West Coast Session 4 Wrap-Up

Joss Christensen switch 9. photo: Smalley

Steve Stepp switch 9. photo: Smalley

Tyler Barnes, rightside cork 7. photo: Smalley

Kyler Cooley. photo: Smalley

Park City photographer extraordinaire Rocky Maloney, WCS organizer Brandon Pastucka, and Sean Harkins from Windells Camp. photo: Malczyk

Hennie VJ getting the shot. photo: Malczyk

Nick Goepper's cork 5 blunt complements Josh Malczyk's masterful theft of Drew Smalley's flash. photo: Malczyk

Nick Miles 720 blunt. photo: Smalley

John Kutcher. photo: Smalley

WCS4 AWARDS

Since there's no competition or prize money involved in the West Coast Session, each year we honor a few of our invited skiers with awards in different categories. The awardees this year were chosen on Saturday night at the Roadhouse at Windells, town-hall style, with the whole crew in attendance.

MVPs: Tim McChesney & McRae Williams

Rodeo 12's. Right rodeo 9's. Switch dubs. Grabs on lock. Landings stomped. Steeze immaculate. When the dust cleared, everyone agreed to a tie for MVP between McCheese and McRaw, the most consistent and most on-point skiers at the Session.

McChesney. photo: Maloney

McChesney with a baller switch 5. sequence: Maloney

McRae Williams, switch double cork 1080 mute. sequence: Maloney

McRae, right rodeo 9. sequence: Maloney

Rookie: Dylan Ferguson

Although you may not have heard of him before now, Dylan Ferguson is actually the most high-profile skier to attend this year's Session. Dylan is currently the second-ranked aerialist on the US Ski Team, and was set to compete at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver when unexpected complications from an appendix removal forced him to withdraw just weeks before the opening ceremonies.

Dylan may not have gotten to compete in Vancouver, but he got himself voted Rookie of WCS4 by blowing our minds with aerials-style tricks over the big booter and preposterous butter tricks that you'll have to see the 4bi9 movie to believe. His performance showed that Dylan is truly one of the most versatile skiers alive, with a bright future in the park scene as well as in aerials. That's almost as good as Olympic gold, right?

Shifty over the barrel. photo: Stone

Back full. photo: Maloney

Lay full. sequence: Maloney

Repeat Offenders: Tosh & Max Peters

The "Repeat Offender" award recognizes a skier who has already been to WCS one or more times, and whose repeat performance really stands out. The Peters brothers are two of only a very few riders to have attended every single West Coast Session, and have quietly murdered at every one. Always letting their skiing do the talking, Max & Tosh are in need of a shout-out as this year's Repeat Offenders.

Tosh, forward cork 10 blunt. sequence: Maloney

Max styling out an underflippy 5 tail. photo: Stone

Tosh. photo: Maloney

Max. photo: Maloney

Tosh, switch 5 double mute. photo: Maloney

Best Trick: McRae Williams, switch double cork 1080 blunt grab

Runner-up: Will Berman, back 450 off the up-flat box gap

sequence: Stone

Park City-based Amplid skier McRae Williams won last year's "Best Trick" category with the only double flip (a switch double cork 1080) on our daunting 100-foot booter. A lot more dubs were thrown down on this year's jump, but McRae's polished switch dub 10, capped off with a blunt grab held for over a full flip, was the unanimous choice for Best Trick honors for another year.

Gypsy Trick: Kyler Cooley, 360 hand drag

photo: Stone

Because not all hand drag tricks are "gypsy", some explanation is necessary. The lip on this hefty bonk feature launched most riders well over the top of the barrel, and it took some serious skill to even get skis within tapping distance. Kyler used mysterious gypsy magic to get hands-on with this cork 360, earning himself the award for Gypsy Trick of WCS4. John Kutcher was a close second with his taps on the donkey rail (watch them in the Paul Braunstein edit).

King Meat: Joss Christensen

"King Meat" is another category that requires some explanation. If you zero the whole jump line to the bottom, you might be a meat. If you attempt to flip-up a trap rail, you might be a meat. If you can be counted on to consistently one-up yourself, you might be a meat. While Joss Christensen might not fit all definitions of a meathead, he most definitely embodied the meat characteristic of consistently throwing down harder than anyone else during WCS4, and for that he's the King Meat.

Tweaked 540 mute. photo: Maloney

Switch double cork 1080. sequence: Stone

Rodeo 7 mute at sunset. sequence: Maloney

The Question Mark: Alex Martini

Runners-up: Garrett Russell, Ben Moxham

When the WCS crew met on Saturday night to vote on these awards, the categories included one labeled simply with a question mark, with the added prompt, "put a name." The Question Mark could be anyone: someone whose performance merited recognition, someone whose idiosyncrasies simply couldn't be ignored. But it isn't someone, it is one man - The Question Mark is Alex Martini, who waited until the last minutes of the last shoot, at sunset, to come out with all guns blazing.

captivating sunscreen portrait: Stone

Cork 7 blunt. photo: Stone

Same trick, better shot. photo: Smalley

All Day Syndrome: Sean Jordan

This category honors the guy who could be relied on to be producing bangers every hit, every run, all day long. Who else but Sean Jordan?

photo: Malcyzk

Right 9. photo: Stone

Cork 7 blunt. photo: Stone

Tweaked switch 5 mute. sequence: Maloney

That wraps it up for another year. We hope you've enjoyed all of our photos and videos - it's your stoke about seeing our coverage that makes this event worthwhile. From everyone at the West Coast Session, thanks for watching, and see you next year!

And thanks to our amazing sponsors:

Peter Bauer, Brandon Pastucka

Brian Reed, Jenny Johnson, Logan Stewart, Kyle Bradley and the park groomers, Travis Banks and the park crew.

Tim Windell, Sean Harkins, Mike Hanley

Also, a big thanks to Dave Smith, Ryan Beebe and Krysta Pelchar from Hillcrest Ski & Sports for providing free hot dogs off the grill and product giveaways during the public session on Saturday, May 8th.

West Coast Session 4 short by Duncan Lake/Junction 133 Productions

West Coast Session 4 short by Paul Braunstein

The Hood Crew WCS4 edit by Nick Young