Riksgränsen [Raw] feat. Phil Casabon, Henrik Harlaut, Jacob Wester, and Kim Boberg
A raw compilation of footage from Riksgränsen, Sweden May, 2014.
Thanks to Riksgränsen Resort for the hospitality.
Music by Darkside
armadaskis.com
Henrik Harlaut
Henrik Harlaut, born on August 14, 1991 in Stockholm and raised in Åre, Sweden, is widely celebrated as one of the greatest freestyle skiers of all time. Known by nicknames like “E-dollo” and “Bloody Dollaz,” he brings unmatched creativity, flair, and jaw-dropping technical innovation to the slopes. Henrik’s signature moment came in Aspen at Winter X Games XVII, where he landed the first-ever nose-butter triple-cork 1620 in Big Air, scoring a perfect 50 and securing the gold, along with silver in slopestyle. With a record 13 total X Games medals — 8 gold and 5 silver — he holds the most podiums in skiing history. He has represented Sweden at multiple Winter Olympics, finishing sixth in slopestyle in Sochi 2014 (famously performing with his pants around his knees and a “Wu-Tang is for the children” salute) and earning bronze in Big Air at Beijing 2022. Beyond the Olympics, he claimed silver at the 2019 World Championships (Big Air) and dominated the World Cup circuit, winning the Big Air crystal globe in 2017 with multiple event victories. More than a competitor, Henrik stands out as a cultural icon. His style — from dreadlocks and baggy clothes to fearless trick execution — challenges norms while embodying pure joy and expression. He balances competition, filmmaking (notably in “The Regiment”), and community involvement, remaining a powerful influence shaping freestyle skiing’s evolution.
Jacob Wester
Jacob Wester is a Swedish skier born in 1987 in Stockholm. He started skiing at a young age and rose to prominence in the international freeski scene in 2005, thanks to standout performances in Big Air and slopestyle. He earned two bronze medals at the X Games in Aspen in 2008 and 2009, known for his creative and bold aerial style. In the 2010s, Jacob shifted away from competitions to focus on freeride and backcountry skiing. Now based in Chamonix, he blends big-mountain skiing with freestyle influences, embracing a freer, more expressive approach to the sport. He has appeared in numerous ski films and independent video projects. Off the mountain, Jacob is passionate about surfing, fishing, and tattooing. He lives close to nature and often shares his outdoor lifestyle with his partner, photographer Sofia Sjöberg. With a free-spirited and thoughtful mindset, he represents a modern vision of skiing rooted in adventure, creativity, and environmental awareness.
Kim Boberg
Kim Boberg is a Swedish freeskier born in 1991 in Älvdalen and based in Kläppen, the resort where he grew up skiing. A long-standing Armada athlete (over 16 years), he became known for his standout video parts and major influence on freeski culture. He is best known as the founder and organizer of the renowned Kimbo Sessions—a spring park gathering at Kläppen that brings together the world’s top skiers in a laid-back, creativity-focused “anti-stress” atmosphere. His park, designed and built under his direction with expert shapers, features unique modules and skate-inspired transitions, with every inch fully skied. Kim embodies community spirit, style, and innovation, making him a living legend in the freeski movement.
Philip Casabon
Philip Casabon, known to skiers around the world as B-Dog, is a Canadian freeski legend from Shawinigan, Québec, whose influence on street and park skiing spans more than a decade of groundbreaking video parts, signature products and era-defining style. He emerged in the late 2000s and early 2010s as a rider who could make complex tricks look effortless, pairing technical precision with a relaxed body language that reads clearly on camera and in person. While many athletes built careers around podiums, Casabon built a catalog around originality and storytelling, proving that progression in freeskiing is measured not just by spin counts, but by ideas, rhythm and the way a skier uses terrain. Casabon’s breakthrough years were intertwined with a creative partnership with Henrik Harlaut under the B&E banner, culminating in invitational events that showcased style, flow and unconventional features. Those projects amplified a philosophy that still guides his skiing today. Lines are designed like sentences with a beginning, middle and end. Approach speed is chosen to preserve cadence rather than to force difficulty. Takeoffs are decisive and axes are set early so rotations remain readable and landings ride away clean. The result is footage that ages well and remains instructive for younger riders studying how to combine rails, walls, gaps and banks into coherent sequences. The contest world eventually embraced video-based formats, and Casabon became a benchmark there as well. In X Games Real Ski he delivered all-urban segments that balanced heavy enders with subtle touches: nose and tail presses that carry real weight, surface swaps performed on imperfect steel, redirected spins that treat walls and banks as extensions of the rail line. Those edits demonstrated mastery of spot selection, logistics and risk management under tight timelines. They also highlighted a symbiosis with filmer and editor Brady Perron, whose eye for pacing and framing magnified Casabon’s skating-inspired approach to edges, balance and transitions. Equipment is a central part of Casabon’s story. His signature park and street skis became known for playful flex in the tips and tails, supportive underfoot platforms and shapes that feel neutral on unknown landing angles. He is meticulous about mount points that keep swing weight balanced without sacrificing landing stability, and he is vocal about edge durability, torsional support and base speed on contaminated snow. In boots, he gravitated to progressive designs that preserve ankle articulation and rebound for presses and quick recentering after surface changes. This product literacy turns gear into a creative partner rather than an afterthought, and it informs a steady stream of feedback to designers who translate rider needs into shapes and constructions that withstand urban abuse. Casabon’s training habits reveal why the style looks so effortless. Off snow he emphasizes hip and ankle mobility, single-leg strength for efficient pop on short run-ins, and trunk stability to manage off-axis rotations without letting the upper body flail. Trampoline and air-awareness sessions break big tricks into components, rehearsing set mechanics, grab timing and spotting before full-scale attempts. On snow he builds lines from low-consequence moves, scaling them patiently into heavy features once speed, angles and snow texture are predictable. That incremental method reduces injuries and preserves longevity in a