We caught up with Mikkel for a quick shread in Livigno last week. check it out below!


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For the third time, Ramundberget Ski Resort in Sweden is hosting “Piststilen by Rip Curl presented by Skullcandy”. The event will take place 27/4 – 2/5, and will this year be part of the TTR world snowboarding tour with a 3-star status and USD 18.000,- in prize money.

“Piststilen” means slopestyle in Swedish, and the riders will compete in a massive slopestyle course designed by Jonas Lodin and Krister Persson, which both have been working with events such as The Battle, TTR 3-Star Rip Curl Seafun Invitational and Wiig Invitational to name a few. The event will be open for both women and men. The women will compete for USD 3.000,- and the men will compete for USD 15.000.-

TTR 3Star Piststilen by Rip Curl presented by Skullcandy teaser! from Piststilen2010 on Vimeo.

Callum Swift is proud to give you the final section from the highly acclaimed film MADE. Weeks after Steve Peat's historical world champs win in Australia he was at home, drinking Stella, drifting quads and smashing his favorite tracks with his protege and team mate Miami Bryce. An epic end to an epic season! MADE is in shops now, go to www.madethefilm.com





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WRC 2010 Season Launch (+ Monster Girls)

To kick off the 2010 rally season, the WRC held a press conference in Paris on Tuesday, February 2nd. It was your classic junket—loads of media, cameras and and a bevy of finger foods...plus some of the greatest drivers in the world. Sebastian Loeb, Petter Solberg, Mikko Hirvonen and Kimi Räikkönen to name a few. It was a busy day for the team. Ken and Alex spent much of the day posing for photos and fielding questions from the media, while still squeezing in a few moments to catch up with the other drivers.

After the Official WRC event, Monster Energy did what they do best: threw a party, complete with, you guessed it, gallons of Monster and a bit of eye candy, aka the Monster Girls, for which, the pictures tell a better story.

Monster Energy’s T.J. Schiller adds to M-claw X Games medal count with a silver in Skiing Best Trick
Schiller stomps a never-done-before 1620 in competition, nails a perfect score and takes 2nd; Monster’s Jossi Wells kills it, but only gets 4th
  
 
CORONA, Calif., (Jan. 30, 2010) – A couple huge performances for Monster Energy athletes highlighted the Skiing Best Trick portion of Friday’s Winter X Games 14 in Aspen, Colo., as skier T.J. Schiller, last year’s X Games gold medalist in Skiing Slopestyle, locked down the silver medal in front of the largest crowd ever on Friday at Buttermilk Mountain’s – estimated at more than 20,000. Tucker Hibbard also won his fourth consecutive Winter X-games Snocross!!!!
 
Friday’s jam session format for Skiing Big Air was, as Freeskier Magazine put it, “Hands down the best display of comp skiing ever compiled into one session.” Not only did Schiller throw down with the first-ever 1620 in competition, but Monster Energy-backed teammate Jossi Wells – the current Dew Tour point leader in Freeski Halfpipe – threw a not only stylish and technically flawless switch double 1440, but also put his name into the ranks of a first-ever trick in competition. Unfortunately for Wells his amazing runs were a bit overshadowed by Schiller and eventual winner Bobby Brown, albeit scored a bit low (according to the fans’ response) as well – keeping Wells out of the medals.
 
The perfect scores would be shared by Schiller and Brown (two 50s), with Schiller throwing was many agreed to be the best trick of the night. “The jam format is the best thing ever, we were all literally progressing together and putting down new tricks that have never done before. I mean, I did a 1620 and got second, ha ha - it was amazing,” said a pumped Schiller.
 
Wells also blew doors on the competition, but in the end wound up missing out on a medal by one point as he and Russ Henshaw tied for 4th behind bronze medalist Elias Ambuhl. Both Schiller and Wells wick it back up Sunday for the Skiing Slopestyle competition.
 
Also: In the Snowboard Slopestyle qualifiers Monster Energy’s 19-year-old Icelandic sensation, Halldor Helgason, took top honors in leading eight out of 16 riders into the finals. Making it an all-Monster qualifier round podium were Norwegians Mikkel Bang and Torstein Horgmo, 2nd and 3rd in qualifying, respectively. Helgason set the bar high for everyone, stepping up and touching down over the kicker line combo that included the progressively bigger “Deposit,” “Down Payment” and “Money” booters.
 
