The 10th anniversary edition of the O’Neill Pleasure Jam powered by Opel saw some massive contest action, packed with sick tricks, hot vibes and entertaining side evens! Despite the rough winds, the mood was blazingly hot at the Dachstein glacier as the riders impressed with sick moves and massive airtime! Last year’s champion Aimee Fuller confidently defended her title this year, and Eric Beauchemin from the USA secured the first place in the men’s category, followed by Werner Stock and Jamie Nicholls.

The weather forecast predicted the weekend of the O’Neill Pleasure Jam powered by Opel to be a windy one – and windy it was indeed! Despite the difficult conditions, 60 male riders and 20 females took up the challenge on Friday to qualify for the finals on Saturday. The contest line was pretty challenging, consisting of a double kicker combo with 12 and 16 meters, an O’Neill Signature Jib Section and the Red Bull end section forming a wallride-funbox combo. The contestants did not hold back and showed the crowd some massive slopestyle action at this year’s first stop of the QParks Snowboard Tour.

After 2 qualification runs in each category and some thrilling performances, 17-year-old Kalle Jarvilehto from Finland emerged as the winner in the men’s category: “I kept my promise. I told my friends, if I stick the first run, I am going for the Backside 1080 in the second. And it definitely paid off!” Among the ladies, 15-year-old Katerina Vojackova from the Czech Republic outshined the competition and won the qualification: “I didn’t expect this. It really was surprising. I thought I would do ok, but first place is really great. Now I am going to spend the prize money and go shopping.” In the end, the best 8 girls and 18 guys made it to the finals to stand against the 9 invited female and 16 invited male pros.

Since the weather forecast was not too bright for Saturday, the contest was rescheduled at first and then brought to an early hold after the ladies’ second run. Defending champion Aimee Fuller was once again the shining star of the contest. Pulling out her sickest moves, Aimee stomped the finals already in the first run and managed to keep her role as favorite female rider until the end. In addition to a prize money of USD 2.000,-, Aimee also creamed off an invitation to the TTR 5Star Red Bull Nanshan Open 2013 in China. Aimee’s impression of this year’s O’Neill Pleasure Jam powered by Opel: “I absolutely love this place, I mean, the Dachstein is great, the course is awesome, and we`ve been super lucky with the weather. I gave it my all and I pulled off my run. It was not what I hoped but I landed on my feet. It was a good event.” Swiss rider Isabel Derungs impressed with both her runs and came in second, followed by Urska Pribosic from Slovenia. Jenia Goldman from Russia scored the prize for the Best Trick with a Backside 540 Indy and can now look forward to an awesome trip to the Balicamp.

Since the contest was eventually cancelled due to wind gusts of up to 60km/h, it was the first run that counted, which meant victory for Eric Beauchemin, who could rejoice over a prize money of USD 4.500,-. Eric had a massive run, which he also accredits to this year’s setup: “I liked the course much more than in the last years, they made everything a bit smaller, like one less jump, but I liked the rails they had this year. Usually there was only the wallride at the end and three jumps, but this year, it was like a straight rail and a rainbow, which really was fun.” The second place went to Werner Stock from Austria and third to Jamie Nicholls from England, who also stomped the Best Trick Category with a Frontside Tailbluntslide 450 Out and secured himself a steaming 3-weeks trip to the Balicamp, including accommodation, surf coaching, board rental and € 250,- travel subsidy by Sudden Rush & Tobis Travel Solutions. This year’s O’Neill Pleasure Jam powered by Opel was Jamie’s fourth, which appears to be his new lucky number: “It`s amazing – this is my fourth year and every time I`ve been so unlucky. The first year, it was OK but I was kind of scared and nervous then. However, that was like 4 years ago and I got into it. The second year I hurt my ankle, third year I fell in the finals – this year I got third and won the Best Trick – so, pretty good.”

On its 10th birthday, the O’Neill Pleasure Jam powered by Opel did not only await the crowd with a world class TTR 4**** snowboard contest, parties and shred action, but also with a new design competition by Opel. Everyone had the chance to customize their personal Opel Adam to win an Opel Adam at the end of the “Adam & Friends Tour” and cream off great customized bags and shirts. Throughout the weekend, the freestyle crowd was in for a real treat: starting in the morning with fresh coffee and bakeries, a delicious BBQ in the afternoon, and lots of other goodies that sweetened our stay at the Dachstein glacier. Additionally, NITRO presented its latest hardware at the NITRO test booth in the chill area of the Superpark Dachstein. Besides watching the contest, the audience was free to test the brand-new NITRO Boards.

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!