Mondial Du Snowboard in France

Posted by David Whitley May 26, 2007

There are two types of snowboarding. The first is practiced by those under the impression that attempting to take their long-forgotten schoolboy skateboarding skills up onto a snow-covered mountain will make them look cool and impress girls. The second makes those in the first category look very pitiful indeed.

And there are no prizes for guessing which take part in the Mondial Du Snowboard (World of Snowboard) event in the French Alpine Town of Les Deux Alps every October.

Mondial Du Snowboard is Europe’s biggest festival of snowboarding genius and technical wizardry. It acts partly as a showroom for snowboard manufacturers to display their latest wares, and partly as a celebration of the sport of snowboarding.

The highlight of course (though the manufacturers may like to think it’s their latest expensive board moderation) is the competition between some of the world’s greatest winter sportsmen and women. If you want to see terrific tricks, aerial somersaults and death-defying fancy footwork, then this is the event to come to. Make no mistake about it, those competing aren’t the mountain bunglers you’ll usually see head in the snow and legs in the air when they attempt the black run – they are serious professional athletes.

And then of, course, there’s the après-ski (or après-board, if there is such a term). After a hard day of utter showing off on the slopes, what better way to relax than with an awful lot of schnapps? Mondial Du Snowboard is as much about the party as the performance, and Les Deix Alps is transformed into something of a hedonist’s paradise during the festival.

Well, if you can’t beat them, you may as well get piste with them…