words & photos: cko

The second annual Jib Academy tour is now in the books, wrapping up Thursday in Mammoth, CA after 4 beautiful days in the Unbound Terrain park and a private booter session in South Park. Day four began early with the realization that this was our last day on snow. The groms mowed down the buffet breakfast before heading across the parking lot to the lifts. On previous days the hard packed morning snow yielded mellow starts, but with only 8 hours left to shred, the riders, especially the younger ones, got to business early stomping their tricks while the older (wiser?) folks waited for things to soften up.

Morning session on the lift tower rail.

XD in the house!

The winds from the previous day vanished and we were left with sunny skies and a beautiful park for yet another day. By now everyone had figured out the best features and the best times of the day to be sessioning, so the rails got the work out in the morning, the lower jumps were hit until they could be hit no more in the late afternoon, and the big jump was sessioned pretty much the non-stop.

Charlie Owens

Sean Jordan

Both Jib Academy winners and the Salomon team were throwing down as confirmed by the copious amount of shots that myself and the other photogs were taking. I was getting on average 200 shots from the week from each shooter for our wrap-up slideshow... not too bad for an event that's designed for those 16-and-under.

Till Matti

Bobby Brown

Session photos from the day continue below, but there was much to be done after skiing before the event would be finished. First it was off to town to have dinner in a flat-screen infested bar that allowed everyone to relax and enjoy some apres-ski beverages: brews for the adults and rootbeer floats for anyone that could handle more sugar than had already been consumed.

Guess who's back?

Whitney & Kaya

Back at the Mammoth Mountain Inn, the crew gathered for a slideshow from the week as well as a highlight edit from Cody at Poorboyz, and the moment we'd all been waiting for: the announcement of the winners of this year's tour. Needless to say this was a talented pool of skiers and everyone I spoke to noticed a marked improvement in the skill level even over last year's crew. It was great to have a more international flavor this year, and plans are in the works to expand even further for next year, possibly into Asia.

It was a super close race and required some lengthy backroom discussions between the Salomon team, but three riders were awarded for their efforts this week:

Charlie Owens walked away with $500 in travel budget for the coming season

Sean Jordan got hooked up with a free flight and week at Windells Camp

The overall winner was Sweden's Kim Boberg who walked away with a trip to the Peak Performance King of Style this fall in Stockholm.

With that, and a few encouraging words from Jenny, Mike Douglas, and Bruno from Salomon, we were all but finished. The crew packed up and were out the door by 7:00 am Friday morning for the three hour tour back to Reno for flights home. And so ends Season Two of the Jib Academy. Most everyone is looking forward to next year, myself included, when we'll get another chance to visit far flung locations for the best local talent the world has to offer, and bring them to a park where they can really get their game on.

Highlights, courtesy Salomon FreeskiTV