Powderhound Magazine

Jacob Lee. I choose Jacobs entry because at first glance I didn't realise that Sydney was photoshoped into the back ground. I went through all the entries again and was blown away when I realised it was Sydney! Congrats Jacob, you've got yourself a jacket.

I have to admit, I had a super tough time picking out the top 10 photo's as there were a lot of AWESOME entries. I hope you guys are stoked and thank you for entering!

Because there were so many awesome entries, Volkl has decided to give prizes for the top 10 that I have Chosen. the prizes are:

1st - Russ Henshaw Jacket

2nd - Volkl T Shirt

3rd - Volkl T Shirt

4th - Volkl T Shirt

5th - 10th - Volkl Caps

So here are the top 10:

1st Jacob Lee

2nd Ben Merrill

3rd Lars Meier

4th Nathan Silvernail

5th - 10th (in no order)

Kozbial Lucasz

Otto Seth

Madeleine O'hare

Marco Buch

Nicolas Kiefer

Diana Chiuzbaian

Thanks again for all the entries

//Russ

Had my last day skiing in Breckenridge today before I start to hit the road traveling again. It was snowing and overcast today which was actually good for me as I didn't feel the pressure I do when it's sunny to work on some harder tricks.

The first half of the day I played a game of ski with Jossi. I really enjoying playing ski as it force's me to try some tricks that are outside of my comfort zone. It was super fun and at times, scary but I luckily came out on top! Good game Jossi!

Then after lunch I skied with Alex Aurdal, Olle Mustadt and Oscar Scherlin. We tried tricks that we don't normally do as well. We tried tricks with wierd grabs and also tried some of that ''gangster'' 50/50 rail trick everyone is doing. Not very good at them ;)

Alex and I

I am packing my bags today and then tomorrow we head down to Denver for the night and then the following day we fly to Utah. Should be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the last stop of the dew tour.

Russ

After the beating my body has taken over the last few weeks, I decided to have a well deserved day off from skiing, and ohhhhh did I need it. I slept until 10 and then I basically sat inside watching TV all day long. The only exception to this is when I went for lunch.

I thought since I started to organise the next few weeks of travel that I would share with you what my travel schedule will look like. It's going to be super busy but I think it will be totally worth it:

9th - 12th Feb Dew tour Utah

13th - Travel to France

14th - 19th Feb Frostgun Big Air, France

20th Feb Travel to LA

21st Feb Travel from LA to Mammoth

22nd - 28th feb Training Mammoth

29th feb - 5th March Fis World Cup Mammoth

6th - Travel back to France

7th - 11th Find some where sick in france to ski. Any suggestions?

12th - 18th March European Xgames, France

As you can see, its a pretty hectic schedule with a lot of travel. I think it will be totally worth it though. I'll get to hit some awesome jumps and ski some sick locations. Hope I can get a podium in the next few events. It would be sick, coming back from injury, to be top 3 in an event. Fingers crossed!

I think the weather tomorrow in Breckenridge is ment to be horrible but I think I will go and ski anyway. Got to try and work on my rail game a bit ;)

//Russ

The weather forecast last night was saying that today would be horrible. I decided to wake up and go ski rails anyway, but to my suprise, it was perfect blue bird with no wind again! How much better can it get?

I did a few laps through the big line in the morning and decided to have a crack at the switch double cork 12 again. I managed to get it which I'm super stoked on. Hopefully I can do it at the upcoming events!

Then in the afternoon I hit some rails and filmed with PK and my filmer, Lucas. I think we got some pretty good shots. One thing I did, which I think is pretty good for my knee, is hike. I hiked all afternoon and my legs are super tired now but I know that it is super good for my leg's to be doing this, not to mention it's super hard at this altitude.

My knee is feeling pretty good. Although the smaller muscles are still getting pretty tired from how much I have been skiing. It feels solid when I am jumping and riding rails but when I get home it feels super tired. I'm hoping that by the end of the season this feeling is gone!

Cork 3

//Russ

Breckenridge has hands down the best park in the world right now. I went up to the hill with the mindset that I would just have fun, cruise and actually ski instead of putting pressure on my self to learn and perfect tricks.

That went out the window as soon as I started skiing. I actually ended up learning a new trick, switch dub 12, which I have had in my head for a long time but I have never actually gone for it.

I did a bunch of switch 7's to set up for the trick and it was feeling good so I went for it. Turns out it was a good idea as I landed it first go. I did 3 or them and on the 3rd I went to the bottom of the landing and landed backseat, which definitely didn't feel to good on my knee. That's when I decided to hit th small jumps and have some fun :)

Super stoked!

Checking out footage!

