2008 Banked Slalom Recap
Posted by: drexnefex in Snow, tags: Avalanche, Banked Slalom, LBS, Mt. Baker, Ski Area closureFriday Feb 8, 2008 - Day 1
Got up at 5am and powered up to Mt Baker–brutal. Made it to the White Salmon Lodge for registration for the Slalom by 8:15. Rode some of the new 12 inches of pow and then headed up to the race start. After doing a side-slip only course inspection, my group Masters started racing around 11am. Everyone i know in my division pretty much made the cut to qualify for the finals on Sunday.
Later in the day the DOT decided the avalanche potential was gonna be too high so they closed the road that night at 10pm and all day on Saturday. Evidently there was some slide path along the highway that was ready to go and could take out the road completely. I’d heard someone say that the avalanche danger was worse than it’s been in 20 years. Damn.
Obviously the ski area was gonna be closed on Saturday too. So what they did with the Slalom was take the top 50% of the Friday finishers for the Sunday finals. Usually what they do is take the top 25% from Friday and the top 25% from Saturday. If you blew it Friday you’re kinda screwed but you get an automatic invite back for next year…not so bad.
Saturday Feb 9, 2008 - Day 2
Closed.
Sunday Feb 10, 2008 - Day 3
The course on Sunday was way different than Friday. The temperatures had gone up and it rained a bunch on Saturday. On top of that they’d gotten a few inches of snow–enough to pretty much fill everything in. The snow was some of the NW’s finest wet, heavy guanch. Good shit. The course was smoother than Friday but waaaaaaay faster. So all the little mini bumps were amplified going that much more fast. Almost everyone in my group went down on at least one run. For how gnarly the course was there was no way i’d go that fast in normal conditions. It was some serious balls out shit.
The Slalom was a blast. Bumped into a ton of people i haven’t seen in a while, met some new shreds, got to ride some pow and drank beer. All in all, an awesome weekend.
Photo Gallery Here - Results Here
And now it’s time to ride pipe….
Entries (RSS)
February 11th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Good weekend, Friday was really good, bottomless. Course was pretty fun too, but the bottom was all jacked up, which they fixed for Sunday. I don’t think i’ve ever seen worse crashes at the slalom than we did this weekend. All in all, good times. If you guys haven’t seen video of highway 2, check this shit out. http://www.stevenspass.com/ Just look at the podcast link on the main page. It looks like it slid right around the bend where you funnel out from the cowboy ridge run. Now they just need to post the results, the suspense is killing me. I could care less what place we’re in, as long as we make the cut for next year.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Clem,
If your not first, your last- Ricky Bobby
February 13th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
and dude: if you got beat by DREX????
doooood….
you got beat by drex dude…
NOOB!
February 13th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
duke….b…..you guys need to get in on that race. Both of you fools would probably kill it. Or at least have fun losing to Drex and I.
Hey B, did you see Scott Nelson showed up from Cali. to race last weekend?? I forgot all about that guy. He was doing Switch backside rodeos and fives back in 99′ at Baker (off natural hits….not park hits).
Anybody heard word on a pipe at sno crummy yet. Meadows pipe is closed and the park has rollers instead of hits. The park grooming report literally says that the jumps have no takeoffs. They are basically admitting that their jumps suck on their website. What the fuck is up with that?? Even Dax is pissed.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
weird winter… guess it’s spring now.
I heard pass pipe is open with large chunks in it? what is going on?
didn’t everybody get beat by marcel?
February 13th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
i guess i read the results wrong…
LOL sorry shane, thought you actually beat Clem…LOL what was I thinking? LOL
fuckin NOOBs all got smoked by Marcel though LOL ya n00bz!
LOLOLLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
and there’s no way I’d be able to race down that thing, not on a mullet…mullet only does pow bludz…
and B will never enter, it’s only a minute and a half long—not enough cardio in it for him.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I saw scott’s name on the list. That goovy bastard. I remember him riding with no high backs and killing it switch well I think back then it was still fakie. Dudes 6′3″ riding a 156. Rossi blew that one.
I tried the LBS in 94 and 95 and then retired. Besides I couldn’t handle losing to my wife.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Actually you’re mistaken once again holmes,…….B has entered, years ago. He’ll be back. I personally endorse him to come next year and beat Marcel.
You couldn’t have done it, not because its a mullet, but because you ride a lib tech. I’m officially a lib tech hater again. I sold that shit on craig’s list for a big loss on my end. It was still worth it, i have a glissade kenron now. Bomb ass board. If i was riding that lib tech, I wouldn’t have lasted two turns with those conditions. Woulda got bucked off into the pow and soon as i hit the first rut.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
glissade? are they still in business? where did you find that at?
February 14th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I think the local shops all dropped glissade or something. I know they were really bad about getting their boards out on time. You can get them directly from glissade on their website. They were quick about shipping too. Its a little different than the old Harvest/Crap series, but its still a beast in the choppy stuff. THe one i got is all-mountain, but they make freestyle glissades now too. They all look pretty sick, two year warranties also.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
that’s cool. they were always tough boards. i remember yours had a big whole in it that whole season.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:26 am
FYI. Pipe got cut. Tomorrow fri, will be fun.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:03 am
i’ll be there…..microsoft should call all pipe-cut days “holiday”. You headed up? FYI. , talked to Jason today, he said the north shore is firing and the sand bar should be perfect by the time we get there.
February 15th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Hmmm….fresh cut pipe or 11ft @ 20seconds on the coast today? I imagine I would have a better chance surviving if I stuck with the snow today.
February 15th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
ruby doe @ nectar lounge tonight, if your into rockin out….
February 16th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
dude where is dennis?
…he couldn’t've got too far…