January
29, 2000 brought about a memorable day in the lives of many Onterrible (sorry, Ontario)
snowboarders. Warm temperatures of -2 celsius and a Lakeridge halfpipe cut the night
before meant three things = t-shirts, highways all over the pipe's walls and photographer
wars raging over who would get the best shot.It all went down at Lakeridge Resort: the former home of legendary Whistler drunks, oops, I mean snowboarders, like Kevin Young and Kale Stephens. The resort has supported snowboarding since the beginning, and consistently has
a well-cut halfpipe and fun little shred park.
The pipe
was packed all day long and kids were going off. Ian Frauts, aged 17, was stopping
everyone dead in their tracks as he threw down big frontside 720 lien's, with style way
beyond his years. The session was in effect. yo.Pro snowboarder for Ride, Mike Scott and his merry band of kick ass shred dawgs showed later on in the afternoon and soon took control of the pipe. With beautiful combinations of both tweaked out methods and consistent spins,
Scott, aged 19, and friends showed the
young kids just what experience in contests was really all about. But this time the
contest wasn't for cash or glory, it was for personal satisfaction and the attainment of
bro-brah cat calls from the other side of the pipe.
An unknown rider showed up, minus the regulatory posse and started ruling the pipe with massive style. He did a few runs and was gone again without speaking a word to anyone. Especially me. So no names were obtained, but damn, that guy was sick.
-Geof Harries