For what has been nothing but a super fun contest this week, the level of riding tonight was amazingly high. They call it the Grand Finale and it certainly lived up to its name. 40 of the best riders of the week came together on a unique slopestyle course that came straight out of the brain of Danny and the rest of the Grenadians, to put on a show for the massive crowd. Monster’s favourite DJ’s (Vinyl Ritchie, Mat the Alien and John H. from the Fort Knox 5) were joined by legendary DJ Ztrip to keep the crowd bouncing around.
The stars of the show though, were the snowboarders. The course started with a bomb drop off some scaffolding, and led down to the choice between a 60 foot channel gap or an even bigger butter box. Riders were hitting both and throwing down crazy combos from one to the other. Lukas Magoon was even trying to air straight into the wall of the butter box. Think of being shot out of a cannon and straight into a vertical wall of ice. He was trying to stick that move. What?

Dave Fortin was charging hard and attempted to air OVER the entire butter box. He tapped it on the way down and landed in an unconscious crumpled heap in the landing. There was a pause on the course as he was taken away and lots of folks were asking about his condition. He called this morning to let me know that he broken his thumb, but other than that, and being bruised and battered, he’s ok. He’s seriously one of the toughest riders I’ve ever seen.
Andrew Burns pumped up the crowd with his double back flip on the channel gap, and Eman Anderson’s switch back 9 attempt off the butter box set the bar high. Wyatt Caldwell answered with a perfect 7.

Lower down there was a choice between a rail setup over wooden stairs, Flat box and a down-flat-down kink rail, or a 20 foot tall tree to jib. Lots of people were trying to bonk spin the tree, but Danny Kass had it dialed in going both frontside and backside. It was a cool and unique addition to the course. Kael Hill was keeping it super progressive on the rail setup and Eman kept it stylie.

In the end though, it was Craig Beaulieu’s consistent riding and solid stomps that took him to the top of the heap. He walked away with 10 thousand and one dollars. The biggest cash prize of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival. By a dollar.  Here are the complete results:

1.    Craig Beaulieu
2.    Jesmond Dubeau
3.    Wyatt Caldwell

Best Babe: Robyn Van Gyn
Most Radical Dude: Kevin Casillo

As soon as it was done the crowd crushed in to watch the riders get their cheques, and then it was off to the Monster Hotel to take a quick break before we moved to the Whistler Conference Center for “The End” the last bash of the TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival. All the DJ’s from the event main stage were on stage together. Ztrip, Vinyl Ritchie, Mat the Alien, John H from Fort Knox 5, and smalltown dj’s.  6 DJ’s and 12 tables playing to 1800 people.
The lineup to get in stretched well into the village as this sold-out event was highly anticipated. The conference center has a crazy liquor license that makes you buy tickets to get drinks, which made the bars a nightmare of congestion, but folks still managed to have a good time and the DJ’s kept switching it up and surprising everyone with their skill and interaction.
This morning we woke up to the final duty of Grenade Games 5…Ceasers. With that taken care of and a round of “goodbyes”, we closed the books on the Grenade Games 5. In the words of Danny Kass; “Best Grenade Games ever.”

Photos by Russell Dalby:

 

I raced back from the practice to show you some shots. Dalby will have some up soon too. The riders were liking the course and  getting set for tonights Grenade Games Grand Finale.

All I have to say is this: If you are within 200 miles of here and you're not coming...why not?

 

 

 

 

Just got back from a little course inspection for tonight's Grenade Games Grand Finale. Here are some shots to check out. Practice starts in 20 minutes. See you there.

 

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 Jumps, butter box, etc.

Rail setup

 

Day 5 of the Grenade games comes on the heels of one of the maddest parties this town has ever seen. The theme was rock and metal and the venue was Buffalo Bill’s nightclub. SBC and Monster put it on and brought a bunch of my favourite dj’s together to dust off their rock records. Mat the Alien playing Slayer? John H from the Fort Knox Five ditching the funk and spinning the punk? Smalltown DJ’s cranking AC/DC? You bet! And of course Vinyl Ritchie is no stranger to powerchords and double bass drums. Check the video here. All I can say is “wow”. Again.

So it’s warmer today and that made for some springtime riding in the halfpipe finals. There was a grenade shaped piñata hung by the side, waiting to get bonked, and everyone was in for some solar powered attack. Lukas Magoon obviously doesn't get hangovers, or at least not like I do, because he was out there charging. Eventually he tackled the grenade, dragged it into the pipe and then all the gloves, hats, drinks and other "stuff" inside was thrown into the crowd.

Sammy Luebke followed up his performance yesterday with huge airs and sick style. He ended up grabbing $500 for "best air.

Kory Wright came out of nowhere with some sick handplants on the 5 foot stump earning himself 500 bucks and a Golden Ticket to the Grand Finale on Saturday. Impressive.

