The best sensation ever! Trust me it’s 100 times better then snowboarding! I’m so hooked! It feels like surfing on pow.. you take full control of your body’s impact on your board through your toes and your heels. It’s such a great adrenaline rush, all the way, all the time!

The GT memorial is the one event I wouldn’t miss for the world. It’s a No board race organized in the dead end of the Kootenays to commemorate Greg Todds who died in an avalanche 5 years ago. He, Cholo and their crew had decided to get rid of bindings in deep pow and developed that pad which allows you to surf and skate on powder.





Vanessa and I started the adventure with a bit of trouble because of bad rental car service in castlegar, where everything closes at 4.30 PM apparently, we got stuck there for the night hoping to get a car early enough to drive all the way to the race in time.. the rental car thing didn’t get any better when we realized they didn’t have any 4 wheel drive or any proper mountain car at all. we over packed the small car they gave us and then realized the car had summer tires. that was super sketchy knowing we ‘d have to drive on quite small snowy slippery mountain roads.. but it was that or hanging out in that ugly town doing nothing for the whole weekend.. so we jumped in the car and somehow just made it in time.



Our luck came back as soon as we arrived in Noboard land for the 5th annual GT memorial.. We showed up at the same time then Gigi and Shandi Campos, who took us straight to the sledding spot.. of course we didn’t have any sled but there again we got instantly picked up and doubled up all the way to the race field. It was soo cool to show up and find Romain, Jussi, Benjie, Shin, Rube, Mikey.. etc.. and of course the local legends Scott Penner, Cholo Burns and Jenna Lowe. I met Scott years back and he got me in love with Noboarding, and looking at what he can do without bindings, he is my hero!



I had missed the women’s race but I got a run with the last guy’s heat.. and the place was tracked already! It was my first run in 2 years and still I had so much fun riding down that field of pillows and trees! A good part of the fun is knowing you are definitely gonna crash at some point! Of course guys like Gigi and Terje killed it but the locals rule at that game, we are in their backyard and it’s Young Dave who won the race.. I had never seen a contest winner holding on so much to his cup, he probably spooned with it after partying with it all night! We all went down and an auction was organized to raize money for Greg’s kids. I couldn’t believe how much stuff was sold.. and then we danced all night on DJ Solomon’s tunes! The weekend was a blast, there was such a great vibe!

We stayed some extra days with Cholo and Jenna to shoot a couple thing. We went up and spent the first day doing no board runs in heavy but super fun no roping snow. It was a bit sketchy with snow conditions and what can happen when the conditions are not right happened. At the bottom of a run, Cholo set a small avalanche off. It wasn’t big nor deep.. and what appeared to be just a small slide, was enough to fully burry him. Luckily this happened right before our eyes. So we all ran and got him out in no time at all and he was fine. That was a serious wake up call.

A couple days later we went back up and the conditions were even more dangerous..
we set 2 avalanches off and decided go home. That day I had that weird feeling.. we were not welcome in the mountains and I was relieved only when we got back to the cars. Happy and lucky to be safe and alive. The highway was closed because of avalanche danger and we had to drive all around the mountains on small roads.. it took us 15 hours to get to Vancouver.

Some days the mountain is a fun playground, and some others it’s a giant monster ready to eat you up.. It’s crucial to listen to your surroundings and hold back when the conditions are not right. The few days we spent with Cholo and Jenna were amazing, I won’t forget their extra ordinary hospitality. Long life to Noboarding! My favorite thing ever! Be safe.

www.noboard.ca
www.vanessandrieux.com
http://snowboarding.transworld.net/featuresobf/noboard-race-gt-memorial-video/
www.annefloremarxer.com

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The Kootenays are definitely my favorite mountains to shred ever! There is something about that place, the people, the terrain, the vibe.. Everytime I get there, I get pow and sun and it’s always a blast! And how could I get a better start of the year then a full week in Retallack organized by Billabong and Oakley with Marie-France, Grete and Jenny Jones?





Retallack is a cat skiing operation in interior BC, their errain is great, steep runs in the trees, pillows and cliffs everywhere in amazing pow! Cat riding is the best way to hit fresh pow on each run and eat delicious gourmet food! I had been to the surrounding mountains before but not to that one yet. I was a bit worried as far as the amount of snow we would find, as the side road banks looked very poor, but the second we made the turn to Retallack all became white and powdery!





