List-O-Mania!!

Flatland, Flat Light and Flat Landings

This Pancake Day we're paying tribute to all things flat

Cover image: Severin van der Meer, Peetu Piiroinen & Nicolas Wolken. Photos: Matt Georges

While completely flat sections of piste are obviously still the anti-christ in our eyes, not everything that’s horizontal is a source for despair. And to prove it, here’s a vaguely pancake day themed round up of the best things to come from the flat lands.

Mikey Le Blanc’s Ollie to Flat

Where else do you start talking about flats than with Mikey Le Blanc? The ultimate proof that in the right hands, zero transition is more than enough. This ollie to flat is still one of our favourite things ever.

Jamie Nicholls White Out

Jamie Nicholls’ day out with the Whitelines boys took a turn with heavily flat light last year as they found their feature line almost invisible in LAAX. But worry not, they turned this White Out on its head and came out with some dreamy lines through the clouds.

Peetu Piiroinen

Peetu has inhabited the flat zones for as long as we can remember. Turning his back on transitional landings in favour of channeling super pop, and taking tricks to the flat sections that would see the rest of us crumple with pain. Here’s a quick reminder, although in all honesty, any of his comp footage will work just as well to prove the point.

Hoth

Mike Rav and pals make the most of another flat light day here, proving again that depth perception is overrated when you know what your feet are doing. Put a powder butter in your batter.

Shinji Ogawa

If you get onto the right Instagram threads, cornucopias of flatland freestyle start to show their heads. Shinji Ogawa’s is strong as hell as a starting point, but once you start into the murky depths you’ll no doubt realise they’re nearly bottomless. Here’s a taste:

藤後雄一 @t_yuichi0928 ・wear 【OVYO】・boardl【SPREAD】 We could probably evolve more. Ground trick snowboard. Youtube name is Shinji Ogawa. #snowboarder #snow #ground #crazy #dope #yeah #frip#グラトリ#fantastic#congrats #amazing#awesome#following#followme #yes #wow #goprohero4 #awesome_shots #trick#really #greatday #groundtrick #and #trip #snow #스노보드

A post shared by SHINJI OGAWA (@shinji6261981) on Feb 16, 2017 at 5:49am PST

Yawgoon’s Flatland Carving

Yes, we know it’s cliched to put Yawgoons in any kind of collection of good things, but if we didn’t you’d no doubt be doing all sorts of complaining. Yawgoons 13 has some rad carving clips on the flat bottom at the end of their tiny hill.

Gigi to Flat

We’ve been trying to avoid slams here, but as riders landing deep go, none have seen as much air time as Gigi, landed so flat, and lived to tell the tale. One million crepes to Mr Ruf.

Red/White

LAAX isn’t renowned for its low light, but nevertheless here it is back with a vengence, with Korua Shapes co-founder Nicolas Wolken at the helm putting his red base to good use against the pure white backdrop. More powdery than the park line’s follow cam offering, but making the most of zero visibility all the same.

Knut Eliassen’s Bad Weather Day Tricks

A little bit of flat light, a little bit of flatland – Knut’s Bad Weather Day Tricks edit ticks both boxes, and is a perennial favourite of ours.

Terje Haakonsen – Stall To Frontflip

Possibly the pinnacle of landing flat and still riding away. Channel this technique next time you’re trying to use a frying pan to flip a tasty treat and there’s no way you can fail. Honest.