 |
||
| Vegetate: A Nice Way To End The Season
It was a chaotic weekend of unpredictable weather, competition confusion, and unexpected winners at Vegetate '97, a benefit put on by Mt. Hood Meadows to help support the resorts revegetation program. But regardless of the discombobulation felt by competitors, attendees of the four day event seemed to enjoy themselves. And why shouldn't they? Twenty-five dollar lift tickets and a chance to see snowboarders huck for bucks made Mt. Hood Meadows a fun place to be. The sun shone brightly on the first day for the slopestyle, the clouds moved in late afternoon on the second day during the boardercross, and snow fell on and off on Sunday during the big air. The competition portion of Vegetate was a little shaky as organizers often seemed confused about how the various events were supposed to be run, but over two hundred competitors hung in for the first two days, and nearly fifty riders entered the big air on the last day. The big air might have been better attended had the weather been more promising, but a lot of competitors were tired out from the previous days boardercross and were expecting rain on Sunday. Unlike the first two days of competition, the big air had no entry fee and a first place cash prize of $500. Kim Bohnsak and sixteen year old Tyler De Wilde, both of Bend, Oregon swooped the big air, taking home first. Both of the big air winners were a bit surprised, as both were new to big air competitions. The unsponsored and little known Kim Bohnsak had never competed in a big air competition before and said that the jump was the biggest she'd ever gone off. She spun a clean backside 360 stomping the landing perfectly, ousting Utah's Liz Walker who pulled a front flip, but butt checked a bit in the landing. In the men's division the competition was going strong early on as people began pulling 720s in the second round of judged jumps. In the finals five men were left and each one had a good shot at winning. Andrew Crawford led the pack off with a 720. The pressure really was on for Tyler DeWilde because he was the last to drop in the finals, and his jump was following Allen Traves who pulled a nearly perfect 900 in motocross gear. Tyler was fearless though as he hit the jump at full speed and launched a high, clean front flip, sticking it perfectly in the landing. The crowd cheered loudly as Tyler rode out the jump with a huge victorious smile on his face and arms in the air. Vegetate, now in its second year, was sponsored by MLY and Arnell snowboards and Berger Bindings ( a new step-in system). Booths at the event included Airwalk, Vans, Rift, MLY, Arnell, Berger Bindings, Salomon, Extreme Bindings, and local radio station 94.7 KNRK. Also on site was the Board B.U.D. tour bus, which provided the sound system and brought in the bands for the weekend.
|