As we arrived it snowed the first couple days so we found some sweet pillows in the trees and a dope log on the second day..  we were quite a big crew but we all found a different cool spot to shred and shoot along the cat track which made it easier on the flash carrying.. Our cat driver was Carl the Gnarl, and that day he lit up a fire for us.. pretty unusual but so nice to hang by the fire after shooting in big pow..





Carl is pretty awesome! He is the master of stokeness, always cheering for us… I d hear his encouragement from the top of a cliff on the other side of the valley.. He would fuel us with schnaps on the last run of the day, pretty fun to ride down the cat track all the way to the lodge hitting the sides and airing every time you get a chance to.. a bit tipsy too which makes it especially fun!





This was a girl’s trip and times are fun when you hang out with those girls! Major singing and dancing sessions on the lift up in the cat, fun times and laughs but also goat imitating sessions.. yep this is how we do it!

The weather turned to blue sky for the next couple days, and we hit more pillows, more cliffs and more pow! In the evenings Carl would read us the poem he wrote about each day! And they were funnier every time! Of course he wasn’t shy of telling everyone about our stupidness on the mountain nor about my female standing pee device.. yes these things a great! Backing it 100%!



Seriously we had so much on that trip! Jenny got the whole lodge to play charades, after dinner, and that’s besides playing normal stuff like ping pong or pool! We for sure had a great time, and once again we had great conditions!

I love you girls! Thanks for the great times! Thanks to Oakley and Billabong for taking us there! And thanks to Retallack for giving us such a great time!
Anne-Flore


» www.retallack.com
» www.billabong.com
» www.oakley.com
» www.annefloremarxer.com

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afm with antti & risto

it has been a while since I went last to the Air and Style, but this year Billabong sent me there for a signing session

As it had been a bit of a frustration not to see girls riding at this event, I decided to make a petition with the full support of Sarka Pancochova, Cheryl Maas, Tanja Detomas, Lisa Filzmoser, Jenny Jones, Jamie Anderson, Kimmy Fasani, Hana Beaman, Leanne Pelosi, Bev Vuilleumier and Marie-France Roy, hoping to see girls next year..

» ipetitions.com

So I ended up running around with my piece of paper and it was great to see all the positive feedback from the public and the industry.. thanks to all of those who signed it :)

This weekend I went to Avoriaz for the Rock on Snow Tour.. It was fun to ride around even though the snow conditions are very poor in France at the moment, a lot of ski lifts are closed and none of the tree runs are ridable :(

When I went back to my car the road was super icy, there had been an accident and I got stuck on the road for half an hour, so i decided to turn around and wait in a coffee.. when I tried to turn around my car started slipping in all directions.. a couple guys had to come and push my car into a parking spot. So I decided to leave it there for the night and go back up to the resort..

And that was such a good decision, not only I avoided ending up in a gutter or crashing into another car but also when I got back up I found my good friends PP and L’arrogs from the Psykopit crew. Sylvain Bourbousson, Mathieu Crepel, Nico Droz, Mamar, Alfie, etc.. It was really fun to get to hang with those guys like in the good all times! hope I ll get to see them again soon!

that's always the coolest thing to go to events at the beginning of the winter, you get to meet all the good friends you ahven't seen for a while and it's always great fun to get to shred some slopes together!

The temperatures have dropped and I hope it will translate into snow by the end of this week.. I ll keep you posted very soon!

anne-flore

» annefloremarxer.com

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durchschnitts-rating: 3

We left New Zealand in our snowboard gear and landed in Fiji in our bikinis!

Vanessa and I had decided to stop over on our way to California and seriously that was the idea of the century!
 
My Billabong team manager Andrew had the same idea and was staying in Tavarua, and somehow we got lucky enough to be able to join him there for a few days. It was Paradise!! The Island is so pretty, everyone is so nice and the surf was soo good!







