etnies

The Arctic Challenge
March 29-April 6, 2005
Tromso, Finnsnes and Stamsund, Norway

The Arctic Challenge currently going on up in Norway is definitely not being blessed by the weather gods. The Halfpipe competition slated for last Thursday, March 31 got cancelled due to rain! The next day, Friday, April 1 was supposed to host the Quarterpipe competition in Tromso, but the weather still sucked, and it was time for some really good wax! No big action on that day, only a warm-up session.

On Sunday, April 3, the actual Quarterpipe contest got postponed to 3:00 p.m. due to rain. Frederick Austbö was on fire! He did backside 540s four meters above the coping and backside airs up to six meters high! He ended up in 9th place. Up and coming Norwegian kid Julian Karlsen won Best Rookie, and finished 11th place!

Monday, April 4 was Jump Session Day in Finnsnes. The name seemed to give the Finnish guys some extra power! The Finnish squad, including Markku Koski, Antti Autti and Risto Mattila, killed the jump session, and earned the special award for some rapid-fire action. The Euros riding included Frederick Austbö, Chris Sörman, Andreas Igre-Wiig, Elias Elhardt and more. Markku rode great and, fortunately, his shoulder didn't pop out again! Congrats, Markku!

Jump Session Results:
1. Antti Autti
2. Markku Koski
3. Risto Mattila

The Slopestyle contest, which should have happened today, got postponed due to heavy wind and rain, again! We'll see what happens! Stay tuned to this channel...