MAMMOTH, CA – On Saturday, March 14th the battle cry was sounded on Mammoth Mountain as Red Bull Snow Warz, the premiere collegiate snowboarding and skiing contest, took to the slopes to find the best college team on the snow. The intense competition lasted for hours, with a gloomy, freezing morning quickly giving way to warm sun and beautiful blue skies. The event brought together more than 275 students from 52 colleges and universities nationwide to face off in a unique jam-session format on a one-of-a-kind, progressive slopestyle course. Riders received points based on style, magnitude, and overall difficulty of tricks performed and were judged by snowboarding pro Zach Leach, skiing pro Omar Otte and 17 year-old snowboarding phenomenon Forest Bailey. The day was full of big air, sick tricks and harsh crashes, and when the snow settled, it was California Polytechnic State University in first place, claiming bragging rights as “the best in the west.” Each member of the winning team will receive a season pass to their local snow resort.

Red Bull Snow Warz was held at Chair 4 in South Park at Mammoth Mountain. Teams of four to six skiers and snowboarders showed off their best tricks both for the judges and the other teams, who crowded around to get a peek at their competition. Some teams brought a playful side to the competition, dressing up as a skeleton, a blow-up doll, 1960s-era hippies and “studious” students (complete with corduroy blazers, shirts and ties, and even a coffee mug in-hand). Behind Cal Poly, UCLA took second, with the University of Colorado at Boulder coming in third. Awards were also given to Brandon Cocard from the University of Nevada, Reno for Best Snowboarder and to Matt Cerrina from Cal Poly for Best Skier.

For determining the winner, the top four scores from each team were taken into account, with the top two teams from each heat advancing to the finals. Strategy came into play when the teams were asked to select their top two riders to represent them in the final.

The event was followed by an after party at The Canyon Lodge, where the teams anxiously gathered to wait for winners to be announced. Those that might have been disappointed by the results were quickly assuaged by the

following party that last late into the night featuring beats by famed Los Angeles DJ Valida.

This is the fourth year of Red Bull Snow Warz, and the first time the event was held at scenic Mammoth Mountain thanks to the support of Oren Tanzer, director of youth action sports marketing. In 2008, 48 teams from more than 30 schools went to “war” at Northstar-at-Tahoe™ Resort, with a total of 233 students competing. The University of Nevada-Reno completely dominated the event, taking home top honors as two teams from the school battled it out for first and second place. The winning team took home a prize package of snow gear from Capita Snowboards and received an all-expense paid trip to a Red Bull event of their choice.

For more info about the event go to http://www.redbullsnowwarz.com.