Nike ACG Team Blog : News from the snowbard team

Day five of our trip could not have been further removed from to the previous day’s adrenaline rushes. Although a forecast of blue skies and sunshine had been predicted the previous night, rain fell heavily from the morning until the sun escaped beyond the horizon and darkness engulfed us. With the weather forecasters seemingly incapable of calculating the conditions during our week in Argentina, it is unlikely that we will continue to trust it so readily!

On a day like today with no filming taking place and little excitement to be had, all that was left to do was to relax and unwind from what has already been a very busy, action- filled trip.

Whilst some found entertainment in playing games or working hard for various different assignments, others went about town in search of other sorts of amusement. Finding the internet was a priority and indeed we needed to upload the video version of our blog which highlights our experiences for an audience with less imagination! However, it seems that the wonders of fast-speed internet have bypassed this unique town in the Andes. It certainly makes you appreciate some of the things that we take for granted back in Europe when a video of 2 minutes takes 30 hours to upload. At the time writing, only 14 hours have elapsed.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to be expecting yet more rain and cloud, however going by today’s prediction I think I should anticipate the opposite and perhaps I will even unveil my beach body for the lucky residents of Caviahue.

At noon, we set off into the backcountry in a group of fourteen whilst being transported rapidly by snowmobiles to a spot nicknamed the ‘Amphitheatre’ by locals. The area certainly produced drama and anxiety in equal measure as the cameras started to roll. Everybody was stoked as Richard pulled off a 180 off a ridge and sped towards us down the steep face leaving a stream of mist shrouded in his wake.

Things did not go so smoothly for Eva though as she tried to get into position for her next line. As she ambled along the peak, she found herself in the grasp of a 30 metre wide crevasse that was lurking menacingly. Although she managed to escape its clutches, she was shaken up enough to stay back for awhile until her next attempt 20 minutes later.

However, just as Eva was about to drop into her next line, an area of snow 60 metres wide collapsed around her and sped down the face in an eruption of snow. Due to the warm weather of the previous few days, the top layer of powder had become too heavy and could hold no more. Luckily no one was harmed but it certainly brought an abrupt end to filming in this position.

As we cruised into yet more picturesque mountains and passed through the border into Chile, the sun hid behind the clouds and the wind picked up once more, leading to bitterly cold temperatures. Almost anticipating our wishes for a little more warmth, our seasoned guides set about making an igloo that sheltered us all from the forces of nature as filming commenced for the last time until it was time to head home.

Weather permitting; we will revisit our final spot tomorrow in search of more lines and hopefully, a little less excitement… 

Waking up to the rhythm of rainfall clashing against the tiled roof of our chalet was hardly the best introduction to our third day. We had been expecting fresh powder that had been forecast the previous night however the rain was now dissolving a lot of the snow that was left stranded on the ground.

Nevertheless, our altitude at our residence is over 1,300 metres lower than the highest peaks of the resort and we were confident for some fresh powder at more elevated destinations.

We set off in search of some fresh lines. However, the drizzle still persisted and the powder of the previous day had transformed into heavy snow that was almost impossible to negotiate, even for the professionals.

There was only one thing for it and we all agreed that the hot springs would be our next destination to relax from the exhausting task of 30 minutes filming. Heated by the active volcano that is one of the peaks of the mountain range, the thermal springs were incomparable to anything that we had seen before in our European cities. The natural pools looked tempting as the clear blue water swelled and bubbled up in front of us. It even seemed to urge us to jump in. However we resisted our cravings, safe in the knowledge that there would be other opportunities for entertainment during this trip once the snowfall has increased.

However, after being told that the Copahue Volcano has erupted three times over the last 16 years in 1992, 1995 and 2000, it suggests that we are perhaps more overdue for an eruption of ash…although an increase in powder would certainly be more than welcome.

Greeted in the morning by a fresh fall of at least a foot of snow, our expectations were high for filming on day two. Due to the lack of snowmobiles, the plan was that we would travel up to the shoot in two clusters. However, the Caviahue wind prevailed once more and it was deemed it was simply too strong to pursue our goal of riding up through the powder and allowing Richard Permin and Eva Walkner to crash through the snow whilst we would watch expectantly at the base.

Back to square one and after an hour and a half of waiting, the wind died down enough for a group to travel up and film the exploits of our two professionals. Everything did not run as smoothly as first expected though as Richard managed to ride a mini avalanche that was thirty metres wide over a cliff. Fortunately, he was able to power out of the snow and hunt more lines across the resort. Indeed, we decided that Eva’s drop off the cliff would no longer be ‘on’ and we were forced to find another section of mountain to work with. Undisturbed by his dramas on the last ridge, Richard was unrelenting and threw in a clean 360 off a five metre drop half way through the afternoon whilst Eva continued to free-ride through the increasingly heavy powder that was at times, extremely difficult to traverse.

Perhaps our highlight was the waterfall that we found at the end of the day that sheltered caves standing undisturbed beneath. This piece of nature set up some spectacular shots for our resident photographer to got to work with. Lesson for the day – when the weather closes in, you work with what you’ve got. Having seem some of the footage back though I think we’ve got some killer lifestyle shots already.

Here are some images from the filmshoot so far.

After awakening from some much needed sleep after an exhausting thirty hour journey from London to Argentina (via Sao Paulo and the rest) I made my way over to the shower to get ready for our first day. Having battled for a few minutes and woken myself up thanks to extremes of hot and cold I was ready to face skiing Argentina style.

With a reputation for being extremely windy due to its exposed location, Patagonia and indeed the resort of Caviahue itself certainly lived up to its name as we hit the slopes. It was bitterly cold, and as the wind picked up it spat fresh powder into our faces- although it was impossible to feel any negativity as we looked down the piste of fresh snow and admired the lake at its base which hugged the mountain all the way around.

