DNA Evolution Tour

words & photos: Kristie Giles

A lot of people didn't think anyone would want to pay $50 to ski down a bunch of assembly line rollers when there's still snow in the mountains, but DNA proved them wrong again last Saturday when about 40 riders showed up to compete in the Evolution Tour's kickoff event in downtown Ogden, Utah.

This year's setup has three new jib options: a triple kink rail, a flat down box, and a flat "cannon" rail with "powderpack" for the landing, which is apparently the Wasatch blower pow of plastic riding surfaces.  They also beefed up the stereo system and added a quarterpipe at the bottom.

"We wanted to put together a tour that embodied our culture, which is breaking down boundaries," said DNA's Brad Geiger, the mastermind behind it all.  They chose not to use snow, he said, because that way they wouldn't have to cut the competition short when it started melting—it's run until 3 a.m. before. They brought back the roller system from last year because it worked well and was consistent—the speed never changed.

"This setup allows us to keep it fair and legitimate, which is a big deal to me," Brad explained. "We want to make sure kids don't go home feeling like they got screwed over."

The format was head-to-head battles, and if there was a tie, they kept going until there was a clear winner. In the main event, it came down to Trevor Rose and Leo Wolfgang in the final two.  At one point, Trevor managed to stomp a clean 630 out of the "cannon" rail, and Leo followed it with a valient lincoln loop-off attempt.

The competitors said the rollers weren't as sketchy as they look. "It's the best way to practice your rail skills during the summer," Leo said. There were all kinds of pretzels, 360 switch ups, switch drop ins, 270s on…the setup didn't seem to be holding anyone back.

Erick Gambles took "best trick" in the under-15 division with a blindside 450 out, and Ben Moisen was the runner up with a switch on unnatural slide blind 270 out.  Leo won the main event.  He and Erick, along with the snowboard winner, will get a chance to compete for prizes, cash money, and a pro contract at the Evolution Tour finals, which will be held in front of thousands of industry leaders at the S.I.A. show in Las Vegas.

Competitors who place in the top four at any Tour stop receive points (1st = 10 points, 2nd = 4 points, 3rd and 4th = 2 points) and anyone who accumulates at least 20 points throughout the summer gets a wild card spot at the finals.  At the end of the tour, the top point collectors in each category will automatically sign onto the DNA am team and have their flight and hotel expenses for the Vegas finals paid for.

RESULTS

U-15 Best Trick: Erick Gambles

U-15 Second Best Trick:  Ben Moisen

Main Event 1st Place:  Leo Wolfgang

Main Event 2nd Place:  Trevor Rose