Every year that snowboarding seems to change, as it becomes more and more big business, one place stays the same. That place is Mt. Baker. If you want to truly see what snowboarding was like ten years ago make your way up the famously treacherous Mt. Baker highway. As you follow its twists and turns something truly strange will happen. Around each switchback a year or two seems to be gained back in the name of snowboarding good. When I say you'll be able to see what snowboarding was like ten years ago, I don't mean you'll see a bunch of people running around in neon OP wear and doing two foot high cross-rocket airs. Instead I mean to say that Mt Baker still has the feel of what it was like to ride ten years ago. In a way the dark and damp Washington environment seems to be quite in line with the way I like to remember things from back then. The mountain still gives you that feeling of being part of something that is intimately your own. While it is something uniquely personal you conceed to share it with others with an understanding that is shared in some uncommunicated way. In this way at Baker you can still get on a chair with someone and just look over and smile and they know what you're thinking.

Mike "Tex" Davenport in 1995.

Does all this badly lit scenery and unspoken nudge, nudge, wink, wink communication sound a little too much like an X-Files episode? And if so, is Mt Baker part of a bigger conspiracy in snowboarding? It must be. Why else would the sports top professionals, who get paid good money just to make appearances at other contests, come back year after year just to win a duct tape trophy at Mt Baker? Mysterious indeed.

In anycase, this is exactly what has been happening at Mt. Baker for the past 16 years. The event of course is the Legendary Mt Baker Banked Slalom. The event harkens back to a competitive era when contestants competed in all disciplines of riding. To be overall World Champion meant something back in the day. Mostly it meant that freestyle and alpine guys all competed against one another. What it decided was who was truly the best snowboarder in the world. Now that things have changed and even events as seemingly similar in nature as slopestyle and halfpipe have different stars. It seems that finding out who the best overall snowboarder has become a moot point. However the Banked Slalom, to some extent, brings that exact point up every year. Just looking at this year's registrants one cannot help but notice the diversity and depth of the field. Many of those same competitors that fought it out for the overall titles in years past are registered to compete. It blew me away to see names like Peter Bauer, Mike Jacoby and Paolo Dabbeni, all former World Champions, on the same list as new school rulers like Josh Dirksen, J2, and Tara Dakides. For some riders this is the only contest that even sees their registration. Besides the elusive Haakon, the Banked Slalom draws many out from mist of their underground contentment like Wes Makepeace, Temple Cummins, and Matt Donahue.

Karleen Jeffery, most winning woman at the Mt. Baker LBS.

The event itself, which sent it's first competitor through a gate in 1985, is not your normal event by any stretch of the imagination. The course is something of a Frankenstein-like beast; a cross between an alpine, halfpipe, mogul and boardercoss event. Imagine the run as a huge halfpipe with gates at the lip with boardercross jumps and berms in the flat bottom. Next you can imagine what it would take to win this event. You won't see any loose freestyle slider or stiff alpine specialist claiming the trophy. The race requires both the understanding of speedy edge control and transition: definitely a unique blend. As is the case, some of the performances have been as legendary as the event itself. Besides Tom Sims beating out Terry Kidwell for the first event title in '85, Karleen Jeffery's six overall titles (four in a row), and Terje's fakie qualifying run that bested ¾'s of the pro field one year come to mind immediately.

Table Mountain from Mt. Baker Ski Area.

Snowboarding is at a precarious stage where you can still see those who inspired the sport's birth on the hill. It's not often that you get to see Michael Jordan shoot hoops with Wilt Chamberlain, but that is just what is happening in snowboarding right now. We can do this. In fact I saw Jake Burton and Terje ride on the very same day at Stratton two years ago. The illustrated history of snowboarding tenuously remains at your fingertips. If you want to catch your last true glimpse snowboarding's life so far, a sort of life flashes before your eyes scenario, your best bet is to make your way up to this year's Banked Slalom.

   Send to a friend  | Submit your photo or video
   Top Rated Photos |  Top Rated Videos |  Most Sent