Nike ACG Team Blog : News from the snowbard team

The Brits – Laax, Switzerland

Team Nike ACG were killing it at The Brits this year – Murray Buchan (16 yrs) set the standard on day 1 by taking home the British Half Pipe Freeski Championship title. He was on fire stomping his run which included a 900, to 1080 and reverse mute alley-oop. Paddy Graham was hot on his tail claiming 3^rd place with some huge airs and a massive d-spin 900.

Zoe Gillings showed us all why she’s one of the world’s top boardercross riders by throwing herself out of the start gate and leaving the other boarders trailing in her wake. She had a solid run and kept her lead throughout to claim the Gold.

Dan Wakeham just missed out on a podium place in the Half pipe, despite scoring the top score on his qualifying run. He was clearly on top form during qualifying, throwing down perfect frontside 10s and proving that he’s still the best pipe rider in the UK. Other notable results were Murray taking second in his age group in the ski slopestyle, as well as runner-up in the carnage that was the Red Bull Home Run – not bad for a wee guy. Paddy on the other hand chose style over speed…

BUSC – Hinterglemm, Austria

Whilst some stayed to represent Team Nike ACG at the Brits, others went to join 2,500 British students living it up in the resort of Hinterglemm, Austria. Similar to other alpine resorts across Europe, the snow was still dumping which meant Noddy Gowans could not be held back; he took a crew of eager BUSC students to shred some serious pow, whilst Zoe Gillings spoke about being a pro and riding for the Nike team. We then headed to Tanzhimmel for the Nike ACG party where 2,000 students rocked out to Alps band, Hail Carta.

Nike ACG Press Trip – Pontresina, Switzerland

Having refuelled on schnitzels, we were on the road again, putting the Nike ACG Volvo through its paces, whilst heading back to Switzerland. This season the Nike Press Trip was all about the backcountry so the remote resort of Pontresina was the perfect destination for our shoot.

The team was reunited in Pontresina near Saint Moritz where we would be based for the next few days. Following a day’s avalanche and off-piste training, we awoke to bluebird conditions and epic powder – the perfect setting for our backcountry shoot and long hike to the remote Mountain Hut (complete with its own hole in the ground – luxury this was not…).

Noddy was in his element, continually searching for cliff jumps and leading the way for the rest of the team. The guys took to the off-piste straight away with Dan and Paddy taking their park tricks to the backcountry, whilst Zoe proved that she was just as comfortable in waist-deep pow as she is on a boardercross course, getting some great shots for next season. The trip and stay in the Mountain Hut was an awesome experience but we were all happy to return to the comforts of our hotel and their motto ‘good food – good mood’.

The full story will be in Document Snowboard and Fall-Line Skiing magazines next season, and if you can't wait until then, there will be videos and shots of the document website coming soon: www.documentsnowboard.co.uk 

Images by Yves Garneau 

Last weekend 1,200 students descended upon a grassy hill somewhere in Scotland for 48 hours of skiing, snowboarding, partying and utter mayhem. It was cold, it was windy, it was competitive, it was dendix central…it was BUDS - The British University Dry Slope Championships.

As head sponsor of BUSC (British University Snowsports Council), Nike ACG were there in force. We hosted the ‘Sweetspots Lounge’ – a place of refuge from the Scottish climate with sofas, beanbags, heaters, TVs screening the Nike ACG sweetspots, and the all important bar – Sweeeeeet!!

Top UK skier and star of Sweetspot #2, Paddy Graham was there to judge the freestyle, as well as use and abuse his rights to the mega phone. And of course we had young gun Murray Buchan and freestyle guru Tom Last holding the flag for Team Nike ACG.

Well done to Tom for scoring 2^nd in the Big Air ski and to Muz for winning the overall Pro-Am Big Air with a huge Switch 720 Truckdriver – nice.

 

A link to the Nike ACG film of the event is on its way….

Zinnia

The Elk, not one to miss out on an event, joined a team of British students out in Tignes last month to become an honourary member of BUSC (the British University Snowsports Committee). Unfortunately the weather was dire, with 200kph winds which meant the glacier was closed for half the week. With a bit of imagination, and more than a couple of snowflakes in resort, the BUSC crew (the Elk included) came up with numerous activities to keep them amused - the Yeti Bar being a major feature...naturally