How’s that for appropriate? Danny Davis, arguably the champion of creative halfpipe riding, has won The Arctic Challenge 2014.
Terje Haakonsen‘s reboot of the long-standing competition aimed to get the riders more involved in the planning process, hence why Danny and co are seen here thrashing out the details for the format. Eventually the decision was made to have two one-hour sessions; one for overall runs, and another for best trick. Danny took the former, besting Olympic champ Iouri Podladtchikov and method man Kent Callister, while veteran Markus Keller won the latter.
Of course, this event wasn’t all about who won, hence why Danny and Markus found time to dick about on snowskates on the final day of practice. They got to business pretty soon, though, with creative use of the pipe’s unique features alongside what Terje calls “the spinny and flippy shit”.
It’s unlikely that the format will be able to deliver the mass appeal or spectacle of an Olympic halfpipe, but there’s no doubt that The Arctic Challenge is the definitive snowboarder’s snowboard contest. We’ll have footage of the final as soon as it drops.
