Red Bull loves bringing sports to where they’ve never been before, so on Thursday, February 5th, 16 of the world’s best snowboarders, iconic Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, freestyle / backcountry legend Travis Rice, ultra-progressive phenomenon Pat Moore, Burton’s Kevin Pearce, Mikkel Bang, Danny Davis, Kohei Kubo, Kazuhiro Kakubo, Nitro’s Andreas Wiig, DC’s Torstein Horgmo, Forum’s Jake Blauvelt and Greg Bretz, Rome’s Bjorn Leines and Ride’s JJ Thomas will hit the slopes of New York City to battle it out for $100,000 in prize money.
How will they hold a snowboarding competition in a city without slopes?
Easy: They’ll build their own.
The monster backcountry-style mountain, which will tower more than 90 feet above the ground, features a huge hill, a three-story, step-up style landing ramp, and three different kinds of snow. Having trouble picturing what 90 feet looks like? Here’s a sneak peak of the ramp being set up:
For reference, each of those colored boxes is a shipping container, and there are 10 levels of them holding up the structure.
If you’re in New York, this is a can’t miss event, but if you can’t make it in person, you can still catch it live on Go211.com, or on NBC on Sunday, Feb. 15th.
Burton’s Jeremy Jones Snowboard is a fantastic example of off the wall thinking that works well in the snowboard design environment.
Rewrite the laws of shredology.
Jeremy doesn’t let laws like physics, gravity, or city ordinances get in his way. The ultimate set of tools for the all-around freestyle specialist, Jeremy’s series gives him the power to step to any feature. His NEW 159 is a little wider, a bit stiffer, and more stable for those faster run-outs and bigger cliffs and kickers. The NEW Infinite Channel System™ offers unlimited stance options so Jeremy can easily switch it up in seconds.
If the board’s performace matches the looks, this is going to be one tough board to beat.
If you’re in Mad River Glen, VT, Deer Valley, UT, Alta, UT, or Taos, NM, you’re not allowed on the slopes unless you can separate your skis.
That’s because these four ski resorts are the last remaining holdouts in the battle against snowboarding, as they refuse to allow anyone but skiers to ride their lifts.
What’s a boarder to do?
Poach.
Burton is sponsoring a contest called Poach For Freedom (or Sabotage Stupidity, since I like both) in which they will pay a $5,000 bounty to the person or crew that can capture the best video of their poach experience at each of these four locations.
I love when a large company does or encourages something that they’re not supposed to, as it gives them a bit of personality that’s often lost in this overly corporate world (and I’m a snowboarder), so I hope that they get some great footage of teams tearing up these territorial terrains.
If you’re in Mad River Glen, VT, Deer Valley, UT, Alta, UT, or Taos, NM, you’re not allowed on the slopes unless you can separate your skis.
