Role Models, Spinning, The Kid & Straight Airs:The Laax Open Report
Scotty James during the Night Pipe Session
Although returning to Laax Open bears some expectable delights, like some insane snowboarding, the good coffee at NoName or the stunning snowpark; every year is different. This time finals got postponed and even cancelled. Also, traditionalists feared that by including Freeski to the Open, the contest might not be the same anymore. Well, it wasn't – but not for the worse. Buckle up for some nostalgia, the queens of snowboarding and a sobbing old man.
Text by Stefan Geissmann; Photos by Jenny Lang
True Role Models
Watching the women's slopestyle finals on Sunday was a delight. Ridiculous rail riding on the first part of the course led to reasonable spinning on the kickers. "Women's Slopestyle is the most exciting event to watch right now", shouted an agitated Henry Jackson mid-competition. I could not agree more: With Zoi Sadowski Synnott in first and the amazing Mia Brookes in second place, two riders took the top spots, showing a riding style that mesmerized the viewers. Style, finesse and juvenile carelessness inspired the snowboard dreams of everyone watching. These two and Anna Gasser in third place made clear that maybe some old men in the industry are not ready yet for them to take over snowboarding, but clearly, they are.
Ban on Spinning
While some men showed great snowboarding on the rails and the last obstacle, their performance on the kickers in between involved some questionable pirouetting. It just got clear that a 1620 over the smallest jump made spectators shout, "Yo, homie, chill!" rather than, "Uh yeah, tasteful spinning, bro." Experts, who do not want to read their names on this particular site, demanded a ban on spinning more than fourteens and predicted that viewers would turn off TVs in upcoming years as soon as women comps are over. But just as you might think, snowboarding will be lost to gymnasts and acrobats; look at the podium: Marcus Kleveland on the top spot, Dusty Henricksen and Sven Thorgren. These guys scored top three with the display of utterly tasteful riding. Kleveland even bringing back buttering into spins like he was Jussi Oksanen himself. Or better: elevated buttering to levels where Jussi never thought buttering into spins could be taken. But that's not it with the nostalgia.
Dusty the Kid
In a time when contest snowboarding seems very serious, you see coaches everywhere, all dressed in black, the name of their beloved country printed on their backs. Also, the athletes are seriously committed to winning, only eating superfoods, staying sober and going to bed at a reasonable hour. You might think, well, this is what it takes to make a podium nowadays – just deal with it.
But not every rider wanted to deal with "it": Several anonymous sources confirmed the presence of Mr. Dusty Henricksen in an establishment known for wild dancing and serious drinking. While his opponents dreamed of making a podium, the individual named above partied at least until 3 in the morning. Displaying very clearly, that the good old hype therapy on the dance floor – known as the most powerful contest preparation for decades – is still a reliable path for the pursuit of a podium spot.
This led to a heartwarming story. When hearing the rumours of Dusty the kid, proving that proper party preparation is still a valid way of success, an elderly snowboarder could not hold back his tears anymore. Between his weeping of happiness and serious sobbing, bystanders heard him whisper: "Thank God, the kids are alright." How right he was.
Celebration of the Straight Air
You probably saw the hashtags that Laax is nice (yo) or even called "baby". Well, social media people should come up with a catchy hashtag reminding people of how amazing the pipe finals are. The comp on Saturday night is always one hell of a show and the turn-up was crazy once more: Weekend warriors, locals of the neighbouring villages, families, die-hard lovers of snowboarding, party folks and even city boys in joggers and sneakers showed up to witness the madness. And the madness got delivered, even though not in the expected way. Due to the notorious Segnas wind and the bloody fog that kept coming back, the contest was cancelled and could not be carried out as a fair competition.
What seemed a bummer at first turned out to be a blessing. Hyped by the amazing stage of a night final, the riders decided to put on a show. Whenever the fog disappeared for a minute, they managed to compensate the viewers for showing up and waiting in the cold for hours. They simply put up a straight-air fest of insanity. Kaishu Hirano and Valentino Guselli busted out airs into the night sky of Laax that were unreal. You could fit entire buildings under them. Everyone was full-on mesmerized, and some also stated that this was way better than an actual final. While that question is up for debate, something else got pretty evident: displaying that simple and beautiful form of snowboarding to the spectators showed an aspect of pipe snowboarding that the average crowd does not see very often. Truly a celebration of elegance and finesse that is found only in this odd discipline where mad people find joy in riding a gigantic monster of snow and ice.
To end this, let me give you another example of why contest snowboarding is amazing. While some people have whined in the past that the disciplines have gotten so specialized that no one could compete in both pipe and slopestyle anymore, curly madman Valentino Guseli proved everyone wrong: he just casually placed himself 5th in slopestyle and 4th in halfpipe. This is more than just taking part; this is a highly likeable way of showing off.
Check out more from this year’s Laax Open (including some party footage) over on our Insta at @pleasuremagazin.