COPPER MOUNTAIN – Copper Mountain’s

daunting 450-foot super pipe was a spectacular venue for Helly Hansen’s

Battle of All Battles competition that pitted eight four-person shop teams from

around the nation against each other on March 31 until only one team was left

standing. Amp’d by the raucous performance of De La Soul playing at the

base of the mountain in front of thousands, each team had one hour to throw

down as many tricks and laps in the pipe as they could manage until time or

exhaustion bested them.

Teams earned the right to compete in the 2nd Annual HH Battle of all Battles by winning one of eight regional events that drew

more than 100 teams in February and March. The regional winners who competed in Copper were: Spirit Skate Shop, Kalispell, Montana; Raging Buffalo, Chicago; Darkside, Burlington, Vermont; Shoreline, Lake Tahoe; Evo, Seattle; GZ, Spokane, Wash.; Nordas, Park City, Utah; and Helly Hansen, Boulder, Colo.

The competition was fierce but in the end the rogue shop boys with Nordas slayed the pipe with massive airs, 900s and clean stomps and won the event. Tyler Peterson with Nordas was named best overall rider and took home the prize cache including an authentic engraved Viking sword and exclusive chrome plated Battle of All Battles belt buckle. Caught up in the emotion of the day, many of the competitors succumbed to mayhem and the awards ceremony was momentarily darkened by a food fight. Flying turkey drums, mash potatoes, polish sausage and grog darkened the room beneath the beats of DJ Matt Connelly until security pulled the plug on the celebration and peace was restored. No injuries were reported though multiple bets and dirty looks were exchanged among the competitors in anticipation of next season’s Battle of All Battles.