The Arctic Challenge is a

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...

contest arranged for and by the riders themselves. It was started by Norwegian professional snowboarders Daniel Franck and

Terje Håkonsen Terje Håkonsen (born 11 October 1974) is a Norwegian professional snowboarder. He is considered one of the most influential snowboarders in the history of the sport. In the book ''The way of the snowboarder'', Rob Reed wrote that "Haakonsen took ...

. The contest was established as an alternative to the former competitions that had become streamlined and run by schedules and directions from TV-coverage, major sponsors and other external forces. It formerly held the status as the final for the "

World Snowboard Tour The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

", and is held in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

annually - usually at a location north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

. Since 2005 the "TAC", as it is often referred to, moved to

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

and has been integrated into the TTR World Snowboard Tour at the 5Star level. Oslo is south of the Arctic Circle, and is thus not in the arctic. Due to its great success last season it has moved to the TTR 6Star level, the highest status an event can hold on the World Tour, giving out 1000 TTR ranking points to the winner and $100,000 in total prize money. It is now the only 6Star rated event owned by a professional rider.
/ref> At the Arctic Challenge 2007, the organizer and snowboard legend, Terje Håkonsen broke the highest air record in the quarterpipe with 9.8 m above the lip (top part of the obstacle), established by Heikki Sorsa at 9.3 m in 2001.

References

External links

The Arctic Challenge official website
Snowboarding competitions International sports competitions hosted by Norway {{snowboarding-stub