After riding for the day, we pre-gamed it up at the GLC which was right next to the Big Air Competition. The athletes had practice time so got to watch their runs before the crowds came out to watch.
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Grenade Games 5: Big Air from Shayboarder on Vimeo.
As the night progressed, the Big Air finally went down at the base of Whistler Mountain. Set from 8pm to 10pm, the event was the finale for the Grenade Games and a good way to finish the week out. Plenty of people lined the base of the event and on the each of the sides to see it up close.
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I stood with Marc and Kendra on the side of the run to watch it go down. A good hike up and we found a couple spots to watch each feature in action.
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The size of the features were impressive, the big air to a base pad jump that launched riders. I watched many riders I wasn’t expected to fall and many more to take some hard landings. Towards the bottom were the tree jibs and 2 rails. There was something for every rider and for every spectator to watch in a good location.
What looks like the filming of Danny and the Dingo as some money was given away to an athlete with a stellar performance. The guy was stoked on the money.
Some of the riders made it onto the big base pad but then stopped and didn’t go off it which meant finding a way off of the 10+ high pad from the ground. I watched Lucas Magoon in that position, he decided to drop it and had a impressive fall. He made it out and rode away.
Kendra got this shot of Danny Kass’s Air. He got quite the applause from the crowd during each of his runs.
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I didn’t get too many shots of the Big Air that were useable…again not a pro photographer. Some of my favorites shots that came out were a little blurry but I like them.
We made our way down to the base before the finals went down. Got to watch the base jib feature set up. Earlier in the day I had watched Scotty Arnold on it and now got to see other athletes hitting it.
This guy didn’t know how much the crowd wanted to throw snowballs and he found himself in the middle of the attention. The 2nd shot is him trying to run away from them.
To get the up close photos from on the scene, the Monster Blog with photos by Dano are up!