Inaugural Boredyak Winter Beard Challenge

I tend to wear beards. Mostly because I'm lazy and I can. I don't interact with customers and I don't take myself too seriously. Shaving is tedious at best, painful at worst. Instead, I trim it short with a hair clipper. When winter rolls around, I stop that nonsense as well.

Now, the winter beard is a lost art. Beards in general are making a strong comeback, at least among a certain population here in Portland. These are not the winter beards I speak of. These are the meticulously trimmed whiskers of the fashion-conscious. I'm looking for neck beard that sparrows nest in and mustaches that sweep your silverware. Beards that draw comparisons to Grizzly Adams and Rutherford B. Hayes not Gerry Adams and Isaac Hayes.

E-Jack knows how it grows.

With this in mind, I bring you the Boredyak Winter Beard Challenge. The contest is simple: shave your face and send me a 'before' picture (boredyak at gmail dot com). In order for me to know when the picture was taken, you take it with the day's newspaper (or you can use one of the ubiquitous free weekly newspapers, close enough). I will accept 'before' pictures for the month of December. Next step, stop shaving. Don't shave for as long as you can stand it, your significant other can stand it and/or your boss can stand it. Send me an 'after' picture no later than May 1. Judging will happen soon thereafter. Best beard - as judged by my panel, including the master barbers at Rooks Barbershop in Portland - wins. Criteria include fullness, length and resemblance to a real yak. The prize package includes, but is not limited to, gear from Poler, Nike, Salomon, Bonfire, Electric, Superior Threadworks, Yobeat and Rooks Barbershop. I'll also be giving away a 'Nice Try' prize for someone who puts forth a good effort, but comes up hilariously short (or patchy).

Here's the catch... there is no catch. It's the opposite of a catch, it's a release. There's no charity fundraising component. You don't have to raise awareness for any cause. You are prohibited from stressing out. This contest is just for fun and some clothing-centric prizes that may not even fit you. If anyone asks you why you're growing your beard all scraggly like, that's what you tell them. I'm not saying you can't raise money for charity, only that it's not going to affect the judging. Hopefully this means no one will be photoshopping. I'll be dropping some interviews along the way. Maybe some barbers. Maybe a random bearded stranger. Definitely a friend of mine who wrote his master's thesis on the beard as a form of communication. If you want to send in progress photos, I'd encourage that.

Wyatt Stasinos' face disappeared under the beard. Where's the pineapple go?

Now, I can't be held responsible for loss of employment or relationship status. People will probably tell you that you look homeless and you'll have to deal with that. You'll experience face itch that you might not be comfortable with. Then again, you might like everything about your newly bearded self. It may be a journey of discovery and enlightenment for you and even those around you. You'll become closer with your pets. Dogs, cats and chinchillas will think of you as one of them. You might find that you continue growing your beard well past May and on into summer. I encourage that as well and it will win you an additional prize: my respect.

With that said, let the beards begin!

3rd Rail Jam Coming to Meadows

3rdrailjam.com

Looks like a non-scaffolding rail jam. Winner-take-all? Graffiti artists and DJs? Everyone gets a free Kangol? They better sign up some breakdancers quick for the full hip hop effect. Saturday, February 25. Get to Meadows' site for the 411.

Burton Mountain Festival Coming to Meadows

There's nothing better than riding pow. Since I'm not going to Alaska or the Alps any time soon, I'll have to settle for riding other peoples' snowboards at the Burton Mountain Festival this weekend at Mt. Hood Meadows.

Aside from the snowboard demos, they're throwing a big ol' party with music and dancing and games of chance or at least a 4-star TTR event that can qualify you for the qualifying rounds of the US Open. A mini-park will be set up for those shred-kins too young for the main even, but whose overbearing parents insist they work on their double cork before nap time. And judging by the list of sponsors, you'll be tripping over caffeinated beverages and hair care product samples all day long. But at least you'll be out there and on some free gear. That's fun, right?

