Jonathan Ehm, Cyril Calgaro, Arnaud Debluze, Rems and 10ish other freeborders were at the Mondial du Snowboard in Les 2 Alpes, for freebording in the resort to spread the word. It snowed 50cm (20 inches), so they had a great time shreding the snowpark, and testing all the ‘09 snowboard on the slopes.
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| Jonathan Ehm slashing some snow in Les 2 Alpes. Picture by Corentin |
Franky Snow is a famous French cartoon on TV, and in comic strips. We had the surprise to find a Freebord in a recent issue where Franky goes to a board shop. We’d love to see more freebording action in his cartoons.
Shop owner: “Do you want a Freebord at low price ? Even a legless cripple would love the ride!”
French magazine ‘Sport‘ wrote two pages about Freebord in this week’s issue. Sport is a very widely spread magazine, and the article is all about the ride and the ride locations :
Enjoying the 21 turns of the Alpe d’Huez, or going down the Mont Ventoux at high speed is no longer the speciality of the Tour de France runers. It’s also the hobby of Freeborders. Imported in France for three years, they are now more than 2 000 riders. Invented in 1996 by Steen Strand, Freebord is a six wheel board with bindings that rides like a snowboard. (…) The big mountain spots are not their only playground. The snowboarders of the streets also conquier the cities. “Riding in the cities is very different, but very fun aswell : we have to manage with cars and angry drivers” says Arnaud Blin. Monaco, Paris, Lyon… french Freeboarders have the choice between tons of urban spots.
(click photo to enlarge)
The summer issue of french magazine Desillusion talks about Freebord. Lucas Bennachio (pro snowboarder) reviews the board, says how much he loves the ride and how close to snowboarding it feels. Extract of the interview, translated from french :
When you just tried the board, what was your first feeling ?
5/10 first minutes were weird, but once i got over it, it was great. I loved it. It’s the same feeling as snow, but on pavement….
We often make a comparison freebord/snowboard. What do you think Freebord can bring you ?
You can ride when there’s no snow, you just gotta find a hill… So you can easily snowboard all year
So a love story is about to start. Are you going to start freebording it seriously ?
Yeah totally, i’m going to freebord the whole summer. For the people reading, please honk before the turns when you drive up the 2 alpes! (luccios’ local resort)
CHoE is a crew of European riders killing it. We premiered our first video at Burton summer camp in Les 2 Alpes, and we had great feedback.
You can watch the vid at Dailymotion, or download it in HD at crazyhillsofeurope.com
It all started at a party during the Team Week :
- Tomorow is the last day of the Team Week, let’s ride as much as we can !
- Do you think we can ride 100km of different hills in a day ?
- Let’s do this !!!
So… we did it. We rode all the spots around Les 2 alpes in one day, some hills are 12 miles long, some others are 20% grade and totally crazy. It took us 250Km of car (thanks jon to heal your knee driving us around) and 9 hours to ride these 100km without riding the same hill twice.
We rode many mythic hills like l’Alpe d’Huez (famous for the biking Tour de France) and at 6PM, after 75Km ridden, the heavy rain started. We really wanted to get to 100km, so we kept on ridding under the tempest, and over an inch of water…
Riders that made it to the 100km : Arnaud Blin and Arnaud Debluze. Sylvain Ched couldn’t ride anymore after 83km… Big up to Jonathan Ehm, who couldn’t ride because of a knee injury, and drove us around all day.
We’re leaving you with some pictures of this amazing day.
Sylvain ched, Arnaud Bling and Arnaud Debluze at Alpe d’Huez
The final run… under the tempest (15% grade)
Besides coaching Freebord at Burton Snowboard Camps, Arnaud has invited the french ripping riders in Les 2 Alpes for filming and chilling. We met local riders and rode the craziest hills of the Alps.
As editing the tons of footage will take another few days, we’ll leave you with some pictures for now.
Arnaud over a nice alpine gap
A part of the crew in La Meije
Jonathan Ehm enjoying the scenery
Arnaud is coaching Freebord on Burton Summer Camps in les 2 Alpes (France). Most campers are testing the bord, and after a few minutes they are all able to ride the nice alpine hills. Check this short video of some campers having fun on freebords.
Desillusion Mag just released an interview of Arnaud Blin on their website. This pretty fun interview is about the ride, and how fast the community is growing in France.
Check it out:
