We’ve only just managed to calm down after the craziness of Brazil and X Games Barcelona crops up. It’s all kicking off next week but are you ready for it? We definitely are but what’s going on? Well, we’ve put a nice little post together so you know what’s going on at what time, how to buy tickets and the all important one – HOW TO WIN TICKETS!

So, aside from all of the usual stuff that’s going on that we should talk about, I should probably say that this is a pretty big deal as it’s the first summer X Games to hit our European shores. After the rider list was released for the event everyone seemed to go pretty nuts, as it’s a VIP list for the first European Summer X Games but who’s made it? Did I say it was the first European one? Here it is:

GOPRO BMX FREESTYLE BIG AIR
Andy Buckworth
Vince Byron
Chad Kagy
Steve McCann
Kevin Robinson
Colton Satterfield
Morgan Wade
Zack Warden

BMX FREESTYLE PARK
Kyle Baldock
Drew Bezanson
Pat Casey
Scotty Cranmer
Daniel Dhers
Chase Hawk
Sergio Layos
Ryan Nyquist
Daniel Sandoval
Gary Young

BMX FREESTYLE STREET
Simone Barraco
Stevie Churchill
Bruno Hoffmann
Alex Kennedy
Chad Kerley
Dan Lacey
Garrett Reynolds
Paul Ryan
Sean Sexton
Jeremiah Smith

BMX FREESTYLE VERT
Jamie Bestwick
Vince Byron
Austin Coleman
Chad Kagy
Mykel Larrin
Steve McCann
Dennis McCoy
Simon Tabron
Zack Warden
Coco Zurita

MOTO X BEST WHIP
Nate Adams
Josh Hansen
Thomas Pages
Ronnie Renner
Jeremy Stenberg
Edgar Torronteras

MEN’S ENDURO X
Geoff Aaron
Destry Abbott
Joan Barreda
Taddy Blazusiak
Mike Brown
Ricky Dietrich
Jack Field
Max Gerston
Dani Gibert
Alfredo Gomez
Cory Graffunder
Colton Haaker
Graham Jarvis
Kornel Nemeth
Wally Palmer
Bobby Prochnau
Kyle Redmond
Taylor Robert
Bryan Roper
Ryan Sandoval
Gary Sutherlin
Jonny Walker
Cody Webb
Peter Weiss

WOMEN’S ENDURO X
Chantelle Bykerk
Maria Forsberg
Louise Forsley
Tarah Gieger
Livia Lancelot
Kacy Martinez
Carmen Segura
Gabriela Seisdedos
Jolene Van Vugt

MOTO X FREESTYLE
Nate Adams
Rob Adelberg
Wes Agee
Taka Higashino
Adam Jones
Thomas Pages
Libor Podmol
Dany Torres
Javier Villegas

MOTO X SPEED & STYLE
Nate Adams
Lance Coury
Ronnie Faisst
Mike Mason
Jose Miralles
Mat Rebeaud
Edgar Torronteras
André Villa

MOTO X STEP UP
Matt Buyten
Brian Foster
Josh Hansen
Wally Palmer
Libor Podmol
Ronnie Renner

FORD RALLYCROSS
Steve Arpin
Ken Block
Brian Deegan
Liam Doran
Tanner Foust
Toomas Heikkinen
Sverre Isachsen
Bucky Lasek
Anton Marklund
Bryce Menzies
Dave Mirra
Travis Pastrana
Nani Roma
Patrik Sandell

REAL WOMEN
Ingrid Backstrom – skiing
Hana Beaman – snowboarding
Leticia Bufoni – skateboarding
Maya Gabeira – surfing
Coco Ho – surfing
Jess Kimura – snowboarding
Mimi Knoop – skateboarding
Michelle Parker – skiing

SKATEBOARD BIG AIR
Jake Brown
Mitchie Brusco
Bob Burnquist
Jagger Eaton
Italo Penarrubia
Edgard Pereira
Tom Schaar
Elliot Sloan

