Words by: Jamie Walter

Photos by: Jamie Walter and Matt Sklar

Even with bluebird skies and warm temps, the first day of the 7th West Coast Session unfortunately had to be postponed after high winds caused the lifts up at Timberline Lodge to close for the day. A nice breakfast and quick welcome meeting were the only two things that went as scheduled before word came that the lifts were on hold for the morning, and around 9:30am the call was made up on the mountain that there would be no skiing today.

The meeting at breakfast...

...and the "well what do we do now" meeting not much later

Another meeting was assembled to try and plan stuff to do on the first ever cancelled day in the history of the WCS. Many of the invited riders elected to spent the day relaxing, going on hikes, and skating in the street parks that wrap around campus in the absence of the open to the public day planned (The public day has been rescheduled and will now be this Friday).

John Kutcher

Even Eheath worked on his kickflips

A few of the 4bi9 members take a team skate break

As the afternoon faded, the crew made their way to an awesome cinco de mayo mexican dinner and the media was briefed on their tasks for the upcoming week. The photographers will be fighting for a $1000 cash purse, divided among four categories: best jump photo, best rail photo, best creative photo, and best lifestyle. On the video side, $4000 awaits the best of the 6 videographer teams in the Camtrol/Ion Session Showdown.

Team Mike McLeod & Andrew Napier consent first round draft pick Steve Stepp as to who should join their team

The crowd gathers to watch

The two filmers on each team selected their eight riders in a "dodgeball draft." Notable choices were Maude Raymond who was the first overall selection by Evan Heath, and amateur Steve Stepp shocked the crowd being the first pick of Andrew Napier. When the dust settled, the teams for the coming week looked like this: (official names to come)

Team Evan Heath & Hennie VJ

Maude Raymond

John Ware

Brady Perron

Tim McChesney

Nikklas Ericson

Noah Wallace

Collin Collins

Noah Morrison

Andy McDowell

Team Mike McLeod & Andrew Napier

Steve Stepp

Dale Talkington

Nick Goepper

Reed Lewis

Luka Malloni

Philo Bair

Bill Kelley

Drew Stewart

Team Josh Finbow & Drew Lederer

McCrae Williams

Alex Bealieu-Marchand

Jon Spriggs

Maks Gorham

Taylor Seaton

Tim Gage

Jamie Crane-Mauzy

Tim Sargent

Team Matt Hobbs & Cael Jones

Charlie Lasser

Karl Fostvedt

Ben Moxham

Lyman Currier

Noah Albaladejo

Cam Snyder

Joey Vandermeer

Jed Kravitz

Team Cameron Payne & Jasper Newton

Pat Goodnaugh

Will Berman

Andy Parry

Lisa Zimmerman

Will Hibbs

Alex Dorszynski

Lucas Wachs

Derek Roy

Team Shane McFalls & Jeff Kohnstamm

Nicky Keefer

Will Wesson

John Kutcher

Rob Huele

Jeff Curry

Kristie Beavert

Jake Doan

Kieren McVeigh

That's all for today as the winds die down and it grows dark at Windells. Be sure to check back here on Newschoolers for continuing coverage of the 7th West Coast Session! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as well as the West Coast Session's Website and Facebook