We went straight to Cloudbreak(super sick lefthander) as we arrived, I was pretty scared as I m not a master in terms of duck diving yet and the reef is pretty mean there. The first thing that happened was a pro surfer who had just smashed his head into the reef and had blood all over his face with a broken nose. no big deal, we all got back into the water after that. Andrew was killing it! I even got to catch a wave wow! that one wave made my whole day, i was so stoked on it that i didn’t even try to catch another one!

then the swell got way too big and i ended up in the water going like “how did i end up out here?” but that wave was so perfect, it was just magical for me to be sitting on my board looking at it.. well in between the waves where i was paddling out for my life! the swell got even bigger the next day and as all the big guys all went to Cloudbreak i decided to go on that right on the other side of the island, and that was the session of my life! we were only 4 on it, and we all had a blast!





then the wind picked up and luckily our new friend Tom took us fishing. we went out twice during the day.. fishing is super fun it’s pretty much hanging out in a boat and laughing. I like the concept! we caught some small fish and a shark!! yeah no big deal.. happens all the time!! what!?! a shark! we obviouslty released it (never eat what can eat you)
we also walked around the island, long boarded, stand up paddled, danced in the jacuzzi and on the swimming pool bar, played ping pong, pool and laughed 24/7. I m in love with Tavarua and i can’t wait until i ll be back there! you guys should definitely check this place out!
it’s so good!!







thousands of thanks to Tavarua Island for being such an amazing place in the world! check out there website and book here: » www.tavarua.com
thanks to Thomas Servais for all the fun we had fishing and not fishing with him check out his amazing photography on his website: » www.tomservais.com thanks to Vanessa for being such a fun travel mate and for all the photos: » www.vanessandrieux.com

» www.annefloremarxer.com

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durchschnitts-rating: 3.81818

Hello everyone,

I’ve been traveling heavily the last couple months and i have a couple blogs to share with you. I ll begin with the Billabong Shoot in New Zealand we just had.

Going to cold winter in the middle of the summer feels always funny.. I always forget half of my gear, and get half sick.. this time we all got sick at some point.. luckily the Fifa Xbox game  kept all of us happy and alive through the down days. The house was quite full and I was staying in an RV through the whole trip.. and most of you already know it is my favorite!

I really enjoyed hanging out with all my team mates, Sylvain, Clint, Jenny, Wolle, Jamie etc.. them and Vanessa, Eric, Woody, Andrew, Danielle, Nick and David.

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Last week most of the european snowboarders met in Biarritz for the ”We’ve Got Balls” soccer tournament. We are talking about a football World Cup for Snowboarders. The winners received €1000 to give to a charity of their choice. The concept is really fun, each country builds a team of snowboarders and they all play against each other: Switzerland, France, Spain, England, Austrians and Locals all came to play in the south west of France.

I was part of the swiss team with fellow countrymen Romain De Marchi, David Pitschi, Thierry Kunst, Fredi Kalbermatten, Stephan Maurer, Moritz Frey, Stephan Probst, Alessandro Boyens and team Captain Nicolas Mueller.

Each team had to have a girl on the field at all times.. which meant i had no other choice than run all the time.  exhausting! luckily Hana Beaman accepted to run some for me on the last couple days.. that’s after loosing my big toe nail, getting major cramps in both thigh, suffering from an eye infection and several crash at tackling attempts 

We played against the Spanish team at first and I was quite frightened by them as their players were all strong and good at soccer. luckily we made it through with a first Victory.

Then we got smashed by the Austrian Team..

It was pretty fun to play against Lisa Filzmoser and  Aline Bock..

The next day was a day off, with perfect surf off shore all day, so Vanessa, Margot, David and I, spend the day surfing.. 3 sessions of 2.5 hours really didn’t give us much rest.

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durchschnitts-rating: 3.5

And to Bad Gastein for inviting us to their beautiful resort! » www.skigastein.com

And thanks to Vanessa for the pics on this blog and for taking me with you on this trip » www.vanessandrieux.com

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durchschnitts-rating: 3.85714

I jumped in the plane with no idea what to expect from the snow condition in Japan this year, where i was going exactly and whom with.. all i knew was that it was dumping more then ever in europe and that i was truly looking forward to eating veggie tempura!! 

The japanese confusion begun as soon as i put my foot on the ground, I found my friend Matthieu Georges and as advised by the informations counter, we jumped in the bus to the other terminal as soon as we found the right bus stop (that would be after running 5 times back and forth through the whole bus terminal). arriving at the other terminal the information counter sends us back to the first terminal. once there again and the in checking counter, the very shy, very cute, very kind, very quiet, very japanese hostess tells us that snowboard bags are forbidden in the plane, and that we had to go to the other airport on the other side of tokyo about an hour away, and catch a bigger plane to Sapporo. 

