Jon Olsson Super Sessions Day 8

Words & photos: Jeff Schmuck
Video: Christian 'Cheech' Sander

Once again the weather has turned against us here in Åre, Sweden as the third annual Jon Olsson Super Sessions comes down to the wire.

The event continued yesterday with a fun session on the hip after the originally planned third outing on the step-up was cancelled due to high winds. A slew of the guys were in attendance, although a few were keeping it mellow due to fatigue and some bumps and bruises from the previous day's session.

Jossi Wells, Justin Dorey & Tom Wallisch

Nate Abbott & Simon Dumont

Not keeping it mellow though was Simon Dumont, who was once again making the hip his personal bitch by soaring roughly 25 feet high with some motionless cork 5's.

TJ Schiller

Andreas Håtveit

Andreas Håtveit and TJ Schiller were also putting on a show with some flatspin 5's that were as smooth as silk, while Team Sweden's Henrik Harlaut and Team Norway's Alexsander Aurdal continued to put on a style lecture as Russ Henshaw and Dhanu 'Danger' Sherpa sessioned the gap to down box next to them.

Henrik Harlaut

Alexsander Aurdal

But the story of the day was LJ Strenio, who evidently lost his mind somewhere on the five minute walk between chateau Team Newschoolers and the jump, as he repeatedly hiked 50 feet past where The Dumont dropped in from, clicked into his skis, and pointed it in an effort to "Candide it" and air the hip from end-to-end with a tweaked out mute grab. After numerous attempts, he just missed it, but not by much, once again proving how badly he and his team want to win this thing.

LJ Strenio

The area around the Max Hip and Red Bull Jib Garden has lost a fair bit of snow thanks to last week's rainy weather, and as a result, the landing got a bit too slushy and bombed out a bit too quickly, cutting the session short, but not before a whole lot of fun was had.

Colby James West gets down on the big air bag...

...while Jon tosses some rodeos on a snowboard.

Most of the teams then quickly set out on more urban missions in an effort to beef up their shot count, while others hunkered down in their rooms to shoot intros and other aspects to their edits' respective story lines.

Team Newschoolers

Just before dinner time a thick layer of grey came rumbling over Lake Åre and began dumping some substantial rain on our picturesque home away from home for these two weeks, and continued today, forcing the teams into yet another chill/urban day. The weather will certainly not help the situation at the hip and jib garden or the JOI jump, which is also located at the base of the mountain, but rest assured that Jon and his busy little team of shapers will be hard at work keeping the features as pristine as they can as this event comes down to the wire with just a few days of skiing left.

Jon Olsson & Gus Kenworthy

The deadline for the edits is this Friday night, so it really is crunch time here at JOSS. Stay tuned for more in the coming days, including coverage on the Comviq Swedish Open, the legendary Jon Olsson Invitational Big Air, along with the arrival of the JOI competitors and exciting roster of judges for this event.

NSTV JOSS - Episode 6

In the meantime, enjoy our latest episode of NSTV above where we talk with the teams' rookies about their first time at JOSS, and don't forget to head over to www.josupersessions.com and www.jon-olsson.com for more additional videoblogs on the event.

Colby James West on tonight's Rocker Party and Big Air Guitar contest

And although today's bad weather has once again put a bit of a damper on the event's proceedings, it hasn't done the same to everyone's spirits, as tonight is one of the most highly anticipated moments of the entire two weeks...the loudest, wildest and most infamous party during JOSS...the Rocker Party, where the always entertaining Big Air Guitar contest will be going down yet again. Check out www.bigairguitar.com for highlights from last year's party and air guitar contest for a sign of things to come.