Features

Hugs and Love: The 22nd Legendary Baker Banked Slalom

By Roberta Rodger

I headed down to Baker last Friday Feb. 9 with Snowboard Canada photo editor Colin Adair, SBC contributor Sara Tollestrup and Forum rider Meghann O’Brien. None of us had been to Baker in a long time; I think it had been almost eight years for myself.

We rolled into Glacier around 9 p.m. and headed over to Graham’s Restaurant for the Axel Pauporte video, but unfortunately we were too late, and except for the bouncer hitting on Colin, I don’t think there was a friendly face in the place. Next stop Ju Wana Mexicana for the Frequency party. The place was jam-packed with bearded locals but it didn’t take long for us to run into a slew of industry types. Pros, team managers, photographers—everyone was there. As we were leaving we ran into Natasza Zurek (who’s always one of my favourite people to see), Victoria Jealouse and her boyfriend Guy Deschenes. That’s when we found out what the weekend was really about as Guy demonstrated all the hugs and love and good words he’d been passing out upon his arrival in Baker. “Good to see you.” “How was your day?” “You were looking good on the course.” “Oh you fell, no worries you’ll get them tomorrow.”

Big hug.

Surprisingly, we awoke the next morning to sunshine. Meghann and Colin slept in so Sara and I ditched them to check out the contest. In its 22nd year, the contest hasn’t varied from its original format. There’s no Budweiser sponsorship or massive media crew with TV cameras in your face. The Banked Slalom is the contest with soul. All types of riders—park, pipe, freeride—and a mix of ages come to compete and hang out at one of the best events of the year. With categories spanning generations for am, pros, masters, grand masters and even super masters, entire families can compete. A who’s who of both snowboarding’s leading and legendary females were at the event including young rippers like Elena Hight and Spencer O’Brien and established shreds like Victoria Jealouse and Barrett Christy. It was pretty cool to see the girls who win huge money at events like the X-Games come out to Baker and ride and have fun with the locals.

Gretchen Bleiler killed it in qualifiers. I don’t know why I didn’t expect her to be fast but even with a fall at the end she qualified with her time. After Saturday’s qualifiers there was a huge salmon bake and everyone ate and drank and watched the sun set over the mountains. I hate to sound like a hippy but it was pretty beautiful. Later on that night we headed back over to Ju Wanna Mexicana for a screening of the Craig Kelly documentary, Live To Ride. I don’t even know how to put this movie into words—everyone needs to see it. It’s an amazing insight into the history of snowboarding and how much one person had an impact on its early evolution. I honestly don’t know where snowboarding would be if it wasn’t for Craig Kelly. Especially for the new generation of snowboarders that only know of the big-dollar contracts and mainstream association, it’s a nice reminder of what snowboarding is really about.

Sunday morning was a different day. The mountain was socked in and raining heavily, so we spent most of the morning just chilling in the lodge with Elena Hight and Spencer O’Brien till the event started around 11:30 a.m. Not quite the best conditions as it had snowed a bit the night before and then rained, so you never knew what you’d get: ice, slush, or glue. One moment the competitors would be mocking through the course, and then all of a sudden they’d hit a patch of sticky snow and nearly jerk to a stop. It was difficult and a couple girls who looked strong in the qualifiers struggled in the finals.

Canada’s own Maelle Ricker never seemed to falter though; damn that girl can go fast. She was in the lead after the first run by a few seconds and looked super strong in the second. All the girls were looking really good, super strong and fast. It was hard to say who was going to join Ricker in the top three. The final results were all very close with only 3/10 of a second between third and fifth place. In the end it was Bleiler in third, Jealouse in second and Ricker pulling through for the win. Although the Banked Slalom isn’t on the radar of mainstream media, winning the event is prestigious within the snowboarding community. Congrats, Maelle!