Close to a perfect summer day!

First of all. I haven't been blogging or anything like that lately because I've been at our summerhouse where you just constantly end up doing stuff. It's where I am right now as well but for the first time in a long time I'm here all alone, which means it's easier to concentrate on writing.

So ye, today was a pretty epic day. I've been out to sea. I made a nice BBQ dinner for myself, feels weird to bbq for only yourself. I enjoyed a really cool sunset, while heating up the sauna.

Had a long relaxing sauna session. It's sooo chill to just sit there in the warm sauna looking at the flames behind the glass. Skinny dipping/swimming in the sea where the water was just perfect. I had some cold beers in the sauna, and one of the times I was sitting outside cooling off with my beer and owl flew straight over me. Owls are badass, like the birdversion of ninjas. They have insanely good and precise hearing (in the winter they hunt mice trough layers of snow), they are completely silent in the air and when they sit up in the tree you can barely see them cos they sit freakishly still.

Now it's completely dark outside so might go practice some astrophotography, loads of fun and really challenging. At least with my gear and skills. But you gotta start somewhere right?

My sister and her boyfriend just left today so kinda weird not having them here since the evenings are usually the time we sit at the kitchen table socialising or watch series. I think they spent like 6 or 7 weeks here and were kinda bummed out about leaving. Got to go sailing with them on sunday (damn this week has gone by fast). Tomorrow I'm off to Turku on new adventures.

Last but not least!!!!!!!! The frikin edit that took me FOREVER to get done. SKDÄÄÄM!!!

Vide-Oh! Season 3 Finale from Vide-Oh! on Vimeo.

Shitty weather but spring is here!

We have gotten close to nothing filmed the past few months. The weather has been absolutely terrible. With a few sunny day that have been so windy it's hopeless to do anything on the jumps. Riding rails is beginning to feel abit boring almost because it's the only option on the super windy day. The wind also destroys all the soft snow so no pow to be found.
On the upside I've been out abit more than usual. For me it's a good thing because I might not go out at all for a few months and it gets sort of antisocial. The busy weeks for example are usually so exhausting the alot of the day you just can't find the power to get your ass of the couch once you get home. I've started going to the gym again on a more weekly basis, always a good way to get more energy.
I think everyone know we've had a few really good nights with some amazing northern lights. The were so strong that even if it was abit cloudy that radiant light pushed trouhgt the clouds.
I grabbed my camera and the tripod but was too late once I got everything in place. Another time I guess...
I've been home from work trying to get my knees in better shape which means I've been watching alot of stupid stuff but yesterday I found some gems from the past. The best snowboarding movies ever. Movies that get you more hyped on snowboarding than any other.

Some of the great
Mack Dawg Productions movies I found on youtube.




The quality is poor but it doesn't really matter. Still awesome.

Quick reminder if you order anything from www.myboard.fi add the LEVI code at the checkout for a small discount.

I got a new edit done. Had some problems with the resolution so I had to render it 4 times and upload it twice before I got it to work and look the way I wanted.

Vide-Oh! s3ep2 Out in the sun! from Vide-Oh! on Vimeo.

Svanstein

Here we go. So on January 17th we headed to Svanstein since there has been alot of talk about the resort this winter. I'm going to cut it short.
There are 2 t-bars but still alot of terrain to be ridden. If it snows alot they leave some slopes as they are so you get to ride pow on the slopes too. In some areas they have been cutting down alot of trees for BC riding which is awesome. You might have to walk back to the lift 10 mins or so but it's worth it. The staff all around the mountain were really outgoing and friendly and just ask the lifties and you will get good directions towards the good pow spots.
The terrain is kinda steep, but nothing too crazy.
As it got dark we had some lunch and hit the park. The park wasn't too much fun. Alot of small features and some of the takeoffs were abit sketchy. Then again they started working on the park abit more around a week later so I think we'll be going back to check out the park later this season.
I forgot to set my bindings back on the board and was too lazy to do anything about it later so the riding isn't the best and during the day I crashed quite alot. So this clip is far from good in my opinion but shows abit of Svansteins potential.


 
Vide-Oh! goes Svanstein from Vide-Oh! on Vimeo.

What board(s) do I ride?

