumps were also judged on style, rather than simply technical difficulty.

Rich did not fall all weekend and was putting down all variety of tricks. He won the contest on his final jump, putting down the smoothest of smooth switch 720 double tail grab (Rich’s own grab - check out his Solden Sweet spot to see it in action) to move into the lead. His spin was so slow that it looked like a 360 and he went super big. TJ then did a 1260 and event though he landed well the judges did not rate it about Rich’s super styley 7.

Rich thus continued his fantastic start to the season following a 4th place in the Frestyle.ch for the second year running. He said, ‘Last year I finished second so it was great to be able to step it up and get my first international title under my belt, the $10,000 is great too!’

The event was a great success and with a big crowd, live TV and perfect conditions, and it's going to be tough for the organisers to do better next year, but we'll definitely be there to check it out!

1) Richard Permin
2) TJ Schiller
3) Simon Dumont
4) Sammy Carlson
5) Oscar Sherlin
6) Colby West
7) PK Hunder
8) Henrik Harlaut
9) Jon Olsson
10) Jacob Wester
11) Peter Olenick
12) Charles Gagnier

(Image from newschoolers.com)

IOC Youth Olympics: Candidate Cities Are Being Whittled Down

2007-11-20T10:46:00.000Z

as reported by Sport Business...

The International Olympic Committee short listed five cities as Candidate Cities to host the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 - with Moscow seemingly heading the race.

The five cities - Athens, Bangkok, Moscow, Singapore and Turin - were chosen unanimously from the nine cities that submitted Candidature Files. Debrecen, Guatemala City, Kuala Lumpur and Poznan failed to make the cut.

According to the IOC, the selection of Candidate Cities was based on an analysis of the Bid Books submitted by the Applicant Cities, covering key Games factors such as venues, transport, accommodation, educational and cultural programmes and security.

Moscow was at the top of a list of applicants. The IOC scored each bid and Moscow emerged as a favourite - scoring highly in every category including accomodation, general infrastructure and the Olympic Village.

Moscow Mayor and the bid’s Chairman Victor Luzhkov said: “Today is the beginning of a decisive phase in our journey towards the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. We are committed to continue our hard work with dignity and respect to the Olympic Ideals. We know the other candidate cities are strong rivals and we have to remain focused. Moscow can and will contribute in making the first Youth Olympic Games a truly memorable and global event. We have a strong team, a detailed plan and the passion to materialise the dreams of millions of people”.

Deputy Mayor of Moscow and the bid’s CEO Valery Vinogradov said: “It is a great honour for Moscow to be selected as a Candidate City and we will do our best to prove that the IOC is right in choosing Moscow as a city that has the potential to host the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games. We remain confident that we will fully demonstrate Moscow’s unique proposal in the months to come”.

An IOC Evaluation Commission, chaired by IOC Executive Board member Sergey Bubka will now visit the five short listed cities, submitting its report to the IOC Executive at the end of January 2008.

Janne Rules In Stockholm

2007-11-19T15:06:00.000Z

Janne Korpi led a Finnish clean sweep of the podium at the second round of the Nokia FIS Big Air in Stockholm. The 21 year-old Finn clinched victory with a spectacular Cab 1080 Nosegrab, relegating fellow countryman Risto Mattila to second place, with Sami Saarenpaa fighting off Slovenia's Domen Bizjak to come in third. It was the 2005 Halfpipe Junior World Champion's second Big Air victory, and third World Cup victory in all.

Korpi himself had not expected to make the Final against Mattila, after struggling somewhat in the qualification rounds: “I didn’t get along during the qualification. But just
after I changed my board for the K.O.-heats it was getting better and better. I’m super
stoked.”

In contrast, Mattila struggled to hide his disappointment in losing the final. The 2005 Big Air World Champion had put his stamp on the competition during qualification but struggled to maintain his form in the finals: “I’m disappointed with my riding because I wasn’t able to handle the landing at all,” he said.

Mattila was able to get away with being down after the first jump in both the quarter and semi finals, but after once again being down in the final, his luck ran out in the final against a by-then on form Korpi. He went on to say: “I wanted to have fun and enjoy my riding. I guess this is way I didn’t feel any pressure in the knock out duels. Janne deserves the victory today. He was doing very well!”

With his victory Kropi now head the World Cup standings, with fellow countryman Peetu Piiroinen, and Mattila third. Antii Autti, not present in Stockholm, is back in 7th.