MEN’S SKATEBOARD PARK
Pedro Barros
Taylor Bingaman
Curren Caples
Greyson Fletcher
Rune Glifberg
Alain Goikoetxea
David Gonzalez
David Gravette
Omar Hassan
Ben Hatchell
Aaron Homoki
Kevin Kowalski
Bucky Lasek
Andy Macdonald
Brad McClain
Tom Remillard
Ivan Rivado
Ryan Sheckler
Grant Taylor
Raven Tershy

WOMEN’S SKATEBOARD PARK
Lizzy Armanto
Allysha Bergado
Leticia Bufoni
Ianire Elorriaga
Karen Jonz
Julie Kindstrand
Mimi Knoop
Alana Smith
Elissa Steamer
Nora Vasconcellos

STREET LEAGUE SKATEBOARDING
Tom Asta
Chris Cole
Austyn Gillette
David Gonzalez
Nyjah Huston
Sean Malto
Billy Marks
Matt Miller
Fran Molina
Shane O’neill
Luan Oliveira
Chaz Ortiz
Torey Pudwill
Peter Ramondetta
Dylan Rieder
Paul Rodriguez
Bastien Salabanzi
Tommy Sandoval
Ryan Sheckler
Mikey Taylor
Ishod Wair

SKATEBOARD VERT
Marcelo Bastos
Mitchie Brusco
Bob Burnquist
Sandro Dias
Pierre-Luc Gagnon
Bucky Lasek
Andy Macdonald
Danny Mayer

Ok, ok, so that’s one hell of a rider list but when does it happen? Well…

THURSDAY MAY 16th
Skateboard SLS Select Series 11.30am – 2.30pm
Skateboard Park Elimination 3.00pm – 5.15pm
Skateboard Vert Final 6.00pm – 7.45pm

FRIDAY MAY 17th
Skateboard SLS Street Qualifier 2.30pm – 5.15pm
BMX Freestyle Vert Final 6.00pm – 7.45pm
MOTO X Speed & Style Final 7.30pm – 20.45pm
Skateboard Big Air Final 9.00pm – 10.30pm

SATURDAY MAY 18th
Skateboard Park Women’s Final 12.00pm – 1.45pm
BMX Freestyle Park Final 2.00pm – 4.00pm
Skateboard SLS Street Final 4.00pm – 6.00pm
MOTO X Enduro X Men’s Round 6.00pm
MOTO X Enduro X Women’s Final 7.00pm
MOTO X Enduro X Men’s Final 7.15pm
MOTO X Freestyle Final 7.30pm – 9.15pm

SUNDAY MAY 19th
BMX Freestyle Street Final 12.00pm – 1.45pm
Skateboard Park Final 2.00pm – 3.45pm
Rally FORD Rally Cross Final 4.00pm – 5.45pm
MOTO X Best Whip Final 7.00pm
MOTO X Step Up Final 7.15pm
GoPro BMX Freestyle Big Air Final 8.30pm – 9.45pm

COMPETITION TIME!!

What more do you need to know?! I guess you might be wanting tickets to the event. If you’d like to buy some then I suggest you follow THIS LINK and you should be able to get some. If you don’t feel like paying for them and just want to win some then we might be able to help you out! We are giving away tickets to the following:

2 x Moto X Finals
2 x BMX Street Finals
2 x BMX Vert Final
8 x Rallycross
2 x BMX Big Air Final
2 x BMX PArk Final
2 x Skate Park Qualis
2 x Skate Big Air Finals
2 x Street League Finals
2 x Skate Vert Finals
2 x Street League Qualis
2 x Skate Park Finals
2 x Street League Selection

All you have to do to win them is comment below on which tickets you’d like to have! We will pick winners from the comments – it’s really that easy! But remember, you have to be 18+, we won’t be paying for your travel or accommodation and all entries have to be in by Thursday May 9th at 3pm (GMT) as we’re picking winners and getting in touch with them by Friday morning. If you’ve won, you NEED to get back to us by Friday at 1pm (GMT) otherwise we’ll find someone else that will take them! We know that’s not a lot of time but it’s the only way we can make sure that the tickets go to someone who definitely wants them.

