In conjunction with our sister site, Board Stylist, we are giving away some of their awesome new tee shirts! All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one is ‘like’ our Facebook page (if you don’t already!) and leave a comment to finish the following sentence: “If I won a Board Stylist tee shirt, I’d wear it ________”
Men’s sizes also available!
Snowboarding is constantly evolving. Be it the equipment, the tricks or the arenas in which the tricks are performed, the sport can never be accused of being dull.
Last week Nike Snowboarding unveiled a revolutionary new terrain park in Silvretta Montafon for the latest Nike Chosen Sessions. A group of 12 European amateur riders, selected from a round of national competitions, plus a panel of Nike sponsored pros (including Jamie Nicholls, Danny Kass and Halldor Helgason) , travelled to the Austrian resort to hit up the epic park which had been specially built for the occasion.
Among its many unique features were a skate inspired bowl, a scaffolding feature and a series of massive kickers arranged around a 70m Nike swoosh.
The ams competed in three different sessions: Best Line, The Bowl and Big Air, and the public were then invited to vote for the best. UK rider Andy Nudds narrowly missed out on getting through to the final round where the top three ams (as voted by the public) were judged by the panel of pros to decided who would be ‘chosen’. The winner was eventually announced as Swiss rider, Markus Mathis who will now spend the next year living the life of a Nike pro rider.
Nike doesn’t only develop epic parks and awesome riders, they also produce some sweet snowboarding gear. And as we always like to find you the best deals around, here are some Nike Snowboarding bargains that we’ve ‘chosen’ from the end of season sales…
These Nike Vapen snowboard boots are some of the most highly sought after boots around, and we’ve managed to find them reduced from £160 to £136 at Ellis Brigham. The Women’s Vapen snowboard boots are also on sale for the same price.
Or, how about this Nike Slainte snowboarding jacket which has been reduced from £150 to £119.96 at Boardwise? Also available in ‘Varsity Red’.
We can’t guarantee they’ll make you ride like a pro, but you’ll certainly look the part!
Phew, it’s pretty warm out in the Alps at the moment! Spring has well and truly set in and it’s time to enjoy riding slush and extended après sessions on the sun decks.
It’s also time to swap the down jacket for something a bit more lightweight. We’ve just received a message from one of our followers, Colin (pictured), who’s just returned from a week in Meribel, thanking us for giving him a heads up on the Westbeach 60% off sale. He picked up a bargain soft shell jacket (among other items!) and said it was perfect for the spring conditions. They’ve actually been so popular that the Westbeach 
site has now sold out of them, but we’ve managed to find them at Boardwise with 50% off (reduced from £99.95 to £49.98!), so get yourself one before they sell out too!
I picked up one of the women’s ones in the Westbeach sale and have had great use out of it, both in the Alps and back here in the UK. Westbeach still have the ladies’ version available in their 50% off sale (reduced from £100 to £50), along with 
loads of other great jackets, hoodies and tee shirts, so grab yourself some bargains to see you through to the end of the season and into the next…!
However, if you’re lucky enough to be heading across the Atlantic for an end of season shred, then you’re going to want to kit yourself out for pow, and lots of it! It’s been absolutely dumping in certain parts of North America, particularly Canada and California. Whistler has had so much snow (they had over 13 feet in March and 124cm in the past 7 days alone!) that they’ve decided to extend the season. So, if you can stretch to the extra air fare, it’s definitely your best bet!
Last week the British snowboarding fraternity descended on Laax for the annual BRITS festival. The aim of the BRITS is to showcase the best British snowboarding and freeskiing talent, but there’s also a strong emphasis on the parties, with some great bands and DJs drafted in for the event.
Those who were lucky enough to be there witnessed some awesome riding from our homegrown talent with Jamie Nicholls and Katie Ormerod winning gold in the Protest Snowboard Slopestyle, and Sam Turnbull and Katie once again, taking gold in the Big Air.
Off the slopes, the parties were massive with DJ Yoda and DJ Cheeba just some of the entertainment laid on for the crowds.
If you’re nursing a post BRITS hangover, or just suffering from Monday blues, we have news of some pretty sweet deals that should help to cheer you up…
For starters, Westbeach have just launched yet another epic sale and are offering 50% off everything! There’s loads of sweet gear on sale, such as this Maverick Men’s jacket which has been reduced from £160 to only £80.
Boardwise have also launched their massive end of season sale and are offering up to 80% off snowboarding gear. It includes everything from hardwear to outerwear and accessories so check it out and grab yourself some bargains! One of the best deals we’ve found is on the much coveted Lib Tech Skate Banana which has been reduced from £445 to £349.
