SUPERPARK 9 - DAY ONE

It’s Superpark 9, eh, and the first day definitely went off. Baking under the high Canadian sun, riders from all over the world descended on Lake Louise, Alberta, to throw down in true Superpark style.

The builders worked all of yesterday, meaning this morning’s course was big, groomed and ready. The layout was a little different than last year, with more flow and variety. Big Bear’s road gap/rail feature started off the Superpark 9 run, followed by the gnarly Lake Louise quarterpipe that had 20-foot-tall scaffolding on the deck with a box on top for jibbing. Just below the quarter was the massive double-sided hip that had tombstone kickers on it ready to shoot you to the moon. Next came the 60-foot Lake Louise booter to the rider’s right and the 75-foot Breckenridge jump to the left. Finishing the course was a Breck rail feature of an up-flat-down, and one loftier 50-foot crowd-pleaser at the bottom.

Riders wasted no time in setting the bar high for the day as Lake Louise locals Andrew Hardingham and Dustin Craven killed it early on, linking from the Big Bear road gap and then tucking it down into the Breckenridge 75-foot booter where they aired huge 720s. The duo lapped all morning until Hardingham caught his edge and scorpioned hard on the landing of the Breck booter, which took him out of the action for some time.

As the day progressed so did the level of riding. Everyone was trying to find their perfect line, and by mid-afternoon the session was in full swing. Breck’s 75-foot jump got most of the action with riders like Marc-Andre Tarte laying down the law and stoking out the huge crowd of sunburned, rowdy, glassy-eyed Canadians. The spectators’ long day of drinking and watching was cut short after the mounties were called in to clear them off the hill once they started a snowball fight that ended with a broken gondola window.

By late afternoon, Peter Line ruled the quarterpipe session and the race to be the first to jib the scaffolding box was on. Although it remained untouched, shredders continued to push it, upping the ante with each hit.

With the lifts running until 7:00 p.m., riders continued to slaughter the run as the sun set on Superpark’s first day. A few guys even stayed later, hiking the run in the dusk for another hour. Everyone was stoked and tomorrow promises even more great snowboarding action.

CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR DAY 2!!