Mammoth: It's that mystic place you see in ski and snowboard videos. With its

perfectly manicured jumps, buttery smooth rails, and a host of your favourite

pro skiers sessioning the park every day, you almost forget that it sits atop a

massive volcano. Mammoth Mountain resides in one of the worlds most active

earthquake areas, but this hasn't stopped every pro and their uncle from moving

in to reap the benefits of a perfectly maintained park. Nor did it stop Orage

from throwing one of the biggest events of the year in its playground.

The second annual Orage Masters went off without a hitch this past May 1st in

beautiful sunny California. And that isn't a hint of a cliched statement, as

every day leading up to and during the event, it was perfect sunshine and 70-80

degrees. It was a weather man's dream: say that it'll be sunny and hot and

you'll be right 10 times out of 11. The epic weather, a pleasant change from

last year's event, meant that every photographer and filmer was pumped and ready

for the event, and they weren't disappointed.

The Masters consisted of three events: The team-format park jam (the main event

of course), followed by the inner-village night-time rail jam, and finally

the production company film-off thingamajig and after-party.

The main event saw six teams, each with four members, who went head to

head, elimination style, to see which team dominated the rail-filled course. The

course was setup as follows: down rail to up rail to double kink to either a

long down or a box, and then into the mammoth wall ride (get it?). I won't bore

you with every jump and run, as the video below should do a fine job at tingling

your senses. But when all was said and done, Candide, riding for Boyd

Easley's team, stole the show, and a brand new Yamaha sled, with his flawless runs

which generally included a 630 on/270 off the box.

After Boyd's team ran off with their prizes (Yamaha sled, surfing trip to Puerto Rico, 42" Plasma TV, and a G4 Lap top), it was time for a couple hours of R&R

before heading down to the village for the rail jam. Most of the day's

competitors were too tired to strap up their boots, so the urban-style double

kink was torn to shreds by the younger guys, such as Corey Vanular and

Quebec's JF Houle and Charles Gagnier. JF was the big winner taking home $500

USD in $100 bills. There's a video for that down below as well!

The skiing was over, so it was time for a classic ski party. Pros, pro hoes, pro

hoe hoes... everyone was there! The "purpose" of the party was for all the

filmers who shot during the day to put together a four minute edit in four hours, and present it to

the crowd. The

big winner was Josh Berman of Level 1 Productions, who strayed from the norm and

did a documentary of a documentary of the day's events. He went home with a G4

laptop and a large smile on his face. Another notable edit was cult-followed

Eric Iberg's masterpiece, which was a story of a disgruntled skier (Mickael) who

is interrupted from his golf game with news that he wasn't invited to the

Masters. He then proceeds to snipe skiers from the parking lot. When asked about

his film, Iberg said, "the only way I can pay for my ski movies is by winning

computers, so I better win." He was unavailable for comment after Berman's

victory.

So once the movies were played, the prizes were given, and the American beer

flowed like... American beer, the party went on. And on. And on. Until the only

memories left were that of -- who am I kidding? The memories were wiped clean

until only the dismal pinging of a distant electron making its way through the

catacombs of our damaged minds could be heard.

But luckily for us all, and that poor electron, Newschoolers.com was doing daily

updates on the event, so everyone could be reminded of the days' shin digs and

hoe downs. It was a great weekend for skiing, and for goggle tan's, and we shall

all sit and wait patiently for Orage to throw skiing's anti-competition once

again next season.

Huge thanks to Jamie at Orage for the hookups, to Kristy at Mammoth for the

passes, and to the Mammoth Tech Department for feeding us that great live video

and letting us set up a temporary office in the middle of theirs.

PRACTISE DAY VIDEO

COMPETITION DAY VIDEO

NIGHT RAIL-JAME VIDEO

View the Original Updates

Semi-Finals

Round 1

JP Auclair's Team vs. Boyd Easley's Team

Winner: Boyd's Team

Round 2

Philou Pourier's Team vs. Iannick B.'s Team

Winner: Iannick

Round 3

Phil Belanger's Team vs. Tanner Hall's Team

Winner: TIE!

Round 3 Tie-Break

Tanner Rainville vs. Peter Olenick

Winner: Tanner Rainville (Belanger's Team)

 

Finals

Men's

Boyd's Team: 10, 10, 8, 9, 9

Iannick's Team: 8, 9, 8, 8, 7

Belanger's Team: 8, 9, 8, 8, 9

Winner: Boyd's Team

Credits

Photos

Matt Harvey

Video

Filmed and edited byCK O'Connell

Article

Matt Harvey