The following is a feature from Snowboard Magazine’s Issue 20.1. To see it in print, order a copy here.

It’s called Chili Explosion. A fine elixir of dried chili flakes, paprika, sea salt, chipotle pepper extract, and whatever färgämne is. I don’t know that last ingredient because I can’t read Swedish, and other components of this fine mix are a rough guess at best. All you need to know is that Chili Explosion is the one thing I didn’t know that was missing from my life, a life which since the 1990s, has longed to experience Scandinavia. 

As a young shredder and blossoming photographer, the images of rugged fjords; endless, unspoiled horizons; and Ingemar Backman blasting a certain hip to the moon were stampled onto my mind. In my adult years, it was Ikea. Something about the region has always tickled my imagination. As for Sweden in particular, maybe it was their meatballs, maybe it was their sweet fish.

Odds are that if you’re like me, you were also previously unaware of Chili Explosion, though the name paints a colorful picture. It’s a garnish, favored in Sweden, that pairs well with eggs and sausage, pasta, or sprinkled atop a cup of coffee, a concoction I affectionately call “Drano.” My imagination also wanders as to how it could be implemented into local fare, like those tender, juicy puffins, the cute, flying torpedoes of the north. Chili Explosion would make the most scrumptious seasoning for puffalo wings. Mmm.

Enough about my new era of Atlantic spice trade though, back to the matter at hand. Last spring, I finally got the chance to go to Scandinavia, touching down in Sweden to photograph a selection of Salomon’s team who had been thrown into the springtime grinder of Kläppen Snow Park. The crew, Annika Morgan, Tess Coady, Novalie Engholm, Dusty Henricksen, Sven Thorgren, Kaito Hamada, Noah Vicktor, Johan Nordhag, and Mikhail Khvatov, were there to collectively season the set up via the Huck Knife Pro and No Drama, Salomon’s team-favorite park board offerings which, just like my coveted mill of Chili Explosion points out on its label (in English), are “prefect for that little extra.”

Kläppen is located in the quiet hamlet of Sälen, just up the street from Sven Thorgren’s epic backyard in Stockolm. Each spring, when the resort shuts down to the public, the park crew builds a mega park, fit for the most skilled riders in the world—often those with a penchant for big tricks and contest podiums. Because, as everyone knows, if you build it, they will come. Judging by the line-up of Salomon boards every day of our trip, Field of Dreams may not have grossed that much overseas, but “om du bygger den kommer de” effectively translates.

There’s a certain kind of wonder in competitive snowboarding, slopestyle specifically. The massive jumps and extended hang time, the technical precision, the interesting and diverse features—it all works together to create an all-out wow factor when watching the most adept snowboarders do what they do best in the park. 

The current state of slopestyle snowboarding is also impressive in a way that was almost unimaginable even a few years ago. The complexity of tricks and the number of rotations that are constantly being unveiled and put together in single runs—it’s practically unfathomable. No matter your opinion on the ever-increasing spins, the important thing is appreciation for the riders, their skills, and their efforts. As a whole, the best park riders in the world, specifically those on the competitive circuit, have an air and situational awareness that is on another level. Their understanding of off-axis spinning, their composure under pressure, and their ability to land on their feet is unmatched, and with every passing contest, the current crop of riders is setting the bar higher and higher. The riders assembled at Kläppen were unequivocally part of the rising vanguard doing just that, curating a realm of seemingly endless possibilities.

In addition to shooting photos and stacking video, the week in Sweden was an opportunity for the team to put their gear through the paces. Snowboard development is a collaborative effort and Salomon has long worked hand-in-hand with its riders on the entire process, from board creation to fine-tuning. From the celebrated Hillside Project to the new, beloved Abstract, everything from the tech details to durability is tried and tested by Salomon’s riders. This method helped to create Salomon’s trifecta of park performers in the Huck Knife, its pro counterpark, and the No Drama, and the proof is in the podiums. Tess Coady, Sven Thorgren, Dusty Henricksen, Annika Morgan, and more have ridden them straight to the winner’s circle with collective consistency.

After a week of aiming a barrage of cameras loaded with a potpourri of films—and going through multiple mills of Chili Explosion—the sun set on the week at Kläppen (and that springtime sun takes its sweet time to set). To say the Knives of Huck and No Drama were put through their paces during this particular week in late April would be an understatement. The crew had left it all out on the world-class tables…and the rails, and the quarterpipe. And in Sven’s rope-tow-serviced dream backyard and all the creative lines they roasted…seasoned to taste, of course.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the amazing video edit from this trip, be sure to peep it here.