PARK UPDATE
March 23rd, Final Rail Jam of the season in TELUS Park
On March 23rd riders from across BC styled it out in Big White Ski Resort’s TELUS Park. The final Rail Jam of the season present by the Village Rider showcased some amazing talent! Here are the results from last night’s competition:
Men Snowboard
1st Mike Solty
2nd Bryce Bugera
3rd Braeden Nyhus
Women’s Snowboard
1st Zuzy Rocka
2nd Emily Boucher
3rd Paige Berrigan
Men’s Ski
1st Pat Monteith
2nd Tomo Rutkowski
3rd Ryan Jaenicke
In honor of the last rail jam additional awards were handed out:
Best Bail Award - Mat Glenn for his attempted backflip off the rainbow rail
Best Trick - Pat Hrivnak for a one-footed backflip off the rainbow rail
Grom of the Night - Oskar Klein who is only 11 years old was throwing backflips off rainbow rail all night!
Special Mention - Tosh Kranskepf, as one of the youngest competitor at 8 years old. He was throwing down all night! Even hitting the street style rail, the ollie on was close to half his height!
March 10th - 2nd Canada Snowboard Riders event of the se
ason!
What a great day in TELUS Park! we proudly hosted our second Canada Snowboard Riders event of the season. All the little groms were having so much fun ripping down the boardercross, and we even managed to squeeze in a freestyle session. The session started on one of our small jumps, the riders were all going huge! Frontside 180's, Cab Ones, backside 180's. The bar really got raised when Corbin Reid threw down a huge Backside 360. Oskar Klein was hot on his heels throwing a few frontside 540's around. The rail jam aspect saw tons of tricks being thrown, 50-50's, tailpresses, 180-on-180-off combos, boardslides and the list goes on! Click here to see the winners of each category, and the coache's choice awards!
Billabong Flaunt It, girls only slopestyle February 16th
The Billabong Flaunt It tour arrived at Big White Ski Resort for the third stop on the tour Saturday, February 16th. The weather was a bit fickle as the low clouds hung around but the competition finished in the sunshine! 33 competitors braved the weather and flaunted their skills in TELUS Park. The day started with the Rail Jam and defending champion Stephanie Haines took home top spot! The Slopestyle took place in the afternoon as the sun tried to break through the clouds. Jenna Blasman from Ontario made her mark on the judges and won both the Slopestyle and the Dakine Best Trick. Blasman took home a total of $700, lots of prizes and secured herself a trip to Sierra-At-Tahoe for the finals.
Flaunt It is designed to be a stress free contest as the “jam format” encourages each competitor to ride all day and continually progress while the judges determine the standout riders. "We at the Women's Snowboard Federation have definitely noticed the need for female specific programming and camps grow over the years. With girls of all ages getting into the sport and raising the bar it is important to be able to offer events and coaching programs that encourages them in a way that coed programming does not. Also providing a crew to shred with, role models to look up to as we'll as goals to work towards with friends from season to season. The more on the hill supporting the industry and growing the sport the better." Said Eve Northmore, Women’s Snowboarding Federation.
Big White recognizes the importance of encouraging progression of women in the sport and is offering a 6 week camp starting February 22nd focused on girls who already love snowboarding but want to improve their terrain park skills. This is a combination program run through Big White Ski School which is focused on progress in the park. It runs every Friday night, and it’s an awesome way for girls to get some great coaching, and progress in the park. For more information and to register for the program Click Here
February 11th, Canada Snowboard NOR AM Double Header
Wow, that was an exciting weekend of Boardercross racing we just had in TELUS Park. The Canada Snowboard NOR AM Double header showcased some really incredible talent. The huge field of 70 competitors were giving their all, chasing after FIS points to allow them to compete at larger events such as world cup races and the Canada Snowboard Boardercross Nationals happening right here at Big White Ski Resort at the end of march.
The huge field of competitors represented many different areas of the globe. The majority of athletes were from Canada and the USA, but there was a strong showing of Japanese athletes, with their national team in attendance. They were also riders from Great Britain, Portugal, Poland, New Zealand and Australia.
February 5th, Billabong Flaunt it Preview
Will two-time Slopestyle winner Stephanie Haines be able to defend her title and win another trip to the Flaunt It Finals? Join us to find out as Billabong Flaunt It, the all girls Slopestyle and Rail Jam snowboard series makes its way back to Big White on Saturday, February 16th! The Big White stop is a World Snowboard Tour three Star ranked event that will have a friendly course that caters to all levels. There is a $2,000 cash purse and tons of additional prizing. The first place winner will also receive airfare and accommodation to the series Finals (with Jamie Anderson) at Sierra-At-Tahoe, CA on April 6th.
