Johan Olofsson

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Johan Olofsson (b. October 27, 1976) is a snowboarder known for being one of the first to take freestyle tricks perfected in the park into the big mountain environments of Alaska. Until Olofsson arrived on the snowboarding scene, spin tricks, jibs, etc. were kept to man-made obstacles such as halfpipes and kickers. Olofsson started doing these tricks off natural features - windlips, cliffs, etc. - in the middle of terrifyingly steep lines in the Alaskan ranges.

In the Standard Films movie TB5 (his first part in a major snowboard release), he was filmed in Alaska attacking a line with such ferocity that he stunned the snowboarding world and instantly gained legendary status. From the top of the line to foot of the descent, on a slope of over 40 degrees, he travelled over 3000 vertical feet in a mere 35 seconds, averaging over 80 km/h, a feat which got him into the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records and the Snowboarding Hall of Fame.

Olofsson spent his entire snowboarding career (some eight years) with Burton as his primary sponsor. After a series of injuries between 2001 and 2004 he was dropped by Burton and has been without a sponsor ever since. He announced his retirement from professional snowboarding in 2005 and is now (2007) working on a project building a snowpark at Gallivara, called 'Thunderpark.

update:

Alof not at Thunderpark anymore. Is pro for The North Face and has just been in Alaska. Also pushing the progression of no-boarding.....