Loon Mountain's "Last Call" with Eastern Boarder -
$6000 Contest
Six-Thousand Dollars up for Grabs at Loon
Mountain's Last Call with Eastern Boarder
Photos and Story by Phil Mathews
LINCOLN, NH - With $6,000 on the line at Loon Mountain for the sixth annual
Last Call with Eastern Boarder on Wednesday, March 22, everyone showed up
with hopes of dominating the course, winning the cash, and eating some free
food. In addition to the money, riders were also competing for an all
expense paid trip to Snowboarder Magazines Super Park, an Oakley Watch, a
Lib Tech Snowboard and two XBox 360ıs with Amped 3.
Eighty-one competitors registered for the day-long
contest and some of the best pro and am riders in the East, including Burton
riders Yale Cousino and Chris Rotax, made the trip to Loon. The day kicked
off with a one hour session of a step-down double jump, simply put, itıs a
huge kicker with a 6ı section missing near the beginning and a 30ı step-down
landing. Riders had to gap to the jump and then huck themselves off the
step-down. With Oakley rep and unofficial MC Nelson Wormstead behind the mic,
Burton Snowboards own Brandon Halberstadt initiated the start of the contest
with a super laid out backflip that turned on the creative thinking of the
competitors. Spins, flips, butters and crashes were demonstrated throughout
the hour long jam but couldnıt compare to Ryan Rawı Kitterageıs flawless
backside 3 to butter to frontside 5 off this trick won him an Xbox 360 and
Amped 3 Game. On the ladies side, Melissa Millar and Colleen Quigley were
throwing down with big straight airs and 180ıs off the step down.
Following the jump portion of the contest, riders
moved down to the LMP signature 30' wall ride, 15' quarterpipe, 10' Loon NH
log ride and street spine. Handplants were a growing favorite throughout
this portion of the contest among the men, women and Snowboarder Magazineıs
Pat Bridges. The log ride proved to be a difficult but entertaining feature
to watch as unofficial rider Mike Gonsalves was one of the first to hit the
log with a nose pick about half way up. The Main Event overall winner Russ
Collins was soon to follow with a 50-50 up 360 back in. The street spine
featured Cousino, Rotax, Eamon Ruberia, Niko Cioffii, Andre Beriau, Colleen
Quigley, and Melissa Millar showcasing some tech lip work with stalls,
handplants and slashes while Ian Thorley found ways to lay out backflips off
the side of the quarter.
Over on the wall ride Scott Stevens was pulling
some stylish foot plants, Waterville Valley Academyıs Scott Kuchinki was
50-50 stalling on top of the wall ride and Tom the tomcatı Peplinski was
trying mctwists from the wallride over the channel gap to the quarter.
Peplinski, in addition to building the course as a Loon Mountain park
groomer, walked away with the Oakley Judge Watch for his ride up, stall and
fakey down the log.
After a quick BBQ and Red Bull lunch break,
competition wrapped up on the box and rail setup. While the always
entertaining Chaz Gouldemond just came off a second place slopestyle win at
the Open, he wasnıt on hand to impress everyone with his flips on and off
obstacles as he did during last years contest. Instead, Kitterage didnıt let
us down with backboards to backflips off the Eastern Boarder Ledge this
thing had a huge drop to flat landing. Chris Grenier, coming off a win at
Loonıs Shop Showdown a week prior, demonstrated some serious technical
skills on the street setup and took home an Xbox 360 and Amped 3 game. Sky
Gale, Rotax, Tim Humphreys, Tanner Pendelton, Sam Hulbert, Bode Merrill and
Shaun Murphy were a few other standouts on the rails.
Although the sun poked out only a few times, it was
a great day for riding, hanging out with friends and chilling with some of
the best riders on the East Coast.
Winners Men:
Ryan Kitterage - $2000 and an all expense paid trip
to Snowboarder Magazines Super Park
Bode Merrill - $700 and Lib Tec Snowboard
Russ Collins - $300
Winners Women:
Colleen Quigley - $2000
Melissa Millar - $700
Monique Hyman - $300
Last Call with Eastern Boarder is possible with
support from event sponsors Eastern Boarder, Red Bull, Oakley, Vans, Lib
Tech, Snowboarder Magazine and Amped 3.
Photos from the event can be found at
terrainparks.loonmtn.com or by emailing pmathews@boothcreek.com or
jscambio.lm@boothcreek.com.
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Photos By Phil Mathews (click for
larger versions)