Get entering, get excited and make sure you stayin the conversation on Twitter and Instagram with the #xgamesnow hash-tag! We’ll also be having highlights galore on site!

Could this be the best prize in action sports? When I say that I mean ‘is this the best prize that’s been offered’, not ‘is this the best prize ever, that anyone could ever think of?!’

Let me explain, love it or hate it, the X Games is a huge competition and it gets a shit load of coverage. People love watching it and people love reliving it. If you get a chance to go then you’ll be blown away by the whole thing… not literally of course but the statement stands for itself. I wouldn’t ever dream of riding at the X Games but it appears that there’s a chance for me to do so. Not just me, but you lot as well. Yes, you read it right. YOU could ride at the X GAMES! Want to know more? Here goes…

“The competition invites would-be athletes to submit a 60 second video of themselves pulling off their best moves in their chosen discipline – skate street, BMX street and mountain bike slopestyle. The videos will then be judged on talent, performance and style by a team of super judges who are all icons in their sports – BMX’s Mike Escamilla, freestyle mountain bike pioneer Richie Schley and skate’s Steve Caballero.

The six ‘phenom’ finalists per discipline will receive a once-in-a-lifetime all-expenses paid trip to the X Games where they will compete against each other for a chance to have their own video profile produced by Red Bull. For mountain bike slopestyle tricksters, this will be a trip to X Games Munich in June while BMX street and skate street competitors will go to X Games Los Angeles, Calif. USA in August.

Comments Steve Caballero: “Our industry has exploded and there are so many riders working their way up the ranks. Red Bull Phenom is your chance to get noticed!”

The competition is open to non-pros between the ages of 131 and 19. All you have to do to enter is upload your video to YouTube using the key words “Red Bull Phenom” and then submit the video link and other information onto redbullphenom.com.

Full entry details and rules can also be found on the website.

MTB slopestyle entries are open from April 8th to May 20th.
Skate street and BMX street entries are open from April 8th to June 17th.”

Need I say more?! What are you waiting for?!!

When you work in London, like we do, or a big city that embraces the use of bicycles, it’s imperative that you make sure you’re as safe as can be when riding a bike about town. A lot of the people in our office commute to work on their bikes and they’re always covered in as much safety gear as you could imagine! We’re always looking out for new ideas though and this one popped up!

So, some of you may know about Revolights already as their first Kickstarter project was pretty successful but the problem they found was that the lights they were creating were ‘clip-ons’ and this was sometimes troublesome. This new idea incorporates the LED lights within the wheel itself. Pretty special eh? If you’re thinking that it might make for a troublesome wheel that will be a pain in the arse to change if you get a flat, think again. The lights are bolted to the rims and don’t affect the tyre itself!
It has rechargeable and removable batteries in the wheels (that can be charged via USB) that have a life of around 4 hours. Good ideas always come at a price though so if you fancy a rear wheel it’ll cost you $229, a front wheel $217 or a set for $399. Pretty good value or not? What do you think?

It’s an idea that’s featured on their Kickstarter page so take a look and if you’re one of those cyclists that could do with some decent lights to save your life, then this might be worth a look.

What do you think about them?

As I sit here in the office staring out the window at the pitiful, yet annoying amount of snow falling, my mind wanders to thinking about the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The build-up hasn’t really started yet as we’re all thinking about the next snow season but it’ll creep up on us quick enough and as I think about bobsleighs, alpine skiers and curling, I remember that this is the first time in Olympic history that we’ll have snowboarding halfpipe and slopestyle. That’s a pretty monumental thing for our sports but is the Olympics ready for a full hit of snowboarding?

The reason I’m posing the question of whether the world of the Olympics is ready, and on a lesser note the middle-classes that bow down to the traditional aspects of the Games, is because of the noise that’s been created recently and I’m referring to three main incidents.

