Day 3 - Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch

There seems to be a disturbance in the force and an unsettling trend has emerged… or should I say, an unsettling trend continues.  The Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch just wouldn’t be the Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch if we weren’t faced with challenging weather.  Day 1 brought with it beautiful blue skies and a bit of wind late in the day, day 2 brought with it a partially cloudy mix and a bit of wind earlier in the day.  And in the end, the result of both the slope and pipe qualis would call for competition to be postponed. But this is the Orage European Open and we can handle it.

10 minutes of half pipe practice

The men from yesterday’s 4th heat of the slope qualis were able to make up for lost time and banged through the last round early this morning.  Not skipping a beat was Alexis Godbout from QC. Canada taking the top spot with a fair amount of clearance between him and second place finisher Julien Lange from France.  With only one point separating second and third Switzerland’s own Nicolas Vuignier took the third spot with John Spriggs, Kevin Guri, Hans-Jakob Brandt and Maxime Fornier rounding out the top 7 to move into Friday’s slope finals.

From the slope course we moved to the superpipe where the ladies were ready to get their groove on.  Trick provider extrordinaire, Claudia Bouvier from the US threw down solid runs, spinning 5’s and making the best of less than perfect conditions to take home the top spot for Saturday’s final.  Belgium’s Katrien Aerts and Great Britian’s Reecca Hammond rounded out the top three. 

When the men were ready to take to the pipe, the wind was also ready and waiting to up the ante.  Old man winter kicked it into high gear and drummed up some hefty wind gusts.  When it was all said and done, the men were only able to get one run wrapped up before being forced to throw in the towel.

Aurelien Fornier

Thomas Krief


Peter Olenick airing over Byron Wells

Volkl's Matt Philippi threw down an insanely sold run despite the conditions.  Switch drop ins to cab seven, huge nines both ways, flat threes and fives earned Matt the top spot… in our humble opinion at least.  But then again, we were just a couple freezing dudes chillin at the bottom of the pipe with no influence on judging.  Either way, props to Philippi.

Matt Philippi

Just as the second runs from heat 1 were about the begin, the wind kicked into overdrive and forced the event managers to opt out of the remaining contest.

The last bit of sunshine on the pipe

The rest of the halfpipe qualifier and semis will be completed on Saturday morning followed by the finals that afternoon.  It’ll be crunch time but the cream will rise to the top and he / she who deserves to take home to the cash will certainly do so. 

Tune in tomorrow for slopestyle finals action for both the men and women.

Day 2 - Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch

Laax Resort, Switzerland – It’s late March, the sun is shining, and over 200 of the world’s best Pro and Am skiers have ascended to Laax resort, Switzerland. Which can only mean one thing… you better break out the swiss cheese and baguette sandwiches ‘cause the Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch is in full swing.

mmmmm... these suisse cheese sandwiches from the coop gas station have been the staple diet behind 4am blog posting at the past 3 European Opens'

Back for the 4th year Orage, Swatch and Laax Resort have joined forces to host Europe’s most prestigious open format slopestyle and superpipe event. Kicking off today’s action were the men and women’s slopestyle qualifiers on a course that’s become both a controversial and unique slope run. As always, the Euro Open comes equipped with killer custom features like this year’s Volkl Electric Guitar Box and the Giro Goggle C Box, but the most notorious of all… (for some) is the one of a kind 2 hit shorty pipe that fills the second spot on the courses feature list.

The jump line as seen through the top of the half pipe

This year’s course is transition heavy and not overly accommodating for the jibbers of the world but if there’s one thing we know, those who have come “shred ready” will get the job done. From top to bottom you’ve got the Volkl Guitar Box, the double hit wonder pipe, a three pack of kickers growing from 40 – 50 – 60ft all capped off with the Giro Goggle box.

Joe Schuster playing with the guitar box

With only a handful prequalified invites passed out for the finals (based on last season’s results)… the athletes riding in the quails looking for a shot at the finals is a testament to the level of the Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch. Spotted in the village and around the hill… Simon Dumont, Jossi Wells and Colby West were in chill mode waiting for Friday and Saturday’s finals... but on the hill today looking to qualify were names like Peter Olenick, John Spriggs, John Strenio, Jacob Wester, Matt Philipi, Matt Margetts, Banks Gilberti, Bobby Brown, Oscar Harlaut, Roz G, Keri Herman, Meg Olenick and Whitney Wickes. To say the least the field was stacked.

Meg Olenick

With bright blue skies, the slope quails were challenged with steady side winds for the afternoon heats but the banana bar crew was on hand prepping for the big show and the riders were ready slay the course.