Dirksen Derby: Survival

What it's all about

The Derby is demolished. The courses took 10 guys six days to build and brought over 300 riders to town to rip it up over three days. Why? Tyler Eklund, that's why. In 2007 he broke his spine practicing at USASA Nationals and is now paralyzed from the neck down. This year the Derby raised over $18,000 for him. The stoke he gets from it is immeasurable. He even takes runs down the courses with the help of Oregon Adaptive Sports. I'd imagine it's a weekend he looks forward to all year.

Parrilla, chowdering the masses

Terje and Dirks with super-secret tech

This year the Dirksen Derby was bigger than ever. More riders, more money and more buzz. Terje made the trip, but the deafening roar at the top of the venue was the chant for Curtis Ciszek. Haakon missed the mens' podium by a scant .04 seconds to speed racer Dustin Anderson who took the bronze glove. Bellinghamster Blair Habenicht had something, breaking the beam in second, but Norway was not to be denied as Knut Eliassen Nitro-boosted his way to the top. These top three will now compete in the Derby Elite division whenever they return. Speaking of the Elites, Curtis was getting so much noise because he was the defending champion. Scotty Wittlake and Austin Smith put down Ridgemont High-style fast times, but Curtis wasn't flinching. Repeat champ, fastest time of the day, bragging rights for another year. For all the complete results check out mtbachelor.com. Also, quality video on Yobeat and ESPN.

Austin Smith and Bryan Fox trying to catch Curtis

Knut, "This has been the coolest event I've ever been to."

If you're looking for my name, go ahead and skip to the bottom. I didn't belong in the finals (sneaked in on a timing error) and I went out and proved that. My run on the red line was as slow as possible without falling and then I fell twice trying to make up for it on the green line. You're welcome, Donny. You weren't last. The courses were super-tight, but also fun as hell, like Baker's squirrely little brother.

For the record, Jake Blauvelt qualified on a timing error, too.

If only we could get something like that together on Hood to benefit Snowdays. Did I mention they raised over $18,000 for Tyler? How rad is that!?

None more rad

As for the rest of Bachelor, they've got a hell of a mountain open right now. Yeah, there are some 'unmarked obstacles' (rocks and treetops, like those seen in the middle of the Derby courses), but they also have legit parks. We're talkin' real jump lines, not just rails, but some nice 40 to 50-foot booters in there. Also, they're only two lifts from being 100% firing. No Summit, no Northwest. Outback is a go for all your dingo- and kangaroo-chasing pleasures. For what it's worth, Saturday was 10-times busier than Sunday. All that only a three hour drive from Portland. Problem is, that's twice as far as Mt. Hood.

5th Annual Dirksen Derby Dec. 17-19

Here's what you need to know-

This is not a tightly regimented event, so details are still in flux.

The GOLDEN rule: All proceeds from everything go to Tyler Eklund, a friend and rad kid who was paralyzed while snowboarding. Paralyzed. Think about that when you reach for your wallet.



Dirksen Derby Kickoff Party: Friday, December 16th. Doors @ 7pm, Band at 8. Location: the Poet House in downtown Bend. All ages. Music, Drinks for 21+, Raffle, and “Broken Board” art auction.  All proceeds go to Tyler.

Racing: The whole weekend! Depending on weather, snow fall and poor planning, the schedule of the event will remain flexible. All participants are expected to be on-hill both Saturday and Sunday ready to either race the course, cheer on their fellow competitors, bash some windlips or stuff their faces with Parilla clam chowder. If everything goes perfectly as planned, Friday the course will be open for timed practice, Saturday we will hold both the Mens qualifier and the Splitboard race, and then Sunday will be everything else (the top Mens qualifiers from Saturday, Derby Elites, Womens, Older and Wiser, Groms and Sit-ski). But remember, the actual schedule can change quickly!