Standings after 2 rounds:

Rk FIS-CODE NAME NAT #1 #2 TOTAL
1. 1184963 KORPI Janne FIN 400 1000 1400.0
2. 1184978 PIIROINEN Peetu FIN 1000 260 1260.0
3. 1668303 MATTILA Risto FIN 290 800 1090.0
4. 1184977 SAARENPAA Sami FIN 450 600 1050.0
5. 1184758 GIMPL Stefan AUT 800 240 1040.0
6. 1514901 MAURER Stephan SUI 500 290 790.0
7. 1184953 AUTTI Antti FIN 600 600.0
8. 7560008 BIZJAK Domen SLO 18.5 500 518.5
9. 9500006 NILSSON Jonathan SWE 450 450.0
10. 1424987 AANNESTAD Stian NOR 18.2 400 418.2
11. 9180005 LAIVISTO Juuso FIN 28 360 388.0
12. 1611461 RUHA Jaakko FIN 260 120 380.0
13. 9420002 HANSEN Kim-Rune NOR 360 18.8 378.8
14. 1404958 WAL, VAN DER Dolf NED 320 320.0
14. 9500062 GIDLUNDH Andreas SWE 320 320.0
16. 9510018 CAVIGELLI Gian-Luca SUI 110 200 310.0
17. 7560009 PETEK Matevz SLO 160 140 300.0
17. 1440353 MAUSSER Florian AUT 140 160 300.0
17. 7050153 FALKEIS Stefan AUT 150 150 300.0
20. 7510051 HALLER Christian SUI 180 90 270.0

There's hope yet: Rock & Roll

2007-11-16T12:34:00.000Z

Fear not people, should we end up with nowt snow again this season (looking good so far I might add) there’s always some way of getting down the hill on a pair of planks…

Bumper Season in Prospect

2007-11-15T11:00:00.000Z

Great news! It's dumping it down in Europe! That's right, this week has seen massive snow falls across much of Europe, with Austria in particular the main recipient. Kaprun is already boasting 250 cm on the upper slopes, and a fantastic 180 cm on the lower slopes, while Kitzbuhel and St Anton both have 150cm on the upper slopes as well! There are another 23 resorts across Austria that also have over a metre on their upper slopes. While other countries have not experienced quite so much, Verbier, Zermatt, Engelberg and Saas Fee are all looking great in Switzerland, so too Tignes in France, and also Livgno, Cervinia and Val Senales in Italy. To many of you this will be a godsend after the disastrous start to last season which saw warm temperatures and little snowfall, and just proves that all the talk of global warming's threat to the industry should not be taken as gospel. Bring on December!

Above: It's already looking great in St Anton

Terje's Season Pass

2007-11-14T17:11:00.000Z

News in from our friends at Friday (creators of the Sorsa Project and more recently Paddy Graham's Nike ACG Sweetspot) on their latest TV series...

BURLINGTON, VT (November 14, 2007) - Burton Snowboards and Friday Productions are pleased to announce the launch of their new TV co-production, Terje's Season Pass, starring Terje Haakonsen along with Nicolas Müller, Shaun White, Mads Jonsson and Kevin Pearce. The six-part TV series will air this January on major TV networks worldwide, including the world's leading action sports channel FUEL TV and Norway's largest broadcaster NRK.

Terje's Season Pass features snowboarding icon Terje Haakonsen as well as a talented group of Burton snowboarders as they ride some of the best mountains in the world, compete at events and live the life of modern-day professional snowboarders. What really happens on a heli-trip to British Columbia? What's going through Shaun White's mind as he drops-in in front of 30,000 screaming fans at the Air & Style? What is it like to travel with dog sleds and camp and snowboard in Greenland's harsh interior? Just how does Nicolas Müller make any type of terrain come alive? Terje's Season Pass takes an in-depth look at all of these scenes and many more, giving viewers a chance to watch the dramas, inside stories and key moments of the 2006/2007 winter snowboarding season.

Terje Haakonsen has this to say about the new show, "The show's story is very straight-forward: find good snow and shred it with friends. Jake's quiver of riders is so good, I would enjoy riding with any of them, but I really enjoyed riding and traveling with Nicolas, Mads, Shaun and Kevin. It was a strange season for snow, but we were lucky almost everywhere we went, and even when it was shitty, we had a laugh!"

"Traveling with Terje is always an experience and a lot of fun," said Jake Burton, Founder and Chairman, Burton Snowboards. "His riding is inspirational and his sense of humor is contagious. I know how excited all of those pros were to ride with 'the man'. I can't imagine how cool this TV series is going be ... I have my popcorn ready."

