American rider, Eric Willett, took the first 5Star Big Air title of the 2011/12 TTR World Tour season at the second annual Billabong Ante Up competition held atop Whistler Mountain in Canada. The sun was hidden behind the clouds for most of the day, but riders put on a great performance for the crowd of spectators at the top of the mountain where Sebastien Toutant (CAN) came in a close second behind Willett and Dash Kamp (USA) took home third place.

The Ante Up started out with a qualifying round of 30 snowboarders in the early afternoon that was whittled down to 10 men for the finals. The start list was packed full of riders who are usually super consistent on big air kickers like Seppe Smits (BEL), Chas Guldemond (USA), Gjermund Braaten (NOR) and Roope Tonteri (FIN) but they just couldn’t seem to put their landing gear down on the 90-foot gap jump. This opened the door for Eric Willett who took numerous podium spots at Big Air and Slopestyle competitions last season and for Sebastien Toutant who won the Ante Up last year. Eric Willett landed a smooth switch backside double cork 1260 to take $20,000 USD for his win today. Sebastien Toutant was awarded $12,500 USD for landing a Cab double cork 1260 and Dash Kamp walked away with a cool $8,000 for his backside double cork 1080.

Winning Runs

TTR Tricks – Snowboarders Eric Willett, Sebastien Toutant and Dash Kamp’s winning Big Air snowboarding tricks at the 5Star Billabong Ante Up competition at Whistler Blackcomb Mountain, Canada in 2011. The best snowboard tricks online!

Check the course with Eric Willett

Riders from around the globe have made the journey to Whistler, Canada for the second annual Billabong Ante Up big air competition set for today Friday, July 1st, 2011. The Ante Up is the first 5Star stop on the 2011/12 TTR World Tour and will also act as the first event where riders can register results for the all-new TTR Big Air Ranking list. The riders list is full of international talent including Eric Willett (USA), Sebastien Toutant (CAN), Sage Kotsenburg (USA) and Seppe Smits (BEL) who were all major forces at big air events last season. These guys will need to be on top of their game with some other big names on the invite list who will all be battling for the 850 TTR Big Air ranking points and a piece of the $50,000 USD prize purse.
In the following clip Eric Willett introduces you to the setup up at Whistler and talks about the importance of wearing a helmet. Lets hope the weather gets better for todays finals here at the TTR Billabong Ante Up 2011 in Whistler.