WSC Pre-Report

The World Champs has finally arrived in the big O, hitting the perfect moment in the season to hold TTR's new pinnacle event and for a new standard to be set. After a fairly slow start to the season over much of Europe, a ton of snow finally blew it's way over and Oslo Vinterpark is looking good to go.

Since the announcement of the World Snowboarding Championships a couple of years ago, the mood has been of genuine excitement as snowboarding has prepared to welcome the return of an event that is well overdue. It therefore seems fitting that the revamped championships is being hosted in a location infamous for its progressive movements within competitive freestyle snowboarding.

The lead up to the WSC has been big news within the snowboard scene, but the locals have had their hype on too. The fact that winter sports events are so commonplace here, coupled with the laid-back attitude of Norwegians, it may lead you to think that it's just another week on the calendar for them. It's not, and they know it. The recent vibe in Oslo has reflected the special occasion and it looks set to embrace it with a host of heavy gigs and other events on the side of the snowboarding itself. Local-pro and pro-local Danny Larsen said, "It's really cool that it's happening in Oslo. People stop and watch us riding the streets [while filming for VG] and ask if they might see us on TV at the world championships too. It's pretty rad! I'm stoked that it's happening."

So as the competitors begin to descend on the "World Winter Capital", the WSC crew have been throwing their last few shapes at the shit-yourself slopestyle and brand new superpipe up at Oslo Vinterpark. And don't forget the quarterpipe over the hill at the Holmenkollen space jump too. I went along to take a sneaky gawp at what will most likely be the scene of some truly jaw-shattering shred this week…