words and photos by Amanda Cola

It’s that time of year again.  The snow is back, the jibs are up, and the teams have gotten even more entertaining.  Sunday River’s team competition series, No Bib Jib, has begun for the season.  A number of teams from the inaugural season are back and ready to battle it out for a spot at Heat Harvest 3 in April.

the battleground

For those of you that are new to the No Bib Jib, teams of four sign up to compete in four rail jams over four months.  The teams are scored at each comp and the team with the most points at the end of the season gets to attend the three-day Heat Harvest photo shoot.  Teams can be just skiers, just snowboarders, just ladies, just guys, or a mix.  Standard competition bibs have been replaced with whatever the team wants to wear, and the skiers/riders drop into the features in a train instead of the standard one person on course at a time.     

270 on

A few things have changed at Sunday River from this time last season.  There is new ownership, a new trail for the jib park, a bunch of new jibs, Oakley as a new NBJ sponsor, and SNOW!  That’s right, it’s only the second week of December and there is a ton of snow.  Two things that have not changed are Alex Kaufman busting his butt to get the events running smooth and the park crew working hard to ensure the park is as badass as it can be.  

 

the staircase

Thanks to cold temps and an 18-inch dump earlier in the week the park crew was able to put together a great course for the comp.  The course was set up in two lines.  The right side was the staircase set, a frame, then a flat rail.  The left side was an up rail, flat box or shotgun rail, then flat down flat rail.     

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Operation Joey

On the skiing side of things there was Operation Joey, Booty Doo, & Ray's Boom Boom Room competing.  Sunday held more snowboarding action than skiing, but the skiers definitely threw down with Booty Doo finishing in second and Operation Joey finishing in fourth.  Not too shabby when there are 13 teams total. 

Ray's Boom Boom Room tag-teaming it

On the staircase set up there were a number of smooth 270s on & some great team action with two members of Ray’s Boom Boom Room slaying each rail at the same time.  The up rail had its fair share of 270s & 450s off.  One poor guy came off pretty hard but managed to ride away and finish up his run.  The flat box was taken over by 270s on with a multitude of switch ups, 270s off, and most notably Curtis Joey Bolduc’s worm slides.  Down at the bottom skiers seemed to favor the flat down flat rail with a switch up tossed in here and there.

this isn't going to end well

The Joey’s watched out for each other by making sure the extreme jibs were safe for their teammates to attempt.  Ray’s Boom Boom Room seemed to be missing a teammate but that didn’t stop them from greasing all of the jibs on the course.  Booty Doo, which should just be called the Flynn Family, cruised through the course as the Flynn’s tend to, pretty damn stylishly.

270 on the staircase

There is still space for a few more teams to enter so if you want a chance at getting involved in a great photo shoot, sign up at http://www.sundayriver.com/nbj.  The next NBJ is January 13th so put together a team quick!  Each team is allowed to miss one event so you will still have a chance to beat out the other teams for that coveted spot.  Before each event the course should be getting a makeover with features being added & removed.  I’ve heard word of a new unique feature at the mountain that may show up in a future NBJ event.  If you’re just cruising around Sunday River on January 13th make sure to stop by the park to check out the event.