The Oakley Arctic Challenge will take place in Linderudkollen, Oslo, the 19th and 21st February. The contest founded by Terje Haakonsen takes place in Oslo. No longer situated at Lofoten, this 10 year old contest is still one of the most interesting and influental happenings in the world of snowboarding.

The line up is as impressive as always. Everyone from Travis Rice, Antti Autti and Kevin Pearce ´til Terje hilmself will be there. Expect good coverage and teh final to be streamed live.

Thearcticchallenge.com

Ok, this isn´t really news. Unless you´ve been hiding under a rock for the last months you´ve read all about the Videograss crew and how their movie is suppose to “rock hard” when it finally comes out.

But anyway, if you can stand aome minor attitude problems, tight pants, checkered shirts and post ironic irony (the again, americans never understood irony or had good style so maybe you can´t blame them…) then you´ll love Videograss.
Check out the Videograss site for updates.

I found this massive post over at Abduzeedo where they have collected 100 really cool skateboard designs. Check out all the skateboards and be inspired by the talent out there.

Photo by Firebrand Bigwood

For the last 4 or 5 years I´ve imagined the Burton Malolo to be my favourite snowboard. Like my favourite snowboard ever. It´s a bit strange that I never during all these years have tried the board. Only dreamt about it. But finally – thanks to the good guys at OneOff I got the chance to take the Malolo for some turns. And it´s pretty much what I´ve always expected and dreamt it to be.

Snowboard: Burton Malolo 158
Setup: Burton Cartel bindings & 32 Leashed boots
Conditions: Slush, soft but grippy snow.

The Malolo is so much fun to ride. The setback is amazing and it makes the board easy to control, but at the same time a bit sketchy. With this board you need some space. Crowded slopes doesn´t really do it. You want to be able to make long turns and you want to go fast.

Riding switch is possible but no fun. Also doing small jumps feels a bit akward. But you do get an amazing surf feeling when riding the Malolo. And I´m sure that it do is my dream come true on bigger slopes. So I´ll probably go and buy this board pretty soon.

From what I´ve heard Burton is improving the Malolo for next year. It´s supposed to come with a rocker and some extra pow specific features. So I´m not sure if I should wait for next seasons model or not.

The Capita Horrorscope for next year is apparently about the same as for 08/09. The biggest difference is the number of boards for sale – for 09/10 Horrorscope is a proper release. The horrorscope is very much a board that is good for all slopes. Yes it has the freestyle touch, but it´s still very versatile.

Snowboard: Capita Horrorscope FK 155 – new length
Setup: Union Contact bindings & 32 Leashed boots
Conditions: Slush, soft but grippy snow.

From what I`ve heard the Horrorscope was supposed to be a super flexy kicker. But after riding all season on the Signal Park Rocker every other board feels stiff. So actually I was a bit dissapointed. the Horrorscope is soft, but not that soft and flexy. It actually is very stabile at higher speeds and it never loses an edge. And in my book that´s a good thing for a freestyle board.

What really struck me was the pop. The Horrorscope is so easy to pop around the whole mountain. Also the board is very stabile even with the rocker. Theer´s no problems leaning back and still keep control over the board.

The overall impression is that it´s a fun board. But it´s not as extrem – or extremly funny – as the Park Rocker. but on the other hand it isn´t as good for the whole mountain/all slopes as the Skate Banana. But still – if you´re looking for a fun freestyle snowboard it´s almost a must. The Horrorscopesort works really well as a complement to a more allround board.

Capita Horrorscope 08-09– there´s still no official info about next years release.

Lib Tech Outerwear 2009/2010

So here´s a early picture. Or rather the official picture from the coming catalogue. I´m not sure if it´s great or just lame. But I´m quit sure it´s not somewhere inbetween.