Photo gallery linked on the left.
It was a calm Saturday morning in the Valley and the Trans Am mini slopestyle course was getting the final touches from the WV terrain park crew. The set up consisted of three lines to choose from. The first line was a step down jump which riders were forced to air over a Ride Snowboard banner then ride right into the five foot quarter pipe fully equipped with fun box on top. Line two was a down rail that lead riders straight to Waterville’s version of Mt. Hood… home of the one and only High Cascade Snowboard Camp, that’s right we had a volcano jump with a barrel on top. Line three featured a flat box on top of a spine and a flat rail to down box set up. I even heard Adam Kisiel say, “It was the best Mini Park set up EVER!
The session began at eleven sharp. Instantly the level of riding was through the roof. All 115 kids that entered were straight killing it! The jam went on for about an hour and a half. The judges kept a watchful eye to the shredders as they ripped the Mini Park to pieces. If you were a stand out in the eyes of the judges you were handed one of the forty coveted Trans Am t-shirts, this meant you had impressed them enough to make it to the finals. The finals baby, the big time, the cream of the crop.
The finals jam session a.k.a The Ultimate Jam took place for about a half hour. We saw some amazing spin action, flip action and spinning flipping action over the Ride banner. The box on top of the quarter pipe was back lipped, hand planted, nose pressed and stalled left and right. The down bar saw more action then Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. HCSC’s volcano jump couldn’t take the pressure and fully erupted molten hot lava on everyone in the area. The flat box had more combinations then an x-box controller and the flat-rail to down-box received a royal beat down NH style with an array of solid tricks.
As the sun set the riders made their way into the lodge for the award ceremony complete with pizza pies, M&M cookies, Red Bull and some H2O. Custom Trans Am board packs made by Dakine were awarded full of goodness from Oakley, Zumiez, Ride and HCSC. In the end there could only be a top three for both the men and women. And the winners are and will forever be known as:
Final Results
Men
1. Mike Ravelson Winning a Ride Snowboard
2. Sean Murphy
3. Rob Hallawell
Women
1. Jordan Parks Winning a Ride Snowboard
2. Monique Hyman
3. Catie Cook
The judges also gave a couple honorable mentions to:
Justin Keniston for Most Flare
Ben Ross Best 1 FooterCheck the pics and video for complete coverage.
Thanks to High Cascade’s own Preston Strout and Adam Kisiel for helping to make this event so very nice. Also a big thank you to all of the sponsors that gave support and made this event happen. This is where we leave you and if we may say only one more thing … If you missed the action we feel sorry for you and will give you only a few words of advise. Don’t miss this series next year.
