2010 ORAGE PHIL CASABON SEASON RECAP

04:50 min • 04/11/2010

Phil Casabon stops by the Orage global headquarters to help edit some of his favorite footage from 2010 and give us a behind the scenes look at his new seggy in "Eye Trip" from Level 1 Productions. Full story, photos and video at http://www.orage.com/blog/2010/11/phil-casabon-season-recap-edit/ and be sure to check out Phil's full uncut 2010/2011 video part in Level 1's EyeTrip available now on iTunes! For English subtitles, click the "CC" button on the video player options tab.

Athletes

Philip Casabon

Profile and significance

Philip “B-Dog” Casabon is a Canadian freeski icon from Shawinigan, Québec, whose style-first language—presses, butters, nollies, reverts, and shiftys that breathe—reshaped modern park and urban skiing. He rose through night laps at his local hill, Vallée du Parc, and became one of the most influential riders of his generation by proving that creativity, definition, and flow can outweigh brute force. His cultural footprint is matched by hardware: back-to-back gold medals at X Games Real Ski in 2018 and 2019, plus the 2018 Fan Favorite nod, cemented his status as a peer-elected standard. In the same window, he released the widely praised film “En Particulier” with Brady Perron and was named Freeskier’s Skier of the Year, a rare double for a rider focused on film and street. Casabon matters because he made style specific and teachable—clips that hold up frame by frame and a movement language that any progressing skier can study and apply.

Competitive arc and key venues

Casabon’s competitive résumé is unconventional by design. Early in his career he tested himself in slopestyle at Aspen, making multiple Winter X Games appearances when the discipline was still defining itself. As urban skiing’s broadcast moment arrived, he shifted to segments and rider-curated showcases that better matched his voice. The pivot paid off: his 2018 X Games Real Ski gold, delivered alongside the Fan Favorite award, was followed by a repeat gold in 2019—rare back-to-back wins that confirmed his dominance in the all-video, all-street format. In the culture-defining B&E era at Les Arcs, he collected “Best Style” honors in both 2014 and 2015 on a skate-inspired setup designed to reward touch and originality. Those landmarks—Aspen’s spotlight, Real Ski’s medals, and Les Arcs’ style awards—map the arc of a skier who used competition as a proof-of-concept for ideas refined in edits.

The places tied to his name help explain the skiing. Vallée du Parc gave him the repetition and switch comfort that show up in his lines. Aspen’s big-build tempo at Aspen Snowmass taught wind calls, long decks, and pressure management under cameras. The B&E park at Les Arcs encouraged butters into spins, long presses, and transfers that value feel over amplitude. Together they shaped a rider who reads features instantly and turns modest speed into full sentences of skiing.

How they ski: what to watch for

Casabon skis with economy and definition. Approaches stay tall and neutral. He sets rotation late, locks grabs early—often with unmistakable tweaks—and lets the trick breathe rather than rushing the set. On rails, the signatures are square entries, long-held presses and backslides that are obvious to the eye, surface swaps with minimal arm swing, and exits where the shoulders stay aligned so momentum carries into the next feature. Even when the spot is complex, he organizes edge pressure early to keep the base flat through kinks, which is why his landings read inevitable rather than rescued. On jumps and side hits the same patience appears: pop comes from the feet up, grabs are defined before 180 degrees, and the upper body stays quiet so the skis do the storytelling. The result is a blueprint any rider can study—calm entry, patient pop, early grab definition, square-shoulder exit.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Casabon’s influence runs through films and community projects as much as medals. He built a decade-long catalog of replayable segments, culminating in the late-2010s run that paired Real Ski golds with a festival-tested film presence. The work emphasized honest speed, horizon awareness, and compositions that make slope angle and body organization clear—choices that help viewers learn, not just watch. In the B&E era, his partnership with Henrik Harlaut created a platform where style was the scorecard, then pushed those ideas back into parks, streets, and product design. Interviews and long-form conversations from this period reveal a method that prizes durability over hype: habits you can repeat when conditions are imperfect and cameras are rolling.

That durability—plus a willingness to mentor—keeps his influence alive in a generation that learns from edits. Coaches use his clips to illustrate patient setups and clean exits; riders break down his presses and shifty timing to build their own lines. He is both reference and proof: you do not need the world’s biggest jump to show world-class skiing if your movements are organized and your choices are clear.

