Cast off - finally!

So, finally after 6 weeks of limping like a shot stray dog, I'm cast-free! I still have some pain in my ankle but I hope with some physiotherapy and optmistic thoughts it will go away soon. Maybe I'll go check out the Laax glacier but the weather doesn't look very good at the weekend (which is GOOD!). I hope the big snowfall starts soon...

5 More Minutes...Please?!

I have a friends part in the most awesomest Euro girls movie ever. Check it out now!

Blume edit

This is the official edit. I'm speechless. What a perfect event!

Yesterday I was at the Lipstick prod. premiere. I hope the movie will be out soon so I can watch it over and over again!! Check it out if you can!

First edit

This is from Veroniqi Hanssen whose sister filmed basically the whole event. Thanks a lot!

I'm the one in the red-white plaid shirt. :)

News

photo by Paudy

I hurt myself at the Rhino Jam last weekend. I'm lucky though, it's only the ligaments in my ankle. I've had that before and I guess I'll be fully recovered in about 6 weeks. I have to walk on crutches at the moment but not for long I think.
The jam was awesome!! The level of riding was crazy, big props to Joelle Juchli, Steffi Kauer, Mary Luggen and also Veroniqi Hanssen who came all the way from Holland! Stay tuned for an edit...

Next weekend will be a blast, too: Friday, the Lipstick premiere tour is coming to Zurich, I'm really excited to see that movie. On saturday, there's the Isenseven premier and on sunday, the biggest gathering of the snowboarding scene in Switzerland will take place next door to where I live at the iceripper Flohmi!

And while I'm waiting for my ligaments to heal I can look forward to the new season which also means a new season of Crap show!

Last Day of Summer & How It All Began

Last wednesday, Carla and I went snowboarding in Zermatt. The weather forecast told us that it would be the last beautiful and warm day of the year, so we chose to celebrate the end of summer by going shredding - what else!
We have been to Zermatt twice this summer, once as coach (Carla) and assistant/Pausenclown (Gina) of the Girls Freestyle Camp (check it out: Swiss Snowboard Girls) and once for the Swiss Championships. We were waiting for a chance to check out the kickers and jib line by ourselves and it presented itself to us on said wednesday. Enough said, just watch the edit..
(I also put in some old footage that our daddy filmed when he took us to the snowpark on the Vorab Glacier in Laax in spring 2000 for the first time! I was 9 and Carla 8 years old back then.. Gosh, we're getting OLD!)




By the way, the song is taken from Architecture in Helsinki's newest album (which is rather awesome). Check the music video:




And here's another very inspiring video I just came across... It's so amazing how much talent, style and progression Leticia Bufoni has brought into women's skateboarding:

Whiteout Sister

My first coverage!
Check out the new Whiteout Sister! It's the biggest Swiss snowboard magazine for girls and I feel pretty honored to be in it. Thanks to Löru for the amazing photos. http://issuu.com/whiteout-magazine/docs/sister7/1

Another one

I keep discovering those stalefish pics... if anyone is wondering: YES, it is my favourite grab and NO, it never ever gets boring! :)

Photos

One from the Swiss Champs:


And two I just discovered, they are from a rail session back in August at a public pool. I got 3rd place. It was a very sketchy and hot contest and they only let us ride for 7 minutes but we had some fun anyways.


(I did a "backroll to blue stain on ass out" here)

Swiss Champs 2011

I got 2nd place and Carla 3rd at the Swiss Halfpipe Championships this weekend in Zermatt. The contest was so much fun after not riding for almost half a year and we were very stoked to be on the podium together!
Sadly, the big air competition was cancelled due to a thunderstorm up on the mountain. It was really scary!
Read more here.

Summer of 2011

Best. Summer. Ever.

And it's still on. Going snowboarding in 2 weeks. Woooop woooop!!!
At the moment I'm working as a doctor's assitant and it's pretty fun but also exhausting, especially as it's so hot at the moment. But I really like the job!

Summer update

We're back from Indonesia!
We had a fucking awesome time and we're really sad to be back. Check the photos here.

Next event will be Swiss Championsships HP and BA in Zermatt in September!

Turkey pics

Just got some photos from back in February in Erzurum. Hard to imagine I was freezing at -15°C (!!) in Turkey and now I'm sweating at 35°C here in Switzerland..

Me riding in semi-finals

Corinne Suter

Coach Joe

Palandöken ski resort

The view from our athlete's village

Landscape

Double minarett

"5 more minutes...please?!"