Shon Tomlin, FUEL TV VP of Programming and Development, says "Terje Haakonsen continues to be snowboarding's most celebrated living legend, and this unique series puts you front and center in his world. It's a rare look into the kind of access and adventures that play out in a winter with a world-class pro. Terje's Season Pass documents all angles in a way that hasn't been fully captured in the typical snowboard film or television series."

Terje's Season Pass will premiere on FUEL TV on Tuesday, 1/1/08 at 8:00pm ET/PT. Each of the episodes will then air on subsequent Tuesday nights at 8:00pm ET/PT. Re-airs will take place the following Sundays at 8:30pm ET/PT starting 1/6/08. The show will continue to air on FUEL TV throughout the winter.

The British Alpine Ski and Snowboard Team Official Launch

2007-11-09T14:44:00.001Z

Wednesday 7th November saw the official launch of the British Alpine Ski and Snowboard Team at the Vue West End Cinema in Leicester Square.

It was an opportunity to meet the teams, find out about their ambitious plans for the season ahead and discover the strength and depth in British Snowsports. In addition, 2 new documentaries on the teams as well as an exclusive preview of the latest Warren Miller film, ‘Playground’, were aired.

The night was a great success, with a full cinema and several high profile attendees, including perhaps the two biggest names in British snowboarding, half-pipe king Dan Wakeham and boarder cross ace Zoe Gillings. For Dan the night had further significance because he was in fact himself commissioned to make the documentary on the snowboard team, which was received really well.

The event undoubtedly raised the profile of the British teams and hopefully ushered in what will be the most successful season for British Snowsports yet.

Youth Olympic Games Boil-Down to 9 Potential Host Cities—Skateboarding Possible Sport; Coca-Cola Pony’s-Up for Restoration of Ancient OlympiaSite

2007-11-08T09:49:00.000Z

as reported bt Label Networks...

It’s come down to 9 potential cities that will be hosting the first ever Youth Olympic Games that will supposedly attract 3,500 athletes between the ages of 14-18, and bring relevancy and cool-factor back to the anachronistic International Olympic Committee (IOC) by 2010. The potential host cities that submitted candidacy by the October 26^th deadline, include Athens, Greece, Bangkok, Thailand, Debrecen, Hungary, Guatemala City, Guatemala, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Moscow, Russia, Poznan, Poland, Singapore, Singapore, and Turin, Italy. These cities will be analyzed by a panel representing the Olympic Movement, with a final announcement for the host city to be announced this month on the 19^th.

What’s interesting about this, however, is that the sports to be chosen for the Youth Olympic Games must be from the stable of 26 sports that are to appear in to 2012 Games in London. As we’ve written about previously, skateboarding is on that potential list, as well as BMX. However, since both sports, which rank high in our Global Youth Culture Studies, may be potential sports within the real Olympic Games in London 2 years later, and of course include athletes within the 14-18-year-old age range, it remains to be seen how this will dilute the real Olympics if the first time these popular sports appear is during the Youth Games and potentially with the same athletes.

It appears that the IOC may not have thought this through.

The Youth Olympic Games concept started this year when the IOC, in its attempts to reach a younger demographic and be more relevant in the future, sought out ways to increase its appeal to global youth culture. One brilliant idea was the creation of the supposedly youthful and hip 2012 logo for the London Games, which has not only been blasted globally for it’s bad design, but has been removed from some sites for causing seizures. The other concept was to possibly introduce skateboarding into the 2012 Games; and the final one, was the launch of the Youth Olympic Games for 14-18-year-olds. However, the IOC doesn’t yet “recognize” any skateboarding organizations and have turned to the International Cycling Union (UCI) to introduce the sport to the Games. The way this whole process works is that skateboarding has to first be umbrella-ed under a sport that the IOC does “recognize” from which that organization can then make a formal proposal to the IOC to include it into the Games. This process can take years, often includes frustration on the part of the athletes and industry trying to get the sport into the Games, not to mention the tension created from having two very distinct sporting lifestyles try to get along as they are pre-packaged together for the sake of “recognition” by the Olympics. Look at the snowboarding and skiing relationship as a reference.