Dennis Bannock got paid $500 for  best crash. He's no stranger to pushing it, so crashing just comes with the territory. Louie Vito pulled out his 1260 and cashed in $500 for best trick.

3rd place overall went to Dustin Crave, 2nd to Guillaume Morisset who was so stoked, and to take it all and 5000 bucks TJ Schneider unveiled some crazy 1080 double cork as well as huge airs. Check all the photos here.

What  a night. What a day, and now we're into the mini ramp jam. Stay tuned.

 

Gooner drags away the grenade. Dalby photo

It's his contest and he'll do what he wants. Kass. Dalby photo

Somehow we ended up with a snowstorm for a couple hours last night, but this morning we awoke to nothing but blue skies. Another crazy night at the Monster hotel left some people dragging their butts up to today’s superpipe qualifiers. Whistler/Blackcomb parks department has taken the drop-in bump for the pipe and turned it into a booter, dug a couple highways into the top of the pipe, and scattered assorted obstacles down the sides of the pipe, including a five foot tall stump.

Everything stayed pretty hard, but not as bad as yesterday, and the forecast now is for plenty of sun for another week.

Standouts today included Sammy Luebke, fresh from his golden ticket victory in the moguls he boosted and impressed everyone. Andy Finch was blasting airs even though he is in sling, Justin Lamoureux was working on his switch airs, Lucas Magoon worked the stump and Kael Hill won himself a golden ticket to the Grand Finale on Saturday night by spinning a nine over the fence. I was thinking about tony hawk over the fence at Del Mar, but then again, I'm old.

 Update: Here are the qualified riders for tomorrow:

11    Dennis     Bannock
12    Jeff    Batchelor
69    Dennis    Buongiomo
49    Sarah    Conrad
51    Dustin    Craven
315    Tanner    Davison
76    David    Fortin
101    Adam    Higgins
103    Kael    Hill
137    Justin     Lamoreux
139    Nick    Larson
288    Sammy    Luebke
153    Lucas    Magoon
156    Todd    Malus
291    Bobby    Meeks
171    Fred     Moisan
175    Guillaume     Morisset
185    Mike    Osachuk
201    Ryan     Rausch
202    Dan    Raymond
221    TJ    Schneider
228    Andrew    Skelhorn
232    Mark    Sollors
243    Kyle    Thomas
253    Jon    Versteeg
254    Louie    Vito
262    Charles     White
271    Korath    Wright

 Here are some more of Russell Dalby’s photos from the qualifiers.

Sammy is just blasting them.

 Justin in his comfort zone.

Martin Gallant, Andy Hetzel and me. We are all reigning Mogul Champs. The last Canadian, US and BC mogul Contests that were ever held in snowboarding, we won ‘em. And then snowboarding turned its back on Moguls like a bed wetter at a slumber party.

Until today when Grenade Games 5 reopened the book on moguls and snowboarding. And running gates. At the same time.

What was envisioned as a slushy day with bbq and music got taken a little sideways when a cold front overnight turned yesterday’s slush into today’s ice. Rock hard moguls changed the contest’s feel a little, but not the stoke. Fear gave way to some kind of courage and everyone flung themselves down the course off the jump, and across the finish line.

Cody Dresser earned himself a trip to Saturday’s Grand Finale with a stylish tuck knee Japan off the jump. And then so did Sammy Luebke with a backflip to rock solid ice landing.

Wes Makepeace played some tunes and everyone was stoked to check out the first ever Dual Slalom Mogul contest. Nobody was more stoked though, than Myrosha Daley who climbed the bracket ladder and ended up beating out several Olympians to take the title! You me and Hetzel man...

 Check some photos in the gallery, or right here. All photos by Russell Dalby. Video is up now.

Cody Dresser is so for real. Never say die Dresser!

Mandatory air is sketchier on ice.

 Wes managed to keep the guitar in tune for a couple songs.

Fun? You bet!

 Shots from tonight's final Table of the Poker Run. The Longhorn was evenly split between people watching Canucks playoff game 4 and people following the Texas Hold' em going down under the lights. Luckily both were side by side on the big screens so you could follow both at once.

Grenadians, Canadians and everyone else shook off last nights party and hit the mountains for the poker run today. We woke up to perfect blue skies and warm temperatures which suited everyone just fine.

The poker run is all about racing from one hill to the other and collecting cards to make up the best poker hand possible. Bargains and underhanded shenanigans abound as people try to get a leg up. In the end there were so many good hands that there was a lottery to make the final table. The brand new Peak to Peak gondola makes the trip from one mountain to the other a whole lot easier.

Once on Blackcomb everyone faced two challenges. One was the Dual Slalom at the Pontiac race center. Top 32 times of the day qualified for tomorrows mogul race! 

