August 15
He may have hit the podium during the 2009 Killington Grand Prix, but even that’s a minor accomplishment when Josh Dirksen has commented on your impeccable lien. Though Ladley was once just a pint sized tike tossing man sized spins, his back-to-back 1080s and competitive consistency is making this rookie a rider to watch.
Stance: Regular
Home Mountain: Steamboat Springs, Co.
Board: Ride
Boot: Nike
Binding: Ride
Outerwear: Nike
Goggle: Oakley
January 18, 2013
Every year at the X Games, the pipe contest delivers a high level crescendo to the weekend, since it takes center stage on the final day of the event. Check out a few photos from 2012 to get ready for the action this year.
November 9, 2012
Rider: Matt Ladley Photographer: Mike Yoshida
August 1, 2012
April 4, 2012
Words & Photos: Laura Austin
Day two of the Nike Chosen Sessions in Montafon, Austria continued with more action and less sun. The day kicked off with a bowl session in a unique setup, paying homage to the bowl movement in Japan with a very skate-style feel to it. With all the video crews, ams, and pros in one condensed area, as opposed to yesterday’s scattered format, the action was non-stop and you could really get a feel for the riders’ skill.
After the guys started to get a feel for the setup they started to get more and more creative. Jamie Nicholls gap-transferring from one side of the bowl to the wallride, Ethan Morgan and Austin Smith handplanting the diving board, Peetu Pironen with a wallride transfer into the conjoining bowl, and much more. A definite highlight was the appearance of Nicolas Muller, and his signature method off the cone feature.
After lunch the action moved to the jumps for the big air portion of the session. There were obvious pro standouts like Peetu Pironen and Jamie Nicholls but the Ams left their own impression as well. Andy Nudds had some of the best style throughout, and Markus Mathis was one of the more technical, throwing double 10’s and 12’s.
The day rounded out with the remaining few riders on the mountain launching off the gap jump over the immaculate 200-foot Nike Swoosh. The Swoosh alone is quite the spectacle, but jumping over the thing added a whole other dimension. The rest of the week should be interesting with the impending weather moving in, but I have a feeling these ams are hungry enough to ride rain or shine. My camera gear may feel a bit differently though.
Stay tuned to Snowboardermag.com for more upcoming action from the Nike Chosen Sessions and check out http://nikechosensessions.com/ for all the latest updates and videos.
April 2, 2012
Words & Photos: Laura Austin
As of April 2nd, 2012 the Nike Chosen Sessions have officially kicked off on top of Silvretta Montafon, Austria. As a culmination of both the Nike Chosen Series and the Nike Chosen Video Crew Contest, the lucky and talented winners from all different regions gathered to see which crew and which individual would be crowned the Chosen one. But these Ams aren’t the only ones sessioning this dream park constructed on top of the Alps, a majority of the Nike Pro Team is in town as well. Turn your head to the right and you see Pettu Piironen sending himself off one of the largest jumps many people have ever seen in person, then you turn your head to the left and you see Jed Anderson getting technical on a stair set. Not only is The Nike Chosen Sessions unique in the way of bringing pros of different disciplines into one park, but the ams also get the chance to ride side-by-side with some of their idols.
Day one of this week-long event consisted of the “Best Line” portion. The different regional winners of the Nike Chosen series on-site contests had to put together their best line though out the whole park setup, leaving room for creativity. However, instead of judges sitting down at the bottom of the park giving immediate scores, each rider is follow-cammed and the footage from that will later be reviewed by the Nike pros… making for a much more laid-back, natural environment.
But then there is a whole other dimension to the contest. While the series winners are doing organized events throughout the week, the video crews have free-reign over the park to create edits that will be showcased and judged at the end of the week. This additional portion really sets the Nike Chosen Sessions apart from most other events in snowboarding and is an opportunity of a lifetime for any amateur snowboarder. “This Must Be The Place” video crew, based out of Salt Lake City, Utah was especially stoked considering they have never been to Europe and for one of them this was their first time out of the United States. “The other crews just had to drive a few hours to get here and we had to fly overseas, making this trip especially nuts for us”, said filmer Connor Brown.
Stay tuned to Snowboardermag.com to see how the rest of the sessions unfold and keep checking http://nikechosensessions.com/ for all the info you need.
