Traditional Scandinavian Big Mountain Championships were held on the 12th – 14th of May in Rigsgränsen, Sweden. This year’s competition was already the 17th! No wonder you can see lots of Swedish freeskiers in the major ski films every year – they have a long tradition of freeskiing, since the days of early Free Radicals.

The 2008 competition was shortened to only one-day event due to bad weather: qualifications and two final runs all in the same day.

Looks like there wasn’t any lack of snow but the quality of it remains questionable… chopped up spring slush with occasional icy paths here and there. The rain on the previous days also made its effect on the snow cover. Check out this cool compilation video for example:

http://www.freeride.se/content/2130/

The amount of crashes tells the truth about the snow quality. It may look ok from the clip, but the riders at this level won’t do sketchy runs without any particular reason! Btw. the guy about 1.20 – talk about skills. Crash to fakie to forward, unbelievable.

The favourites performed as expected: World Freeride Tour Winner, Henrik Windstedt, took the men’s alpine class title. Rebecka Ericsson won the woman’s alpine title. Telemark master was Per Jonsson and snowboard title went to Björn Lindgren.

The interesting curiosity is that the title has once gone to Henrik’s good buddy, Jon Olsson. Who said the jibbers can’t ski?

The Finns had to settle for two second places: three-time telemark champion Joonas Karhumaa (2005-2007) and Kimmo Rauhala in Snowboard class. According to Swedish site http://www.freeride.se, Joonas had the most elegant tele turns througout the competition and was only held back by the points lost in one fall in the qualifications. Damn. Because Joonas is one fine skier – no matter if you compare him to any boarder or alpiner, the guy can do stuff on teles that 99% of the snow riders can’t do. By the way, check out his own site: http://www.joonaskarhumaa.com/. Picture of the said jump can be found  here, Joonas in charge: http://www.telemarktips.com/Resources/Cover06_9_11.jpg ). Big Up to our man Joonas anyway!

The results, scandinavian Big Mountain Championships 2008:

Men’s Alpine

1. Henrik Windstedt 82,2
2. Christian Björk 76,0
3. Magnus Loo 73,3

Women’s Alpine

1. Rebecka Eriksson 59,2
2. Sara Sandberg 49,7
3. Christine Hargin 48,2

Telemark

1. Per Jonsson 67,7
2. Joonas Karhumaa 59,4
3. Mattias Wagenius 46,3

Snowboard

1. Björn Lindgren 55,5
2. Kimmo Rauhala 42,8
3. Tomas Johansson 41,0