Excellent piece by The Seattle Times chronicling the rich history of Mt. Baker Ski Area’s Legendary Banked Slalom snowboard race. First held way back in 1985, the banked slalom brings together a community snowboarders ranging from Olympians to aspiring racers who compete on the renowned race course. The concept has caught on over the years now there are banked slalom events in most of the snowy parts of the US, Europe, Scandinavia and even Japan!
The Banked Slalom was born in an age of innocence. In 1985, the first year of the event, snowboarding was newly formed and still undefined by time, experience, rules and governing bodies. Like the birth of a human, the soul of snowboarding began on a blank canvas when everything and everyone associated with the sport was in a constant state of experimentation and invention.
The gathering at that first race in 1985 was small. Sixteen snowboarders rode the course with duct-taped gear, more than a few of them wearing high-top tennis shoes and sporting gates set high on the walls of the sloping gully called “The Chute”, and the only spectators were the curious skiers riding the chair lift overhead. Necessity drew the first organizers to Mt. Baker. Bob Barci, a local bike show owner, and Tom Sims, owner and founder of Sims Snowboards, came to Mt. Baker with their idea of a banked slalom because it was one of the few ski areas in North America that welcomed snowboarders at that time and one of the few with a natural halfpipe. Even so, Mt. Baker General Manager Duncan Howat decided to hold the event on Super Bowl Sunday when most skiers were glued to their television sets instead of on the mountain.
The event and people involved in that first race have slipped into the mythology of early snowboarding, but as with any unique, spontaneous creation, the place of birth is subconsciously held with reverence by the participants and observers. No matter how far we travel or change, our roots and beginnings always seem to hold a fascination and serve as measuring points and groundings for our musings and experimentation throughout life. It is the beginning of soul.
