Snowboard over snowmobile!

On the biggest kicker ever built at the ski resort Rogla, the Slovene snowboarder Marko Grilc tried to overcome himself over the past few days, and ended up in overcoming the power of a motor. He jumped over the Canadian Ross Mercer while the latter was simultaneously jumping over the same object on a snowmobile! The 27-year-old, born and raised in Ljubljana, fulfilled his wish to crown his extremely successful season – he won at the most prestigious competition – with a very special project. In Slovenia!

“It is something that no one else has tried before, and I really want to be the first! I kept this idea in my head for a long time; however, I was not sure if it was feasible. Also from the technical point of view. Of course it would be much easier to realize it in the US or Canada where they are used to similar, large and unique challenges, and also have enough space and snow. I’m always travelling, competing, filming or making projects abroad, mostly far from my friends, and this time I really wanted to pursue this dream at home. As my long-term partner, Red Bull acknowledged my idea and took over logistics and financing, while Rogla helped with the realization by providing its snowpark and local help,” enthusiastically explained Marko, before even managing to check out the big kicker. The construction work took almost one week, with quickly melting snow and high daily temperatures being another challenge that almost endangered what has remained of the “spring” snow.

Photo: Samo Vidic

But where there’s a will there’s a way. When the world record breaker in jump distance with a snowmobile, the Canadian Ross Mercer, visited Slovenia and confirmed the project after having a look at the kicker, the show was about to begin. Calculations, velocity measurements, board preparation, trial jumps, followed by both athletes in the air for the first time. Not enough speed due to contrary wind forced Marko to stop just in time before making the jump, and even several times he barely succeeded in jumping across the 15-metre-long and 10-meter-deep gap between the kicker and landing.  By barely making it to the landing, he scared the hell out of those watching, but Grilo, as he’s nicknamed by his friends, did not give up. ”This is not a problem, I just need a bit more speed, and if the wind calms down, my speed will be just right. I know that Ross is one of the best snowmobile riders in the world who can easily perform backflips, and I trust him 100 %.”

Photo: Samo Vidic

The God of Wind granted Marko’s request the following day, and Marko easily reached more than 80 km/h which enabled him to jump long and high enough, astonishing unsuspicious passers-by at the otherwise already closed ski resort.  Few more tries and Marko already flew over Ross, at first in a straight line, and later already adding a few tricks - Back Side Ten, Double Cork, Cab Nine above and Superman, Tsunami or Can Can below. There were times when both athletes almost touched hands in the air, culminating when Marko jumped over Ross who was performing Tsunami (trick where the rider makes a handstand during the jump, holding the wheel and almost surpassing the snowmobile with his legs stretched), and made a double backflip. Good thing that the passers-by already left, as also those who knew what was going on could not believe it this time.

Photo: Samo Vidic

“This is insane! I can’t believe we made it. We quickly managed to jump at the same time, but it took us a while before we stopped jumping in a straight line and only watching each other, without making tricks. Later on we relaxed and I can’t even remember Ross being in the air from then on. I just did my thing, he did his, and once everything came into place, I jumped over him, this time with style [laughs]. I might not own a snowmobile, but I still rock,” said the talkative snowboarder. ”It was all about the challenge of overcoming myself and the fear that I almost do not feel anymore at the big kickers. It was a step further, and while doing that I used the force of gravity to overcome a 300 kg heavy machine. We shot the action from several angles, and it will be the videos and photos nicely showing what a nice thing we did at the end of this crazy season!”

Photo: Martin Lugger

“I’m super thrilled! I have never done something like this and I really enjoyed it. The kicker was perfect! Due to melting snow it did bend a little towards the end which made it a bit harder for me to perform more demanding tricks; however, Marko did an amazing job and we succeeded in time,” added the modest Canadian who is well-known in Slovenia for performing wild tricks on his snowmobile.

Marko Grilc

has been snowboarding since the age of 7. Already at the beginning of his career he showed what he is made of and won 4 junior world championship titles. Later on he moved away from the competition world, and as a member of the biggest snowboarding factory team in the world (Burton) started to shoot films. He took part in numerous projects, such as “91 words for snow", "Gap session", "Draw the line", "Thanks in advance", “Overseas” and the movie "B". In the season 2008/2009 he returned to competitions and ended in 2nd place in the overall standing at FIS Big Air competitions. Hip injury that followed made things a lot more difficult, however, in December 2009 Marko had his biggest competition success when he won at the prestigious master Air & Style in Innsbruck, which he entered as a reserve competitor and surprised also his biggest fans. During the season he had several other successful performances, including 3rd place at the European Winter X Games and 7th place in the overall standings of the TTR series.

Photo: Martin Lugger

Ross Mercer

is a real legend in the snowmobile world. To pursue his dream of becoming the best snowmobile rider in the world, he quit his studies and bought his first snowmobile. Soon after he started to attend projects where he needed to jump on the snowmobile and make tricks. He borrowed the tricks from his colleagues, freestyle motocross riders, and soon became one of the only 20 professional snowmobile riders. In 2007 he broke the world record in snowmobile jump distance, and after 66 tries he landed 80 metres far. He says that he makes a difference between projects and challenges that are difficult and dangerous and those that are only insane. He never tries to do the latter. “I have a pretty good feeling when something is feasible and when it simply doesn’t make sense. The record jump was feasible, and that’s why I did it. The same applies to Marko’s project that we just finished.” He believes that the limits of freestyle snowmobile riding are still not reached and that the sport will continue to develop, with the tricks getting more and more demandin.

Photo: Samo Vidic