Matt Phillippi got busy qualifiing for the finals with left and right 9's in the "slope-pipe"

Some of today’s highlights were Marcus Eder, winner of the Orage Itali-AM open at Bormio Italy placing 5th in qualifier heat 3. Also coming in with a strong heat 3 showing was Orage’s own Matt Margetts taking the top spot for Friday’s final. “LJ’, John Strenio threw down in heat 1 to take the top spot followed by Laurent Demartin from Switzerland and Mike Riddle in third from Canada.

Gigi Couttet

Heat 2 was stacked with the top five being split with American, Swiss and Norwegian riders. For the ladies it was Eva-Maria Patscheider, Whitney Wickes and Lena Stoffel who took the top three spots.

Chase Crane in the pipe


When it was all said and done the slope quail was one of the best we’ve seen yet… the skies were blue bird, the riding was unmatched and the only snag we hit was old man winter who decided to kick up the wind just before heat 4… which has been postponed until tomorrow.

Patrick Hollaus cleaning up the end of heat three just before the sun went down

Stay tuned for more from day two of the Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch. Next up: heat 4 men’s slope qualifier followed by pipe qualis…

RESULTS (PDF)

Women Slopestyle Qualifier

Men Slopestyle Qualifier - Heat 1

Men Slopestyle Qualifier - Heat 2

Men Slopestyle Qualifier - Heat 3

Day 1 - Orage European Freeski Open by Swatch

It's no secret that Europe has been having a record year in terms of snowfall. What were typically green valleys on the drive from Zurich down to Laax, Switzerland for the past three years of the Orage European Freeski Open were still blanket white landscapes.

The scenery in Switzerland

Laax has always been known for building some creative features into the European Open slopestyle, and this year is no exception. Taking advantage of all the extra snowpack, Laax has built a free standing halfpipe IN the slopestyle run. Let's not jump too far ahead though, here is a complete rundown of the slopestyle course from top to bottom:

The first feature is the Volkl/Marker guitar box...

The [slopestyle] halfpipe...

First jump...

Banks Gilberti practicing his 9's on the second jump...

The last table...

The Giro goggle c'box finishes off the course

Slopestyle qualifiers get underway tomorrow where one hundred skiers will face off for twelve spots in Friday's semi final. Accompanying the top twelve with a free pass to the next round are the following invited athletes:

Russ Henshaw - Austrailia
Philip Casabon - Canada
Joe Schuster - Canada
Pekka Hyysalo - Finland
AJ Kemppainen - Slopestyle
Benedikt Mayr - Germany
Tobi Reindl - Germany
Anders Backe - Norway
Andreas Hatveit - Norway
PK Hunder - Norway
Jossi Wells - New Zealand
Andri Ambühl - Switzerland
Kim Boberg - Sweden
Henrik Harlaut - Sweden
Mike Clarke - USA
Tanner Rainville - USA
Tom Wallisch - USA
Colby West - USA

Sarah Burke - Canada
Christina Huber - Germany
Eveline Bhend - Switzerland
Virginie Faivre - Switzerland
Nina Michel - Switzerland
Sofie Windstedt - Sweden
Claudia Bouvier - USA
Kristi Leskinen - USA

Stay tuned to orage.com for daily news, results, photos, and video throughout the weekend.

North Cascade Heli

Just got back from an epic 5 day trip to North Cascade Heli with Benchetler, Pollard, Sammy, Dakine, Nimbus, and Freeskier. With only 4 days to fly, we were cutting it close. The first two days we made it out, but were quickly brought back down due to the wind and lack of visibility. On the third day there was no chance we were flying. On the fourth day it looked like our worst day yet. Sammy packed up his car and took off, we had to make a sacrifice I guess. Within a half an hour, the clouds broke and the sun was out. It was on.

Benchetler and Pollard might be two of my new favorite people to ride with. Pollard has got everything on lock down. He was our fearless leader of the group, being the most experienced. The night before the sunny day, he led us into oblivion cracking open the first beer. I'd say, he knows when it's time to drink it blue. Job well done. The sun gods we shining down on us and laughing at us at the same time.

Benchetler works hard, super hard. Always on the go and ready for anything. He also looks like the Hulk with his shirt off, as our TM Randy Torcom found out when he tried to wake him up, but almost payed the consequences with a toilet dunking.

Anyways, the sun was shining and the snow was epic. Don't forget to download the new Nimbus webisode. It's sick!!! Here are some shots from our trip. Thanks to Randy Torcom from Dakine for the good times!! For more photos and words check out www.michelle-parker.com.

Taylor Seaton in 4th at US Open!

The 12th annual US Freeskiing Open went down this weekend in Copper Colorado and Orage athletes Taylor Seaton and JL Ratchel were on site to throw down.

The weather conditions were tough for practice and qualifying the first couple of days. Over a foot of snow fell and the winds were brutal gusting up to 30 mp/h at times!

