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Sunday, January 21, 2001 -- Snowshoe, WV
Slopestyle Snowboard Competition
Story and photos by Don Parks

[Details] [Coverage] [Overall Results] [Pic Set 1] [Pic Set 2] [Pic Set 3]

For professional quality photos from all Snowshoe Mountain events see Reflections of Snowshoe, on the mountain at the Shaver's Center, or visit them on the web.

540 Air
Launching into a 540 on Snowshoe Mtn
When Glass & Powder Boardshop (GlassAndPowder.com), out of Richmond VA, decides they want to put on an event, you know they're going to do it right. Then again, a little help from Mother Nature and a few others doesn't hurt!

The event was the Slopestyle Snowboard Competition held at Snowshoe Mountain's (SnowshoeMtn.com) Mountaineer Terrain Park in their Silver Creek area. You start with a great mountain and then you throw in some fresh snow, some hard work by park designer Theo Bliagous and Cat driver Mike Thompson to create an awesome terrain park, and then a beautiful sunny day arrives to welcome the crowds. What more could you ask for? Just some of the area's finest snowboarders ready to rip into some giant air!

Judges were scattered across the many features available for the competitions. They were ready to grade the riders in four areas: Amplitude, Difficulty, Landing, and Style. Each rider's scores were totaled for two runs as they had their pick of at least five table tops (one with two lips), three rails (one rainbow), a spine, a quarterpipe, and a hip jump on which to make their best impressions.

Slopestyle
Grabbing big air
With Roanoke, VA's DJ Judd pounding out the jams and Alan Dever as MC, the party got underway. One-by-one the competitors hit the jumps and put on their best moves to the cheers of the crowds that gathered. But then it all came down to the scores of the five judges: Paul Lyttle, Ashleigh Martinez, Shannon Bohmer, Bryan Fielding, and Theo Bliagous.

Putting on one incredible display to win the overall title, and the Men's 19-25 age group, was Doug Mercer (Airwalk - Full Tilt Skate and Snow). Mercer racked up 74 points to set himself apart from the rest of the competition. The next best was the 67 points earned by Mens' 26-Over Class winner Justin Ryan, who would have challenged Mercer had it not been for some missed landings.

Not to be shown up by the old guys, Jared Minghini (Burton - Backhill - Spy Optics - Rt. 66) was busting up the place with a 66.5 score as he easily won the 12-Under Men's class. Other men's winners included Ian Robertson (8-Under), Matt Lucas (13-15), and TJ Nine (16-18).

Becky Halioua
It hurts so good to play at Snowshoe
The ladies were also out to impress as they threw in their best. In wining the 26-Over Women's class, Kirsten Keller (Airwalk - Full Tilt Skate and Snow) tallied the highest women's score with a 54. Other women's winners included Kim Dunn (19-25), and Melisa Loucks (16-18).

After kickin' it up on the slopes, it was time to head inside for what has become the signature of a Snowshoe snowboarding competition, one amazing awards party. First you've got Snowshoe Mountain throwing in a ton of pizza and sodas along with t-shirts and trophies. Then you have Balzout (Balzout.com) and Glass & Powder's host of friends (Santa Cruz, 686, Northwave, Liptec, Airwalk, Option, Version Goggles, Drake, Smith, Da Kine, Technine, M3, and others) laying out a huge buffet of awards and prizes. Plain and simple, if you showed up for this event you came home with an arm-load of great schwag.

Helping make all this possible, a big shout-out goes to Snowshoe's Pete Moran and Bryan Marshall for greasing the wheels and getting the whole show running smooth from start to finish. They'll be at it again for March 17th's Boardercross Brawl and Halfpipe Invasion - "The biggest snowboard event of the season in the biggest and best terrain park in the region." You won't want to miss this one!

Also see the 1999 coverage from the Snowshoe's Halfpipe Invasion and Slopestyle Air Competition