Henrik Harlaut starts competing in Big Mountain!

J

Jonsson

New member
As topic above Henrik will be doing his first big mountain this weekend in Riksgränsen located in the north of Sweden.

The Scandinavian Big mountain Championship will be taking place there with FTW riders like Reine Barkered (verbier Extreme winner this year), Wille Lindberg (FWT rider) and worldcup racer Mattias Hargin.

Interview from Swedish site Freeride.se
http://www.freeride.se/henrik-harlaut-kor-nm/

Henrik says in the interview that he has been gaining some Big mountain Experience the last couple of weeks shoting for the new inspiered movie and that he is looking forward towards the competitios. He further says that he doesnt feel any pressure at all even tho he is a respected rider in sweden, that he is just out there for the fun

Discussion material: Whats your reaction about this and how do you think Henrik will perform on the big mountain scene?

/Jonsson from sweden

Sorry for the bad english
 
My prediction is that his incredibly baggy outerwear will act as a wing suit, effectively allowing him to drop the first cliff and soar elegantly to the bottom.
 
I've only ever seen that one video of him in Mammoth outside of the park, but the dude was backseat like a motherfucker.

May want to take a lesson or two first before he gets hurt
 
12988679:steezyshit said:
If he can pull it out like candide he's going to be a legend
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I agree, but I'd argue he's already a legend in our sport regardless of how it ends up working for him. Who knows maybe he could change the game in big mountain too, shredding big mountain lines bombing switch. knowing henny, who fuckin knows
 
12988685:Crankset said:
I've only ever seen that one video of him in Mammoth outside of the park, but the dude was backseat like a motherfucker.

May want to take a lesson or two first before he gets hurt
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Are you serious dude? Henrik destroys outside of the park. You have clearly never seen his Education of Style seg or Tanner Hall's "Retallack: The Movie"... He sends
 
Definately he should be the best jumping off the cliffs and doing rotations, the thing it's: how does he ski big mountain?
 
12988679:steezyshit said:
If he can pull it out like candide he's going to be a legend
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What ive seen of him so far on bigger mountains he defintely has the skills to do well, right position on the skis etc. what he doesent have because of obvious reason is the line choosing skills. The qualis is tomorrow on a pretty easy face kalled Norddals and he should defiently be one of the riders to qualify to the finals. The face invites to some creativy skiing which could be in his favor beacuse other riders on this type of comps in sweden is the "huck big as fuck and land on myback type of riders"

I will keep you guys updated with videos and photos from the competion
 
It will be interesting to see how he chooses his line compared to normal big mountain competitors. Most Big Mountain skiers pick very technical lines and ski with really good form, where as most park skiers ski for style. He might not do very well because judges are looking for technicality over style.
 
He's a pro skier for a reason, and it's not just his baggy clothes or his skiing. He has a drive to be the best, and I certainly believe that he will be able to surprise everyone with his ability to ski and compete on a big mountain circuit. Will he win? Probably not. But I do not think that he will embarrass himself and I think he has a solid future skiing big mtn comps
 
I think someone with Harlaut's creativity, he could well pull something decent out the bag. Time will tell I guess! Interested to see how Mattias Hargin does, being a slalom skier, he obviously has mad technique, but how this transfers to sending cliffs etc. will be cool to see!
 
This is awesome! Just more and more reasons why he is one of the most awesome skiers that have ever lived.
 
He's good, and it'll be a sick run, but if the judges are anything like FWT judges he'll probably come out pretty disappointed. They just want to see, big, fast, technical big mountain skiing. Tricks are a bonus, same with skiing switch, style just means clean stomps, not afterbang or anything...
 
Hes done quite a few backcountry booter shots/ clips in his edits n movies... not surprised that hes moving into freeride. He'll do great! :D
 
I don't expect him to win, but I think Henrik like many pro pipe or urban or park skiers can definitely contribute to the big mountain scene.

All I can say is I wanna see him throwing butters off enormous cliffs wearing XXXXXL gear.
 
Henrik is going to do something crazy. Not only will he go fast as fuck, but I'm calling a double back, or at least a cork sev blunt off one of the cliffs.
 
12988735:Caspaaa said:
I don't expect him to win, but I think Henrik like many pro pipe or urban or park skiers can definitely contribute to the big mountain scene.

All I can say is I wanna see him throwing butters off enormous cliffs wearing XXXXXL gear.
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you forgot a few X's
 
As someone who competes in Freeride comps, I'm not really sure how he'll do. To do well you cant just have "a couple of weeks" of experience. The whole process is judged off of line score, and due to his little experience in the discipline he will most defiantly struggle there. I can't say much for the other categories however (style, fluidity, technique, and control) The big factor is how good of a skier he really is. "But he stops backcountry booters and deep pow" STFU. Those don't really mean shit. I don't doubt he can ski well, but those shouldn't be the main factors in determining this. Lets just hope he doesn't A-Frame like a motherfucker.
 