“I was just out there having fun, and the jumps are pretty sick too - I’m so stoked!,” said Helgason.
 
Helgason’s 93-point score featured a double cork frontside 1080 to switch backside 900. He then nearly nailed a 1260 double cork – and will no doubt show off that trick in Sunday’s Snowboard Slopestyle final. Bang, a crowd favorite, showcased a frontside 540 nosepress on the “Hitching Post” and spun an insane combo: Cab Seven into a switch backside 900 and front 1080. Horgmo’s top score would come on his second run with a bluntslide backside 270 out up top and a stacked triple line that read: switch backside 900, frontside 1080 and backside 1080.
 
Had the competition been held yesterday, Monster Energy athletes would have gone 1-2-3 in the medals. As it stands the three are the favorites to repeat their positions on Sunday.
 
For more on Winter X 14 and the Monster Energy athletes, link to: www.expn.com


 
Check out how heavily the M Claw features in this highlights video!

Icelandic snowboarding history was made Friday in Denver, Colo. as Halldor Helgason was awarded the Rookie of the Year award at the annual Transworld Riders' Poll Awards -- the same day as he topped the men's Slopestyle Elims at Winter X Games 14. The Akureyrian sensation thus becomes the only Icelandic shredder to win the Rookie of the Year at both of North America's largest snowboard magazines. The last rider to almost pull it off? Halldor's older bro Eiki. Here's what Halldor had to say about the double win.

ESPN: Man, it's been a big year. Can you tell me what's it's like to have won the Rookie of the Year from the two most prestigious snowboard magazines in the world?
Helgason: It feels crazy. I didn't expect it at all. It's a great honor for sure. To know that all the other riders were choosing, I am so stoked on it.

Was that something that was a goal of yours?
No. Not really. It's nothing that I'd been thinking of. I've just been riding, trying my best, and filming a lot, so that's been helping I think.

What do you think it is about you or your riding style that has so many people stoked on you?
Man, I don't really know! Me and my brother started out riding rails a lot. That's all we did in Iceland. Then we moved to Sweden and went to a snowboard school and we learned jump tricks so now we try to mix it up a bit, I guess that's it.

Dave Lehl/ESPN Action SportsHelgason scored a 93 in Friday's Slope Elims, just ahead of Mikkel Bang's 91.33.

Does it feel crazy to be the first Icelandic dude to win both Rookie of the Years?
It does feel crazy. My brother won Rookie of the Year for Snowboarder and he got nominated for Transworld but he didn't win, so yeah, it feels crazy man.

Are things gonna be different back in Iceland? It's a pretty small country.
It is small. I do feel it a little, people kind of know me. It's cool, without doing anything, just snowboarding.

What are some of the best things about this year?
The thing I was most stoked on was that Standard Films wanted to film me last season. I've been watching their movies since I was so small and then, all of a sudden I'm filming for their movie and I get the second to last part. That was crazy.

Do you think that winning these awards is going to lead to bigger things?
It's going to help for sure. Almost anyone that knows anything about snowboarding knows something about these awards, so it's pretty damn big to win but I don't really think about it like that. I just ride and try my best the whole time and see what happens.

What else you got poppin' for the rest of this season?
I've been riding at the DC Mountain Lab, and it's been so fun just chillin' and riding. It's also my first X Games ever this year, and I'm going to do the last stop at Dew Tour, too. Then I'm going to film as much as I can with Standard and try to get a good part for the season. And I'm also going to be posting every day on me and my brother's blog, Helgasons. Check it out!

Tim BrodhagenThe Bros Rookie: Eiki and Halldor Helgason, Mtn. Lab.

THANKS TO ESPN forinterview and photos

Following up from our video release of Kens new car for the 2010 season, check this video out to see it in action:

Halldór Helgason: 2010 Rookie of the Year

Monster Army General Halldor Helgason wins Snowboarder MAgs rookie of the year!!

Nice work Halldor !!

oh yeah and he was also voted  2010 JIBBER OF THE YEAR .... not bad huh !!!

Vote for Monster rider Torstein Horgmo or rookies Halldor Helgason, Ludde Lejkner & Mikkel Bang for the Euro Riders of the Year here: DO IT !