Registration: $25 per racer, per event. All proceeds go to Tyler. Racers can register online at MtBachelor.com or at Mt. Bachelor`s West Village lodge on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning (8:00-10:00) or Sunday morning (8:00-10:00). There will NOT be a limit to the amount of competitors allowed in the event. Discounted lift tickets will be available at registration.

Sponsors: Our exclusive list of sponsors include: Salomon snowboards, Patagonia, Dakine, GoPro, Mt. Bachelor, Hydro Flask, Oregon Adaptive Sports, Boneyard Beer, Smith Optics, Drink Water, Spark R&D, Rebound Physical Therapy, Parilla, Gummi Love, Skjersaa's, SideEffect, Aspect, Exit Real World, Mt. Hood 26, DeckTech, BAF, Mountain House, and Skull Candy.

Tailgate Alaska: Outtakes

Alaska's state bird is the willow ptarmigan. It's a member of the grouse family, but to the uneducated eye, at a glance, it looks like a dove. I mention this because when you blast a toeside turn and the resultant rooster tail makes a flock of these fowl erupt in front of you, it's enough to make you think you're in a John Woo movie. Best move is to come out with both guns blazing. Slash first, ask questions later.

There's a chance you may come across a man biking down the Richardson Highway toward Thompson Pass with a fully-grown falcon perched on handlebars. Do not be alarmed. This man is probably trained to rescue and rehabilitate raptors. You know, mommy bird style. I didn't ask if he ever vomited into the young bird's mouth, nor if he taught it how to "sick 'em."

Mike Basich, dropping. Photo: Jeff Hawe

The King of the Hill contest went off the very same day I went for most of my riding. Those blue skies make things get done. We did a flyover on our way out and things were getting going. Weird to see a bunch of sponsor tents set up at the bottom of Bro Bowl: a 10-minute sled ride for all involved. Check out a write-up with the above and more quality photos at snowboardermag. Another quality piece including full results at ESPN. Congrats to King Will Brommelsiek and Queen Holly Enderle. Hip hip, hooray and shit.

Don't Forget the Bone Zone

Timberline. Tomorrow. One of my favorite things ever. BOARD DEMOS! From next year, even. Bank to the Future and shit. Oh yeah and a race. And it might snow. Shaping up to be a good weekend.

shrednwmagazine.com for more info (or click the pic)

Snowboarder Figures It Out

Frequent readers and those with better memories than mine may remember a post I wrote about winning a contest through Snowboarder Magazine, but never getting the prize. Well, turns out Snowboarder is having some legit personnel problems that left my prize in limbo. The crux is this, there never was a physical prize, just a numerical code sent via e-mail. I was one e-mail away from a trip to Colorado that whole time. November to March. Instead, I ended up in Tahoe. For the best week of their season. Thanks? Anyway, Pat Bridges came through personally and I sent the code to a buddy of mine in CO. I hope the snow is good in Breck, Cody. Enjoy.

Now if I could only get Transworld and 686 to admit that they owe me a pair of Smarty Cargo Pants...

Mt. Hood Fusion Series

What ever happened to the good old-fashioned local contest series? You know the one, show up with your friends every weekend and try to take down your rivals. Don't know what I mean? Well, if you live in the Mt. Hood area, you can figure it out starting this weekend. The Mt. Hood Fusion Series is on at Timberline and Skibowl!

Come out to play!

The only speed trap I have any experience with has to do with cops. It was lame. A snow obstacle course seems like fun, though. Whatever the case, bring your friends and do your best to recreate The Warriors. But instead of guns, knives and bats, just bring your snowboard.

Contests = Prizes, Right!?

A contest is a competition where the winning participant gets the advertised prize. A contest where participants submit entries, yet the promoter fails to deliver on the prize would be called a scam. A rant is what happens when a contest entrant gets scammed out of two prizes in one winter. This paragraph could be considered a warning.

First stop, Snowboarder Magazine, late-October. Snowboarder likes to have contests where you submit your own caption to one of their pictures. They do it every month. Recurring traffic and all that. They give away prizes from their advertisers. I like to write and I like free shit, so I enter and I win. Check it out (a screen grab from Facebook, so I don't have to link them).

