Photo: Kat Borchart

    Jamie Anderson took the gold, $10,000 and was crowned winner of the 2008 slopestyle competition at the Roxy Chicken Jam. Second and third went to Chanelle Sladics and Sina Candrian respectively. Anderson’s run was picture perfect.
    Raewyn Reid’s back side 180 to front sideboard to 180 out was the best trick during the slopestyle competition. She was spinning the whole way!!!!!! She won the Zumiez Orange Battleship Best Box Trick award plus $3,000 prize purse!

“I’m proud to see how far women’s snowboarding has come. The girls all rode amazingly and are continuing to raise the level of women’s snowboarding,” said Danielle Beck, director of sports marketing for Roxy.

    37 snowboarders from around the world competed in the slopestyle competition, including five riders from the qualifying round. The sun was out and the conditions were ideal for snowboarding.

“The event was great! Mammoth Mountain was amazing to work with. We faced some challenges with the weather but finished off on a great note with the perfect weather and progressive riding,” said Cedar Pearsall, event manager for Roxy.

    The Roxy Chicken Jam is the final event in the TTR World Tour. Crowning took place after the slopestyle awards where Jamie Anderson was crowned champion and won $50,000. Torah Bright got second place and $25,000. It was a tight race going into the TTR Championship with less than a 40 point spread between the top three snowboarders – Torah Bright, Kelly Clark, and Jaime Anderson. Congratulations Jamie!
    FUEL TV will air the Roxy Chicken Jam on Tuesday, May 13 at 8:00pm ET/PT during its Snow Pack snowboard programming block. For more information, please check out FUEL.TV.

More about the Roxy Chicken Jam
    The 4th annual Roxy Chicken Jam presented by Schick® Quattro® for Women® took place at Mammoth Mountain, CA from March 28-30, 2008. The total prize purse for the Slopestyle and Superpipe competitions was $40,000, with the TTR kicking in another $110,000 for a grand total of $150,000* and the World Champ title up for grabs!

   
Beautiful conditions for the slopestyle competition on the last day of the Roxy Chicken Jam!!! According to Kelsey Van Patten, a 17 year-old slopestyle qualifier competitor from Vermont, the conditions on the course are perfect for the competition. The snow is not too firm and everything is kept in shape.

“I thought the course was a lot of fun, the jumps were a good size,” said Van Patten.

    The slopestyle course starts off with a down barrel and a down rail, side by side. It is followed by a 40 ft battleship box (also know as a trapezoid or an long up flat down box). The finale is three kickers, small, medium and large. The first one is about 20 ft high, the second is 30 ft high, and the third is about 45 ft.

“The kickers are fun to spin because they send you perfectly, they have perfect pop,” reports 16 year-old slopestyle qualifier competitor Cheyne Brooking, a Mammoth Mountain local.   

“I like how you can go pretty slow into the jumps, cuz they’re pretty poppy and smooth, you don’t really feel out of control ever,” said Van Patten, “At first I was mad that the competition was postponed, but now I’m glad, it was worth the wait, so fun today!”

    Van Patten ended up placing 15 and Brooking 16 in the slopestyle qualifying round. The top five qualifiers who will be competing in the main slopestyle event are:
1.    Izumi Amaike, JPN
2.    Beverly Vuilleumier, North Lake Tahoe, USA
3.    Molly Milligan, Whistler, CAN
4.    Sarka Pancochova, Uh.Brod, CZE
5.    Allen LeJawn, Orem, USA

Photo: Kat Borchart. Nicki Slechta rides the up flat down box on the slopestyle course.

Watch this wrap up video from day 2 of the Roxy Chicken Jam. What an exciting day on the Superpipe! See for yourself…

 
Silje Johnson launched some massive air in her practice run! Photo: Kat Borchart.