London’s organizing committee of course is keen to have skateboarding on board and is pushing hard knowing that it will increase their cred-factor and global audiences. They even have a proposed location in the Olympic Park veladrome. And the UCI is keen to get skateboarding within their fold which will not only bolster cycling, but bring in money for their organization off the backs of skateboarding, thanks to their brethren with tiny wheels. However, if this popular sport first appears in the Youth Games, in say, a chosen city of Debrecen, Hungary, it will most certainly pop the bubble for London with the sport appearing in their big-daddy Olympics 2 years later.

While of course it’s important to know which city will host said Youth Olympic Games, what may be far more important is first to figure out what sports are going to be in the Youth version. Then, it might make more sense what city to host it in—one with perhaps a history of supporting “youthful” sports. Out of this list, only about 1 (Moscow) has such a reputation, and ironically, no city like say, San Diego or Los Angeles or Cleveland or Mexico City, that have hosted youth-oriented X Games events have even thrown their names into the pot. Which says something.

Finally, in other Olympic news, it sounds like Coca-Cola is doing a good thing: They’ve donated 2 million dollars to the Hellenic Olympic Committee towards restoring the ancient site of Olympia in Greece and the nearby forest which was struck by wildfire this summer. Coca-Cola is the longest running sponsor of the Olympics. Odds-on that this title goes to Mountain Dew for the Youth version.

PETITION TO STOP BRITISH AIRWAYS SURFBOARD BAN

2007-10-25T16:15:00.000+01:00

To represent the needs of thousands of surfers who are shocked by the new British Airways (BA) ban on the carriage of surfboards (effective from 6th November), the British Surfing Association (BSA) has set up a petition to lobby the airline to reverse their decision.

The organisation is also urging all surfers to utilise a new members group on the social networking site Facebook, complain directly to BA and spread the word amongst other surfers.

Karen Walton, National Director, BSA, says, “If everyone who surfs could take five minutes to go online and follow our recommended action steps then we will have a real representation of the swell of support for the reversal of this absurd decision. The Facebook site already has in excess of 1,000 members and lots of our members have been making complaints to BA. Our new online petition means that people all over the world can add their support to our campaign and can add their personal comments about the issue. We will then be personally delivering the petition to the management at BA in the near future.”

Surfers are urged to take the following steps to help us lobby British Airways to reverse their decision:

1) Go onto www.britsurf.co.uk and click the ‘SIGN ONLINE PETITION OF PROTEST IN THE NEWS SECTION ON THE HOME PAGE’. Follow the easy steps to sign this online petition and add any comments.
2) If you have a Facebook account, join the Facebook ‘British Airways Surfboard Ban’ group
3) Click this link and register a complaint with BA directly
4) Encourage all other surfers to follow these steps

Bumper season in prospect?

2007-10-25T16:01:00.000+01:00

With last season being one of the worst in recent memory for snowfall, its easy to get caught up in the doom-and-gloom of global warming and the implications that weather boffins claim it has for the sport we all love. However, one look at these awesome shots from Mt Bachelor in the U.S., taken on October 20^th, suggest that this season may be an altogether different story, with foot-upon-foot of fresh powder already! With European glacial resorts enjoying decent conditions too, it's surely promising to be a far better season this year!

Sweetspots arrives

2007-10-09T16:38:00.000+01:00

After perusing the KAOS blog get yourself over to http://www.nikeacg.com/ to see Nike ACG's latest offering: Sweetspots. They've served up 8 films (so far) featuring their top riders who have each hooked up with some of the finest film production companies to document their own Sweetspot.

photo: Brian Becker

Each Sweetspot is a 3-4 minute short film, documenting something or somewhere of personal significance to the riders. They were given the chance to document a trip, session or trick that they'd felt passionately about and the result is a collection of films that each have their own flavour. From Andreas Hatveit defying gravity and sense in taking on the craziest box setup in Sandpoint (above) to Henning Marthinsen holding out for white gold in Revelstoke, the guys came back with something achieved and a story to tell.

More Sweetspots will be added over the course of the season and come spring the site will also take on kayaking and basejumping films. If you're up for submitting your own Sweetspot, or even joining an crack team to shoot their own film with Nike- keep your eyes out for the 'join the crew' feature on the site

Enjoy

IOC Announces Youth Olympics

2007-10-09T16:08:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday saw the IOC make a landmark decision: they announced that the first ever Youth Olympics would be taking place in August 2010. This will be the first time that young athletes will get the chance to compete for Olympic gold, and they will be held over 12 days with an expected 3200 kids aged between 14 and 18 competing. The Winter Games will be held in 2012 and are expected to attract 1000 athletes.