"Congrats to Graham Mueller..." That's me. Where's my prize!?

Turns out, I don't really win, though. After a couple e-mails with their sales and marketing manager, he stops responding. I leave a few comments on their Facebook page. The only people who answer are two other guys who 'won' the caption contest and never got their prizes. Snowboarder Magazine's Open Caption contest is officially a scam. Let's hope there's an explanation for this one because I'm on good terms with everyone I know at Snowboarder. They're good folks.

Next up, Transworld Snowboarding and 686, mid-November. Right about the time I 'won' that first contest. Clothing company 686 does a ton of contests in November around what they call 686 Day. I don't know what day it is or what it means, only that it involves my favorite type of stuff, FREE STUFF! This year they get together with Transworld and have a little writing contest. Talk about your favorite place to ride.

Who won? No won.

  
Simple. I fired that one off immediately. Solid gold, too. Now here's where, a few days later, they post the winner on their site and give away the free pants. Only they never posted anything. After a week, I started with the e-mails. That's just the kind of kid I am. No reply. So I sent them another reason I should get those pants.

I'm just that down for the cause.

Yup, 2002 Smarty Cargoes and a signed Patrick McCarthy poster from '06. The Shaun McKay poster wouldn't fit in the picture. Seriously, these posters hang immediately to my right as I sit here typing. Sent it to the 686. Nothing. So, I sent a picture of me wearing the pants. Around my ankles. As I mooned them. Turns out, dingleberries get attention. Just kidding. Made that whole part up. I never heard anything from Transworld or 686. Scam? Possibly.

Bigger question: How often does this shit happen? Big magazine runs contest sponsored by big advertiser. It's good for both of them and for the lucky punk who wins the contest. So many entrants just fill out the form and forget about it. Someone else won, no big deal. Only nobody won. Advertiser still gets the eyes, but doesn't have to deliver on anything. Pretty mediocre as conspiracy theories go, but it's got some meat. At least with little kids like me who want their free stuff.

Anyone else have experience with this? Win or lose? Drop me a comment and I'll tally the total. Then I'll select one random commenter to win a six day, seven night trip to Chamonix. Yeah, right.

What's That? An Event At Meadows!?

New Year's Eve Party in the Park Progression Session

Still don't have plans for New Year's Eve? You could do worse than stopping by Mt. Hood Meadows. First of all, remember the feet of snow in the last couple days? Well, they're running the lifts until midnight, so you can make sure Two Bowl is extra mogul-ed out. If you get tired at any point and you're of-age, they have live music in the Vertical bar with The Essentials. Apparently who they are "the top rated dance party band on the west coast" (their words, not mine).

But wait, there's more! Just because you're young doesn't mean you have to totally miss out on an otherwise over-21 holiday. Meadows is hosting a rail jam in the Shipyard park. The name of the game seems to be 'free stuff.' For the crowd, for the groms, for people who like to wander and watch fireworks and maybe even for whoever wins the "slow-down throw-down." Seriosly, hoo wrights thiz stoughf?

If you've got mad rail skills and no New Year agenda, assemble your crew and get to Meadows. Leave without prizes and you only have yourself to blame.

Baker Banked Slalom Day 3: Banks, A Million

Sources of much pride

The 25th running of Mt. Baker's Legendary Banked Slalom is in the books. Rather unsurprisingly, Temple Cummins and Maelle Ricker took home the top prizes. Each already has enough duct tape to open a specialty store, neither showing any sign of slowing. In a first, Rob Kingwill won a spur of the moment, one run, winner take all run of the course... switch. He pocketed $75, the largest cash prize ever awarded by the LBS. In anti-cash prize news, the Craig Kelly Thunderbird Award for a rider based in the Northwest who's made an outstanding global contribution to snowboarding went to old-school shred Dan Donnelly.