once in sapporo's airport i met my english riding mates for this trip, Scott Mc Morris, Colum Mytton, Josh Wolf and Whiteline's Editor Ed Blomfield. 
We arrived in grand heraffu at night, there wasn't much snow but we were staying in a really cool place with an amayzing view on a beautiful Volcano as we woke up the next morning. Niseko is a volcano its self, the mountain is opened by day until 4pm and by night from 5pm to 8.30pm. most of the slopes are very well lit and it's really cool to go night shredding there! the lifts don't go all the way up the top as they do in europe and you ll hear all kinds of noises as soon as  you'll sit on a chairlift. Of course the chair lift person cleans up the chair with a brush, even when it's already dry and clean. At the gondola they'll put a condom on the nose of your board and they'll carry it out for you! After a day foolling around and searching for shootable spots it started snowing, i mean it started DUMPING and we would never see the the sky again as it kept dumping snow flakes of the size of 2euros coins through the whole trip. 
We had an amazing time shredding the lightest pow in the world through majestic trees. 

We've also had an incredible deep pow night shred! it felt like being part of a video game! It was well lit even on most off slopes runs, but my brain could analyse only one image at a time, it really felt surreal!  We found some sick mushrooms to hit on an other waist deep pow day.. They all had sweet flat landings.. I remember riding one where i made whole just as tall as me and got almost covered by my own sluff! This is how deep the snow was! 

I haden't gotten a chance to taste any vegie tempura in Niseko yet when we packed our board bags and took an 8 hour train ride through the country to the south island.. of course i m a girl and i had overpacked.. which did not make any of the 6 train changes easier for me.. we arrived in the Nagano area at night and we would not see the sunshine there either, unfortunately the rain had replaced the snow. 

Once there we met Andy and Sarah from Snow Season Japan who made it so sweet and easy for us.. driving us everywhere and showing some cool spots to shoot!  Off piste is pretty much illegal in japan and they chose a good way to catch rebells to this  rule. We hear that they'll chase any beacon signal on the mountain.. even if you are on slopes, they assume you were about to brake the rule.. After a a good shredding day I got to experience the japanese naked bath called the Onsen. I was on a trip with guys and the bath seperate genders.. So i went alone not really knowing what to expect or how it worked.. 

I musst have looked a bit confused too because 2 older ladies came to me as i was holding to my towel and ripped it off of me.. So there i was entering a steamed room full of hot and tighny japanese girls, all naked of course.. It was funny to be in the middle there, so much taller.. kids would stare at me and older ones would show me around.. there was about 5 or 6 different kinds of hot tubs.. one was outside, overlooking the slopes on which everyone was skiing.. 

I still haden't found any veggie tempura when we took off for a night in Tokyo. 
and of course we spent it singing karaoke we were staying in a capsule hotel and i was stoked to find my funky bunk bed at the end of that long night.. the english guys left early in the morning and Matt and I spent the day shopping and walking around town. I had a lot of fun on that trip. That powder was so amayzing and the guys were really fun to hang out with. 
Thanks to Matt and Ed who let me tag along.. 

Thanks to Ben Thorpe from » www.japanskiexperience.com and Jessica Geldart from the local tourist board in Niseko. 
And thanks to Andy and Sarah from » www.snowseasonjapan.com for all there help in Hakuba and Myoko, 
they'll hook you up with japanese language course to get closer to the culture if you want to go there. 
» www.japanskiexperience.com

» www.annefloremarxer.com

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durchschnitts-rating: 4.05882

After an hectic pre season I was ready and excited to leave to Austria with my friend Vanessa Andrieux. We go there every year to find good snow condition, I was all packed, board and bags in my trunk and as i was driving back from Barcelona it started dumping everywhere, and by the time i was in Switzerland my home mountains were covered by a good 60cm of fresh snow !

This is when we both decided to join the Demonium base camp in les diablerets (definitely the best place to stay, hang, mini shred and skate up there) and shoot a couple things home before heading to the austrian mountains. We waisted the first day looking for features to shoot along the road and at 12pm, after 3 hours driving around for nothing, we decided to go up on the mountain and shred. luckily the place wasn’t totally tracked yet, I found a couple good friends at the first chair lift, they took me to the good spot and I got chest deep for my first run of the winter !! I can’t remember a better start of the season ever ! sik !

The next day we built a kicker with Eman, Damien, Nico and Tonton not too far from the road in a safe area as avalanche danger was quite high at that time. It was fun to be shaping a kicker already. The snow was deep in the landing, the sun was shining we had a good thermos with hot tea and good meet, cheese, bread and chocolate. Family style !

