The B&E Invitational is Back in Les Arcs this March!
So the B&E Invitational! There is so much to talk about with this event, the brainchild of two of the most innovative and exciting freestyle skiers in the world right now, Henrik Harlaut and Phil Casabon.
Henrik Harlaut, who uses the pseudonym “E-dollo” won the gold medal at Winter X Games XVII in Aspen, Colorado, the silver medal in slopestyle and has been on the podium in a number of other competitions worldwide. In the final of X-Games he landed the first ever "nose butter triple cork 1620" and scored a perfect 50 points. If you don’t know what a nose butter triple cork is then check it out on the video in the main player above.
Phil Casabon A.K.A. Bdog who is also sponsored by Armada and Oakley alongside Edollo, is a French Canadian freestyle skier and the two guys have been riding, filming and competing next to and against each other for years. They are best buddies and have joined up with InspiredMediaMovement to give themselves more freedom to film and make their own edits away from the competition scene.
They do this under the guise of ‘The B&E Show’ which has culminated in the creation of what is one of the most fun and inventive competition formats around, and that is without even mentioning that last years course was in the shape of a massive cock and balls! I’m not even joking, check out the highlights of 2014 in the video below.
So what can we expect this year? Well, the course has been made bigger, longer and with more features. It has moved up the Chantel slope of Les Arcs 1800 so there will be better vantage points to see all of your favourite riders and the really big news is that this year there may even be some snowboarders thrown in the mix! Word on the street is that Kevin Backstrom and Tor Lundstrom are going to be strutting their stuff in amongst the skiers. If you’ve ever seen an episode of BYND x MDLS (the TV show that they produce) then you will know how exciting these two riders are to watch.
Yes, this really is a rider-driven competition where the main focus is to put on a good show and to have fun on the hill, and this is seen in the way that the riders attack the course. Rather than there being a set course which the riders have to follow, such as in the Olympic slopestyle competitions, the riders have an almost limitless number of different ‘lines’ that they can take through the course. In this way the individual creativity of the riders is challenged and the result is a really exciting spectacle for the crowds. With Monster Energy being heavily involved with the comp you can guarantee that it will have some pretty awesome features and hits, which will have been lovingly created with care and attention to detail to ensure that the raddest tricks can be pulled off on the day.
The lineup for this event reads like the Olympic Slopestyle riders list with only the top riders in the world being invited plus two very special wildcards. The wildcard riders have been whittled down from all over the world in an online video contest, with the best 2 videos submitted being chosen. The winners of this wildcard comp are Antti Ollila from Finland and Christian Allen from USA. These guys will have the very good fortune of joining the likes of
- Henrik Harlaut – Sweden
- Phil Casabon – Canada
- Candide Thovex – France
- Torin Yater-Wallace – USA
- Tom Wallisch – USA
- Sammy Carlson – USA
- Adam Delorme – USA
- Rory Silva – USA
- Emile Bergeron – Canada
- Noah Albaladejo – Spain
- Parker White – USA
- Ahmet Dadali – USA
- JF Houle – Canada
- Max Hill – Canada
- Jules Bonnaires – France
You can keep up to date with everything that is going on in the comp at their website [link above] and of course we will be providing you with all the important info and possibly a sneaky little video edit from the day.
You can also check out their live stream but it will be waaaay more fun to rock up on the day and watch it live. 12th and 13th March 2015. We’ll see ya there care bears!!!