First up is the story about Kazu Kokubo. Back in 2010, he was representing Japan at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver but neither the Ski Association of Japan or the general public were impressed with him turning up with dreadlocks and ‘low-slung’ trousers. He was forced to apologise, which he did… badly, then forced to apologise again for doing such a bad job the first time and was nearly sent home on the first plane back. Luckily someone sweet-talked the Ski Association of Japan and he stayed to compete.

Second point – Kevin Backstrom. Kevin was one of the well known snowboarders in the Swedish Team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi but notice that I said was – he was kicked out of the Swedish Team for his apparent sexist views on women. If you have read about Kevin or followed his blog/Instagram/anything he posts online then you’ll know that he’s a man with a penchant for women and he loves posting up pictures of women. He was pretty well known for this behaviour but he pushed it just a little too far when he posted up an image that maybe shouldn’t have seen the light of day: it was “a cartoon of a blonde girl saying “what is the difference between me and a mosquito? The mosquito will stop sucking if you hit it,” according to a commenter on Whitelines. Pretty poor taste for anyone, let alone a snowboarder.

Third up is the British wonderkid, Jamie Nicholls. He recently posted up a tweet to his pal Billy Morgan with this:

On first reading we all found it pretty inoffensive banter between two mates. But Paddy Mortimer, performance director at BSS, wasn’t too pleased about it and weighed in with his opinion: “@jamienichollsuk funded athletes need to watch their language. Paddy pd BSS”. Read the full story here.

The reason I’ve picked out these three stories is purely for the fact that they are things that we all see in the snowboarding industry day in, day out (perhaps not the deleted picture from Kevin Backstrom) and I picked them for the fact that they’ve been publicly lambasted for their discrepancies. How many snowboarders do you see on the slopes or around a resort that have baggy clothing, dreadlocks or are generally not wearing the day to day clobber of a recently promoted accountant. When it comes to the case of Kevin Backstrom there’s not much of a leg to stand on but there are a lot of horny teenagers out there that like to ogle every pheromone producing female. I’m definitely not attempting to justify what he did though, that’s still open to debate. And as for Jamie Nicholls, that’s just the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! An attitude like this isn’t just kept in the world of snowboarding but from something that is clearly seen as banter, so to get told off like you’re a pre-pubescent school kid is just insane. Nicholls got a lot of support from everyone after he was told off and rightly so! If this is what will happen when the Olympics rolls around then it’ll be one shit storm after another… or will I get told off for saying shit?

Snowboarding, and let’s not forget freestyle skiing, is seen as more of a lifestyle than a sport to many people. And the fact that it’s more of a lifestyle is proven by the actions of the people above. You can be told you’re a role model but when your sport is as young as snowboarding then you need to admit that this lifestyle part will take over the seriousness of it. But then that’s the other point; it isn’t alpine skiing, it isn’t the luge, it’s essentially a hobby for ‘Dave next door’. I’m not belittling the sport I’m merely stating that it’s more accessible than the majority of other Olympic sports and it’s perhaps this fact that means it’s more of a lifestyle.

On the complete other side you may have to think that there will be next to no trouble at the Olympics if anything does happen. The I.O.C. are trying to appeal to a younger audience as they get more and more bored of curling and more and more interested in snowboarding. Does this mean that everyone will get a free pass to do whatever they want? Will Snowboarding be the annoying younger brother that your parents force you to include? I doubt it.

My point is this – snowboarding is a young sport and is only seen to be providing an outlet for anyone with the word teen in their age or anyone with dreads and a craving for weed. Yes it’s a sport that appeals to young people primarily and the majority of competitors are under 30 but what sport doesn’t have that? Young people famously make mistakes and attempt to do whatever they like no matter if it offends someone. If you’ve been in the snowboarding world at all then you’ll be aware that you can’t take life too seriously and we’re well versed in taking life as it comes and having fun while we do it. If you can’t have fun doing this sport then don’t do it at all. Sometimes it’ll be frowned upon but that’s fine. The problem that crops up is that the I.O.C. now need US to help them out but the people who reprimanded the three athletes above are of the old mindset of the old I.O.C..

