This weekend, the Salomon Jib Academy rolled into Pennsylvania and splashed to a stop at Sno Mountain… in the pouring rain. Torrential downpour met the coaches and participants in the morning with no stop in site. Rain jackets, ponchos and trash bags filled the slopes as the rain went between a light mist and rock solid drops all day long.

The rain couldn’t stop the stoke though. Around 50 kids showed up and skied all morning with Mike Clarke, Matt Walker, Keri Herman, Tommy Ellingson, Seth Warner, Nick Martini and Cody Ling. The park was in decent shape for the amount of rain the area had seen and rails with one large jump were the order of the day. Big shout to the terrain park crew who stuck around all day in the rain to keep the jumps maintained as best they could.

The Pennsylvania crew is a tight knit scene that centers Sno Mountain as well as neighboring Big Boulder, an all-terrain park mountain we’re planning on stopping at tomorrow on our way out of town. We’ll keep you posted on the program over there. This Jib Academy stop was also the closest for kids from the New England area and many athletes from Waterville and Whaleback were in attendance.

Once the initial coaching sesh was over and lunch was had, finals got underway. And it was a tight competition to be sure. Sean Jordan, Steven Larick, Tom Warnick, Marco Albert, Gage Stemple, Johnny Huniyack, Ryan Brant, Jake Doan, Robin Holby and Catherine Kerzetski all made it to finals, voted in by their peers, and threw down, despite the rain. Warnick threw a switch bio nine and was quickly followed by Sean’s switch rodeo seven truck that garnered oohs and ahhs from the crowd. The tallies were close and in the end, Sean Jordan was invited to Mammoth, winning the votes from his peers.

So despite the weather not working out so well in this part of the country, kids were stoked, albeit wet, and we’ll see most of them tomorrow in Big Boulder.