Words: Heather Hendricks / Photos: Justin Olsen and Heather Hendricks

On Saturday March 7, Park City Mountain Resort held the initial Intelligent Design Contest that was a 5 star TTR event. The premise of this comp was to create the most progressive course possible by integrating a slope style course, a super pipe and a quarter pipe in one run. The futuristic approach to the comp, coupled with a prize purse of 50G's lured snowboarding's finest to compete this weekend in the notorious city of parks.

The layout of the course had some of the athletes joking that there should have been a boarder-cross section in the run because the course literally had features from every other contest format. The first hit was a 70 ft booter that led into a step-up and over jump. Alex S, a member of the park crew for Park City, said that this feature ranged from 50-80 feet depending on where the riders launched. Catty-corner to this landing, two rail features were set up side-by-side. Athletes could choose between a mellow down rail or a banked C box, each leading into the pristine 22ft super pipe. To top it all off, Park City built a behemoth of a quarter pipe at the base of the pipe which allowed riders to boost into oblivion one last time. Park City’s idea for the Intelligent Design was based off having the most progressive comp possible, and with a course like this, they definitely accomplished their goal.

The first stop of the Winter Dew Tour in beatuiful Breckenridge, Colorado, concluded Sunday with the men’s pipe finals. The clouds parted and the sun shone brightly creating near-perfect conditions for the riders. The competetion proved fierce as a nail-biting battle to the top ensued.