Switching from contest mode to filming mode aint easy

it's always hard to skip powder days because of contests but in this case was worth it

Gloryfy bastards was the contest with best format ever. Hitting the biggest hip in my life in Gerlos at night was one of the best experiences i've ever had. I came in Gerlos on Friday night and missed the training. When i saw the feature i was blown away. Perfect shaped hip in the middle of village almost was looking really cool and pretty big. 18m of flat at the top looked sketchy to hit it over. But soon this myth was busted when i started to hit it in the morning practice. In 6 try's i decided to go a bit faster and jumped over for the first time. Came a bit short but everything was ok.

Qualifications started with jam session of snowboarders before skiers and snowboarders didn't step it up. One of them made it over with backside 180 and that scared me a bit, because my first goal was to do some cool tricks over. It was snowing and there was not much of the speed. Our time was on and skiers were al pumped. Did couple of jumps on the side and than surprised everyone with doing a smooth 540 over the whole thing. Since then everything just went crazy. Everyone saw that it is possible so they stepped up their game aswell. It was a madness already in Qualis. With my team mate we made it to finals which was pretty cool.

Finals started with best trick session where i made mistake and didn't land my 900 tail. But team finals were still ahead of us. We did a run with his 180 and my 540 and decided to go for all or nothing on the second run. We didn't make it so we had to be pleased with 3rd place. So that's pretty ok for this invitational contest that beaten me up so many times with big crashes also. Once i came up short and knocked my face with the knee into my head and broke lens. And the other time i went for a 9 and soon as i came out i knew that's going to be big. I couldn't see nothing in mid air but when i came out i saw i am still 5m to high for a sweet landing. Landed really deep and ejected out of skis. So the feature was 10m high and you can also see from the photo that i went pretty big, so decide how big was the crash.

Soon as i came home i got a call from my friends that powder time is on and we builded a kicker in backcountry and got no shots which was a bummer.

But than today we went across one peak and found perfect playground which made us shreding the best pow of the year and put big smiles on our faces

So many things can happen in just a few days and i am already stoked for new snowfall that is coming in a few days!

Redbull Linecatcher in Vars part2

Here is a little something of my first run in qualis

GLORYFY BASTARDS

i like to jump, i like to go high and i like to do mellow tricks. i guess i've chosen Gloryfy bastards over Polish freeski open because of that...

This weekend i am invited to hit 10m high corner jump with a drop-in from a digger's hand. 8 teams with 2 skiers will compete for best style, best trick and highest air.


SNOWBOARD:

Wolle Beer
Steve Grumser
Corsin "Cuga" Simeon
Davide Beltracchi
Steve Kröll
Rudi Kröll
Manuel Bernert
Jocki Köffler
Reini Rieser
Friedl Kolar
Anthony Smits
Werni Stock
+ 4 more tbc

FREESKI:

Mike Waltl
Martin Misof
Mike Hauser
Kevin Sagmeister
Fabio Studer
Christoph Söllner
Luggi Brucic
Matthias Egger
Bine Zalohar
Dominik Hasibeder
+ 6 more tbc

i will represent Slovenia and hope that Redbull gives me wings to go high enough

See us in the air!!1

Quiksilver Slovenia freeski tour - slopestyle winner

It's good to progress in skiing, but to have an impact on other kid's progression is way cooler

Last weekend i won the first stop of Quiksilver Slovenia freeski tour which is a series of events through the season only for slovenian kids to meet the freeskiing world and progress in skiing through events like these. I can't be more proud to see kids jumping on kickers bigger than on most contests. Even if they can't reach the double cork level, they still keep up with style and confidence to hit the course with flat up-rail, 16m and 15m kicker in the line.

flat rail is fun if you fly out of it

loads of airtimes made me do easier tricks with steeze

representing 4frnt MSP skis...they're true killin machines

and always good to have photos with groupies ;)

Next on is Gloryfy bastards invitational event in Zillertal (25m kicker...plenty airtime) stoooked!

Red bull Linecatcher 2010 in Vars part 1

Last week i got an oportunity to ride on the world's biggest freestyle backcountry event in Vars

great mountains at 7 am

Event like the Redbull Linecatcher is the ultimate in our sport. The mix between freestyle skiing and the mountains is one of the kind and the hardest thing in skiing. For this kind of skiing the athlete needs to be in top shape, he needs to be aware of avalnches and risk with skiing in these terrains. It takes so much skills to bring all those tricks from park into big ountain area and get away with clean runs without big falls between rocks on a steep face. That is why top skiers from all over the world took place in Vars and offered the show to the public. Sage-Cattabriga Alonsa, Cr Johnson, Candide Thovex, Anthony Boronowski, Sean Pettit, Tim Durtchi, Richard Permin, Jp Auclair,...were just the few names of great riders...

