Tuesday, February 12

Vans Triple Crown

By George Crosland
EXPN.com

Round two of the Vans Triple Crown took place in Big Bear, CA. Snow Summit was one of the first resorts to support Snowboarding and take parks to a new level. Sunny, dry weather meant two weeks postponement while snow was made for the Superpipe. The delay meant the event coincided with opening weekend of the Olympics, but world class riders still showed up to rip. Unlike the 16,000 security forces in Salt Lake, this event had maybe one security guard, creating a very cool and relaxed atmosphere.

Slopestyle

An action packed course, in addition to the usual rails and jumps, other obstacles like hips, a big quarter pipe, and a side-by-side gap jump were all utilized. "It was good, I liked it a lot" Shaun White said of the course.

Tara Dakides cruised to victory under the sunny skies. Katrina Voutilainen just edged out Pauline Richon from Switzerland, for 2nd on the Women's side.

Todd Richards used his experience to win, but not without Shaun White fighting for his share of the money. Going into the final run they were dead even, utilizing every possible rail and doing big spins off the jumps. "I hoped it was enough to put me on top but Todd killed it" Shaun said about his last run. Kyle Clancy took third.

Giant Tailgrab by Keir Dillon

Halfpipe

Saturday was cold and windy. The women all rode solid while braving the 40mph winds. "The pipe was awesome. Frank Wells did a great job of getting it together because a few days ago it wasn't so good but today it was awesome," Gretchen Blieler said of the pipe condition. Blieler spun some b/s 540's, hit a f/s 720 and went big during the final jam to take top honors. Veteran Cara-beth Burnside made a b/s 540; alley-oop 540 to take second, while Autumn Rose took third. "It was really hard because of the wind factor," Burnside said of going really big Saturday.

Due to the conditions, the men's pipe was delayed until the following day. When Sunday came around it was calm and beautiful, the pipe was in good shape, and it looked to be a great day for a comp.

The top five rode in their own contest today. Shaun White put the hammer down and took home the top money. Shaun powered through the technical tricks, like a f/s stalefish 900 and a rodeo while going huge and smooth. "It was actually a really good pipe for today," said Shaun.

Womens pipe winner Gretchen Bleiler fighting the wind on this big frontside.

Andy Finch was consistently huge, doing an inverted 900, crippler 720, giant Mctwists and an inverted 1080. Andy gave Shaun a run for 1st place. "Can't ask for better weather. We're in t-shirts. It doesn't get any better than this," Andy said.

Travis Rice made his 1st podium appearance at the 2002 Winter X Games (Gold, Slopestyle) and today Rice got third. Legend Terje Haakonsen took 4th and Abe Teeter rounded out the top five. It is worth noting that Jed Anderson got 15th at the ripe age of 10 years old.

Big Air

A crowd favorite, lots of people watched the huck-fest. The gnarly 1st cut narrowed the group from 88 to 26 riders. Like the pipe comp, Big Air was done in jam format. It was not any one run that won it, but overall performance. Josh Feliciano stomped a b-side rodeo 900 and took the big money home to Tahoe. Nate Sheehan pulled a cab 1080 and b/s corked 900. Andreas Wiig hit a b/s 720 and cab 540. Wiig even attempted a 1260, but he reverted the landing. For his efforts he took third place money back to Norway.

Big Air podium. L-R Nate Sheehan, Andreas Wiig, Josh Feliciano

Sessions

On Saturday afternoon Summit's infamous S-Rail was set up and a huge session, with everyone in attendence, ensued. All tried, few made it. The riders also took advantage of the weather and stuck around everyday to rip the local terrain. Local riders got to share their parks and Superpipe with the likes of Terje, Keir Dillon, Travis Rice and tons more. Overall, a good fun contest, all local riders should come check the best in the World when the Triple Crown rolls through town.

Related Photos:
Vans Triple Crown - Big Bear