Helly Hansen

Dew Cup Results

1) PK Hunder - 230
2) Alexis Godbout - 220
3) Bobby Brown - 205
4) Jossi Wells - 205
5) Sammy Carlson - 185
6) Henrik Harlaut - 170
7) JF Houle - 165
8) Simon Dumont - 146
9) Charles Gagnier - 137
10) Nick Martini - 136

http://freeskier.com/articles/article.php?article_id=3410

http://newschoolers.com/web/content/news/news_id/2547/

Chris Davenport is on the road setting all the courses for the Helly Hansen Big Mountain Battles.  He is a busy man... here's an exceprt from a recent emai to give you an ideal...

 Just did the craziest road trip, four days... flew Aspen to Reno, hit Squaw Valley in epic pow, drove back to Reno, flew to Seattle, drove three hours to Steven's Pass, arrived at 3 a.m.... next day skied Steven's PAss, drove 7 hours to Kamloops, arrived at midnight, next day skied Sun Peaks, drove 5 hours to Vancouver, arrived at 7 p.m., dinner with MArc Campbell at the Fairmont Airport Hotel.. got up at 5... flying home.  6 flights, 850 miles driven, and all in four days!

WELCHES, Oregon (February 16, 2009) – Nimbus Independent is proud to announce the launch of our new website www.nimbusindependent.com along with our first webisode of the season, “En Route”, presented by K2 Skis.  It’s been some late nights, long hours and the work has paid off.

The website has been made in conjunction with our new online distributor BNQT. They are a premium destination site and action sports network with fresh, unique content and exclusive video series found nowhere else on the Internet.  BNQT focuses on Skateboarding, Surfing, BMX, Snowboarding, Skiing, Mountain Biking, Moto and Wakeboarding. Their hard work and efforts have helped make this possible.

The new webisode series is called “En Route” and follows the Nimbus Crew to multiple destinations and features: Pep Fujas, Andy Mahre, Eric Pollard, Chris Benchetler, Ike Smith, Justin Wiegand, Erin Valverde Pollard and friends.  Join the crew on their first adventure as they ski and eat their way through Japan; land of rice balls, ¥3,600 breakfast buffets, homemade bamboo poles, deep pow stashes and other culturally relevant stuff.  Use the new free HD and iPod downloads to view the whole webisode on your own computing devices.  Then surf the rest of the site to view and download all of last seasons project, “Hunting Yeti.”  See it all again or enjoy it for the first time.

Next Fall, Nimbus will be coming out with another feature film on DVD titled “Contrast”.  The film will have additional footage not included in the webisode series and will be edited completely different.  By definition “Contrast” means, “to set in opposition in order to show the difference.  The difference between objects, people, concepts, color and light.”  Look for it on DVD and on the Poor Boyz and Nimbus 2009 film tour.

Nimbus, along with BNQT and its partners, is building a new model for filmmaking and what it means for audiences, athletes and sponsors through exclusive online distribution.  “En Route”, presented by K2 Skis, is streamed using the Nimbus media player on our supporting partner websites: K2 Skis, Evogear, Helly Hansen, Oakley, Tecnica, Marker, Dragon, Dakine, Atomic, Line, Bern, VAS Entertainment, Freeskier, Fri Flyt, Transition, Fall Line Skiing, Skieur, Freeskiers.net, Raiders.ch, Skizofrenia.cl, Downdays.eu, Poor Boyz Productions, and BNQT. 

“En Route” is presented by K2 Skis and produced by Nimbus Independent in association with Poor Boyz Productions.  Nimbus is producing three webisodes premiering on the 15th of February, March and April.  Hope you enjoy and check the site regularly for blog, photo and video updates.

North American Helly Hansen Athlete Walter Wood just did a 1620 in the Aspen Open pipe.  1620 means 4.5 full rotations in the air.  It is the first time that trick has been done in the pipe and he goes HUGE!  It's also of note that Walter is on 16 years old.

Check it out! http://www.zapiks.com/walter-wood-1620.html

Hjorleifson reports on his trip to Aspen fo the Powder Awards where he recieved multiple nominations including Best Natural Air and Best Line and his stay on some locals couches for the following week.

