The Yobeat Powder 8

Image, for a second, getting the chance to close down one of the best trails on the mountain so that only you and your friends could ride it when you got around to it. Well, on April 13th, 2013, that’s exactly what happened at Timberline Lodge on glorious Mt. Hood. Thanks to the local knowledge and authority of Ricky Hower, Bob Elmer remained mostly pristine until 12 noon on a Saturday, when 15 teams of serious boarders took turns making figure eights through the fresh snow, while being judged by local celebrities Shane Flood and Johnnie Paxson.

The Hesh mob moves in perfect harmony.

Logic or meteorology might tell you that mid April is an odd time to plan a powder boarding competition, but this is Oregon. It’s a strange fantasy land where when Ricky snaps his fingers, a few inches of light, fresh snow fall on top of the groomed trail. Add a deceivingly short kicker, and you have the perfect recipe for the inaugural Yobeat Powder 8, an event inspired by the classic movie Aspen Extreme.

The dudes were all there!

On the slopes, teams of locals including the Nipple Draggers (Collin Whallen and Joey Carnera), Hesh Mob (Chris Classen and Cameron Dean) Righteous Disciples (Janessa Bork and Matty Guitierez), I’ll leave this up to you Brooke (Cale Meyer and Kharma Vella), Team Party Time (Nate Betteker, Scotty Keating and Dustin) Team Clam Slam, (Carson Schubert and Kyle Irvin), Team Pup n’ Suds (Cam Weeg and Alex Drinkard), Team OJC (Richard Sweet and Cooper Harringon), Cool Runnings (Curran Shaw and Ryan Irvin) — joined the Airblaster crew and other visiting teams from as far away as Tahoe, including Super Duper Snowboards (Erik Leon and Jay Hergert), Team Dopey John (Aaron Cardwell and John Olmsted, Master B8ters (Tim Eddy and Tucker Mandrews), The Crazy 8’s (Brandon Cocard and Ben Lynch), The Underbelly Toasers (Jackson Folwer and Taylor Carlton) and Bonerz Fully Loaded (Max Warbington and Jesse Gouviea.)

When the clock struck noon, DJ Ricky Hower chose a unique song for each run, and the teams were let loose on the snow one at a time. The rules were there were no rules, and the judges had the difficult task of deciding who used mother nature’s canvas the best based on team work, creativity and overall impression.

OJC goes for the gold!

Aside from the snow getting torn to shreds, the only real carnage was on the mini booter, when a few riders backflipped way past the landing, but since the contest was mostly based on turning, it didn’t really matter. After each pair took one glorious run each, the judges were torn between two teams. Super Duper Snowboards had mobbed down from top to bottom, doing pow butters mid 8 and synchronized methods including a mid-air collision on the kicker. Bonerz Fully loaded went for full synchronization in turning, and on the booter Jesse kicked up a spray while Max did a method through it. After much deliberation, it was decided everyone won, but Eric Leon and Jay Hergert won a little more and were officially named the best snowboarders in the universe taking home custom engraved trophies.

The secret is there is no secret. These dudes just know how to board powder.

The entire competition lasted less than an hour, and for the rest of the day, there were plenty more pow turns to be had around Timberline and everyone involved agreed it was the “best contest ever.” Special thanks to Ricky Hower and Brian Reed at Timberline for making this event possible and if you missed it, I’m sure we’ll get more pow next year! (ps. Timberline is open until the end of May, so if you are thinking about getting a spring pass, we would recommend it.)