Here is probably the coolest thing you or I have seen all week: 14-year-old Linn Ida Murud (Norwegian, I think), throwing a double frontflip at a stop at the Norwegian Open. Mind you, this is the trick that won Simon Dumont X Games gold in the big air not too long ago (for whatever that is worth). Linn barely makes it around, but a stomp is a stomp, and so far as I can tell, this is the first female to land a double flip... on camera, at least...

Se hun dobbelflipper! from Fri Flyt TV on Vimeo.

[Update: Apologies to those having trouble seeing the video... if you're having trouble, here's the link to the original. I don't much like security guards, soapboxes, (or TMZ), but I find this video of Dingo berating a security guard to be very instructive and worth posting. This ugly confrontation began at some event where Dingo was presenting an award; he allegedly destroyed an ice sculpture, something that wasn't appreciated by the security guard. I get arguing with people, but if there's anything more repulsive or lame than the "I'm the fucking man, you don't make any money argument..." I don't know what it is. It's the argument of a 16-year-old trust fund kid pulled over for speeding in Connecticut.

It's also a pretty aggressive attitude to take for a guy whose career has been the product of no real discernible talent or hard work. Watching this, the question inevitably comes to mind: what has the Dingo positively contributed to the world, aside from dressing fashionably and managing to convince 12-year-olds that he is cool?

To be fair, we don't really know what happened, maybe the security guard was, in fact, horribly out of line prior to the camera being turned on... and believe me, nobody could be more sympathetic than I to yelling at some mall cop self-righteously flexing his insect authority. Nonetheless, that doesn't justify being a petulant asshole.

Jossi Wells has mostly been known as a slopestyle/Big Air guy... in fact, if memory serves, I don't think he's ever competed in the X Games Superpipe (he will this year). But the sprightly young Kiwi has been ripping up the Dew Tour pipes. He finished second at Breck and just this morning won at Snowbasin on a smooth run with a big double on the third hit. Dumont and Olenick (those fucking rollerbladers) finished second and third respectively... Jossi leads the pack overall after two of three events.

On the women's side, who the hell do you think won? The newly married Sarah Burke, of course. Jen Hudak was second, and that Rosalind girl with the really complicated last name was third. For more, click here: http://www.allisports.com/tour/4449/standings

No pictures or videos are out yet, but enjoy Jossi's Supersessions video in lieu thereof,

Norway Super Session - Jossi Wells from Mick Jones on Vimeo.

There's really not much that needs to be said about this video, so I will shut up right after I say that I am so caught up in the majesty of Tom Wallisch's skiing right now that I am going to go ahead and say he podiums at Winter x 14 Slopestyle. Also, I am going to predict that he comes out wearing a... Vitamin Water helmet. Book it.

The Freeski world is astir after Tanner Hall got a little too deep into the fine French vino and made some rather alarming comments about certain skiers and certain types of skiers (something along the lines of getting out of the park, you fucking rollerbladers, Peter Olenick, Simon Dumont, blah, blah, blah...). The video was posted on zapniks.com and was removed yesterday and replaced with a video of Tanner apologizing, but only after every ski blogger and twitterer wrote about the original video... so the damage was done. I can think of two main things I take from this story:

On the one hand, I think it's kind of cute that the freeski world manages to work itself up in such a lather over this whole thing. It's almost like it's a professional sport or something and not a lot of people just out having fun. Don't get me wrong, the respect and legitimacy and dollars the sport has earned for itself over the past decade or so has been beyond impressive and deserved. But only a very small handful of people make their living as professional freeskiers... more people make more money bowling in the US than they do freeskiing (I would be willing to bet). It's silly for any sport to take itself too seriously; it's just sports. Tanner's comments aren't really important/relevant/influential in any real sense of those words. The point is, beyond the few individuals called out specifically, no one has any real stake involved in caring about what he said. It was just one very-well known skier (who could be identified by perhaps .05% of the US general population) who got caught in a drunken ramble on camera. So what?

On the other hand: I really want to like the guy because he is a fucking amazing skier, and I tend to want to admire those whose skills in any walk of life I am in awe of. The real shame is the damage Tanner did to his position as the de facto king of the freeski world. Everyone remembers the early videos and has heard the stories of Tanner's earlier days when he (quite rightly) thought he was the shit and (quite annoyingly) let everybody know about it. Nobody likes a prima donna, and it's hard to say he was anything but that. Youth is a fine excuse for those things. But over the years it seemed like Tanner grew out of that stage. In recent years he has come across as more humble, more respectful to everyone in the ski world, and freeskiing needs guys like that. Good people are easier to root for. They generate income dollars for the sport as a whole and that benefits everybody. So he set himself back on this one...