Are they ready for it? Is the rest of the world ready for it? What do you reckon?

So with what seemed like a pretty short build up, the Winter X Games kicked off pretty quickly with superpipe and slopestyle getting everyone’s attention on the slopes. With spectators stopping in the middle of a run in Tignes, much to the annoyance of every middle-class skier that didn’t want to be involved in anything that us ‘whipper-snappers’ get up to, you can imagine that the riding was as jaw-dropping as everyone had expected it to be.

It would take me a decade to properly talk about every event, riders competing in them and everything in between, so I’ll just talk about a few people in particular before you watch all the highlights we have below.
First up – Kevin Rolland. I’m only bringing up the French shredder because, personally, I thought he was pretty much done for the season. He’d be struggling for form after returning from injury and I’d already written him off for the X Games but he definitely surprised! It seems that I shouldn’t have shut off my faith in the Frenchman as he managed to qualify first in the superpipe and also managed to take the bronze medal in the final.

Another notable performance was from Iouri Podladtchikov in the men’s snowboard superpipe finals. If any of you managed to catch it, you’d have seen a ridiculous performance that left me questioning my very existence. A bit dramatic, I agree, but his run was insane. After failing to stomp the landing in the competition, he came to his final run and STOMPED the ‘yolo flip’. All he had to do after that was a clean 540 but he was so amped on what he’d just done that he nailed himself on the next flip and ended up in fourth. Not only that but he was so happy that he threw his helmet, goggle and his board into the crowd! Definitely worth a watch!

So here we go. All the edits from the European Winter X Games 2013 from Tignes.

If you don’t already know, and we’re surprised if you don’t, but one of the greatest events in the action sports calendar is descending upon us. What’s the event? It’s the European Winter X Games in Tignes! Like I said, if that’s the first time you’re hearing about it then we’re shocked but we’re also here to deliver you something pretty special.

As European media partners to the European Winter X Games, we’re celebrating the fact that we’ve got the world’s best talent in Europe for a good few days and that they’ll be showing off all over the internet and TV, we don’t want them to be the only people that win something. Sure they might win a medal and pride but who wants that when there’s a chance to win a full snowboarding set up?! Intrigued? Well, read on…

As we know, you lot out there love Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. So much so that we’ve designed a little prize for those of you that interact with us during the X Games through these sites and we’ve even roped in our fellow magazine sites too. Starting Wednesday March 20th the guys from Whitelines, Onboard, SnowboarderMBM and Skiing Mag will be giving away 10 one year’s subscription to their magazines per day to one lucky person, for three days. Not one person for all mags but one person PER MAG. So there’s 30 subscriptions up for grabs! All you have to do on Twitter is tweet a photo, share your thoughts or just generally say something about the X Games. When it comes to Instagram you can upload a picture of you watching the X Games, your disbelief of how good a run was… anything really but there is one condition – you must use the hashtag #XGAMESNOW. Whether you’re tweeting or instagram-ing you need to put this hashtag on it and we’ll be able to pick winners.

But that’s not all!

Aside from subscriptions, at the end of the ten days the editors from the magazines will sit around a large table and argue about which one lucky git will be able to take home ‘the big prize’. The big prize will be:

TTR x Nitro Snowboard
Onboard x Union Bindings
Onboard x 686 Jacket
Onboard x Level Gloves
Whitelines x 7-9-13 Shoelace Belt
Onboard Tee
Whitelines Tee
Onboard x Neff Beanie
Whitelines Beanie
Onboard Sub
Whitelines Sub

Not bad eh? All for sending a tweet of a picture with a hashtag. But it doesn’t stop there!!
That’s what the guys at the magazines are giving away but there’s also the people that are huge Facebook lovers too! For everyone that fancies winning this huge prize:

Onboard x Head Snowboard
Onboard x Union Bindings
Onboard x 686 Jacket
Onboard x Level Gloves
Whitelines x 7-9-13 Shoelace Belt
Onboard Tee
Whitelines Tee
Onboard x Neff Beanie
Whitelines Beanie
Onboard Sub
Whitelines Sub

All you have to do is visit the Mpora page on Facebook and make sure you enter – for all you people who are already fans, you just enter your details on our comp page and you’re there. For those of you that aren’t friends with us on Facebook (and shame on you for it!), just ‘like’ us and then enter your details. It’s as easy as that! Hopefully you’ll be the one walking away with this huge swag we’ll be giving you.

