The Vans Cup kicked off at twilight on Friday night. The crowd was stoked and ready to get the weekends festivities started. If Northstar had a roof, I’d say it was a packed house.

The Night Rail Jam (Friday, February 29th)

Rail Jam Results

Women	Mens
1. Molly Aguirre ($3,000) 2. Desiree Melancon ($1,500) 3. Cheryl Maas ($1,000)	1. Chas Guldemond ($10,000) 2. Brandon Reis ($7,000) 3. Kade Madsen ($3,000)
	Best Trick: Joey Sexton

Slopestyle (Saturday, March 1st) 

There were a series of unfortunate events that occurred for me on Saturday. Unfortunately, I lost my pass in the village and my phone on the hill. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home and had to borrow my pal Ryan’s. Unfortunately, Ryan is VERY slow to e-mail me the photos I took. I’ll put them up as soon as he gets them to me. =)

Slopestyle Results

Women	Men
1. Cheryl Maas ($15,000) 2. Kjersti Buaas ($7,500) 3. Chanelle Sladics ($3,000)	1. Andreas Wiig ($20,000) 2. Mason Aguirre ($14,000) 3. Robbie Walker ($7,400)
Best Trick: Cheryl Maas – Backside 720	Best Trick: Mason Aguirre – Truckdriver frontside 1080

Superpipe (Sunday, March 2nd)

Some more unfortunate events happen on Sunday. I had forgotten to charge my camera while leaving it at home and my batteries died right after the women’s finals. Fortunately, though, I was able to coax my lil Cannon into turning on for a few seconds to capture the podium.

Molly Aguirre looked very strong after her first run, but broke herself off on her second go. She tried to get up again, but fell. After sitting at the base of the pipe, she went up to go for her 3rd and final run. She gave it another go, but she was obviously hurting, as she slipped out again, unstrapped, sat on her board, and rode it down the pipe. The competition seemed to be between Molly and Elena after the first run, but with Molly injured, Elena easily secured the top women’s spot with a frontside 9. I was able to grab a few moments with Miss Amber who let me know that she hadn’t been in the pipe in over a year and that this is the best the pipe ever gets, so how could she miss it?

Superpipe Results

Women	Men
1. Elena Hight ($11,000) 2. Lizzy Beerman ($6,500) 3. Kjersti Buaas ($3,000)	1. Danny Kass ($20,000) 2. Louie Vito ($14,000) 3. Iouri (iPod) Podlatchokov ($7,000)
	Men’s Biggest Air: 1) Andy Finch 2) Danny Kass 3) Steve Fisher

The event was a great thing to take part in. I can't wait to go again...I'll make sure to make it out to the parties next year.

The 2007 Esurance Icer Air set off with a bang with their pre-party Friday night at Bambudha Lounge in San Francisco. The crowd was chill with an equal mix of competitors, media, and supporters; all talking advantage of the open bar.

I decided early on that I would have a stand out question in case I ran into any of the competitors: “What’s your favorite type of cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich?”. Seriously, who doesn’t like a grilled cheese sandwich?

Unfortunately most of the snowboard competitors called it quits early on to get some extra shut eye before the competition on Saturday.

Before they scurried away I was able to catch up to Chas Guldemond, the recent winner of the $3,000 purse at the Boreal Jibtastic Rail Jam. Chas informed me that he was saving his winnings and making sure to pay his mortgage. Good head on your shoulders, Chas! I’m going over my notes and I’m pretty sure that it says that Chas likes cheddar best, but I can’t be certain.

Me & Chas Guldemond

I ran into Zak Shelhamer, who also competed at Boreal, but was not a participant in the Icer Competition. He loves the Kraft Fat Free Singles. Zak was in attendance with his roommate Jon and let me tell you, they are dancing machines!

ZakShelhamer (Palmer, Helly Hansen, Adidas) and his roommate Jon tearing it up on the dance floor.

Some party guests were getting hyphy and taking in a few laps, but it was time for me to get some shut eye.


The real event got underway on Saturday at AT&T Park. Icer made some much-needed improvements to the ramp this year: no death gap, no exposed wood, and a deeper snow base.

Side ramp view with the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the background

Meanwhile outside sponsors hosted a village where visitors could check out products, meet athletes and win free stuff.

Johnny Moseley meets some fans in the village

Inside the park there was also bmx and skate vert exhibitions that included some big name pros like Pierre Luc Gagnon.



Later on the event stepped into gear when the finalists climbed up the 200+ stairs and launched themselves into the air to the amusement of the crowd. The announcers (including Keir Dillon) kept it chill encouraging the AT&T Park attendees to drink, smoke, or whatever they needed to do to make the event most enjoyable.

Pros lend a helping hand

photo courtesy of Icer Air

Travis Rice talks with announcer Keir Dillon

Travis ended up bringing home the Bacon ($15000) and a score of 95 with his double cork 1080, Tim Humphries pulled 2nd rank with an 83, and Chas Guldemond took home 3rd place with a 71.

After the awards were presented Mos Def and Talib Kweli had the crowd jamming out into the night. Unfortunately none of my photos turned out of the concert. =(

Over all, not too bad of a day in sunny San Francisco!