He's a super strong skier, both in the legs and mind...so there's no doubt that he will do well in the future. Once he gains more big mountain experience/skills he was slay if he keeps at it like he does in the park.

Look at where Tanner ended up, top 3 all around skiers in the world. Henrik will probably be the same in 10 years if he continues to do this.
 
its not impossible, but i dont want anyone bitching about how he got screwed over in the judging. they want fast, big, and technical lines. i think he should work on that rather than hucking tricks off of booters and cliffs, its impressive, but id much rather see someone charge something fucking unbelievable and ski away from it.
 
12988685:Crankset said:
I've only ever seen that one video of him in Mammoth outside of the park, but the dude was backseat like a motherfucker.

May want to take a lesson or two first before he gets hurt
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i do not know why this has downvotes this is completely true. henricks style is smooth as hell but it is definitely one of a park skier. his hands are down by his waist, and he sits very backseat. he will have a hard time competing with the major big mountain skiers especially those with a racing background. sure he can drop a few pillows into insane powder but flying down a big mountain line at mach a billion with cliffs and carves is a whole nother animal.

and no i am not saying i could do it better, but compared to guys like ted ligety and sage alosa park style wont cut it.

this IS based only on the edits ive seen of henick outside the park i could have missed some examples of henny skiing all mountain amazing
 
12988824:brov1 said:
i do not know why this has downvotes this is completely true. henricks style is smooth as hell but it is definitely one of a park skier. his hands are down by his waist, and he sits very backseat. he will have a hard time competing with the major big mountain skiers especially those with a racing background. sure he can drop a few pillows into insane powder but flying down a big mountain line at mach a billion with cliffs and carves is a whole nother animal.

and no i am not saying i could do it better, but compared to guys like ted ligety and sage alosa park style wont cut it.

this IS based only on the edits ive seen of henick outside the park i could have missed some examples of henny skiing all mountain amazing
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because its a crime on NS still to say anything remotely bad about henrik
 
Good luck to him.

As some have said, the judges are probably looking for something different than his style, but we will see.

Jon Olsson, Henrik Windstedt, alot of Swedes have competed in this contest. It will be a heavy field, so I will be really impressed if he does well. In fact, doing well will probably get him quite a bit of props from the TGR end of the spectrum. He is probably underrated by some here, and overrated by others. I think he will find it tough, but sometimes the favorites crash.

People mention Candide, but Candide was well known as a guy who could destroy big mountain before he won those contests. I believe he had released Kandide Kamera, and maybe the second one. Henrik is far less known in terms of big mountain than Candide was.
 
This sounds sick, Henrik could end up like P- White? He slays at urban and skiing pow, either way I'm excited to see how this ends up
 
12988674:Link. said:
My prediction is that his incredibly baggy outerwear will act as a wing suit, effectively allowing him to drop the first cliff and soar elegantly to the bottom.
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Pat Baskins, who is rather well known in the park community as well as in the big mountain, wears like XLT FD during his FWT runs. At the Moonlight Basin stop a couple years a go, he opened his coat, buttoned his powder skirt and straightlined the entire venue utilizing his coat as a pseudo-parachute. Pretty sure he won or something too.

Anyways, I think it will be sick to see him in some comps. Hope he brings some big tricks out. Maybe some switch stomping.
 
12988824:brov1 said:
i do not know why this has downvotes this is completely true. henricks style is smooth as hell but it is definitely one of a park skier. his hands are down by his waist, and he sits very backseat. he will have a hard time competing with the major big mountain skiers especially those with a racing background. sure he can drop a few pillows into insane powder but flying down a big mountain line at mach a billion with cliffs and carves is a whole nother animal.

and no i am not saying i could do it better, but compared to guys like ted ligety and sage alosa park style wont cut it.

this IS based only on the edits ive seen of henick outside the park i could have missed some examples of henny skiing all mountain amazing
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You realize though that Henrik and Phil are the strongest park skiers out there because of their super bent leg, low hands style. They're basically doing a wall sit all day when they ski. Try doing that and see how long you can last.

It's very noticeable in their skiing...you never see them look sketchy in the air or when they stomp shit deep/off balance because they are just SO strong. Watch Bobby ski (an avid jumper and weight lifter) and you'll even see a hesitancy in his landings b/c he's just not nearly as strong as B&E.

With that said, yeah it'll be hard/different for Henrik to charge big lines but he's not too far from it physically.
 