Baker Banked Slalom: the Night Before

I'm officially a Bellinghamster for the next few days as this weekend is the Legendary Banked Slalom. You might as well make this your homepage 'til Monday, I'll have all the info you need. Actually, I'll probably 'blow it' and hike around the mountain with a bunch of friends I don't get to see nearly often enough. You know I gotta get out there with my new toy, though. It's Baker, what would you do?

Toys that I hope I never have to use.

If I get tired enough, I'll venture down to the course and see what's up. News is the final turn has been dubbed 'The Gravitron.' Here's hoping that's the only thing that resembles a carnival. If they hired barkers for lifties and the chairs smell like cotton candy and vomit, I'm demanding a refund. Unless I can play skee-ball and win a five-foot stuffed pink giraffe. That might be hard to ride with, though.

I'm calling it an early night tonight in favor of getting an early start tomorrow. Weird, I know. The way things are laid out this weekend, I'm sure future-me will thank current-me for that decision. If you happen to be at Baker at all this weekend, come check out the race and watch a little bit of history. Terje's not training for the Olympics, you can come fan-out on him. They serve free snacks at the top of the course and they have free demo snowboards at the bottom. You don't have to eat before you come or even bring your own deck. How's that for full-service!? If you see me, come say hi. I'll be the one with the dented helmet, broken goggles, beard-cicle and oversized neon safari animal...

Sunburn and Sponsors part 1

Scaffolding in the city in May usually means construction. In this case, the folks at Cricket constructed a rail slope in Pioneer Courthouse Square and trucked in a few tons of snow for the slip 'n' slide. Hungry amateur riders have been hunting on the tour for months at various college campuses in the west. This was their final chance for fame and glory or at least a jackalope trophy and a briefcase full of cash.

It was a hot one in P-Town. The usually gloomy skies rained down unfiltered UV. Speaking of raining down, the riders were bringing it. Noses were pressed, spins were spun and backsides were lipslided. OK that last one sounded dirty, but you know what I mean. The weird thing, the crowd wasn't that into it. Maybe the resident street walkers didn't know what was going on. Maybe it was the impending heat stroke, but they got louder for the thizzle dance contest than for the riders. Todd Richards did his best to keep folks awake, but in the end he too bent to sun and booze and looked comatose in the MC tower. Not before gratuitous spread eagle jokes aimed at the skiiers and multiple free boards given away for quintessential Portland props: tightest pants, longest hair on a dude and the first person with a fixed gear bike. He even gave away a Sheckler backpack for the worst tattoo. Classic.

When the setup got shoveled off at the end, the real winners were, well, the sponsors. That's what this is all about, right!? All the views for all the sponsors. I won't name them individually, but you'll see their logos in my pictures, no doubt. I guess I'm pretty stoked that they could put their money into a snowboard event instead of just another TV ad. Props for that. The actual winners were Mt. Hood loc Randa Shahin for the ladies and Josh Bishop for the guys. Check the pics for more action.

A sweaty summer crowd.

Spring foliage and an antique streetlight. Right, and a front board.

Tim Windell casting judgement.

This lady busted out a thizzle dance win for some free gear.

Right back at ya, Todd.

Portland MC, Luck-One kept the ladies' attention.

Your winner: Randa Shahin with a fat stack of cash.
Left: Erika Vikander (2nd) Right: Madison Blackely (3rd)

Winner: Josh Bishop with the goods.
Left: Seth Hill (3rd) Right: Kyle Martola (2nd)

I Wonder If They Need An Official Blog Sponsor

Need something to do this weekend in Portland? It's gonna be hot out, so maybe taking your ass to the coast and learning some water sports is in order. Failing that, we get a snowboard rail jam and a park skating contest on back-to-back days. Let me give you the dirty dirty.