So at the moment I got 2 boards.
The one on the left is a Lib Tech Travis Rive Pro model with Union Contact Pro bindings. This is a great all around board that for me works in almost any terrain. I mostly use it on big jumps, in the halfpipe, groomers and for off-piste riding. It's not really an off-piste board but to me it almost feels like it. It's got rocker between the inserts and camber from inserts to ti ad tail. I would say that the rocker part is kinda soft but the rest of the board is still kinda stiff so it doesn't feel like a complete noodle. A Noodle board would be Nitro Team Gullwing which feels like riding a board with a broken core trough the middle. Might be good for jibbing but whatever.
All in all I'm having a hard time finding anything negative to say about this board. It's my weapon of choice because of how well it works anywhere and in any conditions. Retails at around 559€

The board on the right is an old (2013) Ride Kink with Union Flite bindings. I got it in December because it was really cheap since it's an old model. If I got my facts right it's basically just the looks that have changed since then.
This board really surprised me. It's one of Rides cheapest and softest boards.
I've never owned a jib/rail board before but since I've started to enjoy that part of riding more and more I decided to give it a try.
It's true that it is a soft board but it's still easy to stay in control on nose and tail presses. It's a flat profile between contact points, but the contact points are raised up abit to make it less catchy.
Because it's flat in the middle I feel like it stays stable even when you push your weight onto the tail on nose. To confuse you even more I would say it's stiffer than you'd think but really soft when you want it to be. I just love it on jibs and rails and it holds up surprisingly well on carving turns.
It floats in powder better than you'd think but you will enjoy your pow alot more on some other board.
If you ride alot of rails in the park and hit up to medium sized jumps I would say this is the perfect board. I have to say that I am riding it in a wide size (abit stiffer), but if you look at the weight limits and get the right board this review should hold up.
Not a great board for a beginner in my opinion since the flat profile doesn't make turns for beginners any easier. So if you want a great board for the park this is alot of board for your money. Retails at 389€

I don't want to talk too much about the bindings since I feel is an area that alot of people feel differently about.
Union Contact Pro (to the left). It's true what they say about this binding on unions website. With less contact to the board you really feel alot more of the boards true flex. I really like this binding, it's abit more pricy. But at the same time might be the most comfortable binding I've ridden so far. Fit's like a glove. Retails at around 239€

Union Flite (to the right). If you are looking for a binding at a cheaper price range this is a great choice. I think union has one cheaper one but the Flight has a more quality feel to it. The footbed is completely flat and give a really stable feel. The only problem I have with this binding is that even if it is the same size as the Contact Pros it's abit more narrow, enough for my new boots not to fit the binding properly. This binding retails at only 149€. At this price range I would say it's a good binding.

I've been shopping at www.myboard.fi lately. Great outlet and good prices.
Get an extra 5% off with the the code LEVI at check out.

I hope you found this helpful.

Most insane week ever & Vide-Oh! s3ep1

Last week was the most sucky week of my entire life so far. It felt like whetever could go wrong, actually went wrong.
It all started a week ago on Monday. Made myself a breakfast smoothie in the blender. Detaching the jug from the machine the frikin bottom came off and the smoothie was all over the kitchen. Basically ment skipping breakfast and cleaning the kitchen. Coming to work it was -32 outside. I had already felt sick the day before but at his point I felt like I was about to suffocate because of the cold air combined with already irritated lungs and throat. Went to the doc and got sent home for 5 days.

On Tuesday I was boiling some water for tea. This ended up with me somehow managing to push over the water cooker and getting around 1 liter of boiling water on my thigh. 2nd degree burns.... I'm really killing it. I guess I should feel lucky. 15cm higher up and it would have been a whole other story, and something I don't even that I don't want to think about.

So basically Tuesday to Friday was about taking care of my burns and my flu.

On Saturday I didn't feel sick anymore so we headed over to Svanstein ski resort in Sweden together with Kaarle and Ulla. This was a really fun day with alot of rolling around in the offpiste. Not the best riding on our part but I got some nice footage I will put up later. However it was still a super fun day (pictures below). But on a week like this fun comes at a price.... My new Adidas boots broke, one of the laces came off. Since it's a quicklace system I couldn't fix it. I've been in contact with the retailer who is basically trying to get me to fix them myself somehow which to me seems kinda strange. I guess I will have to try.

