http://dragonalliance-europe.blogspot.com/

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Epic times with the Euro team in Silverton

First up, sorry we didn't get back to you the next day. We went up to our amazing APX cabin, the Bonnie Belle, right in the center of the Treasure mountain range. We didn't have any phones or internet, which was a refreshing change!

To say this has been an epic productive trip would be an understatement. Dragon slayers, Gerome Mathieu and Luka Jeromel are killing it. So many first track landing and huge airtime, we are getting a bunch of awesome shots. Sami from Onboard is stoked!

Sleds ready to go
First day up, taking the sleds for a spin to scope some spots.

We all did a quick dance. Just because we could.
Location location location, that's what building kickers is all about, and Alex had plenty of that going on.
I was holding the camera, so Luka had to take double the workload
Wind picking up at the end of the shape
This was a super hard build. The snow was really sugary and the blocks were kinda crumbling. But after a few hours we had a sweet cheese wedge that would be ready to go for the next day. Alex then took us to some old mine spots from back in the day. The buildings were pretty decrepit which made for a perfect photo spot.


Second spot. The old mining town.

We decided not to hit anything on the first day as the wind picked up pretty good. Instead we shaped 3 more jib spots in the location above. If the weather was good the next morning, it was on!

The APX cabin. No internet, no phone. No Facebook updating for a whole day!
Above is the APX Cabin at around 4000m. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere and it's amazing! One of the most spectacular places we've ever been.

Morning glory... Oh and an amazing bluebird view!
And this is what we woke up to. Perfect bluebird weather. Couldn't have asked for anything better. Well maybe a heated toilet would have been nice.

Luka stoked on something in sky
Luka sending it...
...FedEx next day style
Gerome throwing down for his part in the Pirate Movie
Above are a few shots from the first spot that we hit. The classic cheese wedge is always a hit. Both Luka and Gerome got two shots each. Luka specifically asked me not to blog what tricks they did, so if I say Switch back 5, Front 3, Back 5 and Cab 5, that has totally nothing to do with the session whatsoever ;)

Sami's keen eye found this gap for Luka to thread through
Gerome styling out a MASSIVE back one over this old wreck

We then moved onto the old silver mining plots. This place was kinda eerie, you could totally imagine it as a working mine, but now it's a working jib factory.

This shoot couldn't have worked out better, everyone is super stoked. Right now the weather has moved in and it's currently snowing, so we're all taking a down day. We still have one more day of shooing, so I'll keep you all posted.

KTM / Cofain Racing Team Rider Lukas Höllbacher wins

Our Team KTM / Cofain Supermoto Racing Team send us some great pictures from the first Race this season.


Lukas Höllbacher wins in his Categorie the race.
See the great pictures...and the race report

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Old Footage but Respect Your Elders

Check out this edit from King of Night contest...that's right, Dragon's Luka Jeromel took first. We're not selfish but you can just go ahead and forward to 3:38 where the good stuff starts.


King of Night 2011 from Burton Italia on Vimeo.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Martina Zollner "Wir schanzen" Quicksilver Tournee Final Result 2nd Place

Martina gets the second Place in the overal result list of the "Wir schanzen" Quicksilver Tour.

 Congratultions from Dragon GER aka Beatnuts Crew

Monday, April 11, 2011

Onboard, Luka and Gerome hit up the APX Lodge in Silverton!!!

Dragon Euro riders, Luka Jeromel and Gerome Mathieu thought it was about time they headed to the APX Lodge in Silverton to see what all the fuss was about. Sami from Onboard Magazine was kicking about and decided that he'd join us for the trip. Luka was already shooting in Mammoth so he had an easy flight over to Colorado. Gerome however was out in Norway shooting with the Pirates, so had to endure a 24 hour journey, followed by a 4 hour wait for Prendi. Sorry Gerome!

The Dragon house. SWEEEEET!!!
 Next morning was bluebird, so after only 4 hours sleep we got into our riding shizz and of course our APX and headed out to scope some spots.
Scoping spots
Instructions for ready made kicker. Just add shredders.
Alex Pashly is running the whole operation and knew that this kicker spot (above) was good to go. So with a quick re-shape the kids started throwing down.

Take off clean. Booter ready to go!
I don't get many days that start off that good. Both Luka and Gerome stuck the first hit. Gerome with a switch back 180 and Luka with a BS7. Gerome then started doing Switch BS 9's and 10's, and on his last hit, came up short and caught the wind lip... But managed to do a weird butter tap type thing and then drop another 5m. Looked sick!

Through the viewfinder of the camera, Luka's day looked painful. He got the BS7 from two angles, but then wanted a FS7. That's where it started getting messy. Some of gnarliest rag-dolls I've ever witnessed. The edit will be online tomorrow. Be sure to check it out!

The landing after the session
It was a little late in the day to get another spot done, so we drove around beautiful Silverton to check out some ghost towns and some old mine shafts that could be potential jibbing spots.

The team after a good day
Prendi in the filming capacity. Stoked to get some shots!
The hat is the caption

The nice people at Contour had sent us some cameras. So we'll be busting them out tomorrow.
Alex cooked up an amazing pork chop dinner, which went pretty well with a few beers. After that, we pretty much just chilled and enjoyed some sunshine. Alrighty, gonna catch some Zzzzzzzz.

Check back tomorrow!