Check it out on the 4frnt site. 

http://4frnt.com/index.php/lang-en/eric-hjorleifson-main/Aspen-Extreme-.html?blogger=eric.hjorleifson

Hello, and welcome to the life and times of the Nimbus Independent film crew, featuring Pollard, Pep, Benchetler, and Mahre.  We started the year off with a bang, heading off to the mystical powder paradise known as Niseko, Japan.  I had heard rumors, and seen footage of the amazing snow, but first hand knowledge is usually better.  This trip did not disappoint.    After nearly a full day of travel, we showed up to the Niseko Village Hilton, courtesy of our friend Luke.  With a gondola right out our front door, I knew this was going to be a trip to remember.  We awoke the first day to overcast skies, and a few inches of fresh.  We explored the three resorts accessible from the Hilton, then grabbed some ramen for lunch and rested.  We went to bed that night expecting to sleep in, as the forecast was only predicting 6 inches of snow.  Everyone knows that forecasts are more of a guess than anything, which was reconfirmed when we awoke to 30 inches of fresh overnight!   Lucky for us the Hilton has a world-class breakfast buffet starting at 6:45 am.  The crew rallied to eat breakfast, get their gear ready, forget about jet lag, and try and beat out all the hungry locals for a taste of the magical Japanese powder. After a couple runs to get our legs under us, we took some time to set up shots of the crew shredding pow, tapping trees, and smashing pillows.  After a few hours, we decided to let everything fill back in for what was sure to be an amazing night session.  Come to find out Niseko is the world’s largest night ski area!  Upon arrival to go night skiing, we witnessed a crew of 10 or 12 local snowboarders shredding everything in sight, including a girl standing in the wrong spot on a cat track. Needless to say, when riding in Japan, keep your head on a swivel.  After riding until the lifts shut down, the crew went back to the Hilton for some much needed rest.  We repeated the process again the next day, resulting in more amazing video.    After a couple days of resort riding, Clayton, the owner of Black Diamond Lodge, was nice enough to show us some backcountry.  The first day was spent hiking right off the road to a well known pillow spot.  It expanded this year thanks to some construction work.  This turned out to be a very productive zone, for both shooting, and getting our legs in shape.    Later, we helped Clayton load 5 snowmobiles for the next day’s adventure. Granted, these sleds were quite a bit older than anything we were used to riding back home, but no one seemed to mind.  After getting stuck about 50 times, we finally put a trail in by sunset.  The next morning the crew doubled out on the sleds and found a nice pillow zone with sun.  Then we proceeded to hit every possible line, going home that day with a big smile.  That evening we decided to explore the town’s nightlife.  This resulted in one of the funniest wrestling matches I’ve ever witnessed.  Watch the first installment of “En Route” on February 15 for the live version, along with a bar made completely of ice.  With only a few days left on our journey, we chose to check out some other resorts on the pass over to Sapporo.  The first resort had only one lift, a high speed double chair.  It also happened to be next door to the mountain training center for the military.  They were all skiing on circa 1950’s skis, but seemed to be having the time of their life.    The last resort we tried had two gondolas feeding the same spot, one ending 300 feet higher than the other.  This seemed to be a common thing for the resorts; maybe one was the sacred gondola?  Who knows, all I can say is that Japan is one of the most interesting places I’ve been lucky enough to visit.    Please tune in for the first “En Route” installment. It’s available free on February 15 at www.nimbusindependent.com and on all of our partners sites.

Karine has been scribbling furiously and has plenty of new updates to check out at: http://www.karinefalckpedersen.com/

Here are a few pictures to check out.

Greetings from Utah, Salt Lake City!

I am here since the 26th of January. Before that I went to Aspen with Conny
and Claudia, to do the X Games. I was so exited to do them but unfortunatly
I couldnt because I got really sick. Puked the whole first night in
Aspen and then went to the hospital in the morning and got infusions and
antibiotics. After a few days I felt good. We went to watch the finals and we
were so stoked when Jenny Jones won.

