All good things must come to an end! The Stomping Grounds has officially wrapped up, the ultimate training arena for pro’s to get their pre-season tricks dialed. However, this time round, the pro’s, am’s and juniors pushed limits. Snowboarding hit a whole new scale over the past three weeks. A combination of – perfect playground, perfect conditions, Olympic’s around the corner and the fact that a lot of crew haven’t been able to travel and ride for quite some time now.
History was made. New tricks were done. Nobody’s became somebody’s. The upcoming competitive season has a new level of excitement about it. What was once borderline stale is now fresh, borderline psychotic.
Charles Beckinsale, creator of The Stomping Grounds said “I reckon this was the most progressive moment in snowboarding’s recent history with all these new tricks happening at the one place with all the best riders here pushing things together, the mood and vibe the past three was has been was electric. The triple off…It was like watching gladiators fight to the death with the stakes being so high if they fell”.
“It’s been hard to keep track of the list of NBD’s (Never Been Done’s) that have gone down here between the pipe and slopestyle but here are some of the stand outs, most NBD’s in one location ever?”
Wenlong Yang did the first ever quad cork 1980…yes, that’s right. Our heads are still spinning also!
Ayumu Hirano first ever landed frontside triple cork 14 in the halfpipe. Plus he’s now lining the triple up in the pipe. So triple into a double. Fuck.
Yuto Totsuka put down the second frontside 14 and then the first ever cab triple 14 straight after. These guys are on FIRE.
Lucas Foster did the first ever back double 16 in the pipe…are you kidding?!
Ruka Hirano with the third Frontside triple cork 14. The Japanese team is the biggest threat currently heading into the 2022 Winter Olympics. Game on.
Chloe Kim first female cab 12 in the pipe. The footage is yet to be leaked…but here’s a sick method.
Maddie Mastro first female frontside double 1080 in the pipe.
Scotty James has been going massive and doing a lot of his classic bangers as well as working on some new moves on the airbag…triple kinda moves. He obviously attempted a triple in the pipe based off the below video!
Shaun White doing massive airs and dropping his classics, dabbling with the triple in the airbag. Here’s a shot of him eating shit to mix things up…
On the Slopestyle side:
Taiga Hasegawa first snowboarder to do all 4 1800’s and with style. He is the future! And the future is now.
Luke Winkleman frontside 1800 tail and switch backside triple 16’s. Kid is on an absolute heater heading into the comp season.
Mons Roisland frontside 1800 indy tail. The raddest thing is that these riders are trying their hardest to do these big spins with as much style as possible. Not butchering it. Respect.
Marcus Kleveland dropped a bunch of 14’s 16’s and an 18. He is always pushing the envelope and so excited to see what he’s still got up his sleeve.
Mark Mcmorris cab dub 1080 out of the transition hit and some beautiful looking 14’s and 16’s. He was probably my all round standout as he was riding pipe, jumps, rails and all the transition features not just focusing on the jumps. Mark is massive threat on the slopestyle course. One of the only riders to link everything together seamlessly.
We’ve had the likes of Mikkel Bang, Travis Rice and other freeriders up here. Not sure why, but I reckon some crazy shit is going to down during the Natural Selection tour this year. So rad to see pro’s like that mixing it up with the slopestyle and big air field.
We’ll be keeping tabs on the upcoming comp season, Olympics and Natural Selection tour where all these riders will be putting it on the line. Stay tuned!
