burn energy are adding another string to their bow with Real Snow. It’s going to add a new dimension to the Winter X Games in Tignes and it’s part of Human/Machines so, all in all, it’s set to showcase the contrasting schools of snowboarding. Still a bit confused?

Short version is that 8 big name riders will travel the globe to seek the best backcountry hotspots to films their 90 second video part. With the riders that have been announced we’re expecting some huge airs, epic lines and a few ridiculous cliff jumps to say the least. Out of the 8 riders, 3 winning films will be picked and awarded with European Winter X Games medals and a €10,000 prize for the fan’s choice!
Who’s competing for this prize I hear you shout? It’s a who’s who of snowboarding as burn throw together Gigi Rüf, Mathieu Crepel, Iikka Backstrom, Devun Walsh, Nicolas Müller, Jussi Oskanen, John Jackson and Mark Sollors. All the video parts dropped yesterday on the burn energy Facebook page so head over there to watch the fruits of labour!

But before you do, make sure you get teased here with this little edit. Ladies and Gents, I introduce to you – Real Snow Backcountry.

Check out Snowboarding gear on Mpora

The Dirt Fantasy League in association with Trek has returned for 2012, once again offering up a full build bike to the most clued up Downhill World Cup manager out there.

UK residents will also be eligible for the second place prize, a training day with none other than 2011 World Cup Champion, Tracy Moseley.

With over 6,000 users taking part in 2011 we’ve stepped things up this year, bringing in Fantasy League Limited, the originators of the whole fantasy league concept back in 1991.

As always registration is totally free and anybody can sign up and create their own team and mini-league, challenge friends and even chat on-site via instant messaging.

The rules are slightly different however, with £1million to spend on five riders, and ten transfers to spread out across the season. Rather than entering just one rider into the World Championships, your whole team will be taken into account this year, which is where tactical use of transfers will come into its own.

With just over three weeks to go until the first round we’re hoping to hit 10,000 users in 2012. Dirt’s days of the hastily knocked up spreadsheet have gone, this is the world’s biggest fantasy mountain bike game.

A few words of advice:

- Not all riders listed will be attending all races, including at least one big name rider!
- There’s some definite bargains to be had
- Make sure you don’t use all your transfers before the World Champsionships
- The first race involves a lot of pedaling, some riders aren’t great at pedaling!

dirtfantasyleague.com

The White Battle Freestyle comp has taken over from Xbox Big Day Out, which took over from Gumby’s Big Day Out.
Gumby’s Big Day Out was running for about a deco and a half and was the brain child of Anthony ‘Gumby’ Gumbley. It started out as a BBQ and piss up while some other threw themselves off of a kicker but the year after that, they started to get some sponsors on board. Year 2 saw a big air and boardercross (with the first snowboarders vs skiers challenge). So where do you go from there?
Well, with Xbox taking over the title from Gumby, they moved the jump 60m so that they could build a much bigger kicker and with this, the comp just kept growing.

2012 comes around and the comp is continuing to be bigger and better than ever. The format this year will be for teams of three, compromised of a skier, snowboarder and newcomer, to take on the kickers and obstacles to advance to the next round. Obviously this continues until we crown a winner. The prizes haven’t been announced just yet but you can be assured that it’ll be well worth the entry!

Not one to shy away from a competition like this, we thought about how you might enjoy yourself in Val d’Isere and we’ve come up with a solution. We’ve sweet talked the guys at Catered-Ski-Chalets.co.uk to sort you out with a 1 week package holiday in March starting from £799. That way you can be hitting the slopes towards the end of the season and watch one of the biggest and best European snow comps out there!

Red Bull Stratos was one of those events that we just couldn’t wait for it to happen. With all of the videos that were released and every image that was sent out, it was an event that was going to blow minds. For those of you that don’t know anything about Red Bull Stratos, read on…

So, in an over simplified way, Red Bull Stratos is essentially one man attempting break the record for the highest ever sky dive. Whilst doing this the crazy person who’s attempting to break this record is going to break the speed of sound upon his extremely fast descent. Sounds crazy right? You’d be correct in agreeing. It is crazy.
The man who is going to be attempting this feat is Felix Baumgartner – certified ‘crazy-enough’ to go through with it and have a stomach that’s stronger than diamonds!

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The reason I’m writing about this now is because we were so excited about it happening that we posted up every video we could find, gave everyone regular updates and then it just went cold. No news was heard and we thought the worst may have happened to Felix during training. There were rumours about not being able to do it in American airspace, rumours that they hadn’t verified where the edge of space was, things like that. We never found out the real reason and we just don’t care because it’s back! Red Bull Stratos is back for 2012!

Mpora HQ received a press release this morning that stated Felix was ready to go, ready to ‘freefall from space’. His jump from 120,000ft is going to be only one of four records that he will be attempting to break (four records are: highest manned balloon flight, free-fall from the highest altitude, first person to hit supersonic speed whilst in free-fall and longest free-fall duration). The tech team from Red Bull have been testing their gear at the Brooks City base in Texas (see video below) and they’ve given it the all clear. There’s only one thing that remains – the jump itself.
They’re planning for the jump to go ahead this year and it seems much more promising after the hiatus of last year so we’re looking forward to seeing some ridiculous video footage!

Red Bull Stratos 2012: Brooks Test

I’ll make sure you get all the updates as soon as I hear anything more!

You may remember a little while ago we showed you the trailer for Travis Rice‘s new epic snowboarding event, ‘Supernatural’. If you don’t remember then check it out on our blog here. If you do remember then this might be interesting news for you as the rider list for the event has been announced and, my god, it looks good.