This should be interesting. Kind of depends on if its FWT format or not. I mean if its visual inspection only and the course isn't in bounds and has good snow, he should be fine. On the other hand, if there's on course inspection and the conditions are less that ideal, judging by what I've seen I think he's pretty fucked. I wonder what skis he will compete on.
 
12989091:SimplyClean said:
You realize though that Henrik and Phil are the strongest park skiers out there because of their super bent leg, low hands style. They're basically doing a wall sit all day when they ski. Try doing that and see how long you can last.

It's very noticeable in their skiing...you never see them look sketchy in the air or when they stomp shit deep/off balance because they are just SO strong. Watch Bobby ski (an avid jumper and weight lifter) and you'll even see a hesitancy in his landings b/c he's just not nearly as strong as B&E.

With that said, yeah it'll be hard/different for Henrik to charge big lines but he's not too far from it physically.
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I'm going to have to disagee with you. Yes B&E are super stylish but they're not the best slope riders out. Bdog doesn't even do comps anymore. Bobby Brown is probably one of the strongest jumpers in the game. If you tried to afterbang in pow you'd fail because you need.the bounce of your knees to float you. Dollo can skipow from his segments in rettalick and education of style.
 
12989091:SimplyClean said:
You realize though that Henrik and Phil are the strongest park skiers out there because of their super bent leg, low hands style. They're basically doing a wall sit all day when they ski. Try doing that and see how long you can last.

It's very noticeable in their skiing...you never see them look sketchy in the air or when they stomp shit deep/off balance because they are just SO strong. Watch Bobby ski (an avid jumper and weight lifter) and you'll even see a hesitancy in his landings b/c he's just not nearly as strong as B&E.

With that said, yeah it'll be hard/different for Henrik to charge big lines but he's not too far from it physically.
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I hope you realize that the "low hand bent-leg style hunched back style" is HORRIBLE form for skiing outside a park. Also you will rarely never see Bobby riding tails out of landings because he is SO STRONG (he also has a mogul background.)
 
I'm not saying his style or form is ideal and will be used in big mountain.

I'm saying that since he rides that way, he's built super strong legs because of it - helping him a TON when transferring to big mountain when you need tree trunks for legs to rip big lines and cliffs.
 
12988732:prophet said:
style just means clean stomps, not afterbang or anything...
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That's because to most people outside of the park skiing landing and assuming the position of afterbang (On your tails, knees not bent) isn't considered good riding style. Sure, it might look cool after a big trick in the park where you have perfectly groomed conditions and can physically do that. But on slopes where FWT stops are held its not really an option.

I won't judge until I see his run, I'm not expecting much though.
 
12989228:Karma_Police said:
That's because to most people outside of the park skiing landing and assuming the position of afterbang (On your tails, knees not bent) isn't considered good riding style. Sure, it might look cool after a big trick in the park where you have perfectly groomed conditions and can physically do that. But on slopes where FWT stops are held its not really an option.

I won't judge until I see his run, I'm not expecting much though.
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Spot. On.
 
This is a funny conversation.... Big mountain skiing is not park skiing. Henrik's skis would be impossible to even sideslip down most "trails" on the east coast. He is the man and an incredibly talented skier that I have a lot of respect for. But to compete against skiers like Drew Tabke, Oakley White-Allen, let alone Europeans would be humorous to watch. I doubt he would finish in the top 20 if he entered a junior IFSA event, #truth.
 
he's gonna get wrecked. Likely just a publicity thing. I mean I hope he does well, his style is amazing, I just don't see him doing well in high consequence terrain over exposure.
 
12989371:MikeWeinerONE said:
This is a funny conversation.... Big mountain skiing is not park skiing. Henrik's skis would be impossible to even sideslip down most "trails" on the east coast. He is the man and an incredibly talented skier that I have a lot of respect for. But to compete against skiers like Drew Tabke, Oakley White-Allen, let alone Europeans would be humorous to watch. I doubt he would finish in the top 20 if he entered a junior IFSA event, #truth.
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.
 
how can anyone talk shit on this? even if he doesn't do well at least he's trying new shit.

he's got the skills to stop big tricks in powder landings so i guess we'll see
 
coming from someone who likes big mtn way more than park.... the big mtn crowd never fails to sound like a bunch of pretentious armchair quarterbacks whenever anybody known for park throws their hat in the ring for big mtn competing or filming

yes, big mtn is super different from park and uses a relatively different set of skills and strengths but you guys are fucking high if you dont realize that the reason that some of the big names excel at park is because theyre really fucking good skiers

im not saying henrik is gonna be top 3 or something but you people saying vapid things like "big mtn is different, he can't ski on his tails here" and "the judges are looking for different things in these comps" ...thanks for the heads up, geniuses, i think henrik might have learned that at some point too
 
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