The Weekend With 382

Words: Brandon Ascher
Photos: Matt Stauble
Video: Alex Knuuttunen

Two days, two original contests, a lot of fun and a sick park set up are what make up The Weekend with 382. Here's how it went down...

Saturday, March 27 - Warm temps during the week and then a sudden deep freeze turned the fresh park into an ice rink, making Saturday morning hard and chilly. Despite the cold, 22 competitors were ready create some Mayhem. The sun was out, but it was just beginning to soften up by 10:30-11. Competitors and judges had a quick pow-wow and decided an extended practice and some more sun on the landings would be a good idea. By noon, it was on.

The skiers were randomly seated in a bracket by their corresponding jersey number. A quick round of rock paper scissors determined who would drop first and then it was one run against the next, single elimination, with the winner moving on.

A solid group form CVA made their presence known, young guns to definitely watch out for, along with the two girls came out to represent, Lizzie Healy and Dana Clukey. Some standout performances from Chase Brooks, local Sawyer Sellingham and Ryan Anderson would help them advance to the next round, where things really started to heat up. Peter Engen was killing the jumps, along with Matt Morrison and Jeff Neagle, but the eventual final four would be Max Harris vs Sean Jordan and Mark Spinney vs  amie Ficco. Harris opted for a huge 180 over the channel while Jordan did a switch 9 straight over. Both had equal rail tricks at the bottom but Jordan’s difficulty would move him onto the finals. Mark Spinney had a great day, staying consistent but had some trouble when it counted, leaving the door open for Jamie Ficco to land a solid run and advance to finals against his homey Sean Jordan. Jordan was on it all weekend, from warm-ups until last run, with calm style and diverse runs that were a joy to watch.

Checkin' the board.

Jamie Ficco

Mark Spinney

Max Harris

Jeff Neagle

Jordan dropped a clean run, putting the pressure on. Jamie had met his match with the channel gap and went a little to0 big on a five and would end up taking second. Pretty good finish considering it was his second contest appearance ever. So it when it was all said and done, Jordan would take home the $1000, and he earned it.

"Not Logan, Not Parker...Seany J"

Sunday March 28th - Day two of The Weekend featured Battle My Crew 4. Early morning clouds soon burned off by contest time, making it much softer than Saturday and the conditions prime, unlike the monsoon last year. The Gold Project, Shake and Bake, the New Intelligent Group and the reigning two-time champions Stept were ready to battle. 

The format for Battle My Crew 4 was slightly changed for 2010 with a two-hour jam through the whole park for the first round as opposed to the standard two-run format in previous years. 

The Stept crew, made up of Sean Jordan, Shea Flynn and Clayton Vila, put down some impressive jump lines and dominated the rails early. Vila has got some steelo, and Shea got a late start but as always threw down. But despite some good skiing the three-peat was not in the cards for Stept. The newest crew to the event, The Gold Project, had a couple perfect runs in the morning, using the entire course well from the channel gap to to hitting both the bottom rails and stairset.  Sandy Boville, Jake Doan, Sam Kimmerele and Dillion Calderon must ski together a lot, because they seemed like they were just cruising around on a normal day. Hope to see them back. 

Sam Kimmerle

The New Intelligent Group was also nasty with it on the channel, crossing in the air with K.C. Brousseau dropping huge 5's, while Ryan Anderson was getting real shifty and clean on rails. Pete Engen was one of the most well-rounded competitors of the weekend with jump and rail skills galore, while Evan Williams has clearly entered the 36th chamber by being too smooth on rails and oh so consistent on the umps. 

Ryan Anderson & KC Brousseau

But the standout crew from the first round was definitely Shake and Bake. Logan's dub shifty's are the dirtiest around, and young Ben Smith earned his spot on the team with some sick 7's all day. And there is never a dull moment when watching Parker White ski...straight laid out backflip off the wallride on his first run. 

The finals were held on the flat-up rail, up-down rail, and wallride, as well as the stair set and a big old 20-foot quarterpipe. The only requirement in finals was a full crew trick on the quarterpipe and/or wall ride.

As things got started, N.I.G. wasted no time all landing clean rail combos. The wallride quickly became the main feature with K.C. Brousseau, who was a standout all day long, getting really creative with some regular flares, cool switch on slides, and a switch flair. Parker was right there with him with flares, and a dub hand plant. N.I.G. killed the crew run on the quarterpipe while Shake and Bake got it on the wallride. Parker 450'd the ledge on the stair set, with Engen, Anderson and Williams staying technical on the hubba. The quarterpipe soon became the focus with backflips, rodeos and switch front flips. Chris Logan dropped a cork 9 first try and then shut it down with a 10. Ben Smith was taking care of the the up-down rail, while, Jamie Ficco, who went down hard in warm ups, power napped and then held the stairs down in finals, ending the contest with a step on 270, 270 out of the down-flat-down ledge on the hubba. 

Jamie Ficco2

You have to Shake it before you Bake it and that's how it went down, as they took the $1000 and the automatic invite to next year's event to defend their title. They were on it all day and definitely deserved the win. 

N.I.G. (the only other team with Stept to have a crew entered in all four BMC'S) showcased some serious talent, and paid homage to the WU. They would take $500 cash and second place.

Definitely one of the best BMC finals to date.

New Intelligent Group

Shake and Bake

It always goes down the last weekend in March. Good skiing, good friends, good times. See you next year.

Thanks to all of the sponsors for making this event possible:

Orage
Muscle Milk
EC Headwear
Newschoolers.com

And as always, huge thanks to LOON Mountain, New Hampshire.