Sunday, last day of the week, what could go wrong?
The weather is great, riding feels good. And they finished the halfpipe at Levi. Riding the pipe and the front slope jumps enjoying just throwing down tricks that are easy to us. On the last jump I throw down a fs3 landing it clean but then a few meters later catching my heel edge on something. It wasn't a hard fall but I completely messed up my thumb. I had it x-ray'd and the good thing is that it wasn't fractured or injured. Still really swollen and hurt alot so it still ruined riding for me.

Today it's Monday and I feel like it can't get worse, just uphill from here. That had to be all the bad luck that you usually get in several months. Now work for a few days and then 2 days off. Really hyped on riding right now so let's hope my luck turns.

The pow clips from Svanstein should be up soon and at the same time I will put up a short review about the resort and what we taught about it. This week I will try to get Ulla's video part filmed.

Here are a few pictures from Levi and the rest from Svanstein. I've been trying to learn how to get good pics on the DSLR, still a total amateur but I feel like it's getting better. And if you are wondering, I do NOT edit the pictures in any way. I'm too lazy for that.

Levi sunset/sunrise

Ulla -27

Our deck!

Kaarle most likely on Instagram (@kaarle)

Svanstein, Sweden

Kaarle & Ulla stretching

Kaarle gave up on stretching

Ulla doing what she does best! :D

All I need! (almost)

Here is the first Vide-Oh! Episode of the year. I've gotten some good feedback on this one and I hope you like it.



Vide-Oh! s3ep1 from Vide-Oh! on Vimeo.

Snowboarding until we get to snowboard some more!

It's been a slow start this season. Mainly because there isn't really enough snow to go offpiste that much and the park will get finished at the end of the incoming week.
As I wrote before, I sold my Ride MAchete and my Lib-Tech T.Rice board which left me with nothing for the groomers. So I've been riding the rental boards for the past weeks and I can't seem to find a board in the Nitro selection that I like. The Team 1.0 or whatever it's called was ok, basic camber which is nice on groomers.

I was working on the slalom world cup when they had the first race at Levi which was a cool experience. There's a hellalot of work that goes in to the competition that takes less than 6 hours across 2 days, completely insane. And you would think you'd get to follow the comp closer that anyone which is true, but between the stuff you have to do you actually just see the competitors pass by really fast and you have no idea of who's leading or anything. Still had a fun week.

Work start tomorrow, it's weird cos I feel abit nervous even tho I'm well prepared and I know how everything works. I'll be working long hours almost all week so I guess I'll be back to the old routine in a few days. Or not, lately there has been no routine what so ever.

The "park" in Kaarle's backyard is more epic than ever. This fall we built this platform from where we get speed for the rails. I't about 2m high, 2x2m wide, kinda overkill. And awesome.
We got the rails set up, the jumps and the takeoff shaped and "watered". Now we just gotta see when we both got time to film, and more than anything, try to get some skills!

Last thursday I got my new board, bindings and boots. I wanna ride the setup a few days before I reveal what I'll be riding this season. I'll prolly write a small review since it's kinda fun, and it might be helpful for some people considering the same gear.

Talking about new gear. I also sold the GoPro HD Hero2 and bought the HERO3+ Black Edition.
Here are some pictures taken in different conditions with the new GoPro.

I Have been filming some short clips on the groomersand will edit something small this week.

This picture is taken by Kaarle, I think it's an awesome picture and at the same time you get a sneak peak of the Vide-Oh! park at it's early stage.

Today the world lost Paul Walker from the Fast&Furious movies. In a car crash when he wasn't even driving himself.  Damn shame. I liked him as an actor and the movies will never be as good if they continue the Fast&Furious series with someone else in the lead role. R.I.P. Paul.

Time to rest!

