As the slopestyle award ceremony wrapped up yesterday afternoon the crowd on hand skied off into the sunset confident that the sunny skies would carry over into the final day of competition. Silly us, we should know better by now. The finalists in Saturday’s pipe event were once again greeted with a milky cloud layer and moderate snowfall as they entered the arena for the superpipe finals. Despite their slight frustration with the way the snow gods had been treating them, the athletes dove into the pipe with eagerness and matched intensity. The excitement of the athletes was rivaled by that of the crowd who were ready to witness the spectacle that was to be put on by some of the best pipe riders in the world. And to insure that everyone on hand would have absolutely no chance of forgetting this event, Atomic team manager, Rex Thomas and Line team manager Skye Darden displayed their entrepreneurial prowess by opening up shop at the bottom of the pipe with a make shift watering hole dubbed “The Banana Bar.”

With adult beverages flowing and the excitement of the crowd on the rise the women took to the pipe first. With a dozen of the heaviest hitting pipe riding females on the scene the competition was intense. Marie Martinod graced the crowd throwing fives both directions and Kimberly Stacey Misof consistently boosted eight-foot airs on multiple hits. Mirjam Jager, the ex pro snowboarder turned skier showed the judges what was up with clean runs, lofty alley oops and sevens to round out her runs. Ironically, coming out of a country plagued with almost zero annual snowfall, the UK native Em Lonsdale came out of nowhere taking home second place and a couple grand to boot. But the story of the day had to be the double podium trend that was coming into play at this year’s European Open.

After taking third place the day before in the slope finals, Grete Eliasson claimed the top prize in this year pipe event adding proof to why she has become one of skiing’s leading ladies. Dropping in with confidence Grete boosted a huge tail grab into a five followed by an alley oop five. Throwing only two straight airs in her runs that acted as set up hits, Grete stomped a huge seven at the bottom of the pipe to insure herself the first place prize.

When the men took the stage it seemed that the top spot could be claimed by just about any one of the finalists. Heavy hitters like Simon Dumont, Sammy Carlson, Jossi Wells, Matt Phillippi and Aurelien Fornier came under fire to new comers like Kalle Leinonen and JL ??? who had made it through yesterday’s qualifier in first place. But when push comes to shove, there’s a reason why the best in the world are who they are.

Not known for his pipe expertise, Sammy Carlson came off a disappointing appearance in the slope event only to prove that no matter what the venue, he’s one of today’s most versatile riders. Working out the kinks in his runs throughout training Sammy put together two flawless runs in the finals impressing not only the judges but more-so himself. With huge fives, nines, flat spins and cab sevens Sammy will be leaving Laax with a wad of cash and a new found love for the pipe.

Keeping with the double podium theme, Simon Dumont took another second place finish at this years Orage European Freeski Open. Finding himself in an unfamiliar spot Simon crashed on his first hit in the semis due to a wavy wall sending him to the flats and into a mindset that he would be forced to figure his way out of. In between rounds Simon worked with the pipe crew, located the sketchy spot on the wall and began to get himself back in the game. Training run after training run you could see the “old” Simon coming back. In his last run of the finals Simon dropped in with so much force he bent his tails in the transition and with a unified gasp from the crowd he pulled it together to boost a Dumont-esque truck driver 5 into another five followed by a twelve and one last nine to finish things off.

Rounding out the hat trick of double podiums, the New Zealander Jossi Wells added to his European Open winnings by claiming the first place prize in the pipe event. Launching enormous 15 foot flares on his first hit Jossi cleaned every wall with huge nines, flat spins and 1080’s to round out what were by far the cleanest runs of the day.

In the end the 2007 Orage European Open Laax lived up to the hype. With some of the most progressive riding from both up and comers as well as our list of invited pros the qualifiers and finals gave well deserved attention to some of tomorrow’s superstars and once again brought together the best that the world of skiing has to offer. In a sport that continues to progress at a speed that most people cannot keep pace with, the 100+ riders who competed in this years open truly are the leaders of the pack.

Orage is proud to play a role in bringing together the best of the best and providing a stage for them to do what they do for the entire world to see. And as long as riders continue to push the limits of our sport, Orage will continue to host an open event for them to prove themselves.

See you next year at the Orage European Freeski Open Laax.

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