Mammoth West Coast Invitational 2012 Weekend

ski snowboard freeride jump snow mammoth mountain — Mammoth's WCI 2012 will showcase a Big Air Comp at Canyon Lodge... What will it be like? Must go to know. photo: Matt Morning

Crank the air, hold the Jam… The Mammoth West Coast Invitational returns for its 11^th year yet this weekend’s line-up presents some markedly different events. In fact nearly ever angle of this year’s WCI is a break from the norm.

For starters in years past all day-time events were held in the vicinity of Main Lodge, from the Eddie Wall Ride to the Viva La Pipa. This time around all competition-centric events have been shifted to Canyon Lodge. Hey, why not? With our lowest snowfall total in years makes total sense to push the comps to a lower elevation venue… picking up on the sarcasm? Should actually be a really cool setting, more of a comment on the added effort required by event staff to move snow into position.

snowboard ski spring competition event — Playbill for Mammoth WCI 2012. Going with a new game plan this time around.

Moving snow shouldn’t be such a big factor for a rail-jam setup, right? No, not really… Yet what if there were to be a big air comp this time around? Yes, for the first time the WCI will be highlighted by a Big Air comp. And, yes, this too will go down at Canyon. As for the fixture, primetime Village Rail Jam? No longer a fixture because it’s not in this year’s line-up.

village rail jam snowboard spring may competition — WCI Village Rail Jam is no more? Well, it's not in this year's line-up of events, we know that much. photo: Peter Morning

A couple other notes on alterations to this year’s WCI… Prior to and following the Eddie Wall Ride competition the Hike Park will be open to the public – your chance to make pro-call outs by way of show, not tell. And one of the most interesting twists for this year’s WCI, Saturday’s Big Air Comp will be a team event, pairing a pro-skier with a pro-snowboarder – I’m stoked to see how this plays out.

ski snowboard hike park competiion — Eddie Wall Ride Invitational... Something like this, but at Canyon Lodge? photo: Matthew Stasoff

The Mammoth West Coast Invitational has set a standard for breaking free from the norm. 2012 will be no exception as this year’s line-up breaks free from past years’ WCI standards.

This weekend looks to be a great time to hit up Mammoth… With great weather on tap, evening/after-dark high-caliber comps slated for Canyon Lodge and a string of free music performances, good times will not be in short supply.

MAMMOTH WEST COAST INVITATIONAL 2012, SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Friday, May 4