For most of us, months had passed since skiing had been a priority whilst in our European climate and the gentle warm up that we began with was unquestionably welcome. However that tame gradient soon became tedious as we searched for fresh challenges whilst the sun was still glowing down and reflecting pleasingly off the Argentinean snow.

After lunch, and a pizza that was more akin to cheese on toast, we headed off in the direction of the snowmobiles that were waiting further down the mountain ready for our experimentation. Indeed, due to the very few lifts around in our resort, this method of transportation is a necessity and everybody needed to learn how to use them quickly. Having never used one before, I found my introduction fairly difficult. Led off by one of our professional skiers Richard Permin, I set off up the mountain being towed along up a trail that was less intimidating than first appeared. However, connecting myself to my belt whilst being towed was a mistake that I paid for half way up the hill as it snapped in half and I saw the snowmobile speed away. Unfortunately, I was no longer connected and had to ski down through the wall of snow that was eclipsing me from every angle.

Once home, all I hoped for was another shower that wouldn’t result in third degree burns and for tomorrow to be as full of blue skies when the proper filming gets underway.

I had to figure out something since I haven´t been able to ride too much lately.
This is a little fun stuff I´ve been doing everyday now for the past three days.
so stoked!!!



No, actually my knee was still hurting when riding so the doctor opened and cleaned it last tuesday and removed some extra weight out from it. Now he has been doing this puncture every day. Luckily today was the last time. Pretty over it. So, I still have to wait for three weeks that I can start riding and my trip to mid Europe got delayed. arrghh.

Jukka

Well the team headed out to Les 2 Alpes, France, for the Mondial over the last 9 days to experience some early season bonding, a bit of snowboarding and a lot of boozing. The first weekend was the mondial du snowboard and it was a total blow out with some serious drinking taking place – especially after Ulrik Badertscher won the snowboard contest.

We also had an acg BBQ during the week and fluked it big style with the weather and the whole crew had a great time hanging out – it was beautiful so the football came out and after watching the French crew playing for 10 minutes it was clear to see why Scotland beat them recently in the European championships qualifier. The food went down well, especially in the case of Andreas who quite literally finished anything that was left over, he’s a growing boy and keen to age over that 100kg mark.

Randomly enough we ended up with a pussy in our chalet for 5 days which provided a good bit of amusement although not for Martin Misof who spent his nights warding off sharp claws and fearing for his eyes
but it was a big softy really. Gary knows how to handle a pussy, look at him go, he’s a natural, never seen him look so happy.  

Dan wakeham before  Dan wakeham after

Contest Reports

Burton Highway to Rail Contest – Mondial du Snowboard
Nike ACG were represented well in the first major rail contest of the season with riders such as Henning Marthinsen (NOR) and Gary Zebrowski (FRA) on the invited list and all 3 spots from the qualification event going to Nike ACG riders also, Ulrik Baderstcher (NOR), Gulli Gudmundsson (ICE) and Truls Berg (NOR). The rail setup in the heart of the Les 2 Alpes village looked good with the option of a 3 or 4 metre acid drop to start your run followed by the option of 6 different boxes down the stair set up. All of the boxes were used in an exciting contest, the biggest cheers of the day going to Ulrik Baderstcher who was performing technical tricks such as 50-50 to frontflip to 50-50 on the up down box – a trick that was stylish and dangerous with a nasty drop on the other side of the box. After an exhilarating qualification round the top five riders were picked to go onto a super final:

Ulrik Baderstcher
Henning Marthinsen
Mathieu Crepel
Nico Droz
Eero Ettala

Each rider had 3 runs with the best one counting as their score. The riders were pulling out the stops and Ulrik thrilled the crowd again with his acrobatics however he failed to stick it clean while other riders like Eero Ettala put down his switch fs tailslide to Danish 270 out putting him in the early lead. Henning Marthinsen who stuck his trick (cab 450 to 270 off) cleanly in the qualifier did not quite manage to land it clean leaving him in 4th place however Ulrik stepped it up in his final run to do a perfect backside 450 to 270 out leaving him clearly in 1st place ahead of the best riders in the world. You will be seeing a lot more of Ulrik over the coming years.


Rossignol Century Contest – Mondial du ski
Once again Nike ACG was well represented with Andreas Hatveit, Roy Kittler and Richard Permin receiving an invite to compete against the best riders around on the mondial rail set up in Les 2 Alpes. Ridiculously technical tricks were being thrown down by Andreas and Roy with switch and normal 630’s onto the rail being common place and then they both even managed to sneak a 270 out as well. Richard was being super stylish as usual both on the rails and on the gap kicker pulling some lovely switch 7’s. The highlight of the day for me was Andreas’ backflip double nosegrab which got the crowd going wild, I was hoping for the trick that I want to push as his signature move – the backflip double true tail – a truly magnificent move which may limit his movement in
future years. Check out his backflip at the Mondial du Ski below:

The Final was upon us and around 8 riders went through including Roy and Andreas, by this point Andreas had stepped it up with 270’s onto the kinked rail with switch ups on the kink and 270’s out. He looked to me like the clear winner but some super tech tricks on the down box put Franck from Quebec into first place. It was a great show which I thoroughly enjoyed even if my kneecaps were bouncing up and down like a jack hammer. Check out some footage of Andreas below:

The rest of the Mondial was no disappointment and left us all feeling suitably hungover during the following days, Mati Imbert had to sleep for 15 hours just to feel remotely human again.

The whole team had a wicked time both on the mountain and in the bar so heres looking forward to next year’s edition and best wishes to all the crew who are competing in Stockholm this coming weekend.