Nothing like a bit of sale retail therapy to ease the Monday blues!
The third European Winter X Games in Tignes has just drawn to a close and once again proved itself to be every bit as exciting an event as its North American progenitor. The UK had its best ever representation with three of our world class riders competing in the finals.
Veteran X Games competitor Jenny Jones came 7th overall in the Women’s Slopestyle with rising star Aimee Fuller coming just behind her in 9th. Our main man Jamie Nicholls put down his best ever run to take 8th place in the Men’s Slopestyle which is a seriously good result considering he was competing against snowboarding legends/ the likes of Shaun White and Mark McMorris.
If the X Games has got you in the mood to hit the park, you’re going to want to get yourself a freestyle board. Whether you fancy yourself as the next Jamie Nicholls or just want to jib around in the beginners park, a freestyle specific board will make it easier and more enjoyable.
Freestyle boards tend to be shorter and softer than all-mountain and freeride boards, and have a true twin shape which makes riding switch much easier. They also tend to have a reverse camber (rocker) profile which is perfect for jibbing. However, some riders favour stiffer boards with a flatter profile for big jumps and the pipe.
There are loads of freestyle boards on the market and choosing the right one can be costly and confusing. However, we’ve managed to find some of the boards favoured by Jamie, Jenny and Aimee, and at a bargain price…!
The Salomon Lily is Jenny Jones’ board of choice and is actually a great all-mountain board as well as being awesome in the park. It has a flat base making it super stable for take offs and landings, and its aspen core makes it really light and responsive. Jenny also worked with artist Lucy McLaughlin to develop the awesome graphic. We’ve found the 
Salomon Lily reduced from £300 to just £224.96 at Boardwise, or Snow+Rock have the 2011 model reduced from £300 to an incredible £150!
Jamie Nicholls is also sponsored by Salomon and always rides one of their boards. There’s a great range of men’s Salomon boards but the Salomon Drift is a consistently highly rated freestyle stick, with a rocker profile and Equalizer sidecut for extra grip. What’s even better is that we’ve found it reduced from £280 to £168 at Snow+Rock!
Aimee Fuller is part of team Roxy who are killing it in women’s snowboarding at the moment. They also have an awesome range of women’s boards which are made by Mervin Manufacturing who produce Lib Tech boards. The Roxy Ollie Pop is an excellent freestyle board which incorporates Mervin’s trademark banana technology, and magnetraction for added grip. We’ve managed to find the 2011 Roxy Ollie Pop reduced from £389.95 to just £292.46 at Boardwise. And we actually think the 2011 graphic beats the 2012 one too!
Have you ridden any of these boards? Or can you recommend any other sweet freestyle boards? Leave a comment below and share the love!
We love Westbeach. Not only did they treat us to an epic 60% off everything sale a few weeks ago, but now they’re offering us this amazing deal on their brand new stock! They’ve just got in their new season tee shirts and beanies and to celebrate, they’re practically giving them away! Here’s the deal…
Go to the Westbeach site, specify whether you want male or female, enter your size, pay £30, and they’ll send you four different tees and a beanie from their awesome new range. Simples. They’re even throwing in free postage and some stickers to pimp your ride!
The stock is so new that there are no pictures available yet, so you’ll have to trust them when they tell us that there are some pretty sweet designs. But anyone who’s familiar with the brand will know that this is always true. Here are a few of this season’s designs to give you an idea of their awesomeness, and if you want to play it safe, this season’s designs are still on sale with 40% off! Tees are reduced from £18 to only £10.50 and beanies are reduced from £14 to £8.40 (available in a range of colours and designs).
We were pretty impressed when our friends at Two Seasons knocked up to 60% off a load of sweet snowboarding gear, but we’re beyond excited to learn that they’ve now gone even further and reduced a wide range of stock by an unbelievable 80%!
The sale includes snowboards, jackets, base layers, fleeces, beanies and gloves, to name but a few, but we haven’t been able to look past these absolutely incredible deals on snowboard boots…
Get a whopping 80% off these Vans Encore snowboard boots which have been reduced from £155 to a ridiculously low £30! Quite frankly, it’d be rude not to!
And there’s a similarly good deal for the ladies with these awesome Burton Coco women’s snowboard boots which have been reduced from £110 to only £33!
Another great deal is on these Vans Ambush snowboard boots which have been knocked down from £150 to only £45.