David Carrier-Porcheron CAN
Devun Walsh CAN
Eero Niemela FIN
Gigi Rüf AUT
Jake Blauvelt USA
John Jackson USA
Kazu Kokubo JPN
Lucas Debari USA
Mark Carter USA
Mark Landvik USA
Nicolas Müller SUI
Eric Jackson USA
Scotty Lago USA
Terje Håkonsen NOR
Travis Rice USA
Wolfgang Nyvelt AUT

It’s a list of the best backcountry freestyle snowboarders in the world so we know it’s going to produce some incredible edits that’s for sure. There are a few names missing at the moment as this is an invited riders list but they might make it on the list owing to a wildcard entry system.

There are two wildcard places at the moment and they will be awarded to whoever is on top of the TTR World Tour rankings (currently Mark McMorris) and whoever wins the gold in the slopestyle at Winter X Games 16. If Mark wins at the X Games then it will go to the silver medalist so the prize for winning has just become even greater!

The riders will be judged on the risk of the line they take, flow, amplitude, creativity, tricks and control. Overall judged scores will look at the riders’ use of the course as a whole, navigating a steep upper tree section, two cliff bands, a 300ft wide jump and a lower powder park section. The riders will be judges by legends of snowboarding – Tom Burt (Head Judge), Andy Hetzel, Temple Cummings, Shin Camps, Bryan Iguchi and Mel Simmons (Assistant Head Judge). All riders will have two runs to make the best score, with the top 8 getting an extra bonus run. The crowned winner will have the highest score from their best run.

Now, down to the important stuff – Can you watch it anywhere? Short answer, no.
It seems that American residents will be able to watch a two hour special on NBC on March 31st but the rest of us won’t get that privilege. I’m sure that within time we will get the odd edit here and there so make sure that you keep your eyes peeled and on Mpora for more updates!

Who else are we expecting to create their own snowboard brand? Honestly? The Helgasons have done it with their Lobster Snowboards and it only paved the way for more to do it themselves but who were you expecting to do it next? Probably Shaun White by all accounts. He’s already selling his own scooters and his own brand of hair product… Ok, that last one is a guess but it’s only a matter of time!

I hate to break the news that it’s not Shaun White making his own brand of snowboard, it’s the oh-so-popular ripper, Gigi Rüf. He’s teamed up with board makers Nidecker to bring you his brand new range much like the Helgasons teamed up with Bataleon for their triple base technology. He’s already started on his pro-team by adding all-round freestyle King, Johnnie Paxson and confirming there will be a pro-model board made for each of them. Get your money ready for Autumn 2012!

So it all sounds pretty good huh? Well, here’s a short edit from Gigi and the Pirates Crew as they officially announce the emergence of a new brand…

Check out Snowboarding gear on Mpora

There’s a dark cloud hanging over the freeskiing world as we all come to terms with the untimely death of Sarah Burke. She was a freeskiing great and an inspiration to many, so it’s with huge regret that we have to inform you of her passing. Here’s the official statement from the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association:

Groundbreaking Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke passed away at 9:22AM January 19, 2012 at the University of Utah Hospital from injuries sustained in an accident on the Eagle Superpipe at Park City Mountain Resort on Tuesday, January 10, 2012. She was training for upcoming winter events.

The family was moved by the sincere and heartfelt sympathy expressed by people inspired by Sarah from all around the world. They have received a substantial number of inquiries from those who would like to make a contribution on behalf of Sarah. For more information, please go to giveforward.com/sarahburke.

DC have a habit of putting their name on some strange ideas, which are usually awesome, and this one is no different. Everyone has that run where they head through the park, try out the latest tricks they’ve learnt and ride away stoked. Sometimes, your best mate isn’t on hand to capture the evidence for you to beg for sponsorship or just to show off.
DC have thought about this and have come up with a solution – the Live Park.

The rider just has to place an electronic sticker on their helmet or goggles and when they arrive at the DC Live Park it will be detected by the video camera. This footage is then sent directly to www.dceurope-livepark.com, which the user will then be able to upload. Not all DC parks have this at the moment but if you’re interested in never missing out a trick that you stomp or a rail that you bail (I apologise for these) then head to:

DC Live Park | DC Area 43 Méribel (France) – St Lary (France) – Font-Romeu/Pyrénées 2000 (France/Pyrenees) – Lenzerheide (Switzerland)

Supernatural. As the dictionary defines it – Pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal.

When it comes to Travis Rice, supernatural can only be defined as fucking epic. After The Art of Flight everything TRice does from now on is going to be nothing short of spectacular. But what is Red Bull’s Supernatural all about?

Well, it’s the first-of-its-kind backcountry competition designed to challenge the best all around snowboarder on the planet. Travis has grabbed himself a gaggle of lumberjacks (that has to be the title for a group of lumberjacks) and hacked away at a mountain in Baldface. As you’ll see from the video they’ve created some ridiculous features that are ready to be covered in snow, and by this time, they’re probably drowning in the white stuff. So who will be invited to this? Your guess is as good as mine at this point but what we do know is that there will be 18 of the top snowboarders in the world going for the crown.

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Seriously… this looks amazing.

There’s no doubt about it, action sports can be intimidating. Whether you’re a seasoned pro looking to push the boundaries of what is possible or a newbie looking to master the basics, the consequences are high and it’s an unfortunate reality that some people pay the ultimate price.

For those looking to break into any sport there’s the added pressure of the unknown, but to be given just a few short months before participating in a World Championship event lifts that pressure to a whole new level.

Reporters’ Academy rookie BMX racer Eddie is just 15 and is faced with the challenge of doing just that, competing in this year’s BMX World Championships, which are coming to Birmingham in May.

Check out Eddie’s progress in part three of Zero to Hero, documenting the lead up to his World Championships.

And if you’d like to be there in person to witness Eddie and the best riders in the world racing head to head, get a ticket to the event here BMX World Champs tickets

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