Grand Finale, Savage Blade, The End and someone is going home in a new car.

The bottom half of Whistler hasn’t been getting the same kind of snow as the upper mountain this season, so the Whistler parks staff had their work cut out for them when they set out to build the course for the Grenade Games Six Grand Finale. After last years amazing version of a slopestyle, we wanted to once again bring something new to the idea of slopestyle courses. The trick is to make it fun enough to ride and exciting enough to watch. But the bottom line is that it wouldn’t be Grenade Games unless we gave everyone a thousand options of how to get wild.

the course

By the time practice was over I knew this was going to be a legendary night. People were trying next level tricks in places you’d never expect, and putting together imaginative and sketchy lines. Considering the hectic days and late nights that had already taxed competitors, it was a small miracle that there were enough riders left standing to step to the course, but in fact many had to be cut as the Invite list was longer than there was room and everyone wanted to take a swing at the 10 thousand dollar first prize.

I’ll just say this, riding without a shirt is sketchy on the rough spring slush, but dropping your droors as well is borderline psychotic. That’s just one of the many colourful words that people were using to describe Kael Hill’s performance this week. Although he may not have stood on any podiums, he took home three different 500-dollar prizes for his various antics, and more importantly made an indelible impression on everyone who watched him.

When we first came up with the idea for the Dual Slalom Mogul contest, we had a vision of a sunny, slushy mogul run, on a warm spring day, with music and barbecue and good times. Then we had to run it on an ice rink last year at Grenade Games 5.

Well this year brought us the conditions we’ve been waiting for; sun, warm temperatures and luckily a crew of slightly deranged and fearless snowboarders to boot. Vinyl Ritchie brought the tunes, The bbq was fired up and so was everyone who came out to watch, at last we had the contest we set out to have.

If you’ve ever seen those 70’s ski films with the daffy and spread eagle shots, with the tights and hot chicks in I SKI sunglasses, well then you know how fun moguls used to be. We added a Grenade twist and made everyone go around gates. Head to head. With mandatory airs in the middle.

This is what is becoming legendary about the Grenade Games, really good snowboarding but a without a hint of seriousness. In the end last year’s winner Myrosha Daley managed to prove that he was no fluke and beat Dennis Bannock in the finals to take third place and stay on the podium, but the final pitted Pablo Aristeguieta against local legend Travis Williams. And who won? Mark Sollors!

Well, Mark won “Most Radical dude” of the day for his straight line, karate chopping, ass over tea kettle crashing performance all day long. He’s in serious contention for Most Radical dude of the week after his performance at Sushi Village.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vancouver, B.C. Canada (Jan. 4, 2010)

Monster Energy Canada is pleased to announce the addition of snowboarder Mark Sollors to our team. This hardworking BC native, known for his ability to attack any terrain with equal skill, has been on a steady rise in recent years. Coming off of a strong year and featured in videos such as Burton’s “The B” and Variety Pack’s “Not Bad”, Mark rounded out his year by winning the Boost Mobile “SnoSho” Big air in Australia this past August.

Burton teammate Jeremy Jones says of Mark:

"Mark is obviously ripping or I wouldn't be writing this quote.  A bit sensitive when you dis his music (hence the nickname “Crypod”), but when he is done pouting in the corner, homie is blasting a 1080 every way over hundred foot kickers and tearing apart the street scene.  The saying runs true... “Shut up and Shred” with this kid."

As a member of the Burton team, Sollors has a very busy winter traveling and filming and shooting around North America and the world and will be one to watch in the coming years. Mark is very exited to be a part of the Monster Energy team and is looking forward to being a part of one the sickest lineups in snowboarding.