evo Competes In The Shred Shop Challenge!

SHRED SHOP CHALLENGE 2013

By: Jon Kiser, Mammoth Lakes, CA: When we were first asked to do the Oakley Shred Shop Challenge, we were honored that Oakley and Snowboarder Mag would want evo to represent the Northwest alongside the talented riders over at Snowboard Connection. We knew that we would have to show up ready to shred with the other 7 shops hand picked to compete, but we had no idea what to expect, and looking back now, this trip went beyond anything that the crew and I could have ever anticipated. Here is what went down.

Monday morning I cruised over to evo team rider Megan Middleton’s house to pick her up on the way to the Airport. Decked out with some fresh new Burton gear she just picked up for the trip, I could tell she was super stoked to spend a few days in Mammoth.

Landing in Mammoth was pretty mellow, but the scenery is out of this world, the Sierras are seriously another planet. We were happy to see Jeff Baker from Snowboarder who was picking us up at the airport, so we jumped in the bus and drove into the Village at Mammoth.

It’s pretty cool when you find out that you aren’t staying at a lame Motel 6, but actually crashing at the Village Lodge, one of the nicest places in the area. We chilled out for the first night and got ready for practice in the morning.

-Kinsey, Julian, John Shaw aka Gary Player, and I stoked on the runway! Not a bad view at 7000’.

First thing in the morning we hit the lift and I get a good glimpse of the surrounding area and have that “holy sh@t” moment where you finally realize the sheer magnitude of the mountain. This place is huge, as are the jumps they have set up for the competition that are anywhere from 30-60 ft.

As we drop in and take a few runs, everybody is jibbing around and feeling out the snow. It’s fast and pretty hard at this point, so we decide it’s probably time to start getting scared and hit the first jump of the day. This one is probably around 35-40 ft, not too bad, but intimidating. So we watch a few people drop, gauge the speed, then go.

Julian is the first to drop and stomps it, Kinsey is up next, calls the drop and heads in to the jump pretty hot and boosts it…to flat. These jumps are so well built that even though they are pretty large, you do not need much speed…it is pretty easy to land to flat, as we all did many times throughout the day and contest.

He decides to keep riding and ends up taking one more big fall off that monster Oakley logo rail and calls it out a “I think my rib is broken” statement, and he was right, broken.

-Kinsey droppin’

We practice all day, check out the mountain, but now it is time to go chill out and grab some Sushi with the good folks at Oakley, Snowboarder and the other 7 shops here for the comp. Full service, plate after plate, hot sake and beers all night. By the end of the dinner we were over sushi because it was ridiculous how much we ate. — The next 4 paragraphs have been redacted — We finish the night out at the local watering hole Lakanuki, yep, keep it classy Mammoth.

-Kinsey is stoked on this meal even though he is broken. They probably brought us 30 of these plates.

Wednesday was actually supposed to be the day of the contest, but it had to be postponed because of terrible weather, 50 mph winds and gray bird, sounds just like home. Naturally the only teams to ride were evo and SnoCon for the day and everyone else took the day off. So the Northwest had to hold it down and check out the rest of the mountain.

-Mmmm, just like home… Is that a Sasquatch down there?

The day of the contest is blue bird, everyone is super stoked to ride. We all had been waiting for this moment since we got here and today was the day. Practice ensues and it was awesome to see all the different uniforms/costumes that the other shops were reppin’. I have to give it to the dudes at Satellite and Darkside who tied for best costume. Especially Darkside, who spent the whole time speaking in British accents and not breaking character once the entire trip, nice work fellas.

-All around rad dude Raul Pinto in circa ’85 Damian Sanders garb (look it up)

-Are those nuns!? Why yes, they are. (Ryan Gettek saying his prayers on the leap)

-Boosting off the second big jump looking down on the course.

After all the smoke had cleared and the day was over it was, the local Mammoth shop took the contest for the second year in a row. It makes sense that the team from Mammoth would be the winners, they live and breathe the park, but they also brought it harder than anyone else throwing cork 10s and such. Gotta give it up to all the other shops that participated, there is so much talent out there and they are some of the coolest down-to-earth people that you will meet in the industry.

The whole purpose of the event was to give back to core retail. Any shop that exists in your area that sells snowboard hard goods full of local knowledgeable people is considered a core shop retailer. It is in all of our best interest for the industry to continue to support these awesome shops in the future. Although evo has only been in the shop game about 8 years, we are constantly seeing the value and importance of having a shop on the front lines, keeping people informed and geared up for the long, wet and pow filled winters in the Northwest.

We are stoked to be part of such a great thing and have to give a shout-out to Oakley who made this event a real thing and Snowboarder Mag for all the support they put behind Oakley in assisting with the organization and coverage of the event.