Don’t forget to check in on Mpora though as we’ll be getting highlights and exclusive edits from Tignes as the Winter X Games kicks off!

Tweets about “#xgamesnow”

So, let me explain. If you’ve been watching the ‘From Straight Lines to Triple Corks – History of Competitive Snowboarding‘ series on Mpora then you’ll be pretty clued up about what’s going on. With Tom Sims and Jake Burton going head to head in the beginning and Sean Palmer and Craig Kelly creating the first rivalry, we’ve been covered with a thin coating of ‘snowboarding-is-clearly-American-and-won’t-be-anything-else’. It’s not been done intentionally but with the sport’s impact being huge in the states from the offset, it was always going to have that feeling. Throw in some Scandi talent in the form of Terje Haakonsen and there’s another continent that have their roots in the sport.
As the years have flown by we’ve seen several people’s names become well known – Kevin Pearce (for the wrong reasons), Jenny Jones, Nicolas Müller and of course Shaun White. Shaun White was the poster boy of snowboarding and he was, and arguably still is, fucking incredible. People might hate him but he’s helped the sport massively and that’s something that we should all be pretty pleased about. My point about Shaun is this – he’s that young kid that made everyone’s jaw drop, he made everyone green with envy that they weren’t as talented as he was and at one point, more people found him more recognisable than Jesus (pointless fact for you atheists out there but it was an American survey). If he was the most recognisable face in the sport then there was clearly no one better than Shaun to use as an ambassador for the Beijing Air & Style competition. People knew him and it was an easy way to market the idea of snowboarding to an audience that hasn’t had the joy of being involved in snowboarding. If I’m starting to lose you then this will help. Get it? Good.

We all know that bringing a new sport into a new country/continent/world is to essentially make money, at least for the brands anyway, but for us lot still involved in the industry with rose-tinted glasses, it’s a great way to bring the sport to new people who might enjoy it as much as we do. As soon as you introduce a new sport to new people there will inevitably be a few that pick it up instantly. We all know that person. That’s the kid that we all hate because he’s too good at all sports and shows off a little bit whilst ‘trying to stay humble’ – for this read Shaun White. So I know it’s a bit of a weird point and the writing is a bit stunted but stay with me, there’s reason behind it.
After the introduction of snowboarding to the Eastern world, we’ve started to see a slow influx of riders from China, Japan and the like. We’ve had Kazuhiro Kokubo riding at the last Winter Olympics but more importantly are three riders that are flying the flag – Yiwei Zhang, Ayumu Hirano and Miyabi Onitsuka.

Yiwei Zhang recently finished second at the Arctic Challenge from a wildcard entry, whereas Ayumu Hirano came second at the Burton US Open. You can list them simply as that and it’s fairly impressive as it is, but even more so if you look at the fact that Yiwei was a wildcard and managed to finished second at the Arctic Challenge closely followed by Ayumu Hirano in third. Ayumu, as I said, grabbed second at the Burton US Open and is only 14 years old! Not only that but he went a huge 16 feet out of the pipe! If he’s managing that at 14 then you can only dream about what he’ll be like when he hits his peak. Another 14 year-old that’s making waves is Miyabi Onitsuka from Japan who claimed the Big Air title at the O’Neill Evolution! That’s three riders with some insane promise!

