Last Tuesday was a good day, I spent it riding powder. That night I arrived home to find an email with an invitation to The Nissan Tram Face 2010 stop of the Freeride World Tour. Stoked doesn’t capture the excitement I felt. The opportunity to ride a face that gnarley on home turf is too good to miss.
However, it was a tough call, I had already payed and signed up for the final stop of The North Face Masters of snowboarding in Kirkwood scheduled for the same days. I was in 2nd place for the tour and feeling good. I decided Tram Face would be my top priority, and if at all possible I would ride the Kirkwood comp.
I drove down to Kirkwood Thursday morning, and scoped the qualifying venue. Then back to Squaw by 5pm for the Tram Face athlete meeting. A 5 AM wake up on Friday to drive the 2 hours back to Kirkwood, for qualifyers only to learn I was prequalified for the Finals set for Sunday (the same day Tram Face was scheduled). Back to Squaw by 4:30 for the bib draw, I drew bib 10 giving me a pretty early start.
Saturday was a nice break from driving I rode Squaw. Good times, the snow was deep and wet.
Sunday, up at the crack, to Squaw ready to make some history. Just two minutes before the first athlete dropped, a photographer looking for a better shot sympathetically triggered a big avalanche. Cancelled for the day.
Panic back to Kirkwood. With time as an issue I only scoped my line from the top. Had a butt check, but felt good about my line. I can’t complain about getting to ride a permanently closed area with a foot of windbuffed powder.
The competition was fierce, the lines were legit and my buddy Ralph came out in third place, Stoked! Stayed for the awards then back to North Lake.
Yesterday, Monday March 1st up at 5 AM at squaw by 6 AM to load the tram for our inspection run. The snow was looking deep and fast, and the tide was pretty high on the venue. A 2 run format, best run counts, was a cool way to judge the comp. I was especially happy with the format when I crashed my last air leaving me in last place after run one.
I decided I needed redemption, and to change up the top of my run. I had always wanted to jump off the roof of one of the tram buildings, and there was an amazing natural hip right below that landing, too fun to miss. My second run felt good, stomped the roof drop, did a backside three of the hip, and slogged out the landing of my bottom air. It was enough to put me in third. I am so F@$#ing stoked!!!!
Next stop, Verbier.