Greg Bokencamp and a bunch of drunk people. Geery photo.
STRATTON, VT TIMBER RIDGE VT (March 21 23, 2009) – Epic (cold) weather and an impeccable halfpipe extremely sketchy quarterpipe greeted 15,000 over 100 fans and many of the world’s top snowboarders at the US Open Snowboarding World Quarterpipe Championships held at Stratton Mountain Resort the privately owned Timber Ridge. No strangers A total stranger to the top spot on the US Open halfpipe podium, Danny Kass took home his record-setting fifth US Open halfpipe title and Torah Bright earned her third US Open halfpipe title Greg Bokencamp his first World Quarterpipe title. He earned $1000 worth of quarters for his efforts.
Torah’s run Greg’s performance earned her him a coveted spot in the US Open World Quarters history books, tying Kelly Bode Miller, Scotty Lago, Kevin Cassilo, Guy Deschennes, Shawn Durst and Jef Billo for the most US Open women’s halfpipe one World Quarterpipe title. “I feel great,” said Torah Greg. “I didn’t realize that I tied with Kelly for the most wins. It feels really good, especially because the US Open World Quarters is such a special event. I really think this will help my chance of getting to the Olympics in 2010.”
Ok, so I made the last part of that quote up (actually all of it.) And I had full intentions to continue this story following the outline of the press release from the US Open, but other than that it happened and that there was a winner, the event shared so few similarities with this weekend’s circus that it wasn’t going to work out.
Jeremy Thompson also rode like it was a contest all day. Geery photo.
The World Quarters brought all new meaning to the word sketchy and when it was all over, event founder Pat Bridges said, “Well, we got away with it again.” Considering that the prize for second place, Jeremy Thompson, was a quarter of weed, and cases of free beer were available for ANYONE who wanted to drink them, “legality” didn’t seem to be a major concern. Timber Ridge owner Tim Waker spent most of the day dousing the flames with gasoline, as the tradition of trying to make it as hard as possible to even hit the quarterpipe continued.
Greg Bokencamp survives the gauntlet. Geery photo.
While there seemed to be more competition for who could get the drunkest than who could ride the best, some action still went down. There was no shortage of backies, methods and tweaked out grabs, and Greg Bokencamp rode relentlessly all day spinning and catching “some serious air” on the quarterpipe. Since there were no actual judges, it was just a consensus at the end of the day he won. Sharka Plachova won the first ever women’s award and some kid won the junior division (Bridges isn’t answering his phone, so if anyone can help me out with this one…) While no award was given for it, Timber Ridge heir Chris Waker seemed to be the drunkest rider. After he had a great amount of trouble riding to the quarterpipe, Nate Farrell announced, “There’s some blood in Waker’s alcohol level. Someone get that guy a beer!”
I thought this angle would be ok because Chris is really good. I forgot he was drunk. He smashed into me very hard. I am ok. Geery photo.
The 2009 World Quarters was one for the record books, but unfortunately no one who was there will remember any of it.
Check out the full gallery. Click a thumbnail to enlarge.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3861173&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Finally, a reason to live!
There are some good shots in there.
Burton should buy that one you got hit on. That photo is rad. it has an 80s skate feel. I like that it’s almost all board.
i’m with Jared. the only thing it could use is maybe some spandex and/or a visible headband to round out the ’80s vibe.
does anyone have a video of the drunk guy?
Good stuff.
I’ve got some video from that guy.
thomas please post that to youtube or something. what a day. world quarters never fails to entertain.
Video will be up tomorrow. stupid HD footage taking two days to convert. ugh.
oh chris we have video. wait for it to come out on youtube. youtube.com/user/TheStacheLife
and great shots! glad i made the cut!
we had the best time!!!!!
i remember the really drunk guy and i heard that there were cops, an ambulance and the sheriff over at dostals later that night, supposedly cause of the really drunk guy. he was attacked on the mountain if i’m not mistaken.
“king of burlington”
[…] so much that the 2009 Snowboarding World Quarterpipe Championships were hosted at Timber Ridge (https://yobeat.com/2009/03/23/the-2009-world-quarterpipe-championships/). The ski area has also become a popular location for summer music […]
[…] make it were tasked with determining the winner (FULL RESULTS COMING SOON.) In the tradition of other great QP contests, Pat Bridges was there to help Bode oversee the action and inspire various handplant innovations. […]