Yiwei Zhang – Final run at the Arctic Challenge Halfpipe 2013 a Snowboarding video by WorldSnowboardTour

Ayumu Hirano 2nd place run at the Burton US Open 2013 — Halfpipe Finals a Snowboarding video by WorldSnowboardTour

Miyabi Onitsuka – O'Neill Evolution 2013 – Womens Superfinal a Snowboarding video by WorldSnowboardTour

With riders like this coming out of the woodwork and really stamping their authority on the snowboarding world, how long is it before we see a bit of a shift in dominance? I realise that the dominance isn’t wholly on the laps of the Americans and if anything, there are probably more European riders at the top of the list right now but give the kids from the East a few more years to embed themselves in the scene and we could see a bit of a revolution within our sport. And that ain’t no bad thing…

What do you reckon?

For a while now I’ve been chatting to Nick Marvik, Founder and CEO of NWT3K. I can’t remember how we got in touch but it’s been interesting following the company and seeing how they’ve progressed as time goes by. He’s the perfect example of how to start up your own company and definitely a good source of advice if you’re tempted by it. I decided to get him on tape and ask him how, why, what, when and where about his business so you lot could have some inspiration.

How did you start? Was it just an idea that popped into your head or had you planned on creating outerwear for a while?
Growing up in the Northwest and being a skier all my life, I constantly went through ski jackets. Every season was a new jacket, and while that was great, there was always something missing. The jackets either didn’t have the features I needed, or had too many features in general. Let’s be honest, who needs 15 pockets in a ski jacket? I knew exactly what I wanted, so that led me to design and build my own ski jacket. My good friend Richard taught me how to sew and from there I started making more and more coats for my friends out of my college basement.

Getting further into my college degree (Marketing) I realized I needed to develop my working knowledge skill set outside of the classroom – I wanted to obtain some “real world” experience while still being a full-time college student. For 2 years I was sewing jackets in my basement, essentially validating the concept that there was a need for customized products in the snow sports market.

Come my senior year, I took two independent study courses focusing on entrepreneurship and lean startup practices. We spent a lot of time exploring and practicing the underlying principles of Lean Startup; developing a testable hypothesis, testing by gathering data, revising the original hypothesis and testing again until the experiment showed repeatable, positive results.

These courses were the tipping point for me. Come the end of my senior year, I made the decision to scale and go full force with NWT3K. I teamed up with a graphic designer and software engineer to design and build our new platform – allowing users to customize and design a waterproof jacket via a simplistic online product builder. Along with the new website, I developed a relationship with a high quality manufacturing facility located in Seattle, WA.

What made you want to create outerwear? Did you feel there was a gap in the market?
As humans we crave individualism – it’s a natural trait. I felt that there was a huge gap in the snow sports market for riders to express their individualism via their outerwear. There is nothing more frustrating than going out and spending x hundreds of dollars on a new jacket, only to run into someone on the hill with the same jacket.

Also, I wanted a jacket that met my needs and wants as a freestyle skier – I wanted wide arm cuffs that easily fit over my gloves, a big hood that slid over my helmet, a longer fitting jacket, and a durable waterproof product that would last.

My good friend Richard taught me how to sew and from there I started making more and more coats for my friends out of my college basement.

Was there a point where you thought it wouldn’t work? Had anyone advised you not to do it?
Looking back, the two years I spent in my basement really validated the concept. Yes, there are nights where I struggled to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but at the end of the day I just keep reminding myself how much I’m learning and growing as a person. I’m 22 and have had experiences many people won’t have in a lifetime.

Have any companies out there helped you? Or gone out of their way to make life difficult for you?
Big shout out to Gavin Gibson at Skiing Magazine, and Brandon Watts at Freehub Magazine, both have helped me out tremendously.

We’re currently such a small player that many companies haven’t heard of us…yet. We’ve gotten a few interesting emails from individuals working at larger brands, but nothing degrading.

What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve faced?
Manufacturing. Anytime you are selling custom products you also have to develop a custom manufacturing process. The first (and biggest) obstacle was finding a facility that was willing to work with us. A lot of people I reached out to thought I was crazy.

We have been fortunate enough to partner and develop a relationship with a local production facility here in Seattle, WA. We have worked together for months ensuring the correct and most efficient processes that would allow for both businesses to have a positive experience.

