Words: Joanna Fletcher
Photos: Lindsey Wingate.

In the shadows of the eerie looking Battersea Power Station is an unlikely place for snow sport competitions to take place. But thousands of ski and snowboard fans descended on the site for LG Freeze @ Battersea, the first UK based snow sports and music event.

And if that wasn’t enough, it was also hosting the FIS World Cup events for skiers and boarders, with the latter taking their turn on Saturday October 25.
The centrepiece of the four-day event, running from October 23-26, was the 35-metre jump the competitors had to contend with in order to pull the biggest, sickest tricks in front of a baying crowd.

Saturday was made up of a series of exciting and dramatic heats and qualifying rounds in the snowboard world cup, before the final in the late afternoon.
The crowd was treated to some spectacular tricks from riders such as Danny Kass, Scotty Lago and home bred Danny Wakeham. Finnish Peetu Piiroinen took first place after consistently impressing the judges and on lookers with his high standard of riding. Other highlights included Lago winning Trick of the Day with an amazing double back flip late backside 180 which saw the crowd go wild.

The Big Airbag tour final also took place, with riders from indoor snow and dry ski slopes around the UK competing. The tour took place over 15 dates, visiting centres such as those in Bromley, Milton Keynes, Manchester and Sheffield.Fifteen riders were chosen to compete at Freeze and boarder Matt Doyle won the snowboarding finals with his front flip and one footed jump. Joe Webster took the ski title with a rodeo 540 and both winners won LG phones.

The event was great for a bit of snow-celeb spotting, with many of the riders mingling with the crowd. We got within a few metres of Danny Kass while he was hanging out with some friends and spotted Jools from Snowfix, while others caught glimpses of Animal sponsored UK rider Johno Verity. We also saw Scotty Lago and Jenny Jones enjoying the music.

There were plenty of stalls to pick up equipment, outerwear, or like us, stickers and other freebies courtesy, mainly, of the Jagermeister bar, located at the centre of the site.

But there was no time for standing around, knocking back the shots. As the riders were packing up for the night, the musical entertainment was kicking off. The event secured some big names, with Cypress Hill closing the event to a screaming crowd. Other artists playing across the four-days included band of the moment Iglu and Hartley, The Enemy, Reverend and the Makers, The Holloways and Trouble Andrew, the band led by Burton rider Trevor Andrew.

Here’s hoping the event secured a place in next year’s calendar after the success of this one. For more information visit londonfreeze.com.