Aaron Tobler. Photo: Drew Diehl

Written by: Andrew Hart

Utah is a terribly misunderstood state. Though it may be the most conservative state in the Union, the Beehive state has all kinds of hidden gnarliness. For instance: the state snack is Jell-O, and there ain't much that is more fun than Jell-O. As the Galvanic Crew verified, the 3.2% brew's of the Beehive state can still get a bunch of sea-leveler's loose (thanks to the altitude). And check out the natives: JP Walker, John Stockton, the Osmonds, and Roseanne Barr. Talk about wild! It's practically a casting list for SLC Punk! 2.

Erika Vikander. Photo: Drew Diehl

If the majority of Utah is conservative, only the minority showed up to the Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour at the University of Utah on February 21. The riding that went down was straight anarchy. Once DJ Gristified and MC Chimpy T plugged in atop their tower of power, the jam exploded with some of the best riding of the tour yet.

Catherine Warchal. Photo: Drew Diehl

Though their field was small, the ladies sporting two-planks packed a powerful punch, the mightiest being that of Catherine Warchal. Men's skiers spun every way imaginable and some un-imaginable onto each of the three rails. John Ware and Calvin Hawley together racked up enough 270's for an entire season, but Calvin's stockpile of tricks ended up the greatest. The lady shreds were gambling life and limb for the invite to the Portland finals. Erika Vikander bet high with afrontboard, 5-0 and a mean poker-face and took the win.

The men's snowboarders trimmed the list of unclaimed tricks on the three rails down to next-to-nothing.

Check out the highlights:

Signal Snowboards rider Craig Gillis wrapped up his snow bum extravaganza with a backlip through the down-flat-down and lipslide pretzel-out on the flat bar. Brandon Trombley of Monument Snowboards was rewinding 270's all afternoon, taking them on and off in case anybody blinked. Milosport and Signal Street Team Chris Brewster went the distance with a nosepress through the kink. The Variety Pack crew of Ted Borland, Patrick Harrington, and Sean Black brought a grab bag of goodies to the down-flat-down: frontboard 270 out and a tailpress 180 out. Jon Spiris kept his head down and nosepressed and came up with 5th place in the final. Massachusetts transplant Brandon Sorel finished 4th with some very persuasive 270's and frontboards. Civil Apparel John Adkins got 3rd for his tech-tack-toe combos and flannel clad frontboards on the kink. Nick Guin spread buttery nospresses and frontboard pretzel outs all over the setup and was the first runner-up. Aaron Tobler presented the judges with a flawless case by sticking clean lipslides, frontboards, nosepresses and combos on each of the three rails securing first place.

RESULTS:
SNOWBOARD MEN
1st – Aaron Tobler
2nd – Nick Guin
3rd – John Adkins
4th – Brandon Sorel
5th – Jon Spiris

SNOWBOARD WOMEN
1st – Erika Vikander
2nd – Whitney Frankovic
3rd – Lijwan Allen

Thanks to all the sponsors: Cricket Wireless, Clif Bar, Signal Snowboards, FUEL TV, Giro, Snowboarder Magazine, Spyder, Milosport, Civil Apparel, Lenitech Snow and Skate and Eclipse Snow Park. Special thanks to the ASUU, DJ Gristified, MC Chimpy T, Red Bull, One Love Ski and Snowboard Team, and the University of Utah.

Stay tuned for updates from our event at the Kroc Center in San Diego.

Apply to ride online at www.campusrailjamtour.com.