First off, the Cricket Campus Rail Jam has been gnawing its way through college campuses in the west for months now. What started in Arizona will come to a spinning, sparking, pressing and sliding conclusion in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square (not really that close to any college campus, but whatev'), Saturday, May 30 at 1pm. They better have the snow cone machine on ludicrous speed to keep up with the projected mid-80s heat wave. Oh yeah, and Todd-would you rather-Richards is going to be there. He needs no intro and he is still high-larry-us. Probably the best MC/host type of all tyme-ah. All the proceedings are 100% free, so if nothing else, show up for the product toss. Maybe you'll score some panties from the energy drink sponsor.

Next day, not much different. Still predicted to be hot. Still sizzling, amateur, board-on-rail action. Still free. This time in a skate park. The Zumiez Couch Tour hits Glenhaven Skatepark and it doesn't let up until everyone has heat stroke. Actually it runs from noon 'til 6. Plenty of free junk from sponsors. The Enjoi team will be there to show you how it's done and/or write their names on things. Finally, when you're so sunburnt you can't even see past your swollen eyelids, the bands start, so you don't have to worry about it. Kandi Coded (featuring Jamie Lynn) starts things off and Emery shuts them down. Because it's a school night, the festivities will end while the sun is still high in the sky. Did I mention sunblock? We Portlanders aren't used to the cloudless skies. Exhibit A: my flaking arms from our last bout of cloudlesness. In addition to the requisite energy drink and skate sponsors, this one also has a burrito sponsor (for the last time, they're not owned by McDonalds anymore, there's nothing left to feel bad about) and a meat snack sponsor. No one goes hungry here.

Kandi Coded, in case you forgot

Bottom line: free 'action sports' (am I the only one who doesn't like that phrase?) entertainment all weekend long. Throw in a couple after-parties for the grown folk and you got yourself a reason to show up late for work on Monday. You might drink enough that you regret it, but trust me on the sunblock. You'll never regret that.

Best Halfpipe Contest Ever?

I just caught a replay of the first ever Burton Canadian Open and it might have revived my interest in halfpipe snowboarding. They still have video of it up at GO211. I suggest you check it out. Why? First of all, Tricia Byrnes and Jeff Bridges, wait no, just kidding PAT Bridges do the commentary.

Neither of these guys did commentary

Pat and Tricia probably know more about snowboarding than you do, you might learn something. If Pat and Tricia are reading right now, well that sets up an interesting paradox. But let me digress to another tangent... It reminds me of that time I skipped class in college to watch the world championships of juggling on TV. Nope, not kidding. I don't remember what class I skipped. I don't remember who won the championships. Why did I watch it? Because the commentary was done, to perfection, by Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame). Let me tell you, it didn't even matter what was on the screen. I don't even think he was watching most of the time, but it was solid gold. I learned a little about juggling, but mostly I laughed my ass off. The Canadian Open on GO211 was kind of like that, only far more informative and with snowboarding. Sometimes they were commenting on the action. Sometimes they were talking to various guests in the booth while the action went on, undiscussed. It wasn't Willie McMillon and Todd Richards at Natural Selection, but it really was a lot of fun. If you don't know anything about Bridges yet, check out this interview conducted by my good buddy and all around great writer and snowboarder Colin Whyte. It's a primer. I've never met the guy (or Tricia for that matter), but he seems like someone it would be cool to chat with... over a beer... on the chairlift.

The action, though, was sick in it's own right. Even if you already read about who won, check out the video. You haven't seen halfpipe riding like this, probably ever. Jed Anderson is so stylish that it almost made me want to ride halfpipe. Almost. Chas Gouldemond had it gould-ing on as well. TJ Schneider was in full effect. See what I mean? When do you hear names like these in pipe contests!? Tons of riders I'd never even heard of were rippin' it up. Justin Lamoureaux, for example. I'll have to watch the slopestyle replay tomorrow. If it's even half as good I'll probably need to change my underwear midway through.