Would you say you’re more technical focused or image focused? Is this something that has changed from when you started?
Considering I was the one sewing the jackets at the beginning, our technical focus has changed dramatically. Yes, our unique value proposition is that we provide snow enthusiasts with their own image and a customized product, but we also make high quality technical outerwear.

From the stitch quality to the taped seams, we have worked extremely hard to ensure our custom jackets meet the high quality standards people expect from big name brands.

Our customers have been extremely satisfied with the quality of their custom jackets. Not only do they get to customize and design their own image (see below), but they also get a quality product as well.

How involved are you in the manufacturing process now that you’re growing?
Highly involved. On average I’m at the factory two times a week. I’m always overseeing production and where we can make changes to make the process more efficient.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?
Great question. First off, I hope to be working at NWT3K fulltime – I’m currently working at Amazon as an online marketer. We will definitely be extending our custom product offering, allowing multiple products for customers to customize. We are also working on an innovative strategy to work with specialty retailers – both in store and online (more on this later).

Would you recommend this to anyone else? Any words of advice?
Students – the best advice I can give you is to take a step outside the box. Don’t just go to class and take the tests, you’re probably not going to retain much from it. I encourage you to learn outside the classroom while still being a student. Whether you pursue an internship or a venture of your own, obtaining working knowledge outside the classroom is going to make you much more attractive as a future employee.
Business owners – take risks! That’s what it’s all about. I challenge you to work with domestic businesses, create jobs and support your local economy.

* * * * * * *

Hopefully Nick’s inspired you to start thinking about creating your own outerwear and if you want to see more of his stuff then check out his site – http://www.nwt3k.com/

Now is the time to rejoice my fellow iPad users! Along with our new iPhone app we’ve created a brand new iPad app too and it’s live on the App Store right now! Similarly to the iPhone app it’s been made to work faster and look a lot better while still delivering you the best action sports videos right into the palm of your hand… providing you have a hand big enough to hold your iPad in without dropping it like an eel covered in vaseline. Went off on a slight tangent there…

Anyway! It’s new and fucking brilliant. Go get it on your iPad now and enjoy yourself!!! Need a link?
HERE’S A LINK FOR YOU! Now you can download the app. Feel free to share it around with people but even more importantly, what do you think? Good? Bad? Ugly?

With the first event of the 2013 global expansions completed, X Games returns to the centre stage in France with X Games Tignes, March 20-22. And as we turn our heads to see what’s going on we’ll soon see that they’ve announced the schedule and a few more riders! Want to know who? Thought so…

Snow: Mark McMorris, Iouri Podladtchikov, Louie Vit, Torstein Horgmo, Kelly Clark, Jamie Anderson, Elena Hight, Torah Bright, Shaun White and rookes Arielle Gold, Yuki Kadono and Max Parrot.

Ski: David Wise, Kevin Rolland, Thomas Krief, Anais Caradeux, Torin Yater-Wallace, Bobby Brown, Tom Wallisch, Nick Goepper, James Woods, Kaya Turski and Maddie Bowman.

All the athletes are here if you want a full list!
http://xgames.tignes.net/en/competitions/athletes-1119.html

The event will feature eight different events for men and women over three days, including Ski and Snowboard SuperPipe and Slopestyle.

Schedule highlights include:
„Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th : training
„Tuesday 19th : X Games Tignes 2013 opening press conference
„Wednesday 20th : Two Women’s finals:
- 1pm – Women’s Ski Slopestyle Final
- 6:30pm – Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe Eliminations
- 8:30pm – Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe Final

Press information February 14th 2013

„Thursday 21st :
- 1pm – Men’s Ski Slopestyle Final
- 6:30pm – Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe Final
- 8:30pm ­‐ Men’s Ski SuperPipe Eliminations
„Friday 22nd : 4 finals
- Men’s (10:30am) and Women’s (1pm) Snowboard Slopestyle Finals
- Men’s (6:30 pm) and Women’s (8 :30pm) Ski SuperPipe Finals

Are you lot ready for it?