February 10, 2012
Words & Photos: Ryan “Huggy” Hughes (unless otherwise credited) After the X Games the Buttermilk pipe was a peaceful place. No screaming fans, surly entitled security guards, or parking problems. Just a perfectly groomed dream pipe. Snowboarder Magazine’s photo editor Ryan “Huggy” Hughes joined Gretchen Bleiler and Matt Ladley to take advantage of the clean [...]
January 22, 2012
You can argue that lately halfpipe contests have become too predictable, with straight air victory laps becoming the norm. The finals at the Pantech Invitational however, were quite the opposite. With the New England weather finally cooperating and the Killington superpipe looking perfect, the final turned into one of the best pipe events I have ever seen.
March 31, 2011
Between the TTR, FIS, Dew Tour and Winter X Games, there have been 27 major snowboard contests scheduled between December 2010 and March 2011 at venues all across the world. Each organization schedules its event series without taking into account the event schedule set by other organizations, which results in a contest calendar that is not only crowded, but where major competitions conflict with each other. Scheduling conflicts force riders to choose between events, which not only divides the competitive field, it devalues the viewing experience for fans who watch competitions where not all the top riders are participating.
March 5, 2011
That's a wrap for the Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain. See how the superpipe finals unfolded in this full recap of the event.
January 31, 2011
Shaun White takes Winter X Games 15 Men's Superpipe gold. Check out the post for a full write up, photos, and results.
December 19, 2010
Another blizzard set the scene for Superpipe finals at the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, but Louie Vito and Queralt Castellet were able to come out on top.
October 26, 2010
The Nike 6.0 D-Pad Session went off in Norway with Terje Håkonsen, Jake Blauvelt, Matt Ladley, Mason Aguirre, Eero Ettala, Kevin Bäckström, Gjermund Bråten, Ethan Morgan, Gerome Mathieu, Ståle Sandbech, Jamie Nicholls, and Erik Botner.
October 14, 2010
Here is a teaser for the upcoming Fuel TV series "Blauvelt's Backcountry". A four episode series that follows Jake Blauvelt and crew in their backcountry adventures.
August 16, 2010
We're not sure what Matt Ladley means by "batting practice" in this one, but check out what he has to say in the rest of his Guestbook.
August 15, 2010
He may have hit the podium during the 2009 Killington Grand Prix, but even that’s a minor accomplishment when Josh Dirksen has commented on your impeccable lien. Though Ladley was once just a pint sized tike tossing man sized spins, his back-to-back 1080s and competitive consistency is making this rookie a rider to watch.
January 15, 2010
The top ten men and top five women from yesterday's qualifiers will advance to compete in Saturday's finals. Stay tuned to snowboardermag.com for all your Winter Dew Tour Snowbasin updates.
January 15, 2010
Elijah and Elena both placed first in the Dew Tour Halfpipe Prelims at Snow Basin today but since it was not the finals, they received no prize money and will get little if any recognition for their efforts aside from this video brought to you by Snowboardermag.com.
January 14, 2010
Dew Tour Men's Halfpipe Prelims
December 19, 2009
Snowboarder Magazine's senior photographer Aaron Dodds was on location today at the 2009 Breckenridge Dew Tour Halfpipe event. See the day and riders as if you were looking through his camera.
December 19, 2009
Even though it looks like some of the riders went bigger in the bar the night before than they did in the 18 ft. pipe, the Dew Tour Halfpipe Prelim action at Breckenridge was still stellar. Check out these runs from JJ Thomas, Danny Davis, Matt Ladley, Luke Mitrani, and more.
October 22, 2009
JP Walker and Matt Ladley will appear on “The Daily Habit” tonight, Thursday, October 22.
October 2, 2009
A smattering of images from SNOWBOARDER's September 2009 issue.
September 25, 2009
Win a pair of Oakley Crowbars just for daydreaming?!?!?!?
August 20, 2009
Oakley leaked us a short video of Matt Ladley from their upcoming Tracking Eero series where the 2nd place finisher at the TAC explains his views on the 2x cork.
August 20, 2009
You can expect to see Matt Ladley throw down some big pipe runs this year. He gave us the scoop on what he's adding to his bag of tricks and the 2014 Olympics.
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