    For the second time at this event, Mother Nature hasn’t cooperated with the Roxy Chicken Jam. The Slopestyle qualifier has been delayed today due to windy conditions and will be held tomorrow with the finals. This hasn’t stopped the riders from hitting the slopes and taking some practice runs.
    While the qualifier has been delayed on the slopes, it has been rocking inside the lodge. The Sponsorship village set up camp inside today. Music was pumping at the Zumiez both where people were decorating brightly colored bandannas and t-shirts with iron on designs – including the Zumiez couch and a headless cow. Bandanas are essential on a windy day like today.
    Beach balls were flying through the air from the Schick Quattro for Women booth where they were giving them away for free. There were also water bottles, razors, and towels up for grabs.
    At the Zune booth they featured artwork from international artists that can be lasered onto the back of your zune so that no two are ever the same. Zune is a social community dedicated to sharing music, art, videos, photos, and podcasts. JBL also had a booth set up with speakers hand painted by Roxy artists.
    The Boarding for Breast Cancer booth had a display set to teach young people how to do self breast exams. Their moto is “Early Detection + Active Lifestyle = Best Prevention.” Paul Mitchell introduced two new lines at their booth as part of their Head for Change campaign to get people thinking about what they can do to better the earth. They were handing out samples of the Tea Tree line, affiliated with American Forests. Proceeds from each purchase go towards planting a tree. Proceeds from the Instant Moisture product go towards the Waterkeeper Alliance started in southern California dedicated to cleaning up waterways.
    So many great booths, so many great messages, the Sponsorship village is a definite hit.    

   
Petter Ericon Stakkee and Terry Wolfers, the song-writing partners from Alberta Cross, were eating breakfast in the VIP conference center looking quite rakish in their Quiksilver gear. They played an amazing concert last night in the village at Mammouth Mountain, CA.

“It was cold on stage, we were freezing’, it was hard to move, colder than England!” said Stakee, “But we’re kinda used to this weather being from England.”
“My hands between songs would freeze! But we warmed up after three songs,” said Wolfers.

“The crowd was brilliant!” added in Stakee.

    At the concert Albert Cross played a mix of songs from their past two albums. The concert was a huge success and the crowd loved the band. Their song “Lucy Rider” was a definite favorite.

    As for this morning, Stakee was getting ready to hit the slopes with his manager Rene Symonds to get in some riding in before heading back to L.A.

“This is one of my first times in California. I used to snowboard a lot when I was younger, growing up in Sweden… but I’m not ready to challenge Torah in the pipe!” said Stakee.

    In L.A. they will work on a new album and then off to New York to play a few shows.

Photo: Kat Borchart

  View from Above 
  Originally uploaded by roxyeventphotos

    The concert featuring Silversun Pickups and Alberta Cross in the village at Mammoth Mountain was AMAZING! The tunes of the night echoed throughout the entire Mammoth Mountain village and drew a huge crowd of 1,500 people, more than mid-sized venue could have handled.

“The crowd was brilliant!” said Alberta Cross’s main singer Petter Ericon Stakkee.

    The night began with the bluesy, folky sounds of British band, Alberta Cross.  Petter Ericon Stakkee’s vocals echoed throughout the entire village. During their set, Alberta Cross played a mix of songs from their past two albums. Even though it was cold on stage, the band warmed up after about three songs.
    Up next was the indie rock band Silversun Pickups (SSPU). Their sweet melodies resonated well with the crowd. Their set included their hit singles “Little Lover’s So Polite” and “Lazy Eye.” SSPU had just returned from playing a few shows in Hawaii. Nothing like going from the ocean to the mountains! SSPU were excited to be playing at the Roxy Chicken Jam.
    During SSPU’s set, the concert crowd got pretty rowdy. Our own Roxy Chicken jumped on the stage during SSPU’s encore, and danced around for a bit before being pulled back down into the crowd. The other Roxy Chicken Jam mascots, the Roxy Racoon, Bunny, and Chicken made a guest appearance at the concert. They were celebrating their killer runs down the superpipe earlier that afternoon. Even though it was a little chilly a good time was had by all.

It was definitely an exciting day in the half pipe! The competition was tough and the athletes were focused, launching massive air and having impressing runs.

None could compare to Kelly Clark, though, who took first place in the Superpipe Competition. In her winning runs she stayed at least head-high above the lip on every hit and threw down massive frontside and backside airs into a 540 to 540 combo. These runs ultimately lead to the first place title and the $10,000 check.

"I am excited to be here at the Chicken Jam and to have won today’s Superpipe title," said Clark.  "This event is such an important part of our tour in determining the world champion. I had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to Slopestyle tomorrow."

