The first Night Riders Series comp took place under the lights on January 29th in the Fishbowl Terrain Park at Whitefish Mountain Resort. The double feature event took the ‘best trick’ format using either the Armory jump (55-footer) for the Open Class, or the Central Ave jumps (30 or 25 footers) for the amateur and grom categories. Competitors were judged on best overall impression and amplitude, execution and difficulty of the trick.
Several great moments came together and resulted in an amazing night of snow shredding.
Thanks to getting the snow guns up early in the season and some great snow conditions, the terrain park crew was able to double the snowmaking capacity and opened the big jump, the Armory, open 18 days early, just in time for the comp.
Friday night under the lights in Whitefish and it is cold, it is dark, the snow is hard and fast. While you could sit by the fire in the bar and watch the X-Games live on the big screen we choose to be just a few steps out on the snow in the cold dropping in through the fog. The Flathead Valley is home to Whitefish Mountain Resort and can claim helping to develop X-Games stars such as Tanner Hall and up and comer Mitch Gilman. Here in the dark under the light of the park we are watching a local grass-roots contest at its best.
In the Open Divisions, amazing riding and tricks from local standouts went big off our newly opened 55-foot table jump. Skiing in the Open Division we saw Danner Pickering with a corked 9 but missed the grab, Billy Marcial throw a mute grab rodeo 7 and Travis Adams throwing a corked 9 tail grab for the win. The Open Division was the obvious crowd favorite with these guys going big in front of a large crowd of spectators just feet away from the takeoff and landing.
The real stars and the future of our sports and the names you may see replace the legends are kids like Ethan Lanagan riding in the 8-12 year old Grom Division taking the win with a backside 360 or a young Maggie Voison taking second to a competitor nearly twice her age with a smooth 360. The grom division on skis is getting pretty stacked with kids like Wyatt Coe, Tucker Voisen and Ladd Costain going big with double daffys, smooth grabs and pushing for spins. Over in the Amateur Ski Division Mathew Hensley pulled around a super nice 900.
Moment make events, events make memories and up here in Whitefish, Montana we are growing future stars through our Night Riders Park Series one week at a time.
Next Up in the Night Riders Series:
February 6 – Night Riders Rail Series #2 – Rail Jam WITH the VOLCOM Blizzard Tour. ASG and Kandi Coded will play a free show at the Bierstube in the heart of the Village. Join in for fireworks, high energy music and Volcom pro athlete appearances.
February 26 – Night Riders Park Series #3 – Slopestyle
Go to www.skiwhitefish.com for full details of all events and for the complete results.
Results:
Open (13+)
1. Travis Adams
2. Billy Marcial
3. Danner Pickering
Men Am (13+)
1. Matthew Hensley
2. Terry Wymein
3. Ryan Burrows
Grom (8-12)
1. Wyatt Coe
2. Tucker Volson
3. Ladd Costain
Ladies (8+)
1. Meredith Reed
2. Maggie Volson