Geography that built the toolkit

Place explains the method. Shawinigan’s Vallée du Parc is a human-scale hill where repetition is abundant and mistakes are obvious. Night laps there forged the switch comfort, precise edging, and patience that define his rail game. The spotlight and wind at Aspen Snowmass layered in big-feature timing and composure. The creative modules at Les Arcs rewarded a horizontal vocabulary—presses, butters, wheelies—that Casabon helped popularize, proving that expression at low to medium speeds can be as compelling as amplitude. When you trace the map, you see the fingerprints in every clip: local-hill repetition, big-park patience, and skate-park creativity applied to snow.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Casabon’s long relationship with Armada extended far beyond sticker placement. His pro model BDog and the experimental BDog Edgeless in Armada’s Zero Collection were designed to serve his priorities—predictable flex for presses and butters, confidence on switch landings, and swing weight that stays honest on slower-speed pops. The gear lessons for progressing skiers mirror that logic. Choose a true park ski with a balanced, medium flex you can bend without folding. Detune the contact points enough to reduce rail bite while maintaining dependable edge hold on the lip. Mount close enough to center that presses sit level and switch landings feel neutral. Keep binding ramp angles that don’t tip you onto your heels. Then build a process that matches the hardware: film laps, compare shoulder alignment and hip-to-ankle stack against a short checklist, and repeat until the movements become automatic. The setup is the scaffold; the habits are the house.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Philip Casabon because his skiing ages well. The clips prioritize timing, organization, and line design over noise, which is why they survive slow-motion scrutiny years later. Progressing skiers care because the same choices are teachable on normal parks and real snowpacks. If your winter looks like night laps on a small hill, weekend missions to a destination park, and a few street sessions with friends, his blueprint shows how to turn limited speed and imperfect conditions into memorable skiing. The medals—back-to-back X Games Real Ski golds and Fan Favorite in 2018—are milestones; the lasting takeaway is a method: calm entry, patient pop, early grab definition, square-shoulder exit, and a flow that connects a run into a single sentence. That is why B-Dog remains essential viewing for anyone who cares about freeskiing’s style, substance, and future.

Brand overview and significance

Orage is a Canadian ski apparel brand founded in 1989 in Montréal by UQAM business student Evelyne Trempe, later joined by Eric D’Anjou. From the start, the company’s identity blended technical mountain performance with a street-influenced style that resonated with freeskiers. Decades on, Orage remains headquartered in Québec and has expanded its footprint in Europe—including a 2024 flagship in Chamonix—while keeping product development tightly focused on skiing. The brand’s catalog spans three-layer shells, insulated resort pieces, midlayers, base layers, and accessories, all dialed for cold, wet winters and high-output days. On Skipowd, the curated hub for Orage gathers edits and athlete projects tied to the label’s history in freeski culture.

Orage’s cultural contribution is tangible. The brand helped define the freeski aesthetic in the 2000s and 2010s (including the irreverent Orage Masters “anti-comp”) and today backs progression through series partnerships like the FWT Challenger by Orage. That mix of credible tech and authentic scene presence makes Orage a consistent choice for skiers who want gear that performs in harsh storms yet still feels at home in the park and on spring booters.

Product lines and key technologies

The pinnacle collection is MTN-X: big-mountain, touring, and storm-day outerwear built around three-layer Dermizax® laminates with 20k/20k waterproof/breathability ratings, fully taped seams, and articulated patterns for mobility. Orage also uses hybrid 3L designs—pairing tough Dermizax® panels in high-wear zones with lighter, air-permeable Prime Alpha panels in the torso and underarms—to shed heat on long climbs without sacrificing weather protection. Many MTN-X pieces are available for both men and women with bibs, pants, and shells tuned for deep days.

For resort mileage and cold snaps, Orage’s insulation story centers on Gilltek™—a breathable baffle concept that integrates mesh “gills” to dump excess heat—often combined with high-loft synthetic fills such as PrimaLoft® ThermoPlume. The result is a puffy that feels warm on the chair but won’t swamp you on traverse pushes or hike-to shots. Across the range you’ll also see practical fabric choices like C0 DWR finishes and OEKO-TEX®-listed textiles on select styles, plus durable face fabrics that resist abrasion from packs and sled decks.

Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)

If your winter alternates between storm cycles and technical terrain, MTN-X shells deliver a quiet, protective ride with dependable sealing and venting. Hybrid MTN-X pieces are purpose-built for high-output freestyle touring, ridge laps, and sled-access missions; they breathe better in the torso and move easily when you’re side-stepping, skating, or booting. Resort-first skiers who chase bell-to-bell laps will appreciate insulated jackets using Gilltek™ for that warm-but-not-clammy equilibrium during cold mornings, lift holds, and windy chairs.