Tanner Hall broke his tibias and both knees in the spring and after 5 surgeries he was judging in his words 'the best event in the season'

My team mate Cr Johnson shoved me what's up and at the end took 3rd place..Respect bredda!!!
After the first day of shreding 1m of new layer of powder on 2m of base and scooping the line for qualis, i was pretty much lost what to do and how to get down as big as i can or i can't. That is why it was really important for me to take photo of the face and figure out the way. On the photo everything looks so easy and small but when you are out there...different story

...going through my line over and over...

interviews were the event's dark side...when you are there you just want to ski...nothing else

minutes before the first quali drop...can you see the line from here? i guess so

hiking kept us warm from freezing...-22 degrees at 7 am

Qualifications were heavy. Such a good skiing on the Europa's highest level offered a great show to the public. 12 riders and almost 24 different lines were the point of redbull Linecatcher. We killed the face and had a smile on our faces whole day long. After qualifications only 2 spots were open for the finals. I couldn't better than Victor and Leo so i had to please myself with only side-watching the finals. In my opinion i did a good job. Did the double set cliff, some small jumps and 360 over the windlip in the first run and big 360 over the cliff and the big bottom cliff where i expected harder impact on landing. I am happy with this performance on my first ever freestyle/bc event and stoked to get back here next year!

Hucking the bottom cliff and landing it easy

GREY powder days in COLOURS

Spending time with friends on powder days even if it's not waist deep is...everything in skiing

For my new year's present i got a chance to compete on one of the biggest freeride / freestyle event called Red Bull Linecatcher. I am leaving on friday and be doing qualis on sunday.

the clip form last year's event

I also got brand new CRJ 2011 powder skis from 4frnt. It is the sickest ski to shred deep pow, crust, icy parts, jumps... That is why i come home every day with bruised hips, busted knees, sore back,...but really glad to have the chance to ski on gray days when everyone are mostly in school or at work. Tired and happy everyday after skiing all the time checking my gear, adding some cool things in my backpack for next day, trying to figure out what can i do to make the next day even better on skis.


I love my friends and love snow and even on a day like today i see colours!



Oh yeah. I also entered a photo contest with my powder and big air shot and voters decide who will take home the grand prize ( Heliskiing in Alaska )
It is definetly skier's biggest dream to ski out there, so if you'll support me and get me some votes i would be very pleased.

Here are links to following photos:
Powder bomb | binezalohar: The North Face Ski & Snowboard PHOTO CONTEST
powder shot
Bine Zalohar | binezalohar: The North Face Ski & Snowboard PHOTO CONTEST
big air shot

Thanks and have fun... BLESS!

Jib Jam in Kranjska Gora

Rail event in Kranjska Gora was the first event in Slovenia so far and a place to be for me!

setup
...i'm not really a fan of rails but i came here to show what i've learned in past few years on the street. i don't practice rails much in the parks, because i rather hit some jumps or shred some pow. So usualy i go on the streets and film rails. My first street rail i ever hit was the one in Planica (44 stairs, wooden crooked rail, remember?) and the next day in Kranjska Gora (double kink, narrow, steep, iron steps on bith side). So i was happy to see a sweet down rail and a flat down box before event started.

Even if the season is not fully on...actually is not on at all because of lack of snow, i was surprised that so many people actually came to shred and support freeskiing. Many of riders were at home watching movies, eating pies or whatever but still...we had fun!

afternoon practice

it was cool for me to warm up on box before hitting the rail

After 1.5 hour of jam session riders decided who will take home 250euros and some sweet stuff form 69slam and others. I guess my style was appreciated so i won the first contest of the season. I like!

My christmas

morning glory
foto: Matevž Maček
I don't celebrate christmas. It's cause of my family...u don't need to know! But the christmas spirit lives around so i was wondering what are my wishes. I definetly got an answer. I need a freedom, being able to do what i'm doing till the rest of my life and being able to love my friends as they love me.

