Superpark 12: Day 1

Superpark 12 at Mammoth Mountain, CA is officially underway. Day one kicked off the festivities with a plethora of the world’s best park features for the invited pros to have their way with. Oren Tanzer and the Unbound park crew, along with the help of Bear builders Desi Hauer and Clayton Shoemaker and Boreal’s Eric Rosenwald pushed snow until the wee hours of the morning in order to have the tables in tip top shape.

The first order of business in the morning session was the staggered channel line. Picture a monster kicker of a take-off with a diagonal projection path over a channel cut clear out of the middle. Basically, you couldn’t hit them straight on, but rather diagonally, or else your femurs would snap in two as you fell 30 feet from the sky straight to the trail. Sketchy, yes. Awesome? Most definitely yes. Forum’s Greg Bretz killed the features while Louie Vito and Scotty Lago took to front and back sevens over the jumps. Filippo Kratter flexed his style muscles tweaking and cranking backside spins, while Superpark regular Nate Sheehan spun every direction over the jumps. DC teammates and overall day one standouts Chas Guldemond and Torstein Horgmo have faced each other head-to-head in numerous contests across the globe this winter, but today, they worked as one, tag-teaming the jump line. Paavo Tikkanen showed up and showed all that he hasn’t lost his skill on a stick. Simon Chamberlain lapped the line all morning until the session moved on to the next feature.

SUPERPARK 12 DAY 1 PHOTOS

The next feature just so happened to be one of the gnarliest jumps I have ever seen anyone throw themselves off of, but like true professionals, these guys settled some serious spins over the monster, much to the enjoyment of the ever-growing crowd. Kade Madsen took off a few times and stomped some tricks, while Mammoth local Gabe Taylor may have been in the running for overall jump standout with a bag of tricks heavier than a snot-nosed, aderall junkie pre-teen on Halloween. East Coaster Brandon Reis is on the come-up, and he proved that to any who doubted him. Mammoth’s Peter Benchettler gave the jump a go a few times, while Tyler Flanagan, flanked by his XRC cronies jumped until the sun went down. For the second year in a row, Dan Brisse stood out as a star attendee and one of the best jumpers of the afternoon, but it was Torstein Horgmo that was the colossal jump’s standout. His front ten attempt second try was insane, and the flood gates opened as he stabbed front sevens, back sevens, nines, and a handful of other tricks that I don’t quite remember. Actually, as I jot these thoughts down this very moment, Torstein is still on hill, jumping away. The dude is one of the most calculated and skilled jumpers in the game right now, and maybe of all time. Too soon, you say? Well, you’ve never seen this Norwegian powerhouse ride then.

There were so many more to mention, but it’s nearly impossible to do so, but just wait until our Superpark issue hits newsstands and you’ll get all the knowledge dropped on your head that you would ever desire. Until then, stay logged on to snowboardermag.com for all the daily updates, photos and videos from Superpark 12 in

Related Links:
Superpark 12 Day 1 Photos
Superpark Home