The riders all arrived unscathed and have already gotten used to the high life, Mellow Park style. After an all-you-can-eat and drink Teppanyaki dinner followed by full body and foot massages and a gander at Tiananmen and Forbidden City, the riders were off to Nanshan Ski Resort for a look at what Chinese snowboarding is all about… It’s a hard life!

The park was built up especially for the riders; the biggest kicker is 17 meters of airtime and a huge hip has taken formation in the middle of the course. After some last minute adjustments and building up of the Gibson stage, everything is prepared for tomorrow!

“Each year we try to do something that has never been done here in China to get the crowd stoked” says Marco Huang, Mellow China Head Park Shaper. “This year we did the giant hip and the tree-bonker!”

The guys have gotten used to the park after shredding side-by-side with their new-found Chinese friends and should be in fine form for the event this weekend. The top pick for tomorrow includes Kalle Ohlson who took second place last season. Returning rider Jacob Wilhelmson and his Quiksilver teammate Freddy Austbo are also on the radar for the top spot.

After Marco Smolla’s injury last month and a missing Tato Chiala, the remainder of the riders are looking forward to the first contest day, which has an unbelievable weather forecast of no wind and blue skies. Patrick Huber was the shredder of the day with a Rodeo 5 off the biggest kicker so stay tuned, its going to be tight.

For more news about The 6th Red Bull Nanshan Open coming up this weekend at Nanshan Ski Resort please visit www.mellowparks.cn! The 17 riders are locked and loaded and are competing for 700 TTR Ranking points and a piece of the $25,000 in prize money.