History was made tonight as Nicolas Müller took X Games gold in the inaugural Real Snow Backcountry contest, presented by burn.
Photo © Frode Sandbech
Müller’s film, produced by Absinthe Films and featuring a pumping soundtrack by former pro snowboarder Trevor ‘Trouble’ Andrew, showed Nico at his smooth, stylish best combining spontaneous all-natural powder riding with progressive moves not usually seen outside the snowpark, including his first-ever double cork.
Like Nicolas, burn rider Gigi Rüf stepped up the technical difficulty with some new moves including an amazing BS 900 Japan and both backside and frontside double cork 1080s. Gigi’s playful and creative style, perfectly matched with filmmaker Jake Price and scored by Baron, ensured he came in a close second.
Rounding off the podium, Finnish rider Jussi Oksanen’s big tricks, big mountain and big smile approach to snowboarding earned him a well-deserved third place, as well as first place in the Fan’s Favorite category.
Real Snow Concept
The concept of integrating backcountry snowboarding was brought to the X Games by burn to celebrate a side of snowboarding that represents the heart and soul of snowboarding, yet is rarely seen in the contest environment.
The rules were simple: 8 of the world’s best snowboarders were invited to make a 90 second video part filmed exclusively in natural terrain. The videos went public on the 22nd of February giving the fans an opportunity to vote for their favorite film in a live head to head knockout hosted by ESPN.
The rider list read like the who’s who of the snowboarding world with Gigi Rűf, Mathieu Crepel, Iikka Backstrom, Devun Walsh, Nicolas Műller, Jussi Oksanen, John Jackson and Mark Sollors.
Following on from the success of first Real Snow award that was launched earlier this year at the X Games in Aspen, this second edition truly harnessed the spirit of the event and with a prestigious gold medal and a massive $50,000 cheque for first place as well as a Fan’s Favorite award of $10,000 no expense has been spared to reward the rightful winners.
Results
X Games Gold Medal - Nicolas Müller
X Games Silver Medal - Gigi Rüf
X Games Bronze Medal & Fan’s Favorite - Jussi Oksanen
