Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails 2007

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9/17/07
By: Pat Bridges

Nobody does it better than Bear. With fire bearing down on the resort, pardon the pun, the Park staff put together another event for the ages with the 2007 Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails. Though it was early September the setup, complete with a wallride, turfgap, gap to up-flat-down butter box, and bank to tank, rivals most mid season event venues. The top of the course yielded three features. On the riders right was a fifteen down, flat ten, fifteen down rail. The middle was home to the above mentioned butter box and the riders left was a fifteen stair rail. The mid section of the slope had a flat ledge to a 10 foot drop off the end on the riders right and a flat down ledge on the riders left. Between the two ledges was a 20 foot turf gap. On each side of both ledges was a railing that could be 50-50’d. The bottom of the hill contained the two ender jibs. Last year's lexan trannied quarter wall was back while the bank to tank was a new addition and unlike anything seen before in events of this kind.

With the setup dialed and the chipped ice in place the riding got underway at 3 o'clock. Forty or so guys and girls braved the qualifiers for the handful of spots in the finals. Those advancing included Ryan Tarbell, Colin Tucker, Desiree Melancon, Iriz Lazzrechi, Bryn Valaika, Silas Stannard, Lance Chorduroy, and Harrison Gordon. The most memorable part of the qualifiers was Bina Baslar. Not only did she show a lot of heart by getting up and buckling in after numerous beat downs she showed a lot of blood. Domestic assault charges are pending and the flat down ledge is still being held by local authorities.

Photo Gallery of 2007 Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails

The finals is where the best action went down. Jonas Michelot was doing all sorts of tech tricks including Michael Jacksons on the Butter box up top. Lucas Magoon wasn’t taking the event too seriously but he still managed to do a front one to switch 50-50 to switch back one out on the inside railing of the flat ledge. There were a sh*tload of other tech tricks thrown down but I’ll let the videos tell the story as opposed to subjecting myself to carpel tunnel. Just know that Scott Stevens finally held it together in a rail event like this and he deserved third. Chad Tarbell and Scott Vine were the only two riders manning up to the three foot high ollie onto the tall ledge and Nik Dirk's handplants were legit on the lexan quarter. Chris Bradshaw's switch backside 180’s on the gap were sweet as were Harrison Gordon's backside twisters. For the girls Bryn, Iriz and Melissa were all solid. Desiree was equally impressive. She was charging harder than the rest but with that comes a lot of falls. Desiree and Laurie Currier both were pulling 50-50 to backside 180 out on the ledge railing.

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After four years the Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails has become a must attend event on the SoCal snowboarding calendar. Rumor has it that next years event is scheduled to be held on the 4th of July. Expect plenty of firecrackers down the stairs at that event. Special thanks to Kim, Clayton, Chris, Dan, Jeff, Rio, Denise, the rest of the Bear staff and Murrays for pulling off another outstanding snowboarding spectacle. See you opening weekend.

1st - Scott Vine
2nd - Nick Dirks
3rd - Scott Stevens

Best Trick - Joe Sexton for a 270 on off down rail!

The Girls:
1st - Iriz Lazzrechi
2nd - Mellissa Evans