Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You are going to wakeboard on a ski hill? What?? How?? This was the general response when the notification was posted of the Summer Meets Winter Wakeboard and Snowboard/Ski Rail Jam that took place Sunday March 22nd at Calabogie Peaks Resort near Ottawa, Ont. This unique event was organized by marketing director and competitive wakeboarder Erika Langman, and Calabogie Peaks terrain park manager Nick Solowjew. The event was the year end culmination of the Calabogie Peaks Drop In contest Series as well as the wrap up to the March Break Mardi Gras festival. Needless to say these two individuals had quite the crowd show up just to see how exactly they were going to pull this stunt off.  So here the story goes..

The whole idea behind the summer meets winter wakeboard and snowboard rail jam is to feed into the spring break fever that runs through every rider’s bones. For some reason, once the temperature rises above 0 and you can get a mad farmers tan from riding in your t-shirt, people want to do crazy things. Every resort usually puts on some kind of water related activity, in the case of Calabogie it is the annual puddle jump. This year we decided to take that puddle jump, (a 40 foot by 30 wide puddle dug out of the snow, lined with a skating rink tarp and filled by freezing cold snow-making water) and make 2 puddle jumps in a row. We left a 30 foot roller in between which was where the wakeboard rail would go. Saturday’s festivities included the family oriented Mardi Gras puddle jump, but as soon as the hill closed these crazy riders took over. Craig McCallion and his Half Cab crew from Slaysh Boardshop rocked their ninja rail skills and put up the  wakeboard rail in no time at all. With all the materials donated by Madwake.com they constructed a sick 42 foot up flat down wakeboard/wakeskate rail. Nick and his park team member Spencer Rose worked alongside the wakeboarder’s and set up a gnarly urban on round down bar, and 40 ft, 8 ft high rainbow box for the snow set up. Everything looked super fun and was ready to rock.

The next day the pools were re-filled with water, and Redbull brought their promo vehicle which had a DJ booth, sound system and Wakeboard Winch all built into one. Once the DJ had the tunes pumping, Erika got on the Mic to get the contest started. First up on the wake side was the Open Men’s wakeboard best trick contest. These riders were pulled off the snow, through the first pool on their board, over the rail and landed in the second pool. With some of Canada’s top riders including O’Neill and Gator team rider Yan Tibo, Alex Boucher and local Ottawa talent, we were in for quite a show. The boys had an hour to throw down their most tech tricks in the freezing cold water. In between their turns the riders could sit in the hot tub and keep warm before they strapped their board back on. Best trick went to Tibo’s boardslide to gap front three over the transition.

Right beside the wakeboarders the skiers and snowboarders were rocking their set up showing that there is definitely no lack of skill level on the snow side of things. These riders had an hour and a half to throw down everything they could possibly do to make the finals in their division. There were some super tech tricks like boardslide switch up to 270 out on the rainbow, and 270 on 270 out on the urban down bar. In the finals you had to call the trick that you were going to do, and if you didn’t do that trick then it didn’t count. Talk about putting on the pressure!

After the snowboarders and skiers finished their jam format, they took a break to watch the lady wakeboarders and Open Men’s wakeskate contest. The wakeskate contest had a pretty top notch rider list with names like pro rider Yann Lecompt, Yann Roy, Vince Whiteman, Scotty Boysen and more. These boys pushed the bar up a notch with shoves off the rail, on to the rail, and shove on, shove off. Overall Yann Lecompt took the title. Lady rippers Ally Boothroyd and Erika Langman representing for throwitdown.ca showed the crowd that the girls can rock the set up better than a lot of the boys, with steezy front boards, 270 outs and more.

After the contest everyone made their way up to Black Donald’s Pub for a pint and to watch the awards. Slaysh Boardshop, Calabogie Peaks, Madawaska Wakeboard school, Hurst Marina, Burton, Dragon and LF all had a ton of free swag to give away so almost everyone got to walk away with something cool. Overall the event was a blast and the perfect way to launch the transition from snowboarding to wakeboarding. See you out on the water soon enough!

more photos here

Results:

Wakeboard: 1st: Yann Thibault  2nd: Craig McCallion  3rd: Alex Boucher

Womens Wakeboard: Tie Ally Boothroyd and Erika Langman

Wakeskate: 1st: Yann Lecompt  2nd: Yann Roy  3rd: Vince Whiteman

Open Men Snowboard: 1st: Brandon Richardson   2nd: Lukas Weendenburg  3rd:Max Middlestat

Grom Snowboard: 1st: Zenon Krupta    2nd: Adam Livingston  3rd: Jay Fleury

Girls Ski: 1st: Maxime Bergeron

Open Men Ski: 1st: Josh Brose   2nd: Nick Shaley

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.