Wazzup! I'm actually uploading my newest clip as I'm writing this post. Because my computer doesn't want to fully agree with me it took me like 10 hours to edit, on top of that I couldn't add any effects such as slowmotions because that would end up with the computer crashing. But still. Last weekend we took a different approach on filming, we left the GoPro in the bag, used my normal vid cam and planned ahead what we wanted to film and where. However I'll edit those clips tomorrow, today I edited stuff we filmed earlier this month. We got what we wanted and the results were good, even tho I took a pretty nasty fall on my ass. I don't even think it's possible but it felt like a broke my right butt-cheek. But for once we got it on film and I will put it in the edit tomorrow. At the end of the day I took this cool picture of the sunset and Kaarle taking pictures of the sunset (not edited in any way). On saturday I actually felt abit weak already but yesterday I still desided to go to work, it was a slow day but still got the most of my strength. Today it felt hopeless getting out of bed, I was pretty much out of breath from sleeping. Went to the doctor and got subscribed 3 differend meds and 3 sick days. This is one reason why I have had time to edit. I did take a break mid day cos I found it hard to stay awake. I got my new bindings, Ride Rodeo, and they are just awesome. The date is set for our Björkliden trip so it really looks like this is happening, totally hyped about that. Let's just hope for awesome weather. So if my computer is feeling friendly tomorrow there will be another edit coming up tomorrow. Until then... Good Night!! zzzZzZzzzzzZz

Vide-Oh! ep.2 from Vide-Oh! on Vimeo.

Getting colder! Skiing holidays are closing in...

It's almost a month since my last post. Time is just passing by so damn fast it's ridiculous. This week has been the first week of a healthier diet and lifestyle and I feel really good about it already. I've met awesome people at work and gotten some really nice feedback. All in all a good week. So what's new. The weather has been quite nice until this week/the past few day, the sky has been clear which is nice and the days are getting longer. It's awesome when the sun is out but it also usually means that it's pretty darn cold. For example today at work it was -29C/-20.2F which kinda takes the fun out of working outdoors.

This is a cool picture of some weird phenomenon, took this pic today and it's not edited in any way. It was warmer at the top of the front slope so I guess that is one of the reasons you can see the sunrays.

Last weekend I went to Helsinki to move all of my stuff out of my appartment which kinda sucked, on the upside I got no rent to pay. So I guess I'm more or less homeless at this point. The most annoying thing about going to Helsinki was that it started snowing the night before I left, and snowed for almost a whole week. For once the temp stayed above and around -10C/14F which ment the snow stayed light and soft. When I got back the best pow days were over but still got some sweet runs during the week.

The weekend before I went to Helsinki me and 9 others from the ski-school went to Aakenus near Ylläs to look for some powder, we ended up hiking alot and getting two poor runs, or actually poor doesn't really begin to explain the first one. But the food was good and the surroundings beautiful.

I was about to start editing at one point but Kaarle felt like it's better to film abit more, so that we have. My computer sucks big time but I managed to capture some frames from the new footy, suddenly everything froze so I desided to just leave it for now. So until I get the new edit done, here is a little something.

Kaarle totally killed ito n the rails but I'm going to leave that as a surprise.

Really lazy editing!

OK so I got the editing done yesterday and the clip uploaded today. Since my computer isn't the best one for editing I desided not to cut too much or add effects or anything. I'm trying to get the filming more organized which would make editing more efficient.
I'm loosing it more and more at work, 20 more days and it's done. I really seem to be in the wrong line of work, then again I don't see how some people can like it. Then again you could be picking up roadkills from the side of the road for a living.
Tomorrow it's time to see the doc again about my back/neck since it doesn't feel too good from the last big crash(es).
Yesterday we went to see Paleface performing at Hullu Poro Arena (The Crazy Reindeer Arena). Good sounds, alot of friends enjoying the music and dancing like crazy people. The fun thing is that my legs feel like I attended a 2 hour long bodypump session last night, I gotta admit, there was some crazy moves thrown around. It's not completely safe to find yourself on the dancefloor with Ulla, that usually means you wont be leaving until the music stops.
I've become totally hooked on Skrillex, taught I was going to show you this video. Alot of people have prolly seen it already but I think it's really cool.


Time for shredding material, It's abit long and there are some parts that could have been shortened so sorry about that. I will start editing Kaarle's part asap.
There isn't that much to tell about this vid, filmed by Kaarle who did an awesome job on the followcam in the end. Filmed on 18.3 if I remember correctly, I think we had like 2 warm-up runs and then just desided to try getting getting something on tape, I think we did ok. Enjoy and pleeeeeease gimme feedback on, well, anything.