IOC Supremo Jacques Rogge admitted that the scheme was not just an initiative to tackle child obesity but also a result of today’s youth losing interest in the traditional events involved the Summer Games. Indeed he acknowledged that the youth of today are more interested in competitions like the X Games, which feature BMX Freestyle, Skateboarding, Surfing and FMX.

The IOC has already added skateboarding to the London Olympics in 2012, and so the Youth Olympics is yet another attempt by the IOC to strengthen its reputation amongst teens, with many of these action sports touted to be amongst the events at the youth Olympics.
Mr Rogge stated:
“Just as the IOC has known, over our 100-plus years of existence, how to move with the times - so we must now adapt to meet the taste of today’s young generation.”

It is not yet known where the first Youth Olympics will be held, but 6 cities have already applied, and in line with tradition, they will be held every 4 years.

New Wave of hope for British Surfing

2007-10-01T15:09:00.000+01:00

Sport England, in conjunction with the British Surfing Association (BSA), has announced that a £94,000 boost will see the funding of a new Regional Surf Development Coach within the South West. The position and the funding has been created to strengthen the quality of surf coaching that is available across the area and to build the crucial surf club structure which is integral to the growth of surfing as a regular sporting activity amongst people of all ages.

It is estimated that there are 500,000 surfers in the UK and over 52% of this number reside in the South West. Surfing forms a crucial part of the economy for the South West and at least 95% of Britain’s top surfers either come from the South West or have chosen to reside there.

Whilst there are a number of successful, strong surf clubs currently in existence, in recent years this important part of the UK sporting structure has eroded and the new three year position will see a person who is dedicated to the redevelopment of this area and a continual building of the style and quality of surf coaching that is available for people of all ages throughout the region.

The South West Regional Sports Board is supporting the BSA with a Regional Development Coach, as it has also done for women’s rugby, netball and swimming, via Community Investment Funding. The aim is to support these sports by identifying coaching gaps within their player pathways and to help plug these gaps through investment into coaching at the appropriate level.

The new position will be based in the BSA’s headquarters at Fistral Beach, Newquay, however the Regional Surf Development Coach will travel the length and breadth of the South West to examine the current structure and build a strong, new system.

The post will see the successful applicant working in consultation with the BSA National Director, to write and deliver an agreed strategic development programme to create and maintain an active surf club culture and network in the South West and to subsequently increase grass roots participation numbers in surfing.

Karen Walton, National Director of the BSA says, “The news that we had been given this invaluable grant is a major boost for the organisation and for British surfing. It has been over ten years since the BSA received any significant form of government backing so this new funding is a great opportunity for us to begin to build and strengthen the current structure and take the standards of surf coaching to a new level.

The new Regional Surf Development Coach will form a key part of our team in the South West and will bring new value and opportunities to current and potential surfers across the region. We’re looking forward to receiving applications and seeing the post become a reality.”

Jim Clarke, Sport England Regional Director says, "We are delighted to be supporting the BSA with this exciting new position which will help to support the development of surf coaches and coaching across the SW region. Sport England exists to sustain and increase participation in community sport, and we hope that this project will help to achieve both of these aims."

Above: Karen Walton, Barry Hall, Sam Limeroy, Tony Good Photo: Ralph Rutter/Event Media

Nike ACG Sweetspots are coming

2007-08-17T10:40:00.001+01:00

Check out the teaser for Nike ACG's upcoming campaign, Sweetspots. It's a collection of films to be shown exclusively on www.nikeacg.com starring the likes of Andreas Hatveit and Henning Marthinsen. They have been filmed by the best in the business including Absinthe, Blank Paper Studio and PoorBoyz Productions.

You'll be able to find all of the above and more on www.nikeacg.com from 1st October, including UK pipe slayer Paddy Graham.

Jake Brown - Unbelievable @ X Games

2007-08-03T17:40:00.000+01:00

ESPN X Games announces first ever X Games Global Simulcast

2007-08-02T15:03:00.001+01:00

ESPN’s X Games, the world’s premier action sport franchise, has just announced the first ever worldwide simulcast of the opening of an X Games. Scheduled for Thursday August 2, 2007 at 9 p.m. ET, the first five minutes of X Games 13 will air live simultaneously on ESPN in the U.S. and 18 ESPN International networks around the globe reaching 267 million viewers in 145 countries. The entire opening show, as well as an additional 40 hours of X Games 13 coverage, will also be webcast on EXPN.com.