And finally, one more amazing deal that we think is worth a mention is on these Oakley Stockholm goggles which have been reduced from £120 to only £36! That’s a crazy price for such a sweet pair of goggles!
Get in there quick people, as this stuff is going fast…
The latest voucher codes to land in our inbox come from Surfdome who are offering a further 10% off everything in their massive winter sale! They’re already offering up to 50% 
off a wide range of great snowboarding gear and now you can get a further 10% off when you use the voucher code ‘BONUS10′ at the checkout.
We particularly like this Horsefeathers Zaurak Men’s Jacket which had already been reduced by 40% from £185 to £110.98, but is now on sale for the super low price of £99.88 when you use the voucher code! Also available in Red.
Another great deal is this much coveted Lib Tech Recycler Men’s Jacket which had already been reduced by 40%, from £235 to £140.99 but now you can get it for £126.89 using the new code!
These are seriously good prices for such great quality jackets, and just in case you’re wondering, we have it on good authority that bright colours are still going to be popular next season, so even if you’ve done all your shredding for this season, they’ll be a great investment for next year!
Check out the Surfdome sale for more awesome deals on snowboarding pants, goggles, gloves, helmets, snowboards, snowboard boots, bindings and loads more…
If you read our last post on the amazing snowboard sale that’s happening at Two Seasons, you’ll no doubt be languishing in the smugness and satisfaction of having bagged yourself a sweet new ride for a fraction of its original price. If you missed it, check it out now as the deals are too good to miss.
If you were so blown away by the deals on boards (as we were) that you didn’t notice the fantastic deals they had on other snowboarding hardwear then have another look. After all, a shiny new board deserves some shiny new bindings… especially at these prices!
If you grabbed yourself a bargain Burton board like the Process Flying V (reduced from £355 to £249) then kit it out with these top of range Burton Cartel Est bindings which have been reduced from £200 to £140. They’re a great, high 
performance all mountain binding with a fairly stiff flex rating of 7. They have been specially designed for Burton boards and are only compatible with Burton boards featuring ‘the channel’. Also available in White.
These best selling Union Contact bindings have been reduced from £160 to £128. They come in a range of different colourways and not only look great but are super strong and lightweight, and offer fantastic all mountain performance.
If you’re looking for something that’s not necessarily so high-spec, but still gives great performance, the Burton Custom bindings will be just the thing. They offer great mid range flex and are a fantastic all round binding. Pick them up now for just £108, reduced from £135.
A great option for the ladies are these Burton Lexa Est bindings which have been reduced from £180 to £143.96. Not only do they look rad but are extremely high tech, with a slightly stiff flex rating of 6.
With prices this good, this is the kind of binding deal you’re going to want to secure!
If you’re kicking yourself for having missed out on the incredible Westbeach sale (we did try to give you a heads up!), then worry not as there are still some other great sales on the 
go. And as we know you’re far too busy shredding/planning your next trip to the mountains/working hard to pay for your next trip to the mountains, to spend hours trawling the internet for the best deals on kit, we’ve done the hard work for you and picked out the best of the deals…
Two Seasons have got one of the best sales at the moment with some amazing deals on everything from snowboarding hardwear to outerwear and accessories. But it’s their deals on snowboards that particularly caught our eye as they’re selling some sweet rides at ridiculously low prices. So if you need a new stick or just want to add another to your quiver, now’s the time to pounce, as you’re not going to get prices any better than these…
If you’re buying your first board or looking for a board that’s super easy to ride, and at a super low price, then this 2011 Burton Clash or K2 Anagram are perfect. The Burton Clash is forgiving enough to learn on but also stiff enough to allow you to improve your skills, and its rocker profile makes it nigh on impossible to catch an edge. It’s also been reduced from £260 to a bargain £149!
And if you want to save even more, the K2 Anagram is going for a crazy £129, reduced from £320! It’s a very similar board to the Burton Clash but just a little bit more freestyle specific. It’s not often you see brand new boards of this quality for such low prices!
If you’re looking for a great all mountain freestyle board with loads of pop, this Ride Machete has also been discounted massively and is reduced from £340 to £179!
Or if you want a true ‘one board suits all’ stick which is stable at speed, floats through pow, but still soft enough for jibbing around and hitting the park, this 2012 Burton Process Flying V is the one for you, particularly as its been reduced from £355 to £249!
One of the best women’s boards this season is the Salomon Oh Yeah and you can now get it for as little as £199, reduced from £270. Its perfect for ladies who’re looking for an all-terrain freestyle board and it’s as fun to ride as it looks!