Mid switch dub!

Set up switch 7

Looking forward to skiing with everyone over the next week. Hopefully the sun stays out so I can work on a few other tricks before I start to travel to the next dew tour.

Russ

I guess thats Xgames for another year. Last night was Big Air and I have to say, it was one of the toughest things I have had to watch. I skied the practice session as there was still a chance to make it into the competition.

Pk was 1st alternate and I was 2nd. Pk made it in because Alex Schlopy dropped out of the event due to a nagging knee injury from slopestyle. I on the other hand didn't get the chance to compete and had to watch everyone else ski. I felt like I was skiing well in practice. I landed a few different double cork variations which I was stoked on.

The event was crazy. Congrats to Bobby for throwing some of the smothest double cork 12's I have ever seen. Kai Mahler is nuts and almost landed a switch double misty 1620 and I am also super stoked to see Jossi back on the podium. Gus was also getting some sick switch doubles. If he can get the switch double cork 12 blunt that he was trying, my mind will be blown haha. I also hope Sammy Carlson is all good. He went down super hard on a sick looking double cork 1620.

I am back in Breck now and I am hoping the weather is good so I can learn some tricks and do some filming. I need to learn some tricks for the cmpetitions that are coming up and also for the comp's that are later in the season.

Stay tuned

Russ

Yesterday had to be one of the longest day's of competition I have ever had. Training for slopestyle started at 9 and we didn't finish finals until about 9 or 10 last night.

Slopestyle eliminations was one of the craziest event's I have ever had the privilege of competing in. Every rider that qualified had at least 3 doubles and majority had doubles spinning both left and right. The field was stacked and I spent the majority of eliminations worried as I was in and out of the bubble spot up until my last run, which ended up putting me in 5th.

Rightside dub 12

Training for finals definitely did not go my way. I didn't land any of my tricks, had to swap to another pair of ski's that I hadn't skied rails on yet and I gave my knee a shock by going to the bottom of the landing on the first jump. Definitely not how I wanted to go into slope finals for Xgames, but you get what your given and have to deal with what ever is thrown at you.

Getting worked on between eliminations and finals

First run in finals felt pretty good for me except for the fact I wasn't going all that big on the jumps, I think that was because I was subconsciously nursing my knee and didn't want to hurt it. After I landed that run, I realised if I wanted to do better I had to go bigger.

PK is a beast

Testing the last jump. We had a lot of fresh snow during the event

Second run was far better than my first. I went bigger on the jumps and got the rails pretty well. Only trick I feel I needed to clean up was the 450 on the top rail as I thought it wasn't as clean as I could have done it.

Third run I was super nervous and knew I needed a perfect run to do well. I got my top rails the best I had got them since being here at X, but then everything fell apart on the first jump. I did my rightside double underflip and dropped my pole. I know a lot of people are questioning why I didn't just finish my run with 1 pole. The answer is, even though I landed, the judges would have seen it as a deduction and I highly doubt that with that bobble, it would beat my previous run score.

I have mixed emotions today. I am frustrated with myself that I would drop my pole in a situation like that, but at the same time I'm stoked I ended up in the top 5 at such a high level of competition and after not even knowing if I would be ready to compete for Xgames with my knee surgery.

I have a lot of things I want, and need to learn, but I am being held back by my knee and having to do tricks I know I can land so that my knee can hold out throughout the season.

Congrats to everyone in the Xgames this year. It was an absurd level of skiing and I think everyone deserves props for just being in such a crazy event like this. Extra pros goes to Tom, Nick and Andreas for coming out on top. You guys Killed it.

Russ

Tomorrow is the big day. We have Slope qualifiers in the morning and then finals at night (I hope I make finals)

Training has been going pretty well. First night training session went super well for me and I got a bunch of tricks sorted. Today my training was average as I was super tired, so I decided to skip the night training session to rest my body for tomorrow. I'm slowly piecing my run together. The 2nd rail feature is a tough one to figure out but I think it should be good!

Interviews!

Stoked for tomorrow and I'll keep you posted and let you know how it goes!

Russ

Today we have two training sessions, one during the day and one tonight. Unfortunately the day session was cancelled due to the fact that there is a few minor adjustments that are need on the last jump. So since i have a little time before the night session, I thought I would jump on here and show you guys some pics of the course:

This is the first rail option. High flat rail, close out rail and a wall ride. You can get super creative here for sure.

This is rail option #2. This is a very scary feature. Two flat tubes into a down box or down rail which are offset.

The following these features are 4 jumps. Which are super poppy and looking amazing.

Looking forward to tonight. Hopefully the course rides amazingly.

Russ