Words: Tim Dixon & Seb KempPhotos: Tim Dixon, Seb Kemp, Matt WaringThe Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival took over the quaint mountain town of Whistler, BC for the 11th straight year this passed week. With a jam-packed schedule of ski and snowboard events throughout the 10 days of madness, let's get right to the insanity.So 4/20 2006 was another epic day in Whistler on many levels. As per the norm the skies were grey and there was the odd drop of rain in the air, but that was the extent of the misery. The village was buzzing and the party that is the WSSF was carrying on regardless .It was 4-20 after all so it comes as no surprise that after Mike Realm spun some magic and the clock ticked by to the magic number a ploom of smoke appeared in the crowd and everyone enjoyed the haze. We were all waiting for the big act that was J5, however you couldn’t have scripted that they were “delayed” by customs officials at the border…… but, the crowd stuck it out at shortly after 6 they arrived on stage and ran the show with a slick display of how they do it. Easily the best act of the festival to date and they managed to keep everyone entertained with a mix of old and new for well over an hour.

 The day’s entertainment was not over then…ohh no this is Whistler and the fun was just beginning. It was on to the ‘GLC’ for the “K2 Back 9 Mini-Golf Invitational” Awards party. Yup a mouthful when you say that badger 5 times fast!! But really this event was a first, from an idea two years ago the event has finally taken place to showcase the progression of backcountry skiing in an exclusive rider focussed format. The term mini golf has been defined as “the pursuit of short technical lines consisting of natural and constructed features….on skis” So as you can imagine with the terrain available and the riders invited this was going to be one hell of a good show.With nine holes all with different sponsors and all showcasing different features from big booters to technical cliff lines all the riders got opportunities to show what they had to offer. This was a big Cash Bonanza. The winner of each hole got $4000 and if you were consistent you got a shot at the $20k 1st $15k 2nd and $10k 3rd prizes.With the riders themselves judging each hole the results were guaranteed to wean out the men from the boys. This wasn’t just a “Spin to win” comp that we are used to seeing these days. This has been designed as a fun avenue for the top riders in the world to come together and feed off of each other to produce some sick footage that in places blew the crowd away. This was linking technical lines, big drops sneezy tricks all into one and coming out the other side. So who came out on top??? Well Mike Douglas was Mr top Dog from start to finish, he was super consistent and from the limited footage we were shown seemed to understand the essence of the whole competition. Snapping at his heels however, was Marc-Andre Belliveau bringing what he learned out in Utah to the hills of BC. Not to forget in third place Andy Mahre, picking up a couple of individual hole wins throughout the night boosting him into the top three.
 SKI STOMPEDEFINAL RESULTSApril 16, 2006 at Whistler, BCWomen1 4 Turski Kaya 2 5 Parker Michelle 3 1 Jaworsky Denise 4 3 Groenewoud Roz 5 2 Henitiuk Chelsea Men1 21 Henitiuk Mike 2 7 Leboe Riley 3 22 Felton Taylor 4 6 Ager Charley 5 24 Riddle Mike 6 18 Gagnier Charles 7 25 Thovex Candide 8 15 Olenick Peter 9 9 Hibbert Scott 10 23 Vanular Corey 11 16 Godbout Alexis 12 20 Schuster Joe 13 17 Stack Josh 14 12 Tremblay-Fournier Cedric15 11 Dolezel Tom16 13 Mertion Mike 17 19 Wells Jossi 18 8 Pettit Callum 19 10 Carlson Sammy 20 14 Domer Grant
 McDonalds RAIL JAMFINAL RESULTSApril 15, 2006 at Whistler, BC Men 1 Corey VanularWomen1 Kaya TurskiPeople's Choice: Cedric Tremblay-Fournier K2 Back9 MiniGolfFINAL RESULTSApril 20, 2006 at Whistler, BC 1. Mike Douglas - $20,0002. Marc-Andre Belliveau - $15,0003. Andy Mahre - $10,000Hole 1: Eric Hjorleifson Hole 2: Mike DouglasHole 3: Eric PollardHole 4: Andy MahreHole 5: Eric HjorleifsonHole 6: Andy MahreHole 7: Rory BushfieldHole 8: Eric PollardHole 9: Marc-Andre BelliveauSUPERPIPE FINAL RESULTSApril 20, 2006 at Whistler, BC Women1 Martinod Marie2 Burke Sarah3 Leskinen Kristi4 Hudak Jen5 Bouvier Claudia6 Groenewoud Roz7 Cummming Jess8 Faivre Virginie9 Vanlaanen Angeli10 Jaworsky DeniseMen1 Hatveit Andreas2 Riddle Mike3 Dorey Justin4 Olsson Jon5 Olenick Peter6 Thovex Candide7 Vanualr Corey8 Marion Dan9 Schiller TJ10 Symms John11 Hibbert Scott12 Terada Kiyoshi13 Wester Jacob14 Ueno Yuta15 Dumont Simon16 West Colby17 Thomas Stefan18 Collomb-Patton Loic19 Henituk Mike20 Ager Charley