TransAM at Northstar-at-Tahoe - Mar 6, 2010

After a fun day riding Northstar on Friday, we came back on Saturday, March 6 for the Transworld TransAM competition. Remembering that I didn't need a lift ticket back in Winter Park and how no one checked for my ticket, I decided not to get a ticket and save some money. I was stoked to find that the TransAM was at the base area, just like at Winter Park. I registered and went up to the competition area. When I saw it, I was STOKED!! It looked like it would be way more fun than Winter Park. There were 3 different lines like at Winter Park, but more fun features. The first line had a slant box, then a flat box and a round rail with the Zumiez couch in between. Second line had the massive volcano with a bonk on top, and a rail/wall ride thing that was side-approach. Fortunately the lip for the side-approach rail was very close to the top, so I definitely felt comfortable, thinking that I could do it fine. Third line had a jump and a hip. Ohhhh boy, how do I hit a hip??? Haha. No hips where I'm from.

Practice was going to start, so remembering the TransAM back in Winter Park, I decided to just go and bring my A-game because there was no way I would know when the actual competition started, so better safe than sorry. I started off by hitting the first line with the slant box, and oh man oh man I loved that box. I did 180 on and 180 off, then a 270 on it the next drop in, it was soooo fun. I was excited too because I never hit a box that slanted to the right, only to the left. The volcano was really weird for me because it seemed like it went straight up. I had to drop in, go straight, and try to throw myself over the bonk. It was new to me, so I did a few roll-down-the-windows... hahahha. Never hit a bonk like that before. The side-approach rail came after the bonk; I was so happy I was able to get on it no problem, but I didn't do anything cool on it, just some 50-50s. I kept wanting to come out fakie, but kept choking. Ahhhh!! I still wasn't feeling confident about hitting side-approach stuff.

The third line, the jump was hard for me to clear because it was getting slushy, so I asked a guy who worked there at the top to throw me, and it definitely helped. I did some nose grabs, 180s, and 3s. The hip, I was absolutely horrible on it, I had no idea how to hit it, but tried anyways. I managed to get some backside 180s on it, stoked! Not very high though, there were some other people getting some serious air off that thing. One guy even died on it, okay, not really died, but he got hurt enough for ski patrol to come and get him. Or her.

I noticed people started getting finals t-shirts, so I picked up my pace and started trying to really throw down. Oh my god, so much hiking, I thought I was going to die. Rail jams are the only opportunities I get to hike, and the last rail jam I did was probably in November. Yeah, it's been a while since I hiked, I was definitely out of shape. I kept going, going, going, and saw the guy only had like 3 t-shirts left.... I was like, "Aaaaaahhhhhh!!" Dropped in one more time, did my whoopty-whoop on the slant box and the flat box, and started hiking back up... and the guy threw a shirt at me. I made it into the finals!! YAAAAY!!!!! I stopped and took a break, and the guy gave away the last shirt and the qualifying round was over. We had an hour break while the park got groomed, so we all rode down to the lodge to grab a bite to eat and drink lots of water.


I appear at :54 seconds, in the green and white hoodie. I had no idea that dude was right behind me, eeek

After the much needed break, we hiked back up to the TransAM course to wait for the finals to start. The way the finals worked, everyone hit one line, one person at a time. We started out on the jump and the hip, and by then it was so slushy I had such a hard time getting speed but managed to do some spins. Some people hiked further back than the drop in to get speed, I was thinking of doing that too but worried that someone at the drop in wouldn't see me going, so I just stayed at the drop in and had someone throw me. I did my itty bitty 180s on the hip, it was so lame compared to what other people were doing, but hey, I've never hit a hip before!

We finally moved onto the next line, the volcano bonk and the side-approach rail. I did better on the bonk than in the qualifying rounds, did some 180s over it and stalled on the barrel, and no more roll-down-the-windows. I hit the rail just fine, did some boardslides but no fakies. Damn. Third line now, and I was sweating everywhere. Boob sweat, back sweat, ass sweat. I know, super sexy. So much hiking, gonna die, aaahhh.

We moved to the third line, my favorite... the slant box and the rail/flat box. I felt the most comfortable and confident on the slant box so I was excited we were doing that line. I had so much fun on that line!! At one point, I dropped in, did the slant box, and started heading towards the flat box to do a 270 on it when some guy came out of nowhere from the side and stalled on the box. I thought to myself, "Oh, mother fucker, you can't be serious"... haha... but decided to just go for it anyways, hoping that he would jump off in time. I came up to the lip, he was still there.... ugh, move!! I don't wanna die! I winded up, he was still there... eeeeek, did a 180 on instead, barely passed him, 180 off.... yay!! I'm alive, he's alive, it worked out, and my boyfriend said it looked cool. Hahaaha. I kept going, tried to do some stuff switch, got it, and kept riding until the competition was finally over.

We were told to go all the way down to the base for the awards, and once we found where we needed to go, we were stoked to find that there were free sandwiches for all of us. Oh yeah, this just keeps getting better than Winter Park!! They were DELICIOUS by the way, and they even had cookies. MMMMMmmmmmm. And fresh squeezed lemonade. More MMMmmmmm!! Like at the Winter Park TransAM, they had a raffle before awards. I held my ticket in front of my boyfriend so he could hear the numbers for me, and after the first ticket number was announced, my boyfriend grabbed my hand and raised it in the air. Holy shit!! I never won a raffle before in my entire life! I was so excited I jumped all over the place towards the guy, and he gave me my prize, a sweet Dakine backpack filled with a hoodie which I gave to another girl, a beanie which I also gave away, another beanie that I kept, a pink belt, a Dakine wallet thing, and little knick knacks like that. I was so stoked!

After the raffles, they called all the girls up to do some paper-rock-scissors. The guy we had to beat kept turning his back while doing the first pumps you gotta do before you revealed your weapon, and I hated it because I couldn't hear if he was going or not. I just watched the girls next to me, and when they started pumping, I did too. I made it further than I did back in Winter Park, but ultimately lost in the end. Dang!

Then came the awards! I was really really surprised to see that Emily won again, I didn't think they would let her have 1st place since she already won the Buck Hill TransAM and she was going to the finals anyways. It was pretty rad, and I wonder if some people were upset about that. I did not place, but I didn't care, it was so so so much fun and I won a backpack with goodies!!

The results:

Women’s Winners
1st Emily Blewitt
2nd Stacie Anderson
3rd Jamie Madrid

Men’s Winners
1st Johnny Brady
2nd Colt Morgan
3rd Sam Elliot

Pint Sized Ripper Award
Graham Haley

Standout Trick
Fredrick Parry
(one-footed front board)