Right now I am enjoying Utah. I had some great days here filming for the new
girls movie "Stance" with Jenny Jones, Hana Beaman and Kimmy Fasani. We were
really lucky, we got some powder, a lot of sunshine and a good crew. We went
to ski resorts like Brighton and Snowbird and sledding in the backcountry
around Salt Lake. It is soo much fun! Just if the sled is not working or if
it gets stuck. One time I jumped of the sled, because it was really steep
through trees and thought i would totally crash into one. So I was jumping
off luckily the sled made it save to the trail and was waiting for me ...
Haha
What an awesome area around here, I had no idea there is so much to do!
In the first week we built four kickers, and we all got shots. niiice. We
did some fun cliffs and drops. And now we are pretty beat up and tired, but
it should snow the next days. And so we can go scope and hopefully the sun
comes back before I go back to Austria.

Lisa

Court Leve Both Sides of Lens

Court has done some amazing work for Helly Hansen over the years.  Jessica Sobolowski's current ad was shot by him in Alaska.

Guess being behind the lens isn't the only place for Court.  Here he is getting the "cover boy" status on a Tahoe magazine rocking some new Helly Hansen outerwear.

Photo Credit:
Jason Kelley Photography
www.jasonkelleyphoto.com <x-msg://230/www.jasonkelleyphoto.com>

North American Helly Hansen Team rider Jake Knigge just started a new blog.  To catch up on his exploits check it out at: http://www.jakeknigge.com/

Glacier Express trip with a day of Chamonix:

Day 1: After a long trip over to Geneva, Switzerland, I finally arrive at 2pm to be greeted by my good Aussi buddy, Andrea Binning. We took the 1hr drive to Chamonix where I finally got to see the incredible mountains I had been wondering about for years.

Driving into the Valley was a pretty cool feeling as I looked up toward the gynamorous peaks that literally jetted out from the valley.

After a great dinner, although toward the end I was hallucinating due to lack of sleep / jetlag, I was more than happy to go to sleep at 9pm.

Day 2: We woke up to blue skies and an incredible view of the Les Grands Montets. from Andrea and Stian’s house. Since I only had a day to explore, Stian Hagen (Andrea’s husband) took us on the sickest 1-day tour of Chamonix. We started with the Grande Monte where I was blown away by the massiveness of the glaciers, crevasses and ice fields everywhere. We then proceeded to ski a few resorts on the way to the Aiguille Du Midi. Again, a resort that I have heard about since back in the day when I watched the Greg Stump movies. Holy smokes is all I can say. I was so out of breath from the altitude, the view, the tram ride and the beautiful surroundings. For sure a special day I will always remember.

Day 3: All aboard for the Glacier Express, a famous train through the Swiss Alps. We, athlete Andrea Binning, teleskier, Susanna Magruder, photographer, Myriam Lang-Willar and writer, Jack Shaw set off for St. Moritz or the beginning of our trip: the Glacier Express.

With Jack leading the charge and getting the Swiss tourism board to support our story, he was able to line up an amazing trip for 2 weeks.  We had a beautiful 7-hour train ride (yes first class) through the Swiss Alps. The villages, churches and castles were out of a fairytale and all I felt like doing was drinking wine, eating cheese / bread and sitting back taking in the incredible culture and view. We arrived in St. Moritz only to be greeted by the Swiss tourism representative who kindly showed us the way to our 5 Star Hotel.

After a great dinner and sleep, we woke up this am to a special treat. Myriam’s husband, Jansci Haddik (photographer) had a good friend Hans Ueli Baerfus who flies for Helibernina in St. Moritz. Long story short, Hans is a world famous guide as well as heli pilot. He wanted to show us around St. Moritz, heli style. I can honestly say it was one of the sickest heli rides with one of the most skilled pilots I have ever flown with. He crabbed (a very technical helicopter skill, flying sideways) up a peak that was probably 3.4k meters high. I was blown away. We landed up at a restaurant, as we were not on the books to heli ski for the day. The off piste run was amazing, cream cheese quality snow. We skied down to a valley where we were picked up in a horse sleigh ride. Really not planned but the only way to get out of the valley. I wanted to skate out but was out voted against, thankfully as it was a spectacular site through the Alps and something I probably won’t ever get the chance to do again. Our day ended with a sunset run on great terrain. The snow was great, not great for shooting but great skiing snow

We are heading to Arosa where they are supposed to get over a foot of snow! Can’ wait.

