On Thursday we bumped into Amplid Ambush riders Harry J and Andi Nitsche on the snow. They’d been enjoying a week sliding and camping at Kaunertal, Austria’s number one spring destination for riders desparate to get a few more rails and kicker hits before the summer takes hold. Andi was particularly pleased that he’d managed to get his retro aircooled VW Camper up the 26km (>1500m vertical) climb. When the snow got too slushy it was straight to the 3 Wood for Marmot golf… a great way to keep Kaunertal’s booming Marmot population under control and spend hundreds of Euros on golfballs, never to be seen again. (*no Marmots were harmed at Hoodstock 2012)

When one of the biggest events of the year happens in your backyard it’s time to step-up your riding and show the media what you can do. That’s what Amplid Cartel shredder Justin Norman did when Snowboarder Magazine’s Superpark 16 came to Mt Bachelor. Justin took the bull by the horns and hit this monster speed wobble inducing step-up with smooth style and bagged a shot (by Snowboarder’s Senior Editor T-Bird) in Snowboarder Mag’s write-up of the event. Check out the Snowboarder Magazine Superpark 16 article here.

Drop-off Amplid Cartel rider McRae Williams and the rest of the Rockstar Energy Drink Freeski team at Bear Mountain resort, California and guess what happens? Actually, there’s no need to guess because the guys from Rockstar put together a sick little edit of what went down. Looks like McRae and his Antidogmas stole the limelight!

This is the first-ever “West Coast Session Day 5″ post because we’ve never done five days of Sessioning before. This year thanks to our wonderful hosts Timberline and Windell’s Camp as well as our other sponsors, we were able to session an incredible variety of features over the past five days, and today we managed to squeeze in three, in a end quite suitable for a groundbreaking West Coast Session… READ MORE AT WestCoastSession.com

After skiing it was time to celebrate our two West Coast Session birthdays: Jeff Curry (25) and Karl Fostvedt (22) with a barbeque at Windell’s! Above, Karl and Jeff with the cute heart-shaped Mother’s Day cake that Andy Parry brought for them.

Check what happened DURING skiing … 

Another day in the office for ARC rider McRae Williams. Check out WCS day III and more of Ethan Stone’s photos at DOWNDAYS.com. Or directly at the official WCS website.

Apart from tons of snow – yes, also 15cm fresh – it was one more time a blast hanging out with a british snowboard crowd at Kaunertal during the UK on-snow demo. I had some awesome rides with the ABSOLUTE gang (thanks Paul and Matt and co …) and Mark from Snow & Rock. The guys from SNOWBOARD REVIEW did some shooting while we dropped some minor cliffs, can’t wait to see the footage.

To all the british snowboarders out there:  spread your stoke in a contageous way and snowboarding will be the biggest sport in the world!

Thanks, Peter (Amplid CoFounder)

McRae Williams tossing some big dub 10s in the dry. Check out the coverage of our WSC 2012 Day II at NEWSCHOOLERS.com !

Does that look like fun ? Well, then get the entire story on NEWSCHOOLERS.com – texts and pics by our friend Ethan Stone – Thanks Ethan !

On May 6 the West Coast Session returns to Mt. Hood, Oregon.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Session will freeze-‐frame the state of today’s park skiing style, progression and culture by inviting top young ski talent to sample Mt. Hood’s excellent freestyle and natural terrain for five days, kicking off the spring season at Timberline in style.

The public jam on Sunday, May 6 invites skiers of all ages and ability levels to join the West Coast Session crew for a fun-‐filled day in the Timberline terrain parks. The public day features an on-‐hill BBQ hosted by local ski shop Hillcrest Sports, contests and giveaways for participants, and a number of unique terrain features to challenge all comers.

From May 7-‐10 the invited athletes and media will session next-‐level terrain features at Timberline and Windell’s Camp for a closed photo and video shoot, the products of which will be released for online at www.thewestcoastsession.com and also through international media partners.

Check out last year’s WSC video Read the rest of this entry »