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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Mountain High signs Louie to 1st Pro Team

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Louie Preparing for the Olympics

"With his newly learned double cork frontside 1080, Louie Vito stands a good chance for making one of the coveted US spots."
By: Alyssa Roenigk EXPN

The U.S. Snowboard team has just finished a two-and-a-half week summer halfpipe camp at Timberline Resort on Oregon's Mount Hood. Most of the riders will now head to their respective homes to take a month off and spend time working on strength coach Brad Jones' summer conditioning program.

That is not the plan for Louie Vito and Danny Kass. They have already set off to New Zealand to continue the momentum and take advantage of the early winter training before the rest of the crew joins them.

"New Zealand is not the place to progress," says halfpipe coach Ricky Bower. "It was a zoo down there before the last Olympics. This year will be even worse." The New Zealand session will be used to perfect tricks learned in Hood and lock in the contest runs riders will use during the Grand Prix qualifying season, which begins Dec. 11 at Copper Mountain, Colo. But the time in Hood was all about progression.

But with all the progression at this session, the trick generating the most excitement this week was Louie Vito's double cork frontside 1080. At a camp in Aspen, Colo., earlier this year, Vito studied his friend Luke Mitrani's version of the trick (he throws a double cork cab 10) and felt confident he could land the trick frontside. Before heading to Hood, Vito stopped at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team's new Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah, and spent trampoline time with the U.S. Ski Team's aerials coach Matt Christensen.

Once in Hood, Vito spent a few days working the trick over a straight jump into an airbag, which was set up specifically for the camp. "Then we had four days off and Louie had time to think about the trick," Bower says. First day back, he told Bower he was ready to go for it in the pipe. "First try, he came around to his feet," Bower says. "Second try, he landed. It was amazing."

By mid-week, Vito was landing the trick with 70 percent success and was able to ride out of the trick and throw a cab 1080 on his next hit. "He has a ton of control and can do a nice, big hit afterwards," Bower says. "It's like a 720 for him now." Since Vito landed the trick, youngster Matt Ladley joined in the fun, and landed the trick a couple times on Wednesday afternoon. The next few months are going to be a lot of fun—for us spectators, anyway.