I’ve been anxiously awaiting the Grand Prix stop in Mammoth after watching the earlier stops this season around the US. This week has been a mix of weather from sun to overcast to storming snow but today the weather finally came around and delivered up bluebird sunny skies with the wind coming in towards the end of the day. I headed out in the afternoon to watch the slopestyle finals take place just underneath Chair 6 in front of the Main Lodge.
I will admit, being up close and personal to the action is fun but the best seats are in your home watching the live webcasts with the whole run visible to you. I could only see a portion at a time when I was positioned on the different jumps getting photos.
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The top of the course was two sets of rails for the riders to start the slopestyle with the rails and finish on the jump line. I only watched the top of the course for the first run before heading down to the jumps for the bigger action.
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Spectators sitting on one of the rails to watch the practice runs
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The dance box feature placed on the jump
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The best part about sitting on the jumps and taking in the views from multiple hits in a row. The women took some bad falls during their runs and were just hard to watch. I look forward to the day when women’s snowboarding is the same level as the men in slopestyle contests.
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Jamie Anderson cleaned up for the women and stomping into first place
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In the men’s slopestyle finals, Ryan Hryckiewicz on his niche board
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Caught Spencer Shaw off the jump line
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Chas put down his final run and claimed first place with his highest score of the day. I was at the bottom with Ashley interviewing and tom filming for the Mammoth webcast video. I met Chas at Windells this summer and was really stoked to see Chas win today plus hear that he’ll be coming back to Mammoth this spring for more shred time.
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As the sun was starting to go down on the mountain, everyone made their way to the podium set up at the sponsor tents for the awards ceremony.
The Slopestyle Women’s Podium
1st Place: Jamie Anderson
2nd Place: Danielle Adams
3rd Place: Jamie Madrid
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The Slopestyle Men’s Podium
1st Place: Chas Guldemond
2nd Place: Spencer Shaw
3rd Place: Brett Esser
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Tomorrow I’ll get the morning to ride and then head to the halfpipe for the Grand Prix pipe finals. Can’t wait to see familiar faces throw down!
Daniella Hawkins
March 6, 2011 at 7:40 pmI heard that the ladies comp was whack. Higher scores for hitting the small side jumps. They should really consider taking out the small side jumps on big comps like this. No credibility & no competition for Jamie Anderson since they favoured riders who do not push themselves to even hit the big side.
Shay
March 6, 2011 at 9:34 pmDaniella, the ladies were rough to watch. Huge difference from the men’s to the women’s riding and from Jamie’s to the other girls. I can’t wait to see women’s riding in contests be on the same level as men for tricks. If you want the same award money, it should be the same level of riding.
Daniella Hawkins
March 7, 2011 at 5:16 pmShay…yes there is a big difference between the riding of men & the ladies but what I’m trying to point out is that this was supposedly a big competition and with that comes the expectation that the should competitors be able to at least hit the big jumps…its not an extreme sport for nothing right? I’m not saying the ladies should start throwing 1440’s but come on! They should not even have a small side in big comps like this. How are the ladies supposed to progress if they can’t even hit big jumps which is like the norm in any big comps…this is the only comp where the prize money is the same for both men & the ladies SOOO…the ladies who compete should all be able to hit the big jumps to be fair to everyone. If they can’t spin the big jumps then they are not ready for this level of competition. Just my 2 cents….but like you I cannot wait until the ladies start stepping things up =)
Daniella Hawkins
March 7, 2011 at 5:28 pmsorry but a more few things….bigger tricks on big jumps should equal to higher scores (or podium) and not mediocre tricks on the small jumps. That is just plain unimpressive & unworthy. Of course it has to be a clean run let’s not forget
about that. The other girls were breaking themselves off by sending their tricks on the big jumps & to me that’s progression. At least they tried & didn’t take the easy way.
Shay
March 7, 2011 at 6:55 pmDaniella, good point for sure and not sure why there was the option of the small jump in such a major competition. I don’t think women should be getting the same prize money for an obscenely huge difference in riding tricks. We’ll see…I guess. Women’s pipe was good, Kelly really holds it down for the women.
Boardistan had a good quote about women’s slopestyle, “We were secondarily surprised at how embarrassingly shallow the women’s slopestyle pool really is. The women’s finals were made up of Jamie Anderson and seven girls who could barely 50-50 and straight air their way down the course. In their defense it was a big course and some of the more talented girls had some trouble with their landings, but no-grab straight airs should not get anyone on a podium at a “national” competition.”
Daniella Hawkins
March 7, 2011 at 10:57 pmMy point exactly! Couldn’t agree with you more…You are right, the more talented girls had trouble with their landings on the big jumps because they were the ones who spun or did styled out/grabbed straight airs…it would have been most definitely a much better podium with any of those girls. Those girls have been around, I’ve seen their names come up a lot of times in big comps & they’ve done well too. The big jumps & big tricks is what separates the ones who are one-trick ponies to the ones who are slowly but surely making their way to the top by being consistent & progressive in their riding.
Well…I hope you do a write up on the Burton US Open…we’ll see how the womens slopestyle event pans out there…hopefully something more exciting.