MASSANUTTEN, VA. – The final stop on the 2012 Scion Snow Tour. After three seasons preaching the gospels of the tC, xB and xD, I juuuust started to get a handle on my new life on the road when it was all over. We’ll be back next season, no doubt.  But a lot of good times and great events were had on this tour, and what better way to say au revoir than with a 60-degree day partying in the park at Massanutten Mountain.

The rides, doin' what they do.

Me, Stephen & Nolan lapped the park for over an hour before checking out the summit. I was smarter this time and wore the right gear.

Stephen, tailblocking and testing that sweet Signal bend.

DJ Nolo (Nolan) remixing a FS 5-0 on the corrugated tube. Dubsteppin' it to the streets.

The view from the top of the United States of Virginia. I was surprised at the size of the resort but then remembered that everything's bigger in the South.

The Event:
The event was amazing. For it being so late in the, relatively low-tide, season, there was an awesome turnout. I rocked the mic at the bottom, while Nolan and Stephen high-stepped it uphill to get a closer look at the action. Eventually, we called all the riders down closer to the bottom of the park, where we had a mini finals jam on the corrugated tube. I saw halfcabs and 180s on, 270s, 5-0s and all kinds of lipslides. Kids stepped up.

When the dust settled, though, there could only be one winner. One person taking home Best in Snow for the final stop on the 2012 tour. The winner of winners.

Sam took home a brand new Signal Snowboard, Signal Outerwear, Celsius Boots, a bag full a' Scion stuff and a Scion Snow Tour Snowflake trophy by A Graham of Glass. Congrats, homie. You're sponsored.

Here’s the breakdown:
Best grom: Christian
Best Lady Boarder: Renee
Best Skiier: William Knot
3rd Place Overall: Austin
2nd Place Overall: Jack Shuster

1st Place Overall & Best in Snow: Sam Skidmore

Congratulations to all our winners! It was so amazing to be able to spend the last stop on the tour at such a surprisingly large, spirited and super supportive mountain. Mass o’ nuttin? Hardly.

Thanks to all our great sponsors: Scion, Signal, Celsius and A Graham of Glass for another great year and another terrific tour.

We’ll see you all next season!

]]> http://www.thesnowtour.com/?feed=rss2&p=874 0 http://www.thesnowtour.com/?p=862 http://www.thesnowtour.com/?p=862#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:03:52 +0000 Brendan http://www.thesnowtour.com/?p=862

Timberline, West Virginia. Home to the only 2-mile run I know of anywhere in the Midwest, and maybe even the East Coast. It was sunny and 60 when we showed up, so I, like the idiot I am, jumped on the chairlift with only a hoody and loose-fitting beanie. That was the last time I felt my face all day. Stephen, Nolan & I pointed it all 2 miles, and by the time I got to the bottom, I felt like my entire head was inside the brain of someone who just sucked down six Bladder Buster Slushies in Alaska. I had wicked brain freeze.

Here are my two idiotic partners: Stephen & Nolan (in lens). They ride for a shop near Ski Roundtop, PA, where we just held an event the night before. Nolan actually earned his place on the Tour by winning the Roundtop Snow Tour event last season. Congratulations, buddy! Now stand in the cold and watch other people snowboard. Just kidding. They love it.

The Event:

The event kicked off in typical Snow Tour fashion: with an hour-long open format jam session with me squawking on the mic, plugging the afterparty, hyping the Tour’s sponsors and annoying the hell out of the riders and members of the crowd. We love doing events at resorts like this––resorts with so many fresh, enthusiastic ears who are still psyched to ride and get behind the Tour’s message, riding for fun and with friends.

Just when I thought I couldn’t love this place any more, I met this guy:

…and he threw me down a beer off the lift. I only wish I’d remembered to wait a few seconds before opening it. Thanks, guy!

AfterWords:

After the event was over, the owners treated Team Scionara, the park manager and a few other T-line employees to the biggest honkin’ southern-style rib dinner I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to come back here. Anyone up for a summertime snow tour?

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Timberline 4 Season Resort, Signal Snowboards, Celsius Boots, A Graham of Glass and SCION for another epic stop.

Double thanks go to our competitors, spectators and everyone stoked on the Snow Tour. If you all were comments on Facebook, we’d hit the ‘Like’ button a hundred times.

