Monday Mix - August 16, 2021

We're a little late with this week's edition of the Mix, but technically speaking it's still Monday in North America so we're sticking with the standard title. For anybody NOT in NA, you can either just pretend it's still Monday or you can grab a Sharpie and scribble TUESDAY on your screen over the headline for this article (please don't do this).

Actually, we're more than just a few hours late on this edition of the Mix - it's now been a couple of weeks since we last checked in, as we took the opportunity for a little midsummer regroup while the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games take centre stage in the sports world through late July and into August.

But we are BACK, and so is your weekly collection point for all that good, good content.

Let's get you started on your personal top-to-bottom journey through this week's Mix with a top-to-bottom burner from none other than Red Gerard at Woodward Copper. We're less than six months away from Beijing 2022, where Red will be looking to defend his PyeongChang 2018 slopestyle gold, and the man is putting in some serious late-season work (i.e. having fun in the slush) in preparation...

While we're speaking on Olympic medallists, huge shoutout to 2x halfpipe silver medallist Ayumu Hirano after his performance in skateboard park competition at Tokyo 2020. While he couldn't quite earn a score strong enough to qualify him for finals, a 14th-place finish and the distinction of stomping the biggest backside 540s of the day is no minor accomplishment.

Here's hoping we get to see Ayumu back on the shredstick in Beijing in a few months...

Alright, time for some tasty back-to-back knuckle butters with two of the absolute best in the business. First, Mr. Rene Rinnekangas...

And second, the one and only Marcus "Knuckle God" Kleveland...

Oh hey, August 16th (which is today...ish) is Anna Gasser's birthday!

HBD to the one of the absolute GOATs. Here's a throwback to one of the many, many times Austria's favourite daughter made history - pretty incredible to think that this was almost three years ago, already...

Checking in south of the equator now, where we've been alerted that Cardrona Parks is looking for a new fat tube after Tiarn Collins absolutely destroyed the one they've currently got installed...

Consider that rail crushed.

A couple pipe clips for you now, beginning with Andre Hoefflich and a (mostly) straight-air-filled run from Laax sometime last winter. It's fun to see one of the best pipe riders in the world put down a run that most of us could maybe do. Just, like, two or three meters closer to the lip. Maybe.

And here's some more recent shenanigans from Yuto Yamada, ripping it up indoor style at Snova Hashima...

Sebastien Konijnenberg is on the scene in Saas Fee and making us more than a little jealous at the glacier set-up there right now...

Time to switch gears for a bit and see what's happening in the world of alpine shred, which means staying on in Saas Fee for the moment, as several teams have set up shop for late summer camp. The Korean squad is here and Sangho Lee is lacing it up on the GS track...

The Swiss team marked the "six months to go" countdown to Beijing 2022 last week by looking back at all their Olympic racing success over the years, including a total three gold medals and two silvers earned from the last four Games...

The most recent one of those Swiss golds belongs to Nevin Galmarini, who checked in from holiday on Friday to show that he's not simply sitting by the pool, drinking Mai Tai's and working on his tan. For all we know he could be sitting by the pool, drinking Mai Tai's and working on his tan, but he hasn't shown that part and we're not sure that this mountain bike resort he's at even has a pool, so we'll have to just assume he's going hard on two wheels, 24/7...

From the single track to the running track, where Lola Krol was puttin' in that work on Sunday while the rest of us were lounging around...

"What was Ladina Jenny up to over the weekend?" you ask. Uhm, only wakesurfing harder than basically any other pro snowboarder we've seen this entire summer. When you throw in that ridiculous sunset going on in the background what you've got is possibly our favourite clip of the week...

One more from the world of alpine SB, as Selina Joerg has decided that, since retiring at the end of the 2020/21 season, she wasn't interested in taking it easy for even ONE year and is now pregnant. Gotta keep busy somehow, and this latest project should keep her busy for the next 18 years at least. Congrats, Selina!

Back to shredding now, as we look back Down Under to a couple of banked slaloms that took place over the weekend.

Transfer Snow held their race at Australia's Thredbo Resort, where some big freestyle names were on hand to show they also know how to use their edges sometimes, when necessary. With Valentino Guseli winning the men's open class, Emily Arthur taking top spot for the women, and the likes of Matty Cox, Tess Coady, and the Baff siblings Henry and Goergia also hitting the podium, this one looks like a heckuva good time...

Not to be outdone, the Treblecone Banked Slalom went down over in New Zealand. Our boy Tiarn Collins makes his second appearance of this week's Mix as a reward for winning the men's open category there in TC...

We'll wrap things up this week with some good vibes from Belle Brockhoff.

This right here is the universally recognized face of a shredder who is back on the board after any kind of a layoff, and it's a beautiful thing to see...

Can't wait until it's our turn to have that look on our faces.

Enjoy the rest of your week, folks! See ya here next Monday...on time next time, hopefully 😜🤙.