World Cup riders Training in Les 2 Alpes
France - Summer-time to go training for all the World Cup riders who want to be on top form for the first events of the new season beginning in two months (Halfpipe in Cardrona, New Zealand, is set on August 25th).
Right now, the European location to be is Les 2 Alpes, on the French Alps, where, on its most famous glacier, freestyle riders and some hard booters are re-beginning to work hard after a break of almost three months.
French alpine team with Camille De Faucompret has been seen training with the usual red/blue gates on the lower part of the glacier's pistes.
Gary Zebrowski has been practising really hard in its country's amazing pipe (6 meters walls!) trying frontside 10s and 9s, as well as super high frontside crails and backside rodeo alley oops. Unfortunately the French rider, who won the last World Cup season's event in Chiesa Valmalenco, injured his knee after the last hit of one of his runs.
During these days, almost the whole Swiss Freestyle team has been training in the French superpipe and on some big kickers of Les 2 Alpes' snowpark: Markus Keller, Iouri Podladtchikov, Christian Haller and his sister Ursina, Gianluca Cavigelli, Daniel Friberg (who changed his Snowboard brand sponsor from Burton to DC), Colin Frei, Nadja Purtschert, Rolf Feldmann, Patrick Burgener (one of the strongest youngster out there: he's only 15 years old). In particular, Christian "Hitsch" Haller is working on his 9s and 10s and we're sure he's going to be one to watch out for in the first World Cup event of the next season in Cardrona.
Team Belgium with the Smits brothers (Antony and Seppe) and Christophe Reynders are right now spinning in the French pipe -improving their level with Vancouver 2010 in their eyes - as well as Scottish Ben Kilner, Spanish Queralt Castellet and four members of the Slovenian freestyle team, including Cilka Sadar and one of the strongest and youngest kid around: 12-year-old Tim Kevin Ravnjak.