The Stop:

Our annual event at Ski Roundtop is awesome for two reasons: it’s on the white and it’s under the lights. I got there early and took one or six joy laps through the park before the competitors started showing up. As the sun shrunk below the trees, the temp cooled down, but the contest was just starting to heat up. The park crew lugged out extra lights to spotlight some of the features for the night jam.

The Stuff: 

This weekend, we displayed brand new models of Scion swag, touting T’s and upgrades in fresh breathnology. Scion mints are turbo-charged social lube, helping you reach zero to sexy in seconds.

Mint condition

The Setup:

We ran an open jam for a half hour, then hand-picked a slew of riders to battle it out in the two-part finals session. The rail on the left was part I. The disaster gap on the right? Part II.

The Scenario:

Giving away a brand new Signal board, Signal outerwear & Celsius boots for Best in Snow, like we always do on the Tour, is like being fully sponsored for a whole season. As a sponsored rider and paid shred for almost six years, I have a pretty good idea of what it’s like. Sometimes you have to ride when it’s cold or icy. And sometimes you have to hit rails you don’t want to hit and do tricks you don’t want to do. So I decided to give the Tour competitors a taste of the sponsored life they’re all starving for. I chose two features: one to test riders’ tech savvy and another to push them to high stakes, high consequence glory.

Feature 1: Tech  

I called out tricks and competitors had to do or die. By the end of the session, I made it mandatory to spin on or off the rail. Things were heating up.

Feature 2: Power

Behind the wall ride is a 6 foot gap from the lip to a down rail. This is a horrible photo of it, but it’s the best one I could find on my phone. Between judging, commentating, photographing and spectating, I was juggling a lot already. And I can’t juggle, so I was dropping the ball, big time. But anyways, the session on this feature was all about muscle moves. Dudes were flying at this thing, throwing FS 270s, BS 270s and 450s. I even saw a skier try to cork onto it (the doctors say he’ll be fine…just kidding).

The event was totally awesome. We gave away a ton of great Scion stuff and other gear from our amazing sponsors to one of the most stoked group of riders we hung with all year.

Thanks to Ski Roundtop and its park crew for building an awesome setup for the event, all the riders who came out and nearly killed themselves for a free pair of socks (now when you lose, there’s no excuse for having cold feet), and our incredible sponsors: SCION, Signal, Celsius and A Graham of Glass for making the Tour possible.

Most of all, thanks to everyone who comes out to events and supports the Snow Tour year after year. You all make it more fun than we could ever expect.

]]> http://www.thesnowtour.com/?feed=rss2&p=844 1 http://www.thesnowtour.com/?p=837 http://www.thesnowtour.com/?p=837#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:53:47 +0000 Danny http://www.thesnowtour.com/?p=837 Check the cool edit Jared Coleman made from the Ober Gatlinburg stop!

http://vimeo.com/37077516

http://www.fox43.com/videogallery/68192952/News/2-17-Ski-Roundtop-Snow-Tour

http://www.wate.com/story/16624608/ober-gatlinburg-snowboarding-event-continues-despite-a-lack-of-snow

By the time the xB and tC were parked at the Mad River Lodge on Sunday, the resort was packed: weekenders from Columbus and die-hard locals alike were cramming in runs before sloughing back to the weekday hustle. As the home mountain to Louie Vito, Xgames competitor, Olympian and Dancing with the Stars stud, Mad River always rolls out the red carpet in style. The Snow Tour Event coincided with a local breast cancer research and awareness effort called Snow Angels, and it was raising money to help with the cause.

The features: 5 down rails, 1 double kink, a lift tower, and 2 fun boxes

The Event: 

Both the Angels and Team Scionara posted up in the Lodge, signing people up for the Road Trip Raffle to win a Signal board and some Roxy gear. On the hill, Matt Guess and I were working to raise awareness for snowboarders desperately in need of new gear. And donations were flowing free in the form of hardway BS 180s on the lift tower tube, front boards on the down rail and cab 270s on the fun box.

Best trick winner Cody Hines. Hardway BS 180 switch 5050 to SW BS 180 out. That's a lot of numbers. Good thing Cody's a math genius.

The view from the top. I walked up here to get the competitor perspective, but mostly to keep my legs from freezing off.

We ran an hour-long open format rail jam, judging riders and skiers on trick quantity (# of tricks landed), technicality, difficulty and variety. We always unofficially judge based on bribes, too, but for some reason, no one ever takes us seriously.

