What with many people easing themselves back in to work, gearing up to go to school, or heading back into university exams this week, we thought it’d be a good time to look back at some of the highlights from the last year. Just in case you need cheering up a little bit. Scroll down to watch the snowboard videos that really stood out for us, the top ten clips of 2010. Here’s to more of this kind of thing this year!

10: DCP’s Insane Pink Floyd Powder Part
David Carrier-Porcheron had a hell of a year last winter, finding powder pretty much everywhere he went. While a lot of the footage made his part in Absinthe’s Now/Here, there are some insane lines, pillow drops and spins that didn’t. This re-edit of the Absinthe footage, produced by his company Yes Snowboards, makes our list because of the sheer number of bangers – and the radness of the tune. So sick.

Hit ‘More’ to see what we picked as the number one video, and the rest of the top 10!

9: Mad Japanese Flatland Tricks
“The humble nose or tail butter,” Ed wrote when he discovered this video, “is one of snowboarding’s simple joys.” It seems a lot of people agreed with him, as this slightly bonkers video of Japanese riders whipping out all sorts of flatland freestyle combos quickly became one of the most popular videos on the website.

http://mpora.com/videos/bXFtbtBaY

8: Lockdown Projects/Oakley Snowboard’s Puppet Jib Vid Entry
Veterans of the Jib Vid they may be, but the Lockdown boys are still a fountain of original ideas, as this year’s entry proves. Classic Jib Vid stuff here – damn fine riding, nice filming with a big dollop of comedy on top. It might not have won the competition (though second is still pretty impressive) but we reckon this is one that people will keep coming back to. In fact, we’d probably go as far as to say this is one of the top Jib Vid entries ever!

http://mpora.com/videos/QNPUiwey6

7: Xavier de le Rue Breaks the Sound Barrier in Verbier
Xavier de le Rue‘s riding last year left many wondering whether the unofficial title of ‘world’s best freerider’ had finally been wrenched from Jeremy Jones’ grasp. Not only did he feature alongside Jones in Deeper and Lives of the Artists II , but he won the Nissan Freeride World Tour. Again. This is the line that won him the prestigious Verbier Xtreme leg of the tour. And while many will be impressed, this actually leaves us wondering whether Xavier is certifiably insane.

6: Shaun White Lands Insane New Trick
It would be pretty much impossible to have a round-up of snowboarding in 2010 without mentioning Mr White. In fact, it would be hard to have a round-up of anything in 2010 without mentioning Shaun – he won pretty much every competition he entered (including the small matter of that second Olympic gold medal), and was interviewed by almost every chatshow host on Earth. Oh, and he invented this brand new trick. Not bad eh?

http://mpora.com/videos/hL8LIBLct

5: Standing Sideways Crew hit the Streets in Leeds
Last winter, like this one, had politicians declaring states of emergency as the country ground to a standstill because of the snow. Everyone, from the Met Office to the muppets who forgot to buy enough grit, was blamed for the situation. But what those in charge forgot was that actually quite a lot of people like snow, and enjoy playing in it. Not many play as impressively as the Standing Sideways crew from Leeds though, who sent us this rad video back in February. They modestly called it ‘Project Wet Fart’ but surely this is the best street-rail riding ever caught on video in the UK? Look at that quadruple kink at the end!

http://mpora.com/videos/xJmUFlA9P

4: Halldor Helgason gets a perfect score at the X Games
2010 was undoubtedly the year when the double cork made it big. Everyone was doing them left right and centre. In fact, as the competitive season really heated up, there were so many corks flying around it was like a bloody alcoholics New Year’s Eve party! But while all the dubs in the pipe were impressive, and the back-to-back slopestyle efforts blew minds, the king of all of them surely has to be this from Halldor Helgason – it was so casual, and stomped so cleanly, that the X Games judges couldn’t fault it, giving it a perfect score, and Halldor the gold medal.

http://mpora.com/videos/P7Z9woGVl

3: Bode Merrill Nails a Backside Rodeo to Rail
Bode Merrill blew up in a big way in 2009, bagging himself the closing part in Absinthe’s Neverland. It’s no surprise then that Salomon, his sponsors, picked him as part of their crew for their Transworld Team Shoot Out video. It was, however, a surprise when he cracked this out – this mind-bending manoeuver has got to be a contender for trick of the year. Seriously, how do you even begin to think about practising something like that?

http://mpora.com/videos/uY6SLHi9Y

2: Torstein Lands the Triple Cork
While the rest of the world was getting their doubles down, a young Norwegian slopestyle wizard named Torstein Horgmo disappeared off to Folgefonna, only to return a week or two later with this video footage – and leave the snowboarding world slack-jawed in amazement. Flipping twice apparently wasn’t enough for Torstein. Oh, and we’re still yet to see footage of anyone else landing one of these btw…

1: 360 degree interactive snowboard video from Laax
While the new tricks and the radness of the riding last year definitely made for some sick videos, there was only ever going to be one that topped our list – this insane viral publicity vid from Laax may not be the most progressive in terms of snowboarding, but then that hardly matters, because you can control what you watch. Yep, that’s right, once you press play, just click and drag with your mouse, or use the arrow keys to spin the camera around, giving yourself a completely immersive 360 degree interactive experience. Avatar eat your heart out, this is real 3D right here! Just imagine the possibilities…