Planks Grassroots Tour 2019 Stop 1: CopenHill, Copenhagen

The Planks Grassroots Tour 2019 began with a bang. To kick things off we flew out to Copenhagen in Denmark for the first stop, our first international stop at one of the most surreal dry-slopes in the world. The slope had officially opened on the Friday, before the event on Saturday, when we got a first-hand taste of the place. CopenHill is a 100 metre tall urban mountain, with half a kilometre of skiing, on top of the cleanest waste to energy power plant in the world. Some of you may have seen the mind-blowing video project that Jesper Tjäder did with GoPro and Audi, thinking 'wow' that place looks unreal, well it's even more impressive in the flesh.

We partnered up with our friends at Black Snow, a snow-sports shop in Copenhagen, to make our first international stop of the Planks Grassroots Tour a reality. We didn’t know what to expect from the freeski scene in one of the flattest countries in the world. Well, we were beyond blown away by the standard of skiing. You’ve heard of all the gear and no idea, right? These guys and girls had no fear, all the gear and plenty of idea.

As the start of the event drew closer groups of Danish skiers began to gather at the bottom of the slope ready for the action, competitors had even come from as far as Morzine in France for the event, true dedication to the Planks Grassroots movement. The silence of event anticipation was then broken by the DJ decks starting to spin and the sound waves rattling the atmosphere, then it was all systems go. The skiers (and snowboarders) started to flood towards the magic carpet, event MCs began to boost the event hype on the mic, followed by a wave of last-minute entries and a sea of spectators.

During the warm-up session, it was clear that Denmark has a tight and friendly snow-sports scene, much similar to that of the UK. The best thing about dry-slope is it attracts some of the most dedicated die-hard characters in the industry. If there’s no snow, there’s no problem. Once everyone had found their feet on the Neveplast ski surface, the progression session began.

The set-up for the event was an up flat slide on rail with a side on option, a small chunky tube, a big beast of a street rail, a rainbow rail, a side on PVC tube and a beginner box at the bottom. From the word go there was a display of mind-bending ski wizardry including Tokyo Drifts, which in non-ski terms is sliding sideways on the ground before you’re on the rail. Alongside the ski wizardry, there was a huge display of casual style and perfectly executed tricks.

Once everyone had found their ski legs, it was time to kick off the jam session, or as they say in Danish the ‘expression session’. Then things cranked up a notch. Riders that were really dominating the session throughout, guys and girls. We saw some real creativity, everything from sit-down slides on the box, to a nose butter 270 on pretzel 270 off. The madness continued as the clock was ticking towards the final runs of the event, with everyone battling to pull their final tricks out of the bag. Followed by a handful of rough crashes in pursuit of the top spot. Including a nice big juicy taco slam, and no that’s not the edible kind, it’s the your organs will hurt in the morning kind.

Then it was that time, the time to crown the champions of the first stop of the #PlanksGrassroots Tour and CopenHill’s first official event. The atmosphere was of the prize-giving was an amazing wrap up of the event, with an infectious display of excitement and positivity, it was clear that everyone had a blast. If you didn’t know this was a stop on the Planks Grassroots Tour, you’d probably think the winners had just dominated X-Games or the World Cup.

Without any further ado here are the winners of the first-ever international stop of the Planks Grassroots Tour at CopenHill in Copenhagen, Denmark:

Most stoked: Victor Borre

Best Crash: Simon Hemmingsen

Best Style: Maya Casier

Best Trick: Jakob Ebskamp (with a switch 270 pretzel 270)

Best Under 16: Anton Frandsen

Ski Women: Ellen Damsgaard

Snowboard Men: Thomas Kamp

Ski Men: 1st Rasmus DJ, 2nd Jakob Ebskamp & 3rd Jakob Ahlers

We want to give a huge thank you to everyone at Black Snow and CopenHill who helped make this event happen. Peace, love and powder turns, Planks Clothing.

It doesn’t end here - next up we’re heading to Bearsden in Scotland on the 13th of October. So if you live in the world of bagpipes, Buckfast and the Loch Ness Monster, be there or be square...