MILAN BIG AIR, 12th NOVEMBER 2016

The fashion capital of the world seems an odd choice of host for the competitive snowboarding season, but it’s not without precedent.

Milan actually hosted a Big Air ten years ago, and will now kick off a packed calendar of inner-city Big Air events. Taking the mountains to the people is always a prime opportunity to get more people into snowboarding, so let’s hope this one goes off without a hitch.

Unlike some of the events on this list, this one – and all FIS Big Air comps, from what we can see – is for both men and women. Even FIS haters have to tip their cap to them for that.

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PLEASURE JAM, 19th-20th NOVEMBER 2016

With their reliance on artificial snow, it’s only natural that Big Airs will dominate the early-season calendar. The Pleasure Jam is the first major slopestyle event, taking place on the Dachstein glacier.

Katie Ormerod will be back in Austria, looking to defend her 2015 crown from the likes of Anna Gasser and Aimee Fuller. Meanwhile in the men’s event, Brits Rowan Coultas and Matt McCormick will face off against Mons Roisland, Emil Ulsletten and Mathias Weissenbacher.

As well as prize money for the slopestyle winners, there’s a pretty sweet perk for the winner of Best Trick; a three-week surf camp in Portugal. Nice.

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ARAG BIG AIR FREESTYLE FESTIVAL, 2nd-3rd DECEMBER 2016

This is stop number two for the Super Series, and this time the action is in Germany.

Much like the London Freeze comp used to be, this FIS Big Air event also doubles as a music festival. No doubt the competition will be fierce, but there’ll be plenty of scope for a few biers and wursts afterwards too.

Music comes from German bands Beginner and Sportfreunde Stiller.

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MOSCOW BIG AIR, 7th JANUARY 2016

Whatever you think of the Olympics, it has to be said that the Russians managed to arrange the construction of some pretty terrific jumps for the slopestyle. In January, they’ll be sticking one in the centre of Moscow for a Big Air.

No word yet on who’ll be there, but it’s likely that the usual heavy-hitters will make the trip to Russia.

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LAAX OPEN, 16th-21st JANUARY 2017

It was seemingly quite a blow when Burton announced that they wouldn’t be running their European Open, but the Laax Open more than filled the gap in 2016. The slopestyle in particular was great, shaking up the old rails-followed-by-jumps format.

Switzerland’s finest park will get another rinsing from the best riders in the world, competing for a cool half million in prize money – and, for the first time, FIS points.

We’re really looking forward to this one. With any luck, Markus Keller will do something weird again.

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X GAMES ASPEN, 28th-31st JANUARY 2016

Aside from perhaps the ‘lympics, nothing tops X Games for sheer spectacle. Despite its invite-only format and the lack of Big Air for women (which is looking more ridiculous with each passing year), it’s considered the closet thing snowboarding has to a proper World Championships.

It’s far from perfect in other ways too – not least because sharing the stage with skiing and snowmobiling means that the TV coverage often cuts away during crucial moments in qualification – but at the moment it’s the biggest annual event we’ve got.

You can watch it on ESPN in the States, and can stream it for a fee elsewhere. As long as you can stomach the relentless commercial breaks – Yvan Eht Nioj! – it’s well worth it.

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AIR + STYLE INNSBRUCK, 3rd-4th FEBRUARY 2017

The second leg of the Air & Style takes place in Innsbruck, the location of the very first A&S back in 1994.

Expect the biggest (male) names in Big Air to be there, including reigning overall A+S champ Sven Thorgren.

As with all Air & Style events, there’s plenty of music lined up too, including Biffy Clyro and The Naked & Famous.

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SNOWBOARD JAMBOREE, 9th-12th FEBRUARY 2017

The Snowboard Jamboree has been a staple of the Canadian events calendar since 2009, excluding 2013 when Stoneham hosted the FIS World Championships.

Heavy hitters like Peetu Piiroinen, Cheryl Maas and Darcy Sharpe rank among the event’s previous winners of the Big Air, so expect many an elite rider to say ‘oui’ to Quebec.

This is also the final stop of the FIS Super Series – once the dust settles, the highest-ranking snowboarders of each gender will be crowned tour champions.

On top of that there’s the ‘Stairs Master’ rail comp, so the Jamboree really has something for everyone.

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LEGENDARY BAKER BANKED SLALOM, 10th-12th FEBRUARY 2017

Despite being a race with only a duct-taped trophy up for grabs, the Legendary Banked Slalom never fails to attract the finest riders around. Legends of the 80s and 90s line up against some of the biggest names in modern competition, as well as more than a few local heroes.

The condditions sometimes don’t play ball, but when this event is firing on all cylinders it’s the one you most want to be at.

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AIR + STYLE LOS ANGELES, 18th-19th FEBRUARY 2017

From one of the oldest comps around to one of the newest. The LA stop of the Air & Style only made its debut in 2014 but, with the backing of majority shareholder Shaun White, it went off with a bang.

Yuki Kadono became the first to win an American A&S, beating Seb Toots and Stale Sandbech to the punch. He repeated the feat last year – can he get the three-peat in 2016?

Expect the scaffolding to stretch to the moon, and the best riders to once again throw down in Cali.

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BURTON US OPEN, 28th FEBRUARY-4th MARCH 2016

One of the oldest events in snowboarding returns for 2016. With the demise of the BEO – and before that, the NZ, Australian and Japan Opens – the Burton US Open is now the last event of its kind.

Not that it’s any less of a big deal – both the Slopestyle and Big Air events are always right up there with the biggest comps of the year, every single season.

It was only two years ago that Yuki Kadono blew our collective minds with back-to-back triple cork 1620s, and last year that Shaun White returned to the top of the halfpipe podium (see video above). What might they – or anyone else – have up their sleeve this year?

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X GAMES OSLO, 6th-12th MARCH 2016

The Tignes-based X Games Europe was one of the highlights of the contest circuit until it was abruptly cancelled in 2014. Now, after Oslo picked up the mantle in 2016, the X is firmly back on the continent.

There’s no slopestyle in this one, although there is a women’s Big Air event. There’s also a skateboard street comp, marking the first time an X Games event has featured it alongside snowboarding.

Billy Morgan bagged his biggest medal to date at last year’s event. Maybe this time he’ll get something even blingier than bronze…

Check out all the action on the ESPN Player here

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AUDI SNOWJAM, 24th-25th MARCH 2017

As the final FIS World Cup event of the season, the smart money is on this being a slushy spectacular.

In 2016 this was where Jamie Nicholls became the first British male to win a World Cup, and he’ll no doubt want to retain the title.

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THE BRITS, 2nd-9th APRIL 2017

As the season winds to a close, it’s always a good idea to head out to the Brits.

The event recently returned to Laax after a few years in Tignes, and features lots of top competition and plenty of opportunities to see out the winter in style.

As well as halfpipe and slopestyle, there’s the Bangers & Cash rail jam that sees riders awarded on the spot with real dough.

The likes of Jamie Nicholls, Jamie Trinder, Katie Ormerod, Billy Morgan and Dom Harington have all graced the Brits in the past – head along in 2017 to watch the latest crop of UK talent killing it in Laax.

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