Billabong Air & Style Report

This past weekend, Innsbruck got rocked by the Billabong Air & Style. We headed down with some Method Mag 10.2's to see the show and what a fuckin' show it was! With a slew of scaffolding contests going down this season already, one may have grown weary of the metal mountain, but then the Billabong Air & Style comes around to blow the rest of the comps off the hill. With an unmatchable line-up, this contest can be compared to the Royal Rumble or the World Series of Snowboarding. The big ol' kicker in the Bergisel stadium was ready to fire off the riders and the 10,000+ gluhwein-fueled crowd were there to watch it rain meatballs of radness.

Car full of 10.2 love for the people

Santa knows what's up

Elias Elhardt was all smiles over his feature interview

David Bertschinger Karg and Iouri Podlatchikov checking out I-Pod's "My name is....."

IBK Masses

The Gluhmen ran around with the Ghostbuster backpacks full of gluhwein, blasting any sober person in sight.

Some of the many wasted fans

The polizei was keeping a close eye on the wastoids

The Rookie Challenge was already at a frighting level of air and style. All the rookies came out with their balls swinging. They gambled their well-aligned necks on some tricks they had never been personally landed or even tried before. Some hefty double corks were seen over the Innsbruck firmament, and Niki Korpela kicked the revolution evolution can a bit further by squeaking in the 1440. But in the end it was super Seppe Smitts who came through from the land of little snow (Belgium) to take the top spot for the Rookie Challenge.

Now it was time for the main event. The gluhwein continued to flow out of the back packs of the "Gluhmen", the music was thumping and Jon Weaver on the mic ratcheted up the hype. The line-up was the creme-de-la-creme of shred slayers at the moment. From Eero to Wiig to Torstein to Travis to Humpy to Peetu to Gigi to Elias to i-Pod, the best of the best were here to obliterate the kicker with some next level shit.

Dani Mösl

DBK

Seppe putting up big spins to take the win in the Rookie Challenge.

Seppe and his huge novelty check

Double corks were being popped in every direction possible. Evolution was unfolding before our eyes while at the same time some old-school flavors like barrel-roll backflips made a return. One of the wildest tricks that clung to my brain was when missile-met-yoga and Marc Swoboda landed a double back with a method grab. After many a round of hucking and chucking, the wolf pack was cut from 16 down to 8, then down to a final 4; Iouri Podlatchikov, Marko Grilc, Peetu Piiroinen and Andreas Wiig.

Eero Ettala

Peetu D2

Swoboda doing the method double back

In the final heat, Iouri struggled to keep his feet under his board on any of his landings. Wiig also had a hard time riding away, except for a front 1080 double cork full of finesse. P2D2 came in looking to sit high on the podium box and put down a back 10, a cab 10 and even tossed up a 1260, but couldn't put down the landing gear. So in the end it was the Slovenian slaughterer Grilo, who was originally an alternate but made the start list due to Seb Toots' ankle injury, who made it to the top spot on the podium. Grilo pulled out some serious aces in the final round to take the win, including a mute 1080 and a switch back 1080 double cork with perfect style.

Iouri sending some love over the gap

Peetu

Wiig blurs over the gap

Wiig hucking carcass into 3rd

Grilo on his way to the top of the podium

Grilo was buzzing so hard from his win, he was literally overwhelmed with happiness. At the podium I got a chance to ask him a question while being swarmed by a gaggle of media. I queried, "How big is your boner right now?" and he responded with a smile and a question of his own: "How big is YOUR boner?".

Grilo champagne shower

My boner was actually huge for him. He might not have known that in French boner (actually it's spelled "bonheur") means happinness. You gotta love it when an underdog rises to the top and snatches the win despite the other riders' heavy favoritism.