LIPSTICK PRODUCTION
These girls kick ass!!

"5 more minutes...please?! - TRAILER from Lipstick Productions on Vimeo.

3 days with Diana

Turns out, that wasn't the last edit of the season after all. Last week, I got a spontaneus invitation from Diana Sadlowski, who lives in Innsbruck. So I went there on Tuesday night and we straight drove to Ramsau where we could stay at a lovely house with some of the Lipstick girls and some Slovenian boys. We stayed at Dachstein one day and it was really good. I've wanted to shred that perfect rail line there for a long time and it was as great as I expected it to be.
The next two days, we stayed in Innsbruck and rode in Stubai which is about an hour from IBK. Friday was Diana's birthday, so here's my little birthday edit for her. Don't expect too much, I turned out to be a lousy filmer and even lousier snowboarder that day.
So, those were my very last days on snow for this season... Thanks again, Diana!

Stubai Birthday Edit from Gina Somaini on Vimeo.

Last edit and summer preview

Winter's over!
I have a crying and a laughing eye, though. I'm very looking forward to this summer: first, of course, I have a LOT of studying to do again because this summer, I'll hopefully have my Bachelor of Human Medicine, YAY. Then, from July 11th until August 12th, me and Carla will go to Bali. I'll finally learn how to surf! We're really looking forward to that.
Carla has her entry test for Sports Science studies in Basel in July, so she'll be exercising a lot in the next few months.

The last edit for this season is ready, too. We didn't film much anymore, since there really wasn't any snow left. But there are some nice shots from Carla with pretty good FS7 attempts. Sadly, the GoPro battery was empty when we wanted to film some of her first backflips, so we had to shoot it with a cell phone :)
The edit also contains a few shots of me riding at the PBRJ Finals in Laax. Sadly, I didn't place at the Top 5, but nevertheless it was one of the best days of the season! I got to ride with Urska again and I met Ana Rumiha from Croatia, whose riding I like very much and she's a cool person! :) Plus, Joelle Juchli, one of my favourite people to shred with, got 4th and Mary Luggen from Austria, who's a really cool person, too, won! The level at the PBRJ was crazy high and it was such a joy to see that also the style in female jibbing is getting better. Thanks to everyone who was there and to Volcom for another awesome event!

Anyway, check out the edit and enjoy your summer!! I know I will!

Winter Wars teaser

This is the newest teaser from the American/Canadian girls snowboard crew "PeepShow". I can't wait to see the movie. They are always very inspirational to my riding.

Check it out:

and also: www.peepshowfilms.com

BBQ season has started

BBQ times in Falera, next to Laax.

Gina

Carla with her new passion to keep in shape during summer: slacklining.

Swiss winter a.k.a. '6-months of spring' is almost over and we're getting used to tanktops, hot pants and flip flops.

Next saturday, another big snowboard event is coming up for me: The PBRJ finals. I'm still not a 100% sure if I can participate since I couldn't go to any qualification event this winter :(. But I think they'll let me because I won last year. We'll see. It's gonna be a lot of fun anyways. Tons of good riders are coming, and some of the best girls, too. It will make an awesome ending of the Crap season, afterwards the park will be moving up to the glacier again, we'll see how that's gonna be...

New Edit

Still Laax, still fun.

Me trying to get a nice BS Air on cam. Please invent a GoPro with zoom soon, thank you :)


Rider: Carla Somaini, Photographer: Timo (Rip Curl shop assistant)

06.03.

I had a great day today. I took it easy and filmed my friends and especially my sister Carla Somaini. Next edit will be awesome!



I also met Rip Curl team mate and 2nd place winner of the European Freeski Open Maria Bagge in Laax. We were both wondering if we'd see each other and it turned out to be very easy since we were wearing the same jacket :)

One day at Laax

Good times!
And check out the Rip Curl Girls blog once in a while: http://www.ripcurlgirlblog.com!

Photoshooting last october

Last october, I did a little tattoo photoshooting with a young photographer who noticed me in Zurich and asked me to take some pictures of me. She wanted to use them for the photo10 exhibition but sadly, she wasn't chosen to exhibit.

It was kind of a special shooting. First, we took some photographs of my tattooed skin under a microscope at the ETH Zurich. Afterwards, we shot some portraits outside and then in a very old-fashioned and classic self-service laundry in Zurich 6, near Seilbahn Rigiblick.

