As always, it will all end in the famous Swedish ski resort Åre from 24 to 27 March. It will be the real deal, offering the highest jumps and the most advanced tricks that will make for a truly “kick-ass” competition. The starting field is better than ever, and the main Swedish attractions are superstar skiers Jon Olsson and Henrik Windstedt, last year’s snowboard winner Hampus Mosesson, and snowboard legend Stefan Karlsson. To top it all, international riders will be drawn to Åre like bees to honey. This is normally a guarantee for a great festive mood to the whole of Åre. However, this is where all similarities to previous Red Bull Big Air competitions end.

The big news in 2004 is that the competition is organised as a series of separate events with 5 Nordic Red Bull Big Air Qualifiers, topped by the final in Åre. Three of the Qualifiers were held in Sweden. The first was at Sundsvall on 31 January, followed by Väsjöbacken in Stockholm on 7 February and Sälen on 27 February. Another qualifying round took place in Levi, Finland, on 20 February, and the Norwegian qualifier was Kongsberget outside Oslo on 6 March. From each of these qualifiers, one snowboarder and one freeskier moves on to the grand finale in Åre.

“We hope that the new Red Bull Big Air competition will serve as a springboard for all Nordic snowboarders and skiers out there who dream of becoming the stars of tomorrow. The idea is also to give more riders the opportunity to develop their skills and show what they’re made of, and to provide all skiing and snowboarding fans with an opportunity to follow more high-class competitions. And if you want to see the biggest stars battle it out, you are welcome to join the final party up in Åre,” smiles an enthusiastic Ulf Mård, project manager in charge of the competitions.

In the grand finale in Åre, 16 participants will compete in each discipline. Eleven of them are international competitors who have been issued with special invitations, while the remaining five will be the winners of each Red Bull Big Air Qualifier. Among the international stars at the event are: Rory Bushfield, Boyd Easly and Simon Dumont from the US, Shoya Okazaki from Japan, Lars Veen from Norway, Laurent Favre from Switzerland, joined by Quentin Robbins from New Zealand and Jacob Wilhelmsson from Sweden.

For those who can’t make it to Åre, there’s the super fancy website www.redbullbigair.com . It gives you access to the stars’ own private action movies, lots of top-level action photos, star bios, news about the events, goodies from sponsors X-BOX, PEAK, and ÅRE AB, and much more. Beware, the site is cutting-edge: You need a broadband Internet connection and the Macromedia Flash 7 plugin!

If you want to win a last-minute ticket to Åre, send in your own Mini-DV movies or private action shots of your best rails, or maybe of that last 540 mute grab and you can take part in the online competition. Your stunt will be placed on the site and if you are creative or crazy enough, you have a chance to win a trip up to the final!