Monday Mix - May 4, 2020

Another cycle through the days and we're back with the first Monday Mix of May - May the Fourth, as a matter of fact. We think we heard someone mention there's a Star Wars thing happening today, but who knows...

COVID-19 restrictions are starting to lift a little bit around the world, and as the sun gets higher in the sky and the spring warms up a little bit more every day it definitely feels like there's some better vibes floating around these days. Still, make sure you're paying attention to the health and safety recommendations whenever you are and let's keep working on getting through this tough time!

But back to the vibes thing...it's the Mix and good times are the goal here, so we'll kick things off today with a clip that is nearly unmatchable in its good-vibe-ness. Untracked freshies? Check. Bluebird day? Check. A DOG AS YOUR SHREDDING PARTNER?? Check, check, and check!

Now, the biggest theme we came across this past week was seeing more and more riders finding creative ways to shred around the house - either inside, or in their backyards if they're lucky enough to have a little extra space.

No surprise that the best set-up we've seen so far can be found in the UK, where dryslope riding is how many of Britiain's best first learned the ropes and is, in fact, where many still hone their skills today. Tapping into the spirit of dryslope with his backyard rail park is Jamie Nicholls, who blessed us with a bunch of bangers earlier today...

Meanwhile over in Germany, Silvia Mittermul had pretty much the exact same idea as Nicholls - build a drop-in ramp and a little jump, screw some PVC piping to some 2X4's, cover it all in fake grass, and start stacking clips!

Working on what appears to be a slightly larger scale is Michela Moioli, who found herself a pile of snow and brought in some heavy machinery to help with her drop ins in Bergamo...

Jumping back over to GBR, Katie Ormerod has switched gears to skating, with her home now boasting one of he nicest little mini ramps you're likely ever to lay eyes on. As soon as the self-isolation orders are lifted we're calling for a BBQ and jam session at your house, Katie...

Another thing we saw a lot of this past week? ACTUAL SNOWBOARDING. Yeah, lots of it was throwback stuff, but there were a handful of riders up in the more northern reaches dropping some sweet, slushy goodness - starting with Stian Kleivdal and this super stylish four-hitter from at home in Norway...

Speaking of style, you know that's exactly what's going down when you tag along with Mons Roisland for a rip through the rail line...

Meanwhile, over in Sweden, the svengali Sven Thorgren is teasing "something big." What's it gonna be, Sven? Banked slalom? Quarterpipe? Banked slalom + quarterpipe super session?

Honestly, it doesn't matter what it is. If there's any snowboarding involved at all we cannot wait to see it...

However, in Crans Montana  it looks like it's finally time to give up on the halfpipe season for Pat Burgener. Tough to keep up your speed with three meters of grass and mud filling up the flat bottom...

In the throwback department, it was awesome to see Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games slopestyle gold medallist Evy Poppe of Belgium throwing back to her first US Open experience with this fun clip. This girl is on the come-up, bigtime...

And then there's a Miller-flipping Matty McCormick flashing back to midseason madness in Laax...

Or howabout French master Pierre Vaultier revisiting some pretty unreal SBX training action with this follow cam clip?

We could happily post every single shredding clip we came across last week here and have this piece be a mile long, but it's time to switch gears to a bit of news, beginning with the Austrian team, who announced their SB squad for the 2020/21 season this week. With the likes of slopestyle/big air superstar Anna Gasser, two-time SBX crystal globe winner Alessandro Haemmerle, and their always-stacked alpine team, the Austrians are looking good once again heading into next winter...

One of the rippers on the Austrian alpine team is the great Benny Karl and he, along with thousands of others around the world, took part in a decentralized Wings For Life World Run on Friday. With participants in more than 100 countries running nearly one million kilometers and raising €2.6m for spinal cord injury research, the run was a huge success despite the fact that participants couldn't all get on the same course and run together.

Back to Mr. Vaultier for a second, as SBX Life will continue their interview series on Wednesday by sitting down with arguably the greatest men's rider in snowboard cross history. Do not miss this one...

And, finally, keep your eyes on our channels on Wednesday, where we'll be launching a new feature that will run through the rest of the spring. We'll be taking two epic FIS Snowboard World Cup competitions from the past and pitting them against each other for your vote, with the winning competition going on to be streamed on our YouTube channel for one week.

We'll be starting things off this week with competitions that star two of the best riders to ever pull out of the SBX start gate, so stay tuned!

Finally, to send you out into the rest of the week with a smile, here's parellel overall crystal globe winner Roland Fischnaller honouring a long-standing South Tyrolian tradition by...turning his trophy into a giant ball of speck? Tasty!

Ok, that's it and that's all, folks! Enjoy the rest of the week and take care of yourselves!

❤️