Roxy team-riders Torah
Bright and Kjersti Buass followed close behind in second and third.

The winner of the  Schick® Quattro for Women® $3,000 Best Trick Award was Dominque Vallee for her sick ollie-oop michalchuk. Dominique placed seventh overall.

Click here for more results.

Check back tomorrow morning for the Slopestyle qualifiers and main event..and we will hopefully crown the next TTR World Champion!

The photo to the right is Clark in the pipe launching massive air.
Photo credit: Mark Welsh

After the superpipe awards ceremony I caught up with Torah, Kjersti, and Dominique to see how the season went and to gain a few words of wisdom from these inspirational athletes.

Up first…Torah Bright! She had just won the silver in the superpipe.

Mia: “Torah, the Roxy Chicken Jam is the last event in the TTR World Tour, and you have had a great season so far, what would you say is the highlight for this season?”
Torah: “I think the highlight of this season was the mascot contest at the Roxy Chicken Jam! It was pretty funny and I’ve never seen anything like that before!”
Mia: “Seeing those mascots go down the halfpipe was awesome, do you have any advice for young riders?”
Torah: “Have fun! Take every opportunity you get…and have fun!”

Torah takeaway: Have fun when you’re boarding!

Up next, Dominique Vallee, who just won the best trick, the ollie-oop michalchuk, in the superpipe.
Mia: “How did it feel to win best trick in the superpipe competition?”
Dominique: “It feels really good. I’ve been having a bad contest season and I took a couple of weeks off to press the restart button…I’ve been rewarded for it! I felt really relaxed during the contest, just playing with it. I didn’t plan on the ollie-oop michalchuck, I just went for it!”

Dominique takeaway: Pressing the restart button is a good way to re-energize.

And finally, Kjersti Buaas, who won the bronze in the superpipe.
Mia: “What was the best part of the superpipe competition?”
Kjersti: “I managed to get things together and to land jumps. It is a really good feeling to compete well and it makes you more motivated. You can see that all your hard work has paid off.”

Kjersti takeaway: Practice hard! It will pay off.

Thanks Kjersti, Dominique and Torah. Great job today!

Photo: Kat Borchart

   
    History was in the making this afternoon during the Mascot Superpipe competition sponsored by Rockstar. Not only was it the first mascot competition in Roxy Chicken Jam history, but the victor turned out to be a local celebrity.
    Woolly, the official mascot of Mammoth Mountain, took the gold and walked away with $4,000! The secret to Woolly’s success? Dedicated training and a solid pre-competition ritual. He started training about a week and a half before the superpipe competition and follows this strict ritual:
1. Eat a bowl of wheaties.
2. Do 5 or 6 pushups.
3. Pound a Rockstar…and you’re good to go!
Congratulations Wolly! All of your hard work has paid off. Best costume went to the Zumiez Couch. He walked away with $1,000. The Chicken was beat this time around but there’s always next year…

Twenty other mascots registered for the event, including the Roxy Bear, Roxy Chicken, Roxy Racoon, Roxy Bunny, the Fuel Penguin and the Fuel Pinto, a Spacecraft Bunny, the Whammy Bear, Chicken Little, the Mammoth Hotdog, the Mammoth Husky, the Zumiez couch , the Fat Ballerina, Winnie the Pooh, and the Snowman. It was amazing to see all these athletic mascots charging down the superpipe!

  Photo: Kat Borchart
 

The superpipe qualifier results are in and all the athletes did a great job competing in the pipe. The spring conditions made the pipe a little icy on the shady side and a little slushy on the sunny side, but overall the pipe was a lot of fun.

Andrea Schuler did a sick backside melon that earned her second place. Kat caught the moment, pictured to the right.

Congratulations to the top five qualifiers below:

1. Allyson Carrol
2. Andrea Schuler
3. Conny Bleicher 
4. Elin Holvik
5. Fenton Summer

Click here to go the results page.

These talented women snowboarders have the chance of a life time to compete again the best female athletes in the world later this afternoon in the Superpipe Main Session.

I caught up with Lisa Wiik and Cheryl Maas, both Superpipe and Slopestyle invited riders, on the slopes during the superpipe qualifier. Watch this quick interview with them….you can tell the conditions are beautiful.

Photo: Kat Borchart