Action sports fans in Australia, Asia, Brazil, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, India, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South America, Taiwan and the U.S. will share in the excitement as the world’s leading action sports event kicks off its annual competition in Los Angeles Aug. 2-5, 2007. This year the event will feature more than 150 of the world’s best athletes competing in BMX Freestyle, Moto X, Skateboard, Surfing and Rally Car Racing.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring the excitement of X to action sports fans around the world in this unprecedented multiplatform, multi-network effort,” said by Rick Alessandri, senior vice president, general manager, ESPN Consumer Products and X Games Franchise Managing Director. “We believe that the support and enthusiasm for the X Games brand truly transcends cultures and borders, and what better way to show that than with this unique showcase of X Games 13.”

The opening of X Games 13 will feature memorable X highlights including last year’s unforgettable, world-record setting double back flip from Travis Pastrana. The opening will also be streamed live on www.expn.com and via broadband at ESPN360.com and ESPN360 Mexico. Also showcased on the ABC SuperSign Times Square in New York City, this opening will be seen by more than 32 million tourists annually.

Chariots of Fire: The skate kids going for Olympic gold

2007-07-25T10:54:00.001+01:00

The Independent published an article in The Independent Extra on 23rd July about the future UK Olympic skateboarders.

Here they are at last.....The Stiletto Bindings!

2007-07-23T17:20:00.001+01:00

Those crazy fashion people at Balenciaga have gone and designed this 'IT' shoe for their Fall 07 collection. It's being called the 'lego shoe' and a pair will cost you $4175USD, thats about £2000. Nobody seems to have realised the designers just made a shoe out of some old snowboard bindings.

School sports initiative to aid 2012 build-up

2007-07-16T10:37:00.000+01:00

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced the Government is investing £100m in a sports drive that includes the launch an annual national school sports week. The aim is to give every child the chance of five hours of sport every week as part of a drive for a healthier Britain.

He has called for a "united team effort" in the build up to 2012 to make sport a part of every child's daily life. As well as offering greater opportunities to participate in sports both at and outside schools, plans include a greater emphasis on competition within and between schools, a network of competition managers and a new National School Sports Week.

The funding will provide up to five hours of sport a week for all pupils and three hours for 16 to 19-year-olds, a National School Sport Week, championed by Dame Kelly Holmes where all schools will be encouraged to run sports days and inter-school tournaments, and a network of 225 competition managers across the country to work with primary and secondary schools to increase the amount of competitive sport they offer.

Announcing the initiative the Prime Minister says: "We need to put school sport back where it belongs, playing a central role in the school day. I was lucky enough to have primary and secondary schools that had sport at the centre of their ethos. I want every child to have that opportunity to take part. Watching sport is a national pastime. Talking about sport is a national obsession. But now we need to make taking part in sport a national characteristic."

What if.......

2007-07-09T10:43:00.001+01:00

Funny Nike SB commercial - Watch more free videos

IOC says must capture teenagers' tastes to survive

2007-07-09T10:24:00.000+01:00

The International Olympic Committee must adapt to changing attitudes of young people if it wants to stay relevant and battle falling interest among youths for the Olympic Games, its president said on Tuesday.

With the average age of Olympics viewers increasing in recent years and youngsters turning fast to other sports competitions like the X Games, the IOC has to change, Jacques Rogge said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the IOC's 119th session in Guatemala City, Rogge said staging Youth Olympics, an event designed to raise the level of enthusiasm and participation of teenagers, was a step in the right direction.

"Just as the IOC has known, over our 100-plus years of existence, how to move with the times ... so we must now adapt to meet the taste of today's young generation," Rogge said.

The IOC has tried to counter the current trend by introducing disciplines in the winter and summer Olympic programme that are popular with young people, including BMX-cross cycling, skicross and snowboarding.

It has taken a blow with the rising popularity of the annual summer and winter X Games, their 13th summer edition coming up next month, offering such sports as BMX freestyle, surfing and Moto X racing.

"The Youth Olympic Games project is also on our agenda this week," Rogge told an audience that included IOC members, heads of internation sports federations and the president of Guatemala Oscar Berger.

"For our movement, and all that it stands for, to remain relevant into the next decade and beyond, we must find ways to keep the appeal of our event," he said.

The IOC though is not expected to limit itself to the Youth Olympics, should they be approved by the session as a project to pursue.

It is also looking to bolster the popularity of the 2012 London Olympics by squeezing skateboarding into the programme, not as a new sport but potentially as a new discipline falling under the control of the International Cycling Union.

(Source: Guardian.co.uk)