Aaron was born with a Spina Bifida, a defect of the spine which meant he has never had full use of his legs. So determined to be able to do ‘normal’ things, he never let anything get in his way when he was growing up, even when he started to go the skatepark with his brother, a BMX rider. One day he decided he was bored of watching everyone through the fence and ended up dropping into a 4ft quarter pipe, taking a few falls at first but stomping it that day and never looking back. From then on, all he wanted to do was ride his wheelchair, working his way up onto progressively bigger ramps and pulling tricks very much inspired by BMX. In July 2006, Aaron became the first person to ever land a backflip in a wheelchair. He was stoked! Then his dreams were answered when Nitro Circus contacted him to be part of their show.

Aaron is now sponsored by Unit Clothing and gets to travel the world performing ridiculous stunts in his wheelchair. He has had the opportunity to travel within the US, as well as internationally, performing and speaking in front of many. He has attended summer camps for disabled children as a coach/mentor and has been featured in magazines, newspapers, and sports television. He truly is a hero.

Keep your eyes peeled for exclusive Nitro Circus Australian Tour updates on Mpora. Their European tour is going to Stockholm, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Dusseldorf, Antwerp, Arnham, London, Manchester and Barcelona later this year so get tickets now whilst they are still available!

As soon as he blasted onto the scene back in 2001, Travis Rice was not going to go unnoticed. He stamped his entry into the professional snowboarding world with a ballsy back rodeo to bolts on a 110ft gap super kicker at Mammoth Mountain in California. Since then he has tamed more competitions than you can shake a ski at, blessed our world with revolutionary parts in a selection of Absinthe films, and brought us That’s it, That’s all with his long time pal Curt Morgan and their baby – Brain Farm. Their second movie, The Art of Flight, was long anticipated and did not disappoint when the world wrapped their eyes around it, but before we could catch our breath, Rice goes and releases his latest brainchild – Supernatural – throwing the best riders in the world together on a mountainface riddled with custom ‘natural’ features. Phew! He is an impressive fellow. But let’s hope he has a sense of humour…

The Voleurz team have centered their submission for the 7-day film contest during the 2012 WSSF at Whistler around The Art of Flight – but with an interesting twist. To begin with, they suitably named their film The Science of Airborning, then spoofed their way past a lot of other elements from the first Art of Flight trailer such as the voiceover and our personal favourite, the swimming shot (recreated as more of a dive/bellyflop). We are all fans of Rice and his epically presented adventures but this really is comedy gold, and beyond the hilarity is some really impressive riding from the Voleurz team. Good work.

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The world has kind of gone backwards. Back in 1965, Intel co-founder  Gordon E. Moore talked in one of his papers of the idea that technology would double in speed every two years. At the time, many people laughed, but to this day (as far as I know) this rule of thumb has in fact remained true. In the last few years though, video camera technology has become so incredible that it has blasted off the edge of fast into an abyss of slow. Viewing life in realtime is no more, we have entered the age of slow motion. Being able to see every last detail of each stage of everything in HD quality has become something not too foreign to our eyes, and although there are many cameras capable of producing the aforementioned, there is one culprit that seems to have taken the lime-light. Do you know what I am talking about? Course you do. Phantom.

The Phantom Gold has the ability to film in HD at over 1,000fps. It really is mind boggling. And the footage? Eye boggling. Especially when expert Phantom operator Chris Bryan gets caught at Teahupoo on a day to be remembered. Chris says of it:

“This day at Teahupoo – Aug 27th 2011 during the Billabong Pro waiting period is what many are calling the biggest and gnarliest Teahupoo ever ridden. Chris Bryan was fortunate enough to be there working for Billabong on a day that will go down in the history of big wave surfing. The French Navy labeled this day a double code red prohibiting and threatening to arrest anyone that entered the water.
Kelly Slater described the day by saying “witnessing this was a draining feeling being terrified for other people’s lives all day long, it’s life or death. Letting go of that rope one time can change your life and not many people will ever experience that in their life.” “

It has to be seen to be believed, so check it out for yourselves.

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If you are sitting there thinking that putting such an astonishing camera into some underwater housing is slightly crazy yet ridiculously awesome, then you are in fact correct. But why stop there? Why hasn’t anybody mounted one in say… a remote controlled helicopter? Oh balls, spoke too soon. They have. Snaproll Media are a company that specialise in mounting the industry’s top dog cameras to custom built RC aerial craft, bringing the most incredible and diverse angles to their clients. Remember the footage from the private park and pipe session in Aspen from The Art of Flight? Courtesy of these guys. Here’s what they say:

“For the past few years, SnapRoll Media has been at the forefront of remotely controlled aerial camera systems. Like most, we started out using DSLR cameras to record video, but it wasn’t long before the image quality wasn’t up to our standards. We began designing and building larger airframes to carry the weight of the cameras we and our clients wanted to use.

Our hard work paid off. We were the first to successfully carry the RED ONE digital cinema camera safely and smoothly. Then, we added Vision Research’s Phantom Flex and Phantom Gold high speed cameras to our arsenal. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to be the first in the world to successfully fly the new RED EPIC on our proven remote controlled aerial system thanks to Jarred Land and Jim Jannard.

We are constantly researching, developing, and fine tuning our helicopters to carry larger cameras with maximum stability. The greatest reward is seeing our clients faces when we get the shot that no crane, cable cam, or full size helicopter was able to capture. 2012 will be full of incredible projects along with further R & D on bigger and better remotely controlled (RPV) aerial camera systems. Stay tuned!”

Enough of the talk,  just check out their showreel from 2012. Prepare for your jaw to hit the ground, this thing is crazy good. Enjoy.

Which would you say is more impressive?

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The Olympics have brought a lot of energy to London’s East End. Every day new buildings are being built and new facilities installed to get the area ready for the large-scale event. As part of the emphasis on renewal, Victoria Park will be getting a brand new park from skatepark builders Wheelscape. The company claims that the park is set to be a “milestone” amongst UK skateparks, boasting the countries second full cradle. Perhaps the reason it is the countries second full cradle is down to the fact that not many people can skate cradles, or maybe that’s just a result of the UK not having enough cradles. Anyway, it does make sense for the city to have world-class facilities at a time when all eyes will be on London. And forgetting the whole cradle thing, the park looks pretty interesting with some cool features less common in UK skatepark design.

Keep updated with the progress on the Wheelscape site.

The event finished with Paul Luc Ronchetti Grabbing the Boardmasters Vert Final 2011 title. Marcelo Bastos just grabbing second and Jake Anderson coming in at third.

1st. Paul Luc Ronchetti  (GBR)
2nd. Marcelo Bastos (BRZ)
3rd. Jake Anderson (GBR)

Boardmasters 2011 – Vert Finals >>

Also while boardmasters was running, up at Wooden Waves The Cornish Pasty Open, in association with Vans was taking place. With big riders such as Dave Sonaddon, Rob Smith and Chris Oliver, with free Cornish pasties it was going to be a big event. There was a bit of rain at the beginning but soon after the pastyies the park was dry and riding had begun. The day was full of big tricks and was a great day all round.

The Cornish Pasty Open finished with:

1st. Chris Oliver
2nd. Rob Smith
3rd. Dave Sonaddon

Best Trick. Dan Wileman

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