Dominique Vallée

13.02.2012 | comments [0]

All good trips usually start with a road-trip. The best part of going down to our Southern neighbors, no matter what the reason for the visit is, let’s face it: Target. After a quick stop to grab necessities for our weekend we are finally ready to hit our final destination.
So this finally brings us to Mount Baker, Washington.
Mount Baker is probably the most under rated mountain for many reasons but for over 27 years, has been holding the best contest of the year; the Legendary Baker Banked Slalom where the who’s who of shred scene around the world and avid local snowboarders gather up to bank some turns in a course that will make your legs burn and shake to the last gate. The more riders go down the more you can see the ruts get deeper and deeper.
Getting there early in the morning it’s more like a big reunion of who ever you’ve met trough the past 10 years of snowboarding, from Euro snowboard-crossers, old time friends, to acquaintances you haven’t seen in years that you once met in your first ever half-pipe contest. Everybody just magically appears for these 3 days in February.
You either register online in your category in September-October and hope to get in the lottery draw or, which I highly don’t recommend, show up like me, with no race-spots and hoping for the best. Getting to the front of the line of registration, realizing that I was for sure not on the start list, I had no clue what was going to happen, luckily Nicole from Baker gave me a bib, and after thanking her a million times, I’ve never been so grateful to have a spot to drop in in-between all my friends.
It takes hours to run about 400 riders from all categories, but with warm food, drinks and conversations, next thing you know it’s your turn to drop in. By that time it’s like surfing down big huge banks, holding on to dear life with 2 hands while riding a wild bull. Twice I had to remind myself to breath and didn’t remember the course to be this long.
Whis this line-up ready to drop in, I must name drop a few riders: we have Terje Haakonsen, Travis Rice, Danny Davis, Kevin Pierce, Shane Pospisil, Austin Smith, Barrett Christy, Temple Cummings, and countless others, but of course the unbeatable Maelle Ricker, who by the way has won numerous years in a row, but last year with 1 arm (she had 1 broken wing and was taped-up), she’s unbeatable and inspiring to watch.
Après at the bottom of the hill is obviously a good time. When we get home to our condo in Glacier, we opened the door to Scott Sullivan and Wes Makepeace jamming around the kitchen table for hours with Megan and DCP’s kids bouncing around dancing. Truly one of the most memorable enjoyable moments I can recall. This is what the LBS is all about.
 

More check the article at SB Women.com

Dom