After that we joined Nicolas Droz in Chatel to get a couple shots, each day we were pushing the austrian destination a bit later and we finally never made it there.

That’s when my friend Annie Boulanger called, there was no snow in whistler and she jumped in the plane to come shred with me.. I was so stoked to have her here because I m always the one going to canada or US and for once I got to show my place to a good friend ! as soon as she got off the plane we called Jonas Emery who could eventually give us heads up on the conditions where he was staying.. and we ended up staying at his place for a good 4 days.. We got sik tree runs in still really good snow on our first day and it dumped overnight !! We went to Verbier the next day, same thing, good tree pow runs under the cabin, and the great thing is that no one was on the slopes before christmas ! We joined Emilien Badoux the next day for the same luck with sunshine this time!

After that we headed to my home resort with my both of my parents my cousin, my boyfriend and 2 other good friends with whom we shredded all weekend.. It really felt like christmas !

This last couple of weeks were such a blast, I got to practice some Quebecquien expressions, I got to shred for the fun of it which happens very rarely, i got to stay at my grand parents cabin and the conditions were fantastic !

That was definitely my best christmas present this year.. and i wish you just as much fun and good shred ! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Anne-Flore

» annefloremarxer.com

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durchschnitts-rating: 4

Hello everyone,
It has been snowing everywhere in Europe and I have been traveling   like a mad woman. I went to les 2alpes where I received the Award of   the best french international rider (with both male and female   riders). I guess they gave me that just because they still don’t  know  that I am French.. for those of you who didn’t know it yet, I  have 3  passports, I am french, I am swiss, and I am  liechtensteinerin. That’s a mini country between Austria and  Switzerland..

Anyways after that I went to Stockhom for a Billabong photoshoot, it   was freezing there. The funny thing is that they put me in between  2  pretty and very skinny models.. which was quite interesting.. I  mean  for me and my big muscle! Haha we went to the ice bar where we  ended  up playing soccer with our ice made glasses, we went karaoke  in some  random empty bar and went dancing in a club which felt like  we were in  someone’s high sealing apartment.

From there I flew to Brazil for the Oakley sales meeting in   Florianopolis. I thought I was going to surf and tan on that trip  but  it was pouring rain the whole trip. Luckily Oakley had invited  some  other athletes with who I got to test all the local activities  the  resort was offering drom samba dance class to beach volleyball  through  poker game with the hotel staff..  On top of that I got to  meet Oscar Pistorius, by far the most inspiring Athlete I’ve ever  met, he was  emputed from both legs at a young age and is currently  braking all  world records oh his condition. He will run in the  “normal” Olympics  in London. This guy is king funny and runs faster  then anyone I know!On one night we had the premiere of the Oakley movie and once it was   finished and when I thought it was time for bed, brazilian drummers   and samba dancer came out of nowhere and got me to samba till my  feet  burnt to death! Well with Oscar and Lolo Jones (world’s number  one’s  hay runner) we went quad driving in the pouring rain! And it  was  really cool cause all that water had created tons of puddles in  the  sand dunes and Oscar and I got tons of fun hand breaks while  Lolo was  behaving and blocking the view of our guide while we were  kicking it  at the back!

After Brazil I was back in California for another Billabong   photoshoot. We landed in Orange county flying over all the fires of   the santa Anna’s wind.. The sky was so dark from the smoke it  really  looked like an apocalyptic vision. I found it really scary.  Everyone  else seemed to be fine with it “yeah it all burns each  November” I  mean houses were burning to dust! Photoshoot done and  Tara  Dakides’life documentary movie premiere and back in the plane  to  Europe.

I went to say hello to the Billabong euro crew in Bilbao for their sales meeting and flew to Barcelona for a shoot with Les Ettes.. oh yeah did I tell you that I am currently working on my pro model perfume? It smells really good and it will be ready in February!

I just got back from all these crazy travels and I still haven’t  seen  the snow yet. everyone has been telling me about their sick  powder  days already while I was just stuck in airplanes and  photoshoots..  which made me super excited for the winter..

I’ll take my Fiat 500 tomorrow and I ll be in the mountains again!
I’ll see you there!!

annefloremarxer.com
oakley.com
billabong.com
lesettes.com

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durchschnitts-rating: 4.05556