CHECK OUT CHANELLE'S NEW WEBSITE

Capix team rider Chanelle Sladics has just launched her brand new website, check it out here...

www.chanellesladics.com

MIGHTY MIDWEST SNOWBOARD CAMP TOUR STOP 5

Hey folks, hope all is well.

Here is the total recap from the 5th Stop on tour at OTSEGO CLUB Resort in MICHIGAN. This is our inaugural tour stop in Michigan.  This place rocks! Mother Nature hooked up sunshine for both days of the camp and super warm temps. Lots of laughs, lots of Olympians training from all over the world in the 22 foot superpipe and 2 super fun days of shredding! Big Up's to Jason at the Otsego Club for this opportunity to ride such a great park, and to Kip & Kris for all the help during our stay. Thanks to Pat at BAJA MX for all the hospitality and tour guiding, and Rosana for all the  for the shuttling and your smile!


Video 1 ---- Video 2 ---- Personalities ---- Day 1 ---- Day 2

CAPIX WELCOMES ERIKA VIKANDER TO THE SNOW AM TEAM

Erika Vikander's dream of making a living riding a snowboard moved a lot closer to a reality last weekend. The 19-year-old Salt Lake resident won the first stop of the Gatorade Free Flow Tour in Mountain High, Calif., in the slopestyle event on Jan. 17. Her season gets better this weekend when she heads home to compete in the second stop at Brighton Ski Resort on Saturday. "I'm so excited," she said, "that this stop is at Brighton. It's a fun place to have it." She isn't sure how the resort will build the slopestyle course, but she is familiar with the resort as she's skied it for years growing up in the Park City and Salt Lake City area. "I have lived here so long that I'm pretty confident about being able to go in there and wing it," said Vikander of Brighton. "It's a chill little resort, smaller and low key. Sometimes just riding around Park City feels like you're in a competition." Vikander moved to Utah as a high school freshman and attended Park City High for two years. She was spending so much time on a snowboard, she transferred to the Winter Sports School at the Utah Olympic Park for her final two years of high school.

"It was such a great experience," she said. "If I hadn't been able to go there, I'm not sure where I would be. They give us the winter off to compete, and we go to school all summer. With one or two people in a class, there is a lot of one-on-one help." Her father lives here while her mom resides in Laguna Beach, which for Vikander is the best of both worlds. "I love to play in the ocean, and I love to snowboard," she said. Her success is helping her realize her goal of turning snowboarding into a profession. "Ideally I want to set myself up to get into the Dew Tour," she said. The Gatorade Free Flow Tour's top athletes get to compete in the Dew Tour the following year. "Then I'd like to qualify for the X Games (which are this weekend in Apsen, Colo.). And ultimately, it would be awesome to get slopestyle snowboarding into the Olympics and make an Olympic team." Many believe that it's just a matter of time before slopestlye is added to the Games, as it is growing in popularity among athletes and fans.

"I think it is very feasible," she said. "It's the next wave."

ANDREW TAYLOR CHECKS IN WITH SOME VIDEO AND AN UPDATE..

I just got home from the odd couples contest at Rayʼs MTB in Cleveland, Ohio. The idea

for the contest was that ten three man teamʼs made up of a bmxʼer, mountain biker and

a cinematographer had three days to produce a three minute movie filmed inside the

park. On the fourth day Rayʼs set up a premier in the rhythm room and invited all the

locals to come and check it out. Celebrity judges Brian Lopes and Taj Mihelich judged

along with a decibel meter that rated how loud the crowd got for each video.

For the contest I got partnered up with Tom Arkus (cinematographer) and Big Daddy

(bmxʼer). Before I showed up to Rayʼs I had never met them so I had no idea what to

expect. Luckily we all worked good together and got a lot of filming done. Iʼve never

laughed so much when making a video! We had a lot of ideas for a theme so when it

was time for Tom to edit he had over 2 hours of footage to go through. After going

through all the footage this is what we came up with. We tried to make a video that

would be different than what you would normally see so I hope you like it!

Unfortunately we didn't make it in the finals but I was stoked because it seemed like the

crowd really enjoyed it!

Music Video: Big Daddy Feat. Andrew Taylor "Let it Rock" from Vinylbmx on Vimeo.