Exchanging surf for snow, wetsuits for new fashionable knee-length, oversized jackets and waves for jumps. As one of the three S’s we thought for one weekend only, it would be acceptable to put skate and surf to one side and concentrate purely on the snow. I joined Ben Jones, Jamie Mathers and Corinne Evans, of the Groundswell team at London’s Relentless Freeze Festival, that last weekend, took over Battersea Power Station.
The Freeze Music and Snow Festival has been running since 2008 and offers us folk who haven’t been lucky enough to venture to the real slopes, a chance to see what some of the best in the world have to offer. The jump, standing at 100meters long and 32meters high, made of real snow, is certainly impressive on the eyes before anyone’s even thrown themselves down it. For the competitors it’s a chance to obtain world-ranking points, win prize money and gain coverage in a country where it otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
London traffic, motorway accidents and the capital’s classic red double-decker bus meant that it wasn’t till sunset on Saturday that we reached Battersea’s transformed power station ourselves. Unfortunately this meant we missed Friday’s Battle of Britain snowboarding and ski comps but we were told by all that it was a sick day and the Brits did us proud! Although, we were there in time to catch the final of the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup. Some may say this was perfect timing because by the time we caught a bit of snowboarding, grabbed some tasties from the wide array of food sellers and had a quick tour of the location, we made our way to the main attraction of the night, Mark Ronson and The Business International.
We were most definitely not disappointed. The set was amazing, the Halloween outfits were insane and the dancing was flowing, which meant Corinne and Jamie were more than happy and at home. The dancing continued later that night at the official after party at Fire, where we were relieved to find that the message about Halloween fancy dress we had been told about last minute, hadn’t stretched much further than Mark Ronson’s stage. The more common dress code being the snowboarder’s uniform we quickly became aware of; long oversized, snow jackets, hoodies and t-shirts and a wide array of styling beanies, and I thought it was hot in there! We all had a really fun night and it was good to be amongst the snow scene atmosphere.
Up bright and early and ready to soak up a Sunday of skiing we headed from the hotel to the power station via Chelsea’s finest for a quick breakie. Then the filming, photography, interviewing and witnessing some of the sickest ski jumps took place. All of it was amazing but the final of the International Freestyle Ski Big Air was insane, with the Swedes killing it and getting the top three positions, Jacob Wester taking 1st. As well as the gasp forcing jumps and dramatic landings by the skiers the presenters from Channel 4’s Freesports, really got the crowd behind the competitors and the atmosphere for the spectators was really cool. We even got a sneaky peak of T4’s Steve Jones, to Corinne and my viewing pleasure!
The skiing was then over and it was time for WA’s finest DJ’s and arguably the world’s finest drum and bass DJ group to take to the stage to entertain. Pendulum was immense and it is honestly an impossible decision to say what the best part from the weekend was. Collectively, The Freeze went down well with us Newquay folk and it will definitely go on my list of recommendations for anyone’s ‘to do’ list. The sponsors did themselves proud and ran a really tight ship in terms of what was on offer, free head massages, photos printed instantly onto pocket size cards by LG, Nike 6.0’s Chrystal maze style competition and all the industry stands offered new and exciting products for enthusiasts. The Pizza Express stand along with paella, hog roasts and burgers from other stands meant everyone’s bellies were kept filled, so Corinne was at least a happy girl throughout the weekend!
Make sure to check out all the footage from the weekend we captured as well as the official Freesports coverage on Channel 4 and hopefully it will inspire one and all to make the trip to our very own Capital next year. After all Relentless bring the snow to London the least we can all do is go and have a blast of a weekend with it right!?
Harriet Frost
