KAHLUA HALFPIPE JAM HITS SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH

by Chris Bergner
reprinted from Freezeonline.com

Editor's note: Why the hell would Freeze hire a guy who can't even type competently? If he was drunk, I can understand; otherwise, this spelling and grammar is unexcusable, especially in the professional literary world. Enjoy.

The second stop on the Kahlua Halfpipe Jam East Coast tour brought us to lovely Smugglers’ Notch. Well the lovely comment is pure sarcasm for two main reasons that will be touched on later, but first to the highlights.


Going huge...


The Jam was back in a superpipe and consequently brought out some strong talent. I am going to digress real quick. Hey resorts. Spend the cash on purchasing a superpipe cutter and step up and commit to the side of the industry that is saving your asses right now. When you have a crappy little pipe young skiers and riders will eventually wise up and go elsewhere. But even if they stay put they are going to bitch every day, which in the long run will lead to them to search for a new resort to call home. Thus good bye loyal customer. Sorry about that just can’t understand why resorts spend thousands on marketing yet don’t get the realization that infrastructure is much more compelling than a piece of literature saying how great something is.





As the exhibition got underway and Mike Atkinson took his token runs with the competitors it was evident the Smuggs Jam was going to go off. A strong contingent of skiers and boarders were hucking themselves in anticipation for the start of the Jam. Seth Learned was the snowboarder to beat hands down. His huge methods and rodeo 5’s were wicked mint (that is for all you east coasters). The skiers came out in force, especially Ben Labow, Chris Mitchell, Aaron Kriedlander and Will Bowen. All were hitting the first hit of the right wall with impressive straight airs with stylely grabs thrown in for good measure.





Unfortunately only one lady showed up to ski the pipe. Hats off to Miss McWaryas (going formal here because head judge Chucky left me hanging with only a last name. I suppose his contusion to his hip from his fall on the rail outside the condo spread to his noggin). But pretty Miss McWaryas was going after the pipe and thus walked off with a brand new Helly jacket. Ladies how about rallying all your friends when an event occurs and start competing. When only one lady shows up to a comp you loose the chance to push yourselves and consequently miss out on a great opportunity to kick ass. More importantly, by not competing you lose the opportunity to impress event folks so they might decide to step up and put down some greenbacks for your effort instead of prizes.

Mike and Chuck had some work cut out to pick the winner, but in the end Seth Learned out impressed the judges and walked home with a nice chunk of change. Thanks to all the competitors for doing a great job of representing the East Coast.

Now for the details on the lovely comment made at the beginning of this story. First, we could not figure out why Vermont is so anti pavement. I mean the stuff works great especially in ski towns where dirt and snow lead to mud. Perhaps during the summer some of that black tarry stuff can be laid down so guests making their way from the city can enjoy the beauties of the slopes minus the irritations of walking around in mud all day. The second component of the lovely comment is actually more serious. Some gracious Vermonters decided to do some thieving of our stuff, some of which were personal items. Taking banners, we can live with because they will end up on a wall and provide hours of entertainment, but stealing shoes is weak. I hope those shoes are looking good in all that mud you all live in.

Anyway, three rants in one recap are plenty. It was good be in the East Coast for the Jam, but can’t wait to head to Tahoe for the last Jam of the year at Alpine Meadows. A place where people don’t mess with other people’s kicks.


Men


1. Seth Learned
2. Ben Grunow
3. Chris Lyle
4. Chris Mitchell
5. Chris McDonald

Women


1. Miss McWaryas

source: http://www.freezeonline.com/article/happenings.cfm?alias_id=10520