One of our skiing friends. 270 out.

Here are the winners:

Cody Hines: Best Trick
Stephanie Grabor: Best Lady Boarder 
Jeremy Collier: Best Ski
Dallas Ball: BEST in SNOW (1st place)

Dallas walked away with a ’13 Signal Snowboard, Signal Outerwear, Celsius Boots, and a Scion Snow Tour Snowflake Trophy by A Graham of Glass. The other winners are now the proud owners of Signal hats and hoodies and a bag full o’ Scion gear. Congratulations to all the winners!

Scionara:

As usual, Mad River put on another great event. The sun blasted and the fun lasted all day thanks to the park crew, The Snow Angels and all the great Snow Tour sponsors: SCION, Signal Snowboards, Celsius Boots and A Graham of Glass. 

Thanks to everyone who came out to hang with us. It was another great event, and we can’t wait to see you all again next season. Live free and ride hard!

Our third stop brought us to Perfect North Ski Resort in Lawrenceburg, Indiana for a co-branded annual big air event with Vitamin Water. The jump was 50 feet to the knuckle, but rode more like 70ft with the wind and slow snow. Conditions were gnarly. The lip of the jump was icy, the wind was howling and riders had to stretch to make the landing, but I think I deserve a prize for scaling the sketchiest feature there: a 60-foot tall scaffolding that Matt and I had to clamber up to judge the event.

Our view from the scaffolding

Despite the conditions, the event was progressive––emphasis on the ‘pro‘. Winners of the AM division placed for FS Rodeo 7′s and underflips, and the PROs started an impromptu double backflip session two hours later in front of the screaming crowd at the bottom.

The winners, plus one Brendan Hayes (in the blue) and one Matt Guess (with the face)

In the end, winners of the AM division took home Signal hats, hoodies and a bag full of Scion swag. PRO runners-up claimed Vitamin Water-branded boards, cases of Vitamin Water, Scion swag, Signal gear and cash money. The overall snowboard winner snagged a ’13 Signal board, Signal outerwear, Celsius boots, $200, a case of V Water and the 2012 Scion Snow Tour Snowflake Trophy.

Big thanks to Perfect North for hosting the event and for making me feel happy to be alive after surviving the wobbly tower of death.  Also, to Vitamin Water for making hydration extra delicious. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that the tour wouldn’t exist without our incredible sponsors: Scion, Signal Snowboards, Celsius Boots and A Graham of Glass.

Most of all, thanks to everyone who came out to ride in or support the event (or hucked a backflip and a half to your chest). The Tour travels, but doesn’t move without you.

As usual, the Scionara crew was holding down the  Snow Tour tent next to the Ober lodge while a Party Rocker Anthem flash mob sprung up in front of DJ Dan tha Man’s tent. Me? I was sliding sideways through that springy southern slush I love so much.

The park was so much fun. Bryant and the Ober park crew killed it, as usual, setting up handrails while riders set down hammers. Once the Snow Tour contest kicked off at 3 p.m., riders and skiers sessioned the down rails and corrugated tubes for 30 minutes. After that, we picked out the top 4 riders to battle it out in a game of S.N.O.W. on the double-barrel down rail.

Here’s the rail before the game started: It had no idea what was about to happen.

All 4 snatched up Signal swag and Scion prize packs, but the overall winner walked away with a ’13 Signal board, Signal outerwear, Celsius boots and a ’12 Scion Snow Tour Snowflake trophy by Graham of Glass.

After the event, we all dropped in to the Smoky Mountain Brewery in downtown Gatlinburg for the after party sponsored by Old Smoky Moonshine. Of-age Snow Tourists sampled moonshine while the  younger competitors chomped on burgers and fries.

Here’s a list of all the winners at Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort in TN:
Best Skier: Dan
Best Trick: Kevin
4th place: Danny
3rd place: Drew Dickerson
2nd place: Thomas Ferguson
1st place, BEST in SNOW: Sean Panella

Congrats to all the winners (although we’re sorry for those of you living without last names)!

Once again, thanks to Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort (including Bryant, the park crew and ski patrol), all of the Snow Tour Sponsors (Signal Snowboards, Celsius Boots, Graham of Glass, SCION!), and all the riders and skiers who love the snow as much as we do!

You are the Snow Tour. See you next year!