Tanner's done a ton for the sport, and I doubt you'll ever see anything like that out of him again. Everybody deserves a pass, and as long as he calls up the people he called out in the video and makes a personal apology and doesn't do anything as low class as this again, the whole thing should just be forgotten about. The punishment of waking up hungover and realizing what an unbelievable asshole you were last night is usually enough.

Sort of... Candide just won in the Red Bull Linecatcher over in France, which judge Tanner Hall called: "The sickest contest I have ever seen." There's not much video of the event yet, but Candide is about my favorite skier of all time so it is great to see him back on the hill. Ever since that crash on Big Bertha we haven't seen much out of him. Candide Kamera was sick, but that seems to have died on the vine, so all we have now is this video proof that he is, in fact, still skiing and still killing it. It's not much, but you know. for more on the contest, click here. If you need help translating the Candide interview below, email Aiss at aiss@bnqt.com

Interview et run de Candide Thovex vainqueur Linecatcher 2010

Interview et run de Candide Thovex vainqueur Linecatcher 2010

Here's a good way to start off your week, watching Russ Henshaw launch himself into the troposphere for a solid three minutes. MSP's been releasing edits with Powder every Monday this winter (or so they say, the release schedule actually looks more like whenever MSP happens to feel like it/remember to post the vids). But we're thankful they remembered this week... Henshaw has definitely vaulted into the upper echelon of big air riders, and while I am here, I am going to go ahead and make Russ my pick to win the Big Air comp at the X Games (that is, assuming they are not doing that ridiculous text voting thing again this year... yay, double frontflips!).

[UPDATE: The embed has been destroyed, and will not be reappearing, until the code is changed to prevent it from automatically playing whenever someone logs onto my page... Most. Annoying. Thing. Ever. Watch it here: http://mspfilms.mobilerider.com/tv/548/vendor-2-media-25195-0-0-title-Russ-Henshaw-reedit.html]

Sure it's late in the game, but you still have time to get your loved one that perfect holiday gift this holiday season. Some Bentley skis! Straight gangster! Pretentious Swiss Ski manufacturer Zai teamed up with Bentley to bring you the creatively titled Zai for Bentley skis. Have a look:


The comedy here is so overwhelming, it's hard to know where to begin. Let's start with the price tag, shall we? Sure, we're in a bit of an economic depression these days, but you can't really put a price tag on luxury, can you? And besides, everyone has an extra 6,800 Euros lying around, no? Heck, with the exchange rate right now, that's only about 9,800 dollars. And for that price, it comes with a FULL TWO YEAR WARRANTY! Klaus, fetch my checkbook. Look at this guy, stoked on the warranty:



Of course, you need to take care of your Bentley skis, which is why it is important that you purchase the matching Bentley skibag, which is described here: "the stylish ski bag is made of leather and neoprene. This robust combination ensures that the skis have optimum protection and guarantees carrying comfort. The lining is quilted Bentley-style and pampers the skis with its suppleness."



I would point out several things: 1) who the fuck cares about carrying comfort? If you can buy 10,000 dollar skis, the only people who will be carrying them are Deer Valley parking lot attendants and the Pakistani stewardess on your jet. 2) Since when is leather and neoprene a robust combination? Plenty of skiers do just fine without buying bags that COWS DIED FOR!



On the very unlikely chance that someone with enough money to buy these skis is reading this (when they could instead in the hot tub popping mad bottles and touching mad models), I would implore them to take the money they would spend on these skis and donate it to an orphanage. Failing that, take the money and burn it in the backyard. For more, click here: http://www.zaiforbentley.com

Admit it- you've definitely thought about it before: freeskiing waves. Deep down everybody wants to be a surfer, so Cody Townsend and Mike Douglas took the Salomon FreeskiTV credit card, flew to Maui, rented some jetskis, and towed into some rights. The results are, um... well, judge for yourself. It definitely looks like a lot of fun, but I'd say this blossoming sport has a long ways to go before it looks good, and that distinction is important. But give them credit: they pulled into some pretty big waves. Cody also lets loose a little bit with the kiteskiing a little bit too... no comment. It's not all fun and lollipops in this episode though, there's a little drama towards the end.

We can't embed the video, so click here to watch it: http://www.salomonfreeski.com/others/freeski-tv.aspx?ep=11#player

If this kind of doesn't rub you the right way for some reason, here's Mike Bibby, Liam Downey, et al. scoring some blower with Level 1:

You basically can't be a pro freeskier these days unless you have a video blog, it has become mandatory. So it should come as little surprise that Tim Durtschi has started the craftily titled Durtschi Diaries in cooperation with the good, god-fearing folks at Saga outerwear. While the first three segments certainly don't stack up to his closing segment in Everyday is a Saturday, there is some pretty good skiing to be found in here... some of it is also mind-bogglingly pointlesss, so be forewarned, If you can't get enough Tim Durtschi, these videos are for you:

There is a third episode out, but I am not posting it, because it sucks.