Words: Hometown Heroes / Photos: Matty Alberts

After a solid week of blowing snow and gnarnia-like temperatures, the sun broke clear and jackets came off for the first ever Hometown Heroes of Snowboarding. Unlike other “extreme” rail jams, the course at the base of Copper Mountain offered all the necessary features to put a riders skills to the test but was without the unnecessary stairs, cars, or flaming barbed wire alligator pits to jump through. A flat box into tranny, a long, mellow kinked rail, and a 40 foot down rail were all torn to pieces by the impressive field of pros and ams. Even the Dingo wanted to hang up the mic and drop in a few times. (If you don’t know, Dingo can shred your face off). From a 20 ft VIP scaffoding, DJ Majai got filthy and set the joint on fire.

Things started off with a 30 minute am-only session from which the top 6 were chosen to advance to the final. Chris Grenier showed up and let everyone know that he is the real deal. Hardway 270’s and backlips through the kink were warm-ups for this kid. Quebexican rising star Louif Paradis dropped in and turned every head his way. Text book back lip, back 1 switch nosepress, and hardway 270 are not only in this kid’s bag, but are in this kid’s bag proper as f**k. I’d tell you to keep an eye out for Louif, but I’m pretty sure you aint gonna miss him. Academy destroyer Scott Stevens pulled out just about every trick in the book and then some. You kind of had to be there, but there is something about a 50-50 to 30 foot frontfilp off the kink that is pretty intense. Not to mention, the best 5-0 through kink I’ve ever seen. Other standouts included Chad Tarbell for his banging style, Jonas Michilot for his smooth moves, Nasty Nick Dirks for being dirty, Madison Ellsworth for mopping up the kink all day, Jason Legge for committing to try to back 270 the kink the entire time, and the random nerdy poacher from Portland that came with some impressive moves as well.

After a quick course cleanup, the pro-only session got rollin’ and the top 6 were picked and moved into the final. Aside from his usual antics, Magoon managed to almost pull off a new trick that I can’t even explain. Kevin Casillo has been calling it the tiny rail dancer. Mike Casanova showed up with every intention of walking away with some loot in his pocket. Back 1 to 270 on the rail to 270 out was stock for Nova. Lane Knaack only dropped in regular once and fell so he decided he would ride the rest of the contest switch (most people couldn’t even tell). Sammy Leubke, who was making the best of his new Banana with some smooth 270 tailslides and all kinds of other stuff that happened so fast it’s hard to write about. CL Smooth Colin Langlois wasn’t scared to bring out every movie imaginable on the kink; nosepress, 5-0, front board, you name it. A few other guys with some serious maneuvers out there included Yan Dofin, Mitch Reed, Donny Needles Casillo, Pat Milbury, James Frederick, and Jeff Kramer.

Things moved on into the finals where the top 6 pros drew names out of a hat and were paired with one of the ams. Things were getting crazy when Magoon was first to draw and picked Chris Grenier. Needless to say, the others were sweating at this point. The finals went on with some even more insane tricks than I called out before and ended with the judges (Nic Drago, Todd Franzen, and Doran Laybourn…legit) telling me that they had scored the pro division as a tie between Mike Casanova and Lucas Magoon. Rather than splitting top dollars, they went into a 3 try “rail off”. 2 tries later, neither rider had landed the next to impossible tricks they were throwing at the kink rail. On his 3rd and final attempt, Gooner pulled a back 1 switch nosepress, 270 off the kink to boardslide to fakie and needless to say, walked away 10 G’s richer. Moments after a ten thousand dollar payday, he got 1500 more as he and Chris Grenier were awarded top team honors.

That wraps up the 1st ever Hometown Heroes of Snowboarding. If you weren’t there, you missed quite a show. If you were, you’re stoked and are probably walking away with a gang of free goods compliments of the sponsors. Big shout to Copper Mt., Lost Energy Drink, 686, Salomon Snowboards, Lib Tech, Gnu, and everyone else who helped make this thing happen. Be sure to hit up HHSNOW.com for more photos, videos, and a chance to win some free snowboards. Don’t worry, we’ll be around next season to bring you round 2 of the best rail contest in snowboarding. Hometown Heroes. Peace son.

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