Flaunt It is designed to be a stress free contest as the “jam format” encourages each competitor to ride all day and continually progress while the judges determine the standout riders. Top competitors in the slopestyle and rail jam will receive cash and additional prizing. In honour of Flaunt It’s 7th year Billabong is giving away $700 to the first competitor to land a clean 720 during the Slopestyle competition. Other prizing includes the ‘Dakine Best Trick’, ‘Nixon Style Award’ and the ‘VonZipper Rag Doll Award’. Competitors will also receive a free lunch and gift bag.
Billabong Flaunt It is proudly supported by VonZipper, Dakine, Nixon, Snowboard Canada Women’s Annual, and Snowboarder Magazine.
For all tour information, including registration, visit www.billabongflauntit.com or visit us
on Facebook at www.facebook.com/billabongflauntit.
January 28th, Tons of New Features added to the park
Boardercross action is over for now, that allows us to focus our energy and Sno-Cat time on putting new features in the park and doing some rebuilds. All of the Small and Medium lane jumps have been repushed, they ride so much better now! We've also added eight new handrail/box features this week, including everyone's favorite, the red spine, but with a twist! The large lane is getting some new jumps added in, to go alongside the new rail features. Be sure to check out the bottom rail jam platform, it's got a totally new design in anticipation of our 3rd rail jam of the season this Saturday, Feb 2nd. Always be sure to inspect the features before hitting them, and always ride within your ability level.
See you in the park.
January 26th & 27th, Huge Double Header Boardercross Weekend
What an exciting weekend with two BC Snowboard Provincial races. These events are great, as it allows FIS sanctioned racers to compete for points that will enable them to qualify for bigger events and it gives young riders an opportunity to compete in the open category. The Japanese national team was here competing both days, the practice paid off as they earned podium spots, and took home some hardware. Everyone is gearing up and getting ready for the NOR AM Boardercross race next weekend, and the Nationals taking place at the end of March. Both events happening right in our backyard!
These races also feature an "open" component in the afternoon. Racers are broken down into age groups and race down the course in heats of four. This is a really great opportunity for the younger racers to get some track experience racing with other riders on the course. Whoever comes out on top at the end of the day, gets to stand on top of the podium, with medals around their neck.
Head on over to the photos page here to see some pics from the awards ceremonies and some action shots.
January 20th, Canada Snowboard Riders Event
In TELUS Park we focus our construction and feature set-ups based on a progression system. Giving all skiers and snowboarders the ability to work their way up from small/medium to large and extra-large features to get their tricks dialed in. We use this same system with our Events throughout the season as well.
On Sunday Jan 20th we hosted a Canada Snowboard Riders event; it is a grassroots style competition, designed around getting young riders into their first contest environment. With a relaxed coaching session in the morning, and a fun competition consisting of timed boardercross laps in the afternoon. The weather was perfect, and the course was nice and quick. All the riders were super stoked! Some of these young guns were really fast, giving a few members of the outdoor events crew a run for their money! Check out the event page here for some photos of the riders standing on the podium.
Just like how our park features ramp up based on the progression system, our events do too. The CS Riders event kicked things off for us in the boardercross arena, and the action continues next weekend with a provincial series event on January 25th to 27th. The course gets bigger, and the riders get faster as we host a Canada Snowboard NOR-AM event February 8th-10th. We've got some real talent coming our way for that event, and we'll be testing their abilities with a totally new course design from previous seasons.
You better be up here during the last week of spring break as we're proudly hosting the Canada Snowboard Nationals and a Para World Cup. This is the highest level of boardercross racing you will see in Canada this season, and it's all happening in TELUS Park at Big White Ski Resort!
January 12th, Best Rail Jam Yet!
What a great Jam! Despite some less than perfect weather conditions, all the skiers and snowboarders were absolutely throwing down at our second rail jam of the season. Head over to the event page here to check out the results. Don't forget to visit the photos page to see some sick shots from last night.
For those that prefer their media intake in video format, Check out this amazing edit by Black Rainbow Pictures.
January 7th, BCSA Slopestyle Double Header Wrapped!
What an exciting weekend of Slopestyle action in TELUS Park we just had. The BCSA Provincial series double header saw riders of all ages throwing down in TELUS Park. Hopefully you were in the park to catch the action firsthand. The course was comprised of an upper rail section with 6 features, giving the riders great line choice to get technical. Then it was off to the 3 Extra Large booters to show the judges what they're made of! Check out the event page here to see the results, and also a photo gallery.