Yesterday, 23rd December, i spent the day with friends on the coast surfing in a cold water. No matter how does this sound, it was the warmest surf since i got home. Best vibe, sunshine, glassy waves, smile all over our faces. Imagine me prepairing christmas tree, or going shopping, or cooking the dinner!!! Hells no! I am doing what i love, not for the money. Trust me, we aint got much at all! But for the love and passion. That might sound sentimental again, but you know what. Fuck all your jobs in this world and fuck all your christmas trees and spirit that come only once a year. To celebrate life everyday is something a lot of people at work don't get. Doing something that you don't love just for the money that cause problems??? Not me!
Check out these shots and you'll see what i'm talking about.

foto: Matevž Maček

me waxing the board
foto: Matevž Maček

me shreding
foto: Matevž Maček

Matevž shreding
foto: Matevž Maček

foto: Matevž Maček

after many hours in cold water
foto: Matevž Maček

Domen
foto: Matevž Maček

Marko
foto: Matevž Maček

So you get it now? No matter where you are, what you doing, please don't be a sheep!

foto: Matevž Maček

BTW...as i mentioned being free and all that crap. Check out my christmas present (shovel, probe, beeper, helmet and body protection) and guess what i'll be doing next!

Special relationship with rails

photo: Peter Fetih
I have to admit that i am not really into rails when it comes to skiing. I rather save myself for them after a great day in pow or park. It's not really cool to crash on a rail just before the season even starts and break some bones, twist wrists or ankles or just fall onto steps on your back.

photo: Peter Fetih
On the other hand you can have so much fun with your friends scouting the town for spots with rails, wallrides, jibs,...Sometimes it makes me laugh when watching buddies coming from all over Slovenia on a spot at 7 o'clock and knowing that we won't be hitting this spot for at least next 3 hours. Whole preparation takes so much time and often even if the setup is done and prepared, we have to wait for filmers and photgraphers to make their, thousands and thousands euro worth gear,work. The second thing is often a speed problem which can be solved with drop in ramp, winch or sometimes even friend's pull.
So yesterday i decided to hit a sweet, pretty easy, pre-season down rail with my snowboard friends. We had pretty awesome session for about 2 hours and after putting 5 hours of work into preparation and filming of it, cops rolled in and forced us to clean everything in 10 minutes. I hate this feeling, when you know you can put down at least 2 or 3 more tricks and someone forces you to quit!!!

photo: Peter Fetih
But there are plenty more rails and plenty more action to come in this winter and i am looking forward to stomp some tricks!

1 run on Krvavec with Bine Zalohar and Go Pro HD

Before hitting it to France with MountVacation.com i am obliged to stay at home and shred nothing but resort near my place. It doesn't offer any rails, parks, backcountry but at least it's a skiing...better than nothin right?
Check out little edit from myself.
Meanwhile you are watching this clip i am out on the field doing some street rails filming.

Bails behind the shot

This post is for everyone that is watching freeski movies or other extreme sports movies. Before making a thing such is a freeski movie you got to have enough really cool shots to even have a part in it. It has to be filmed well. Sometimes you can do the gnarliest trick ever on the gnarliest spot, but if the camera angle is not cool enough you can forget that day even happened! Such is life and so are the bails.
Bails are things that are usually not in those movies except sometimes in crash segments. The worst bails can cost you the season and some of them can cost you life. Yes, it can and it sucks, but that's part of the game. It's a men's game and we're playing it!

photo: Maja Ropret
Yesterday i made this funny little feature on home resort just for fun, because visibility was horrible to ski. My snowboard friend Žiga made it look easy with FS rodeo 5 of it. But for me something wasn't cool. Skiers always have less pop than snowboarders and i also took a lot of speed into it, because i want to make sure i will go high enough and clear it with my head.
1st. try i hit the wall with my head really hard and on camera looks like i broke something there, but wasn't really hurting so i took more tries. I always rotated a bit too much and rotation kept me falling on my back, shoulder, head,...I stomped the trick once, but definetly am not satisfied with it and will try to find another spot with different transition and different landing. I sucked big time, but this is freesking. You have to try more and more till you have it and shoot it perfectly in perfect conditions. I know that at the end of the season you will all be stoked to see my edit, but till then i will have many concusions, broken bones, twisted ankles and wrists...
Check this slo motion and you will see that just a little mistake can sometimes put you on the bed for couple fo days. I luckily didn't hurt myself much by doing this so...enjoy!

Big change in Slovenia

I bitch about lame winter over here since i got home from indonesia in November. Yesterday was still a relaxed day with cool people and i spent it on a trip to Bohinj and dinner in Bled. At the dinner i was talking to my sponsor and a good friend David that i am stressed out because of green December.