She wanted it to look like I'm waiting for my laundry and just listening to some music from my tape. I really liked that idea and it was fun to shoot. Her other work is really good too: http://www.claudiak.ch, and this is the link for the series I was part of: http://claudiak.ch/mikro.php

Check out some photos:

Best Edit Ever

Yesterday, Diana and I had the brilliant idea to take our GoPros with us when we went shooting in Laax. Right from the beginning, we knew this would become a SICK edit.

2 hot girls + 2 pretty boys + 5 feet fresh powder + bluebird weather + some sarcasm =

SNOW!

Finally, it's snowing again! I hope it stays cold and the snowfall continues. It looks so goood after 6 weeks of spring temperatures and zero snow!
Right now, I'm in Flims with Diana Sadlowski from Ripcurl, Yoann the filmer and Löru the photographer and we're trying to get some powder shots today. :)

Carlita

Check out my sister Carla.
I'm trying to get some more footage of her riding to find a clothing sponsor for her..
She did really good at the Buron European Open this year, qualifying for the semi finals on 3rd place. But she injured herself in the semis and had to take a break. She's back now and already rocking the park again, I hope I'll have some more footage of her soon...

ERZURUM #6 (a.k.a. Maribor #1)

It' so good to be back!
The last day was a little disappointing. First, the slopstyle was cancelled due to strong winds (good decision though!), and then, during the absolutely amazing closing ceremony, some stuff was stolen from our rooms. My iPod had to leave me but I'm over it, already ordered a new one :).
As I said, the closing ceremony (in a soccer stadium) was great. All the athletes walked in and got a lot of applause and then there was some awesome traditional dancing.

At the Universiade, it's a tradition to change all your stuff with the other countries. For example, I have a Turkey hat and a Canada jacket. And at the last evening, I traded a Slovenian jacket. That meant a lot to me since I have some distant relations in Maribor and the next Universiade will be in Maribor in 2013. I definitely want to go there since this was an incredible experience and I'd like to make it again.
So this jacket symbolizes my ambitions very well. :)




So, I'm back home now and if anyone wants to hear more about my week in Turkey, let me know and we'll meet. :)
I'll be in Laax until school starts again in 2 weeks. Next week, I'll probably go to Grindelwald for another halfpipe competition and in about 3 weeks, I'll do another railjam in Üri, I thik.
For now, I'm just chillig a little and thinking about what I've learned for life in Erzurum. And that's a lot!


Here some video impressions:

(closing ceremony)

(Manu Eicher skicross gold medal)

(HP Finals, Chinese winner rode really well!)

ERZURUM #5

Yesterday, I had halfpipe semifinals with 8 other girls and I could reach my goal: I got a diploma with a good and solid 8th place. I was so happy to ride with these girls, most of whom I had already seen ride in Vancouver 2010 or at big TTR events this season and I look up to them a lot! I'm superstoked!!

Today, we had slopestyle practice and I jumped the big kickers but they really suck. The landings are too flat and they just don't work out. I hope they change something until tomorrow.
I already more than fulfilled all my expectations and don't want to hurt myself so I'll take it easy tomorrow. If the kickers are still not rideable I'll just go shred the pipe some more and cheer for Corinne Suter and other friends I made here :)

Check out coverage from yesterday and the day before:

http://www.universiadeerzurum.org/news/573-womens-snowboard-half-pipe-eliminations-are-completed
(Very bad) photo of me on the official Universiade website


from the Swiss newsletter


I'm on the left, Jonas Zbinden (who I'm very proud of) on the right.

ERZURUM #4

HP Qualification:
Today was just perfect. I had the best fun I ever had riding the halfpipe in the training. Sadly, I didn't land a perfect run in the qualis but it doesn't matter because I finished 9th and so I'm in the semifinals now!

Here are the first 9 riders. They all rode fucking well and I'm pretty stoked to ride the semis with them! Yeah!



By the way: You want to kiss my egg??

ERZURUM #3

Ok, first of all, I know some of you will be thinking "Why is she blogging all the time, she should be discovering Turkey", but really, I'm so talented in blogging now that it doesn't even take me 5 minutes to write how AWESOME it is here. And I know you're all dying to know! :)

First day of pipe riding: The pipe had some "rillä", some "teeth" from shaping, so the take-off and landing was a little sketchy in the beginning but we got used to it fast and the shape of the pipe is just amazing! Our coach teached us really well, he's such a cool guy. Tonight, he'll do some mental training with us, and I guess most of you know how much I need that!! (I'm about as nervous at contests as I am at exams...)

