Breast-Aid 96: Boarding for Breast Cancer

The Beastie Boys (playing as Quasar ) brought a huge crowd of alternabrats to Sierra-at- Tahoe to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer in young. women. It worked.

"It was amazing how well everything turned out," said organizer Kathleen Gasperini, Publisher of WIG Magazine. "We never expected the kind of turn out we got. We raised $50,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund which means 75 percent of the gross proceeds went directly to the Fund. We're pretty happy."

The event would have raised even more money if people had paid at the gate. Sierra-at-Tahoe donated a portion of the money made selling lift tickets and spectator bracelets to the cause, but a lot of people just didn't pay. "It was one of our biggest days ever if you look at our parking lot, but we only sold 2300 tickets and," said John Rice, general manager at the resort. "I think we had a lot of kids who came up to see the Beastie Boys for free."

The idea for BBC came about after W.I.G. Magazine ran a story by Bonfire clothing designer Monica Steward, called, "Both Feet on the Ground"--an account of her own battle with breast cancer at the age of 27. Monica's words proved shocking, yet inspiring. Letters and phone calls to W.I.G. indicated that many women in their 20's never knew they were at risk. But breast cancer is the most commonly detected cancer in American women today and is the leading cause of cancer death for women ages 15 to 54. Unfortunately for Monica, any help her event could have provided to cure her own cancer, came too late. She died January 8, 1996. The event went on in her memory, and was a huge success. If only she could have seen it.

The event was made up of started out with a big air contest and pipe demo and a live stage where John Logic, owner of the Snowboard Connection in Seattle, Washington hosted the bands The Spent Idols, Tilt, Sick of It All, and Quasar (which is the Beastie Boys pretending to be punk rockers). Closer to the lodge Rock for Choice, The Breast Cancer Fund, Rock the Vote, and the Surfrider Foundation had booths encouraging snowboarders to get more involved with the serious issues facing the world.

Mingling in among the crowd of Northern California's grooviest kids, were some of snowboarding's biggest names: Jeff Brushie, Tina Basich, Shannon Dunn, Noah Brandon, Shaun Palmer, Jimmy Halopoff, Rob Dafoe, Devin Walsh, Tucker Fransen, Michele Taggart, Mark Fawcett, Megan Pichke, and many others. Some rode the pipe and the jump, but most were just there to lend their support to the event.

The big air contest featured two kickers: one big, one small. Both shaped by Boarder Built's Rob Guistina specially for the event. The big one was a nice launcher with a 30 foot table top, and the smaller one had about 20 feet of table. The snow was getting pretty warm during the finals and nearly everyone was coming up short. The men's big air contest was won by Shannon Doa for a sweet front twisting cork screw air off the small jump. Jennie Warra won for the women. Over in the pipe Kevin Young, Devin Walsh, and Shaun Palmer were schooling the crowd on proper pipe riding.

Musically, Sick of It All ruled the day with hard driving punk rock that had the a small crowd moshing, sliding, and slamming in the corn snow. It wasn't until the Beastie Boys (wearing bright orange jump-suits and calling themselves Quasar) took to the stage that the crowd really came together. It looked like about 6,000 people were packed in around the band. After a couple thrash songs people in the audience began shouting for the boys to play Sabotage. Quasar answered with several more punk rock songs. Then the snowballs began flying. Finally, Quasar had to leave the stage because it was getting too dangerous to continue.

No one could tell if the snowballs were being thrown because the Beastie Boys weren't playing the songs that made them famous, or if the punkers in the crowd just wanted to disrupt the show. Either way the event ended in a snowball melee that continued until the Highway Patrol helicopters came in. "Please clear the area," a voice from the sky said. "Clear the area and drive safely. Have a nice day."

How did it all turn out? "I thought it was fabulous considering 6000 snowball throwing snowboarders were on the mountain and no one was arrested, or seriously injured," said John Rice, general manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe. "Next year there are things we'll do differently. I don't know if the punk thing is something we want to promote. Beavis and Butthead on snow is the real image of snowboarding."

Things may be a little different, but the message will be the same--snowboarders can make a difference. They can educate themselves and do something for a good cause; even if it just means showing up and partying down.

Check out the party action on the gallery page

For more information on Boarding For Breast Cancer, or how you can become a sponsor, volunteer, or attendee at next year's event call: (802) 864-7123. For more information on the Breast Cancer Fund or for your own information kit on breast cancer call: (415) 543-2979.