It is nonesense that skier has to be forced to stay at home. But as if they hear me from above it was snowing in the morning when i woke up at 5.30. Unbelievable first snow was here. I grabbed my 4frnts, dalbellos, oakleys, skullcandys and I pod and rushed to Krvavec resort that has just opened today. Cool day with cool friends and some freshie. Still not waist deep pow or a big kicker, but i am glad that winter has finally started and that i can ski again. I will be skiing as much as i can even if i only do turns on a piste without good edges on my skis. It's fun to float! We made some shots with new GO PRO HD camera. Flat light but shots are still perfect.

Behind the scenes

Waiting period for the snowfall has begun. i can't believe that there is nothing i could shred on. Not a single park worh of shreding and driving is not working. Weather is changing fast, but unfortunately is not giving us more falls. On days like this one i am at home, having a cold and watching Billabong pipeline masters in Hawaii and wishing i was there.
I was really stoked to see the performance of Jamie o Brien. Jamie just didn't get as many waves he should. But there are still couple of guns out there. Micheal Ho, Joel Parko Parkinson, Mick Fanning, Kelly Slater, John John Florence,...John John is killin it and i would like to see this 17 years old kiddo taking it home. I started to surf this year and i know how hard is to catch a wave that you can shred on. I can't even imagine how hard is catching right waves that will barrel and stay in barrel for as long as you can till it spits you out...

RESPECT to the guys out there on the scariest wave in Hawaii

B movie premiere in Ljubljana

'Yo dude yo gotta come over here...the premiere is on!'

After winning Air&style Marko Grilc made a premiere of Burton's new movie in Ljubljana. It was soooo sick to have him here as a host and as a friend who achieved so much and made at least 400 people that were on a party soooo proud of being in Slovenian extreme sport scene.

Grilo in the name of love

It felt so good to be among friends that i haven't seen for so long. I took a picture with everyone i knew, or not and it made my day.

Press car means only troubles

and tall girls means only...long legs...definetly not troubles

the hat means only a cool lifestyle

and a wink means only ALL IN

a movie night is reason for a hang out

and the crowd means appreciation

and a group photo means nothing but love

High pressure surfin

I went to a surf spot in Croatia today with my friends. It was pretty big for this spot and wind changed in the afternoon so we had an awesome session. I had no bootys and my feet were frozen and while getting out of the water in almost complete dark i twisted my ankle again on the rocks. But the smile was bigger than any pain so i am claiming the day.

It should've snow in next days so hopefully some skiing soon. Catch up!!!!

Great week

Yesterday i got home from Kaprun where i spent 4 days of hanging out with really cool people. Btw there was also Cosmopolitan opening for women hosted by Mountvacation.com . You can imagine what was going on mostly. Or not. Anyways, i tried to find the first pow in the season to draw some lines. I found it for sure, but unfortunately there was lack of base snow so the 'reef sharks' peeked out of the snowy cover almost everytime on the steep parts. There were only couple of lines, but that was all i needed for the start of the season in Europe. Only freerider know's what this feeling is and what can it do for you for the rest of the day.

laughing at one of the lamest and easiest short lines...but it was just so cool

the line in the middle was rough to my skis, but the next one was rough to my body after falling from 4m rock to another rocks

i just love these ends of the day

2 days ago at 3 o clock in the morning i was partying pretty hard and i got news from Innsbruck where my friend Marko Grilc won Air & Style...I couldn't believe it and i still can't really tell how cool is to hang out with my friends who achieve so much in their lifes and inspire me every single day no matter where we hang out. Every single one has done so much in this season already and it hasn't even started yet. Trust me good old YUGO's will rock this year everywhere. No matter where and how we gonna kill it.

Marko invited us for a dinner tonight...stoked for wednesday? for sure yes!!! stay tuned!

Can't stop

On a day like today you can't do much. You can either hang with buddies in front of Tv or updating facebook mood status every second, which sometimes can be fun. Just after i changed my status this morning, i got a call from my friend Marko.
¨Dude i know you're bored as me. Let's go do something¨: he said. So yeah why not going to Klagenfurt, the city just behind Austria-Slovenian border. On sunday you can cruise around the city or make the first turn towards indoor skatepark with a foam pit.

Because i couldn't take my bmx bike with me i had to take skates. I was laughing actually to myself when putting on the weels on the blades of glory. Getting tunes into my ears with brand new Skullcandy headphones and preparing skates took me at least half an hour. Easy times on a day like that.

Marko and Tim were already on fire doing some cool tricks.I just wanted to shred with friends and throwing some rotations into foam pit. Marko went for some double backys and flatspins and i wanted to throw some corks after flats. On a cork 10 i twisted my ankle IN! a foam pit and ended the day with a big smile and big ankle.

