YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke Returns with Live Competition, Dozens of Community Events, and the NST Snaked Banked Slalom
Events run March 7–15 with comp weather window from March 10-15 |
High spirits at snowboard cult event in Laax, Switzerland.
It’s Sunday morning, fog envelops the mountain, obscuring the approach to the start. Then the worst of it clears and the blue-marked turns outline the Banked slalom course in the LAAX snow park like a fading mirage. On your marks, get set, go! For 80 young shredders.
The kids don’t care about the weather; they’re having fun riding the steep turns, gallantly, rapidly, repeatedly! Back and forth, like roller coaster yo-yos. Number 88 races – like a roller coaster – straight to the top of the podium and won’t give up his start number. It belongs to Kai Kestenholz, who magnificently repeats his title from last year, as do Paula Bauer and Leo Thoresen – the trio paying tribute to their famous snowboarding surnames. At midday, the spring sun comes out and shines its spotlight on the racers for their second runs. And for everyone who still feels like finishing the contest with a joint run, regardless of whether they are 5 or 65 years young, rides fakie – backwards – through the course. Everyone gets applause, and everyone has a satisfied grin on their face at the finish line. Bravo with cheese!
10 year-old Emmie shows us all the lightness of being. She is the best female rider in the Fakie Race, seconds faster than Svenja Schaller, the Banked series winner who is three times her age. On behalf of all the young riders, we shower Emmie with roses and know that the future of snowboarding is already here. The rider from the Freestyle Academy LAAX also won the category for the youngest participants – Young Girls, riding in her natural direction.
The fastest juniors in the banked and champions of their respective categories are:
YOUNG GIRLS Emmie Rosen 39,89 sec.
YOUNG BOYS Kai Kestenholz 41,01 sec.
OLD GIRLS Lison Paquelet 39,77 sec.
OLD BOYS Bearth Flisch 39,94 sec.
JUNIOR GIRLS Paula Bauer 39,84 sec.
JUNIOR BOYS Leo Thoresen 37,46 sec.
FAKIE RACE Men James Mermillod 39 sec.
FAKIE RACE Women Emmie Rosen 43,93 sec.
Events run March 7–15 with comp weather window from March 10-15 |
Swiss brand adds Midwest rail ripper to growing North American team program.
A twisty weekend at the 11th Banked Slalom LAAX: Snowboard cult event