On the photo you can see my very nice swissski gloves (love them!) and in the middle, the huge pipe :)

ERZURUM #2

Good morning!

Today, we're gonna ride the halfpipe for the first time. I think it will be awesome to ride with people from so many countries. I'm quite curious to see how the Turkish riders are doing.. :)
Something else I'm looking forward to: I have a real coach (Joe Zangerl, nice guy)! So funny...

This is what the pipe looked like yesterday. It wasn't quite ready yet since it hasn't snowed since forever (when we got there it started snowing like crazy and in fact, we were quite lucky we could land on the snowy airport, I think!)

Jonas a.k.a. Lukas Zbinden checking out the halfpipe.

ERZURUM #1

We arrived in Erzurum this morning at about 3 o'clock in the morning. The rooms are really nice and comfortable and all the people are as lovely as I expected them to be. Everyone is working really hard to make our stay unforgettable. Sadly no snowboarding today but training starts tomorrow. I'm excited.
I also met my Rip Curl Team mate Urska Pribosic from Slovenia. I'm looking forward to seeing her rock the slopestyle course! :)


Some impressions from the long journey...


Sugar rush while waiting for 4 hours in Istanbul. Woooo-eeeeeh!



Shoe polishing service in Ankara.. Weird country..




Swiss team "bös" in Erzurum at 2am

Istanbul

I'm in Istanbul now, flying to Ankara in 3 hours and then on to Erzurum. Gonna arrive there at midnight, I think!

Turkey is nice but kind of expensive :)

PBRJ 2010

A friend just gave me two clips of me at the Peanut Butter and Rail Jam EU Finals in Laax that went down last april.
Sadly, those are the only shots I have of the contest (Merci, Margot!)...
It was definitely the best day of my snowboard-life so far because I won and got a ticket to Mammoth, CA that day. :)

New clothes

I just got some new clothes from Rip Curl from season 11/12. Their clothes are getting more stylish every year!!
They're also very green and eco-friendly and I really like that about Rip Curl.. Check them out at www.ripcurl.eu. Thumbs up!

Thanks to Andrea for taking pictures! <3

I'm back!

I just had my final exam yesterday and already went riding again today. It was awesome!

And my name was printed in a Swiss newspaper today: http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/zuerich/Start-zur-Universiade/story/12551716 :)

10 days to go

In 10 days, I'll be on my way to Erzurum. I just got the official "Team Schweiz" Clothes. I also met some of the other participants and I'm sure that we're gonna have a blast over there in the orient with thousands of minarets :)

Check out the clothes:





I've never felt this Swiss before haha.

By the way, I had to buy a FIS Licence to compete in the Universiade... and I know, this whole FIS stuff doesn't really represent my kind of snowboarding lifestyle but as this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent my university (!) internationally in a snowboard competition, I thought I should forget about my little issues with the FIS and just go for it and give my best.

11.1.11

Bonjour

I'm still studying like crazy but studying can be kind of fun, too..

I just discovered a photo of me at the Iceripper Junior Open in Laax last december. I didn't do well at the contest but this photo was taken during the training, the day before the contest at about 3.30pm. The weather had been moody all day and it had just gotten sunny so I was really stoked to ride the perfect Laax pipe.
I love the light in the picture, and the flashlight next to the coping of the pipe!



by Claudio Casanova

Summary

Hi there!

Welcome to my blog. I have created it in order to inform my family, friends and sponsors about my whereabouts, my snowboarding, my trips, my contests and other parts of my life.

This is what I've been up to so far this season:

Some jibbing in Laax with friends:

2 from Gina Somaini on Vimeo.

Some Halfpipe riding in Laax:



Nike 6.0 Stairset battle in Hoch Ybrig in december:



Rip Curl catalog shooting in Stubai in november:



And I won the Rhino Rail Jam in October




At the moment, I'm studying for my exams. I'm in my third year studying Medicine at Basel University.

After my exams on the 26th of January, I'm heading to Laax to go riding for a few days.
On the 31th of January, I'm going to fly to Erzurum, Turkey, where I'll be competing at the Universiade for the Swiss team. I'm really excited about that!!
I'll be back on February 7, and will be shredding in Laax again, until the new semester starts on the 21st.

I'll keep you updated about Erzurum. It's gonna be awesome!!

Hugs and kisses

Gina