ill23 Snowboarding

The scene at Killington for the final stop of the Grand Prix series was much like days of yore. Not to get all “Pat Bridges” on you here, but so many factors aligned to make it much like my formative years at the Big K. First off, former Killington Snowboard Manager Eric Webster now works for the USSA, and was there calling the shots. And of course, the week before the Open was always the time when the big names would come out to Killington to ride its perfect pipe in preparation for the event. And some of the names—Tricia Byrnes, Luke Wynen – were even the same. Of course the people who were really putting on a show today, Louie Vito, Janne Korpi most of the Nike 6.0 Team, etc. don’t even remember said time, so I’ll quit dwelling on it.

March 15, 2008 was supposed to be the halfpipe qualifiers and finals for the Grand Prix series. From around 10 am until just after four, the competitors took their qualifying runs through the pipe, which every one agreed, was much better than it had been all week. A few inches of new snow, and a lot less vert didn’t make for the biggest airs, but solid runs were thrown down to determine the top 16 men and top 8 women for the big show. Finals were scheduled for 7 pm, right after a show by Shiny Toy Guns.

Some pictures from Qualifiers:

Kelly Clark went 5 feet bigger than most of the guys.

I think this is Trevor Jacob. He didn’t make the finals, but he did this neat trick.

Ben Watts held it down for Oregon.

Tommy Chezchin still snowboards, well.

But in Vermont you can never really count on that weather thing, so as it started to get dark, the fog began to roll in to the pipe. After the band finished and the crowd had filed back up to the sides of the pipe, it was a big game of hurry up and wait while the contest organizers figured out how to solve the issue of the judges not being able to see the top of the halfpipe. Around 8:30 the call was finally made, but not before the typically east coast crowd got a bit rowdy, pelting the cameramen with snow balls and yelling various expletives. Keep in mind there was no bag check, so some St. Patrick’s day spirit was probably in effect.

Since the decision was to postpone the finals until Sunday after the Slopestyle event, something had to be done to entertain the masses, which had now been standing in the snow for at least an hour and a half. The solution was a 45-minute jam session, with a $2500 Best Trick award from Rip It Energy Drink. There were some 1080s from like the likes of Gregory Bretz, Steve Fisher and Brett Esser. Ellery Hollingsworth and Kaitlin Farrington were both attempting backside 900s. Louie Vito took the crowd-pleasing approach of giant alley-oops, while Kelly Clark opted to sit back and watch, waiting to collect her $7000k tomorrow. Taking the grand prize was current tour leader Elijah Teter with a switch alley-oop Mctwist.

yay for big checks!

The halfpipe finals will be held at 2 pm (contest time) on Sunday, when Kelly Clark will win the women’s event, and, well, I am not really sure who will take it for the guys, but probably Louie Vito, Elijah Teter or Janne Korpi.

Kelly Marren

This kid asked me to take his picture and put it on the internet. Who am I to say no?

I was wrong, it’s Greg Bretz.

Chris Waker has a sweet mini ramp in his backyard. I should have known it was him.

This is Louie Vito. He almost went too big!

Peetu Piiroinen. I got this picture when I was on the “filming” side of the pipe. I am a rebel.

Steve Fisher killing it, and his rainbow jacket made everyone happy!