Baker Banked Slalom: Holland, Ricker and Strohl Take Pro Divisions

It was another sunny day at Mt. Baker for the finals of the Banked Slalom. Word from the course was that riders were going down faster than free beer. The carnage took did not discriminate. Pro men and younger ams were taken down alike. Put together two clean runs and your reward was probably some duct tape. Minibike over at Board as Fuck didn't mince words, "Sketchiest course off [sic] all time." You can find all the results over at the official website, if not now then soon. Here's a quick rundown of the winners.

Next Gen: Hank Kennedy
Juniors: Gus Warbington
Younger Ams: Logan Beaulieu
Older Ams: Craig Newbury
Women's Ams: Danielle Davis
Women's Masters: Weeg Simmons
Masters: Marcel Dolak
Mid-Masters: Dave Wray
Grand Masters: Jim "JT" Taylor
Pro Masters: Ludovic Strohl
Pro Women: Maelle Ricker
Pro Men: Nate Holland

Yup, Mr. X-Games 4-peat himself. Originally from Sandpoint, ID, he's no stranger to the Northwest. This is, however, his first pro win at the LBS. Congratulations, Nate. Maelle took home her third gold in a row. Better start working harder if you want to catch her, ladies.

Of course good times were shared by all and plenty of stories got tossed around from the mic by master of ceremonies Gwyn Howat. For that, well, you just had to be there. Here are some photos for a little taste of what you of what you missed.

Victoria Jealouse, the bank robber, disappears into the vault

Maelle Ricker en route to a win

The spoils


The victors: Graham Watanabe, 2nd Pro Men and Nate Holland (l to r)


The brain trust: The Howat Family

Competition or Community?

This weekend two of the most opposite contests in the history of competition are going down: the 24th Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom and Red Bull's Snowscrapers. One is a long-standing race that gets hundreds of groms, pros and old souls together for a few days of racing with nothing more (or less) than locally-made prizes and a trophy fashioned after a roll of duct tape. The other is a first-time mega-jump with uber-sponsors and hyper-promotion (and-I-love-hyphens!). Battling it out for spin-to-win supremacy and 100G's in prizes will be 16 hand-picked combatants.

Tonight, the first ever Red Bull Snowscrapers kicks off in New York City. The scaffolding jump is reminiscent of Air and Style, but with a hip landing; a gap hip, if you will. I've never seen anything quite like it. Not sure what will go down. Initial reports say the speed isn't quite right, so I hope they got that fixed. Anthrax (the band, not the disease) is set to make an appearance. Oh yeah and the prize pool is 100,000 bucks, so everything is huge, large and/or epic. Check out the info at Red Bull and watch it live at GO211 from now 'til around 6pm Pacific Time.

Tomorrow the qualifying runs start for the Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom, one of the most storied snowboard races of all time. Tomorrow night, Jamie Lynn's band, Kandi Coded, will rock the Joowanna Café in Maple Falls. Coincidence? Probably not. This is one event that might be more about people getting together off the hill than throwing down on it. Run in the same natural halfpipe since 1985, the LBS course changes a little every year, but the basics are the same: banked turns and high speeds. On the same run are everyone from 10-year-old amateurs to 60-year-old grandfathers. The last chance to qualify is Saturday, then the finals on Sunday determine who takes home the tape. Oh yeah, they have a baked salmon dinner and a bonfire on Sunday, too. That's it. No live broadcast, no commercial interruptions. Money donated to causes infinitely exceeds prize money because there is no prize money. Really. A contest with no prize money. And it's not a qualifier for other contests that do have prize money. If you don't get it, you might have to drive east on WA 542 to find out.

An interesting connection: Travis Rice and Terje Haakonsen are listed as competing in both events. Also, the band Valient Thorr is playing Snowscrapers while they played in Kandi Coded's spot last year. Maybe the two events aren't so different after all. It's all snowboarding, ya know?

It's a little late to get to NYC, but GO211 has the live coverage of Snowscrapers right now. I'm making the drive up to Baker tomorrow and might even have a blog from there for you. Not that the internet can capture the legendary vibe, but maybe it will get you to check it out for yourself next year...