discipline where impact tolerance is often mistaken for progress. Storytelling is another thread that runs through his career. Casabon treats each project like an album rather than a single, choosing music, color and pacing that serve the skiing. He shows the process in behind-the-scenes moments: shoveling and salting to control speed, testing inruns at dawn when light is flat but traffic is light, cleaning spots and restoring environments out of respect for neighborhoods. This transparency sets a standard for urban filming etiquette and keeps doors open for future crews. It also explains why his films are rewatchable; they offer both the satisfaction of heavy tricks and the narrative of how those tricks were made possible. Community impact rounds out his profile. Casabon mentors younger riders by translating complex technique into simple cues: align early on the inrun, commit to a clean set, keep shoulders calm through impact, and ride away with purpose. He is honest about fear management, using visualization and measured increments to turn nerves into information rather than noise. In camps and informal sessions he shares the small adjustments that create big gains, from binding ramp angle to edge bevels that keep rails viable on cold mornings. As freeskiing continues to evolve, Casabon remains a reference point for authenticity. He releases tightly curated video parts, appears at select events, and collaborates with brands in ways that preserve the integrity of his style while pushing product design forward. His legacy is not confined to medals or one winter’s highlight reel. It lives in a generation of skiers who learned that creativity can be systematic, that style is a skill built on fundamentals, and that a line that reads beautifully will always matter. For fans and aspiring riders, Philip Casabon stands as proof that street skiing can be both refined and raw, both disciplined and free, and that the most enduring progression happens when craft, culture and community move together.
Riksgränsen
Riksgränsen is the northernmost ski resort in Sweden, located about 200 kilometers above the Arctic Circle, right by the Norwegian border. It ranges from 520 to 909 meters in elevation, offering around 400 meters of vertical drop and nearly 21 kilometers of runs served by six lifts. Known for its exceptional natural snowfall, the resort relies entirely on nature without artificial snow and enjoys a long season stretching from late February into June, allowing skiing under the midnight sun in spring. Riksgränsen provides a mix of beginner, intermediate, and expert terrain, with a highly regarded freeride area perfect for off-piste and heliskiing. With its small village, authentic Arctic atmosphere, and chances to see the northern lights, it’s a truly unique destination for a remarkable Nordic experience.
Armada
Armada’s origin story is inseparable from the rise of newschool skiing. Instead of adapting race tools for creatives, the brand started with what riders actually needed: symmetric and directional twin tips that press, pivot, and land switch; floaty shapes for deep days; and durable constructions for rails and hard landings. Over two decades, the catalog matured without losing that voice. The brand joined a larger sports family later on, leveraging European manufacturing while keeping athlete-led development and media at its core. The result is a blend of indie energy and big-factory consistency. Product ecosystem Armada’s freestyle roots remain visible in the ARV series (all-mountain/park) and the women’s ARW line, built for playful daily laps that can handle everything from corduroy to side hits and rail gardens. Signature pro models such as the Edollo and BDog reflect two distinct philosophies of park skiing—pop and power versus buttery, press-friendly feel—while the JJ and its descendants carry the powder-freestyle torch with surfy rockered shapes and smearable tips and tails. On the freeride/all-mountain front, directional platforms add stability and edge hold for technical terrain and variable snow. For human-powered missions, the lightweight touring family uses lively wood cores and weight-savvy laminates to keep skintrack efficiency high without turning skittish on the descent. Construction and feel Durability and “feel” are through-lines across the range. Thick, impact-oriented edges, sintered bases that take wax well, and rubber damping in key zones help skis stay quiet at speed and survive seasons of abuse. Rocker-camber-rocker profiles are tuned by length and use case: more camber and contact length for resort drive, deeper rocker lines and tapered tips for soft-snow release. Mount points are thoughtfully chosen—center or near-center for park, more traditional for directional freeride and touring—so buyers can land on a predictable stance without fighting the ski. Boots, bindings, and compatibility Armada’s skis pair naturally with modern alpine and hybrid bindings, including models that allow efficient uphill travel and elastic downhill performance on one setup. Many riders run one-ski/one-binding quivers for travel and resort powder weeks, while park skiers opt for lighter alpine bindings with predictable release and solid elasticity for repeated switch landings. Athletes, media, and culture Armada’s team has long included influential freestylers and film leaders whose styles span urban, park, and backcountry freestyle. Pro models like the Edollo, BDog, Whitewalker, and various JJ iterations come straight from that collaboration loop: riders push lines in the streets or high alpine; product teams translate those needs into shape, flex, and construction tweaks; films and seasonal edits close the loop with proof on snow. The brand’s YouTube and social channels showcase this process with product walk-throughs, team movies, and behind-the-scenes clips that keep skiers connected to the why behind each ski. How to choose Resort-first skiers who split time between groomers, trees, and park will feel at home on ARV/ARW models sized to nose-eye height for agility; add length for stability if your speed runs high. Powder-minded riders who value playful line choice should look to JJ-style shapes for float and drift. Directional chargers who want bite on wind-buff and firm afternoons should target the all-mountain/freeride family with a slightly rearward mount. For touring, match waist width to your snowpack: narrower, lighter for big vert and spring missions; mid-fat for mid-winter soft snow with enough backbone for refrozen exits. Yes—Armada maintains an active YouTube presence, signature pro models tied to its athletes, and ongoing collaborations with film crews. The brand’s evolution from core freeski upstart to full-line manufacturer never abandoned its central idea: skis should be built around the way skiers actually ride.
Recommended Videos