Rank        Name                            Bib            Time   
                                                   
1        JOSH BAUER                            13            0.17.53   
2        DAN RAYMOND                            202            0.18.18   
3        ADAM HIGGINS                            101            0.18.92   
4        JUSTIN  LAMOREUX                            137            0.18.93   
5        NEV LAPWOOD                            283            0.19.05   
6        CHRIS WITWICKI                            270            0.19.15   
7        DAVID FORTIN                            76            0.19.19   
8        RYAN  RAUSCH                            201            0.19.20   
9        RYAN TIENE                            245            0.19.71   
10        BOBBY WITTY                            269            0.19.78   
11        DENNIS BUONGIOMO                            69            0.19.80   
12        BRADEN  DEAN                            57            0.19.84   
13        DAVE  SAKOLINSKY                            217            0.19.88
14        LENNY RUBENNOVITCH                            214            0.19.96
15        EERO NIEMALA                            179            0.19.98
16        KEVIN CASSILO                            138            0.20.06
17        JAKE BAUER                            279            0.20.07
18        TRAVIS WILLIAMS                            264            0.20.13
19        ANDREW  BURNS                            31            0.20.28
20        MYROSHA DALEY                            53            0.20.30
21        WILEY  TESSEO                            241            0.20.31
22        RICK REYNOLDS                            207            0.20.33
22        JESMOND DUBEAU                            65            0.20.33
24        MOLLY MILLIGAN                            120            0.20.37
24        STEVIE KOPOYT                            314            0.20.37
26        JESSE BLACKSTAFFE                            22            0.20.44
26        CRAIG BEAULIEU                            15            0.20.44
28        BEAU  BISHOP                            20            0.20.46
28        LOGAN SHORT                            226            0.20.46
30        LOUIE VITO                            254            0.20.48
30        IIKKA BACKSTROM                            9            0.20.48
32        DANNY KASS                            169            0.20.52

 The other task was the bullrun. A Grenade Games original, this years version included more speed and a mandatory air at the bottom of Blackcomb's Highest level park.Riders have to get loose with a Noboard right here in the province of its birth and survive the course.

The final table of the poker game is on now at the Longhorn and the players are:

Adam Levitt
Helen Schettini
Dennis Bannock
Ryan Tiene
Dustin Craven
Eero Niemala
Todd Malus
Mark Sollors
The Dingo
Danny Kass

I'll be twittering as people get knocked out. you can follow me @dspphoto

 Until then, here are some shots from today. Go here for the full gallery.

In the history of Whistler, nobody has ever rented out the entire Sushi Village restaurant, but Monster and Grenade are making history this year and last night we took the place over. Now Sushi Village is no stranger to a party, but this sold out spectacle went from zero to madness in a matter of minutes. Party Snakes were screaming, Scando pros were wearing their dinner and everyone was having an amazing time.

 
Go here to see the galleries. Here are some highlights:

Iikka does his best impression of a table. Joanna M photo

Thanks guys. Dalby Photo

Nick Hamilton and Scott Serfas from Transworld. Dalby Photo

DCP, Romain and JF Pelchat. Legends. Dalby Photo

3rd Annual Surf Competition

Attention all Pacific North West Surfers! Rip Curl Canada is proud to present "The Rip Curl ST3W" a two day surf competition open to all ages and held in the heart of Cox Bay, Tofino– May 23 rd -24 th  2009. For 40 years, Rip Curl has played a leading role in the surf industry and continues to move forward in Canada. For its third year in a row, Rip Curl holds the only surf contest this summer in Tofino, BC, and one of the only Surf Contests in Canada.  Looking into the future, Rip Curl feels strongly that this event will bring the surf culture of Vancouver Island’s past, back to life with a realistic goal - to continue to develop home-grown athletes to compete at a world-class level. "We are excited on the 3 rd  edition of the ST3W; we will be bringing some new elements to the beach as well the best surfers in the Pacific Northwest will be in attendance.  We have a few surprises up our sleeves that all the kids on the beach are really going to enjoy.  The contest will feature 7 categories – including open categories for men, women, and children, allowing surfers at all levels & ages to showcase their talent!"- Rip Curl Brand Manager, Drew Hawkshaw With the estimated number of ST3W competitors in attendance being close to one hundred, it is lining up to be an unforgettable weekend. It is an opportunity for up and coming surfers to showcase their talent.  Some well known athletes invited to compete include Christian Moutinho, Leah Oke, the Bruhwiler brothers, Reid Jackson, Mike Stupak, Bastien Lanusse, Noah Cohen, Shannon Brown, all your local Tofino hot shots, and of course Peter Devries who took last years St3w contest.  We also had some athletes come from as far as Mexico last year and we hope these kids will come again. With the help of Monster Energy Drink this year, Monster is determined to make this the best contest in the Pacific Northwest.  Already we have more prize money than any other surf contest in Canada or the Pacific Northwest.  First prize will be awarded $5000.00 dollars this year; this is a $3000.00 step up from last years ST3W!