Park and slopestyle riders tend to gravitate toward the brand’s more relaxed fits and durable face fabrics that hold up to rail seasons and repeated falls, while all-mountain skiers in colder climates get the core promise that built Orage’s reputation in Québec: weather protection that still feels comfortable and mobile when temps plunge and snow goes through thaw-freeze cycles.

Team presence, competitions, and reputation

Orage’s legacy in freeskiing runs from iconic riders (including long-time ties with Québec style leaders) to events that shaped the culture. The Orage Masters became a cult-favorite team showdown that prioritized creativity and showmanship, cementing the brand’s playful credibility. Today, the partnership with the Freeride World Tour Challenger circuit keeps Orage visible in venues where real snow, speed, and consequence stress-test outerwear. The through-line is consistent: hands-on athlete feedback and projects that feed directly back into patterning, vent placement, and fabric choices.

Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)

Montréal roots anchor the brand’s cold-weather DNA, and Québec resorts like Mont-Tremblant remain a natural testing ground for eastern conditions—wind, humidity, fast temperature swings. For deep, high-relief terrain and spring shoot weeks, teams and friends of the brand rack up mileage in British Columbia—from lift-served laps at Whistler-Blackcomb to storm cycles and sled-access zones around Retallack. In Europe, the new flagship presence in Chamonix reflects a long history of athlete trips and late-season alpine testing where weather can flip from sun to spindrift in minutes.

Construction, durability, and sustainability

Under the hood, Orage leans on robust three-layer laminates (Dermizax®) with clean interior backers for easy layering and long-term comfort. Hybrid MTN-X pieces strategically place Prime Alpha panels to balance breathability and protection, while resort-focused jackets and pants use mapped insulation and tough face fabrics that shrug off chairlifts, glades, and repeated pack carry. Many garments specify C0 DWR and OEKO-TEX®-listed materials; Gilltek™ styles incorporate recycled shell fabrics and synthetic fills to reduce reliance on virgin inputs. The company also signals longevity through a practical warranty and repair stance—favoring repair when possible—so a well-chosen kit can run for multiple seasons with proper care.

Fit and patterning are part of durability: articulated knees and elbows reduce seam stress, and higher denier reinforcements appear at cuffs, hems, and shoulders to manage edge contact and pack abrasion. Hardware is serviceable (snaps, zips, hem cords), and bibs feature sturdy suspenders and functional pocket layouts that don’t interfere with beacon harnesses or hip belts.

How to choose within the lineup

Match environment first. If you ski deep storms, mixed alpine weather, or tour regularly, start with MTN-X 3L shells for maximum sealing and durability. If you spend equal time skinning and riding lifts—or tend to overheat—look to hybrid MTN-X shells that blend Dermizax® with Prime Alpha panels for extra airflow where your body runs hot.

Decide on insulation. For cold resorts, Gilltek™ puffies slot cleanly under a shell or stand alone on dry days: they’re warm on the chair yet vent during traverses. If you run hot, use a lighter, air-permeable midlayer and save heavier insulation for genuine deep-freeze weeks.

Dial fit for your skiing. Freeride and park skiers often prefer slightly roomier cuts for range of motion and style; all-mountain skiers prioritizing speed and trees may choose trimmer silhouettes to reduce flapping and snag risk. In bibs, choose a rise that clears your beacon harness and verify cuff openings against your boot buckles and walk-modes.

Think long-term use. Prioritize three-layer shells if you’ll repair and keep gear multiple seasons; they age gracefully with re-proofing and seam care. Resort-only skiers who value warmth and simplicity can lean into insulated jackets and pants, adding a light shell for spring.

Why riders care

Skiers choose Orage because it feels built for real winters and real riding: shells that stay quiet and sealed in sideways snow, insulated pieces that warm up the chair without boiling you on the traverse, and patterns that move naturally whether you’re skinning, spinning, or smashing chop. Add a heritage rooted in Montréal, a present-day presence from Québec to British Columbia and the Alps, and visible support of competitive and creative freeskiing, and you get a brand that balances credibility with comfort. If your season ranges from icy night laps to storm-day trees and spring couloirs, Orage’s clear, skiing-first lineup makes it easy to put together a kit that works—without overthinking it.

2010 ORAGE PHIL CASABON SEASON RECAP

Athletes

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Philip Casabon

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