Words and pics: Pally Learmond Thanks to a whole load of late season snow, summer riding under the huge 4,000 meter Allalinhorn in Saas Fee, Switzerland has never been so sick. Couple this with the talent, dedication and imagination of park shaper Nicklas Hoglund, then you've definitely got one of Europe's best summer snowparks.

Summer ski area on the Feegletscher, Allalinhorn towers above.

For the last three weeks, the British freeski camps took place, and also the Demonium camps run by Mika Deschenaux. In the first week, riders such as Paddy Graham, Murray Buchan, James Woods, James Webb, and Andy Longley from the UK, and Laurent Thevenet, Arno Kugener, Gigi Coutet and Aurelian Fornier from France, were leading the charge , throwing down on the super nice three kicker line, sweet pipe, and the monster hip... an awesome new addition for this year.

Volkl`s Paddy Graham

James Webb

Andy Longley

Aurelian Fornier…. huge over the hip

Woodsy, practicing his moves for the prison showerWeek two saw a load of riders either hang around, or turn up for the Saasfee Ride event, now in its fifth year and firmly established as Europe's best and most chilled summer comp. Due to heavy rain the night before, the pipe event had to be cancelled, but the weather was clear during the day and the shapers produced a sweet kicker for the Big Air comp. In the final Paddy Graham (UK) decided to get technical and pulled a corked nine tail grab to late shifty with so much style even the riders and judges at the top shouted in appreciation. Stephane Vaillant (FRA) held his grab all the way to touch down on his switch nine, and Samuel Favnet (FRA) responded in kind with the biggest jump of the day stomping an enormous switch 720 half way down the landing. Then Henrik Harlaut (SWE) stepped up to the plate. Henrik was defending his Saas Fee ride crown, and with this guy it was bound to get interesting. Flying off the lip, he tweaked a mute and sent a massive 1260 out of sight and well beyond the knuckle…this year's winner maybe! In the women's Virginie Faivre soon followed Henrik's example, by claiming the woman's title with super smooth cork 3 critical. Click here to check out videos of the comp in .mp4 (32MB) or .mov (15MB) format.

Henrik Harlaut

Samuel Favant

Virginie Faivre

Harlaut-Vaillant-FavnetSaas Fee's legendary Popcorn Bar saw another epic evening… big shout to Ollie Corkhill who managed to host the most unexclusive VIP area in the world (every night for two weeks I think!!!) …open to everyone and anyone for the simple pleasure of getting wrecked…nice.Another week of sweet weather and impressive riding followed. Thanks to Prisca (probably the most helpful resort marketing manager…..ever!) we managed to arrange a sunrise session with some of the best UK riders. Conditions at 6am Were surprisingly not too bullet proof, and Andy 'Cindy' Bennett, Murray Buchan, Woodsy, Webbo and Dave Young were all throwing down, and the skidoo driver looked like he was having the time of his life..happy times!

Murray Buchan

Andy Bennett

Murray BuchanIn what was supposed to be my final week (I stayed an extra five days… Saas Fee is way too much fun), more UK skiers came out to ride, most notably Joe Murrell, who as an unsponsored rider was seriously killing it with style. Switch backflip truck drivers, misty 5 true nose mute, some crazy double flip shit…it was fun to watch. Henrik Harlaut aka E'Dollo was also riding wih the British boys, getting stoked on riding, and sharing his scary obsession for Harry Potter….we had to watch it every night! Also around was Dominik JP Furrer from Switzerland who has just signed on Volkl…pushing grabs to the next level…so sick.