Today one legend met another legend. Amplid's head honcho Peter Bauer is in Spain to judge the Val D'Aran Freeride contest. The day before the contest Peter met with Spanish legend Mombi to shred some laps and, by the looks of it, drink some Vino Tinto.
Cartel skier McRae Williams is on fire this season. Over the last few months McRae has developed his slopestyle runs, taking him from finals contender to podium regular. McRae just added a 1st place in VARS to his 2nd place at the X Games.
Due to poor snow conditions the fourth stop of the Freeride World Tour was moved to Snowbird in Utah. For team rider John Rodosky, competing in a resort in his adopted College town gives him familiarity with the contest face that other riders just don't have.
On Monday McRae qualified first in his heat for the final of the SFR Tour stop in Vars, France. Today McRae will compete against the likes of Oscar Westor, Alex Bellemare and Vincent Gagnier to secure more important AFP Tour points.
Large snowstorms have been creating some pretty scetchy snow conditions in Utah, the adopted home of the fourth stop on this year's Freeride World Tour. For the moment, Amplid Cartel rider John Rodosky will just have to hold tight.
Bear Mountain's War of Rails is one of the highlights of the year for freeskiers. It's unique, specially built course of steel and perspex pits a handful of the biggest names in urban skiing against one and other. The combination is explosive.
"And to the left you can see a nice triple kink handrail, complete with gnary closeout"... this is probably what the urban Tour, that team rider Kevin Salonius gave to the Armada team, sounded like. Kevin showed the guys around the city and revealed his best spots.
Westendorf locals Stefan Joechl and Patrik Faistenauer have competed at a number of the Open Faces freeride contests this winter. The tour, which takes in a handful of Austria's finest freeride mountains, is one of the many Freeride World Tour qualifier events.
Our hearts are beating so hard we're beginning to wonder if Juergen is setting the pace a little fast. Juergen our guide for the day, who is almost certainly half human and half mountain goat, is breaking the trail on his Morning Split and still having to wait for us at regular intervals.
Read this slowly and then recite it back to yourself even slower: backside rodeo 450 to frontside boardslide to 270 out. Sounds difficult right? Now check-out this sequence taken from the latest episode of Bachelor Party on Snowboarder Magazine's website.
French Ambush team rider Julien Vilmin throws caution to the wind and jumps in at the deep end. You've heard of skating pools, well Julien and photographer Max Bouvier have gone one step further by sessioning this derelict indoor pool in Font Romeo, France.
German Ambush team skier Andy Nitsche and photographer Severin Wegener made the pilgramage last weekend to powder heaven in Ost Tirol. Snow may be a little thin on the ground in the Tirol, but Ost Tirol is enjoying a bumper season.
On Monday around a hundred guests joined the Amplid team at Cafe Aroma, located in the heart of Munich, to celebrate Amplid's 10th birthday. Here are some shots from the party.
Some would argue that even in an Olympic year that X Games is the ultimate contest on the calendar. McRae was the only skier in Slopestyle's eight man final that isn't going to the Olympics, but showed the viewers and the US Team coaches why he should have had the nod.
You'll often hear top pros complaining about living out of their board bag. The life of travelling from mountain range to mountain range, across the globe with uncomfy hotel beds night after night. French Ambush rider Julien Vilmin is the opposite, he makes the most of Hotel visits!
After Henrik Harlaut's X-Slide rap, we'd assumed the trend of skiers laying down bars on their own edits had died a death. Fortunately for us, the guys at Awone have taken the trend to its pinacle. Truely the wierdest video you'll watch today!
The snow in France right now is pretty good, but that hasn't stopped our French team riders from crossing the boarder for freshies. Last week part-time blogger, full time powder junkie Morgan Sauerwald and his buddies Popo and Pierrot crossed to La Thuile, Italy for the good stuff.
After a disappointing ride in Courmayeur, Cartel rider John Rodosky will be looking for redemption when he rides in Chamonix today. Be sure to tune-in to the Freeride World Tour live, first thing this morning, to watch John's line.
Catch McRae today in the X Games Ski Slopestyle Elminator round at 12:30 Eastern Time while he makes his bid on a place in the final. At the moment the weather is good and the course is looking pristine so we're excited to see McRae's run.
Ask any die-hard skier or snowboard what their dream trip is and the odds are that it will involve heli skiing in Interior BC. Team rider Dash Kamp managed to hook-up with the Ski Channel and RK Heli operation at Roger Pass, British Columbia.
Cartel team rider Teddy Berr has already had more magazine covers than most could dream of. So when he nailed the cover of the latest edition of Euro mag Downdays we were impressed, but hardly surprised.
If you're not keeping an eye on McRae's Instagram account in your spare time, what are you doing? Yesterday McRae posted a short clip of a new trick he's been working on in his practice runs for the Park City Grand Prix... it's BIG!
Being a ski and snowboard brand can make life a little difficult for Amplid sometimes with events from both sports clashing on the Calendar. This year however, the Snowboard industry has managed to throw a spanner in the works all by itself.
The Freeride World Tour kicks off on Friday in Courmayeur. Tune-in early to catch all of the the first stop drama and Amplid's own John Rodosky guide his trusty UNW8 down a face with it's fair share of steep lines and fun features.