Day 4: Holy deep powder! Got to Arosa late last night only to wake up to 3 ft. of new snow. It was a total storm day so we just enjoyed shredding the powder and getting excited for it to clear…hopefully Thursday!

Day 5: We woke up to blue skies and the beautiful town of Arosa. We have been here for 3 days and not been able to see the views from our hotel balcony or the village nestled in the Alps we have called home for 3 days.

We had an early meeting with Gary Bachman (marketing director for Arosa tourism, guide, photographer and ripping snowboarder) at 8 am, as the first tram up was 8:20am.  Being from Squaw Valley, I expected not only to be late, but also to have the line out the door. Needless to say, that was not the case as we were probably 10th in line.

The terrain directly off the tram was an amazing peak with great mini-gulf. However, the avalanche hazard was a 4 and literally everything was ripping so we tip toed around, not able to get on anything steep. Andrea’s first shot consisted of a ski cut (thankfully she was smart enough to do so) with the entire slope below her ripping out. There is a surface hoar layer probably 2 ft deep and you can feel the rotten sugar snow when you stick your pole in to test it out.

Gary was great, showing us around and getting us good powder shots. He has been the guide for TGR the last 2 years and was able to point out all the runs the boys did while here (the stability was much better for them!)

The one photo I attached with the lines and crown underneath (check out the boulders as well) were lines that these crazy Russians were doing. Literally, every time they dropped in the entire slope would rip, they would be on rocks and all you could here were their thick accents hooting and hollering to each other on the radio. Very entertaining needless to say!

Our last run consisted of a long 4,0000 vertical powder run into a quiet Swiss village nestled into the mountains. The village does not see sun for 4 months of the winter season! It always makes me wonder what these people do to survive in these towns. They are inspirational and the chalets are so charming, you just want to go inside and drink some wine! From there we took a 30-minute train ride back to Arosa. Great day!

Day 6: We woke up early to the sun teasing us. Got an early start only to be shut out by wind and grey bird! Oh well. We are leaving today on the Glacier Express for Andermatt. Andrea and I are fired up to get on some lines and charge! Stay tuned ?

Day 7: Arrived in Andermatt in the midst of a snowstorm. It was pretty cool dragging our dakine luggage down a snowy Swiss street.

Day 8: We woke up to grey bird but clear enough to see the sick terrain that Andermatt has to offer. The best way to describe it is a huge cirque with miles of terrain, lines, cliffs, anything and everything. All accessed by 1 tram and lots of traversing. We had an incredible day just ripping powder run after powder run, they were like heli runs.

Day 9: Beautiful day! Unfortunately, the main reason that keeps photographers and filmers away from this sick area is the lack of sun. The entire cirque was in the shade for the day. The only area that saw the sun was the backside, which consisted of a 2 hr skin out. Since the Avi danger was high, we opted out of the backside and window shopped for the day. We ended up getting a few good shots.

Day 10: On the Glacier Express to Zermontt, home to the famous Matterhorn. We arrived late at night to the world famous village nestled in the Alps.

Day 11: Grey bird again but fortunately the Matterhorn was still sticking out like a sore thumb. I just keep thinking, “I can’t believe that Dav and Stian skied that peak!” Pretty awesome needless to say! We had a great day exploring Zermont terrain and having a European lunch mid mountain with views of the surrounding peak.

Day 12: My Glacier Express trip has come to an end! My 30-hour journey starts for Tahoe where I will be gearing up for the Alaska season.

Helly Hansen regional rider, Karine Falck Pedersen, has a new blog up and running.  Karine is from Norway and based in Tahoe so she can get it done all winter.  She's been killing it this season on HH and Kastle photo shoots around the world and her season is just getting started.

Check out updates at http://www.karinefalckpedersen.com