JL and Taylor both skied well and practiced hard. JL came up a little short in semis and wasn't able to move on. Taylor was stomping his runs and really tweaking his grabs earning him a spot in the finals.

After hurting his heel the first run in finals Taylor kept skiing through the pain and posted even better scores on his final two runs landing a solid 4th place finish, just a few tenths of a point shy of the podium.

Justin Dorey, Matt Philippi and Mike Riddle threw down like never before making this event one of the better pipe comps of the year. Taylor is off to Japan tomorrow for the FIS World Championships where he will hope to reclaim a spot on the podium.

Photos: John Vandervalk

On the road with JL Ratchel

JL Ratchel spent the past week on the road with Toyota and BNQT.com hitting up Mt. Baldy, Mammoth, June, and the final stop of the Winter Dew Tour at Northstar along the way. 

Somewhere between LAX and Tahoe

Check out the full story and more photos at bnqt.com and watch all the videos from the road below:

Day 1: Mt. Baldy


Day 2: Mammoth


Day 3: June Mountain

Check out BNQT for more videos!

Team Orage vs. Winter Dew Tour

L to R: Michelle Parker, Kaya Turski, Meg Olenick

The third and final stop of the Winter Dew Tour rolled through lake Tahoe last weekend bringing together Orage team riders Michelle Parker, TJ Schiller, Matt Margetts, Taylor Seaton, Banks Gilberti and Phil Casabon for three days of slopestyle, halfpipe, and California sunshine.


Matt Margettts

Day one was arrival day and halfpipe practice for Taylor Seaton and Matt Margetts. Taylor came into this stop of the Dew Tour ranked 7th overall and was cleaning a practice run that consistently put him into finals at the last two Tour stops. Margetts, who has been unanimously referred to as “Bubble Boy” by the event announcers after missing finals qualification by one stop in the first two stops of the Dew Tour and X Games, used every available minute of practice time to put his run together.



Pipe qualifiers were divided into two heats, two runs each, with the top nine overall scores advancing to face off against pre-qualified athletes Tanner Hall, Justin Dorey, and Simon Dumont in the finals. Margetts was up first and dropped in with a flat 5 tail, right 900, left 900, 720, and finished it off with a switch 7 putting him in 12th place for the time being. Taylor couldn't put his first run to his feet and dropped down to 23rd with one run remaining. With one last chance to break the bubble Margetts stepped it up in his second run going bigger, cleaner, and ending it with a switch 10 at the bottom earning him a 7th place finish and a spot in Saturday nights final under the lights. Taylor dropped in switch on his second run boosting a switch 7 mute on his first hit followed by a right 5, left 900, right 900, and allyoop 5 at the bottom. Margetts was probably holding his breath a little as Taylors score came in, but despite his efforts Taylor ended up in 12th place and would not advance.

Margett's finally making finals was the talk of the day, but the legacy of Bubble Boy lived on throughout the weekend with the official renaming of the bubble position to “the Margetts Spot.” Sitting in the Margetts Spot is indeed an honor, but still probably not where you want to end. up.


TJ ready to drop in during slopestyle qualifiers

Perfect weather showed up again on Friday for slopestyle qualifiers. The course wasn't as big as some other comps this season but smooth transitions and plenty of options ensured that the focus of the event would be on style and stomped landings rather than big tricks.


Casabon somewhere in the middle of a switch 10 mute

The run started off with an option down rail or down box, into another set with a flat box or cannon rail to choose from.


Michelle on the first rail option

The first jump had two take offs that were about the same size but one had a cheese wedge takeoff and the other shaped more like a true table.



TJ working out some truck driver variations on the table top...



Just past the landing was another slider option with a double kink rail and box leading right into the final two jumps and the finish area. Both rails were a mandatory disaster in order to maintain enough speed to clear the following jump.


Matt Margetts on the last jump

Despite stomping their runs TJ, Banks, and Margetts ended up in 18th, 19th, and 20th, respectively. Casabon had better luck pleasing the judges but only managed to come up in twelfth, and with only the top nine advancing it would not be enough.



Saturday afternoon it was the ladies turn on the slopestyle course and after a quick practice Michelle Parker continued her standout return to the competition scene with a second place finish cleaning the top rail option, a 450 off the flat box into a switch 5, 720, and 540 on the jumps.



Saturday night brought out the biggest crowds of the weekend as thousands of spectators lined up around the halfpipe to watch the main event. The classic Dumont-Hall rivalry was in full effect as the two battled it out for the lead. In the end Tanner Hall walked with the title and Margetts held on to a respectable seventh place finish stomping his run from qualifiers even bigger under the lights.



For more videos and highlights from the rest of Winter Dew Tour check out allisports.com

Photos: Rom Marcucci and John Vandervalk