I guess that is what it takes to have fun and i am cooling it down for tomorrows surfing. Can't stop at the moment. I just have too much fun.

Warming up on Dachstein

This week, it took us less than 5 minutes to make up our minds and leave for Austria to spend the week. Some of you would call that a ski holidays, but I call it practice time and dialing new tricks just before the season starts over here. Because of really bad snow conditions all over the Europe, we couldn’t go anywhere else but the Dachstein ski resort has lots to offer anyways. Besides comfy apartment in the Kielerhof lodge and warm sunny afternoons, there are loads of medium sized jumps at the top of the glacier.

On the first day, I was kinda’ disappointed by how small the jumps are in comparison to the one we built at the Kanin resort last spring, but everything went smoothly. Started warming up my ankles and knees on the icy landings. Hard landing weren’t really good to my body but sometimes, you just have to be on it.
There were many of my skier buddies from all over the Europe, who were practicing for the Winter Jam in Stockholm. This event in the world’s biggest tour event, it stops in major cities to display man-made jumps. Ten of the world’s best skiers are invited to the series and they throw down the biggest tricks on the ski market at the moment. What has been happening in our industry for the past year is just plain crazy! Double corks improved so much that no one is throwing any other tricks in competitions. It is so dangerous to do the 3 or 3 ½ full rotation of the body with a combination of two flips over the head in the same trick, all that while grabbing your skis!

I wasn’t doing doubles on Dachstein but I sure had fun to practice natural (left), unnatural (right), switch (going backwards) spins on every jump. Definitely, I am ready for some slopestyle events from now on: I have my run dialed.

On the other hand, hanging out with my friends in an apartment and cooking food for them was best. We laughed so much when I was telling them stories from my summer in Down Under and Indo. We fell asleep after that, and woke up every morning ready for some action.

I am home now and I plan to do some photo shoot and interviews. Then, I’ll head back to snow and some waves.

Following snow in November

After surfing, staying at home and do nothing (well, not nothing, but just feeling that something is happening out there and I am missing it) wasn’t really all that cool. That’s why I called my friends Nejc and David, from Bled, to go to the Soriška Planina ski resort to check what were the conditions like out there.


Thirty centimeters of snow are always better than ten, so we managed to get some pipes and rails and had a cool jib session.
My Skullcandy team mate Nejc was just killing it on his snowboard. Threw down so many tricks I was impressed, maybe because I haven’t seen him for a while now. But as a rebel I always try to find something else to hit. I found a sick sculpture of a bear in the middle of the ski resort and I decided to handplant it over. Got some cool shots with my 4frnt manager David after just 3 hits. Great work for a Sunday’s afternoon!
On the other hand, that kind of skiing wasn’t quite the one I wanted at the moment so I decided to check the weather forecast and drive to the nearest glacier: Dachstein, in Austria. It has to offer one of the best snowparks at the moment. It is definitely not THE best one but it is always cool to meet riders from all over Europe who come here to practice at the beginning of the season. The crew of snowboarder buddies and me, as a skier, filled up two cars and we cruised to ‘Jodl land’. Bluebird, a few riders and us did laps for four hours on Tuesday.


People often go to work on weekdays… but we did a good job as well.

Slovenia rocks

Start of the season over here in Europe? It is just great to come home after 5 months of Eastern world and its mentality, call friends and go surfing on the Croatian coast on a huuuge jetlag. Five hours of sleep and driving a friend’s van, because he’s too tired after 10 hours of sleep, can’t get better. Red bull overdose and slaying our ship on wheals down to the coast. And nothing can surprise more than a snowfall all over Slovenia at 3am. Like going on a ski vacation in France! But no, we were just cruising to Medulin, a spot in Istria that only works after couple of days of SW winds. Coming there at 6am and watching the biggest waves I have ever seen over here with my friends was the best feeling. Don’t get me wrong. Australia and Bali were great but here… This was just the sickest thing ever. Coming from the snow-coverd inland to the stormy coast, where there is no sign of other surfers, just woke up my ‘adrenaline seeking’ side. I didn’t even think of anything else but grabbing my board, rubbing some wax on it and rushing into 16-degree-cold water after putting on the tightest wetsuit ever.




We were in the water for 3 hours and I started to feel cold as never before. Coming from the 34-degree-hot Singapore to the 8-degree-really-not-that-warm-with-the-windchill-factor Croatia can’t be really good to your body. But still, getting all those cool glassy waves and shreding on them with a big smile on my face, almost blue from the cold, just made so much sense as my welcome-back-home trip.
I was so happy! After catching some right handers, we grabbed a beer. It just couldn’t get better.