Hot sauce and snowboarding … sounds like the perfect day, right?  This past weekend, I went up to Mt. High to watch the 12th annual Cholula Triple Air competition (also put on in part by Monster Energy and Powder and Sun ride shop), featuring some of SoCal’s (and even beyond) top amateur talent.  The Chiloula Triple Air is a “modified big air” competition featuring three huge jumps instead of just one.  Competitors came all the way from Vermont, Colorado, and even Norway!  And $25,000 in prize money was more than enough prize money to motivate competitors to throw down their biggest air ever.  Some of these guys and gals competing were unreal!

Interestingly, Triple Air was held at Mt. High’s East resort this year, which I really liked, partly because the course was built near the bottom of the hill, allowing for good spectator viewing areas, and partly because East is rad this year!  You can take the main lift up and hit 10 tables in a row – yes, 10.  In fact, I may never go to West again this season.  The competition course set included 3 hits – a launch box or rail to choose from, a 50 foot step down, and a massive right hip.  The theme for the day, though, ended up being pretty much “Don’t fall, win some dough.”  It seemed like every rider fell after the second hit, and without having taken a run through the course to see for myself, it looked like the landing got pretty chopped up the latter part of the day which may have exasperated this.  Or maybe the riders were just going way bigger than they were used to.  Either way, only the top competitors were able to stick all three jumps, which likely became key in judging competitors on their ability and style.

In the men’s heat, rider Trevor Jacob ended up taking home the $10,000 in cash, beating out last year’s winner Danny Toumarkine by a slight margin.  In the women’s division, last year’s defending champ. Stacie Anderson from Lake Tahoe took home the title for the second year in a row.  Lars Ellington from Mt. Baldy took home the best trick title, wowing the judges and audience with his massive 1080s.

As much as I love watching snowboarders compete in events such as these, I have to say, I am always impressed watching free skiers perform as well.  They go so much bigger and can pull some of the coolest tricks I’ve ever seen!  It was especially fun to watch the skiiers in this competition, namely because they were going so much bigger than the snowboarders, especially on the hip.

Final Results

Open Mens

1st Trevor Jacob
2nd Daniel Toumarkine
3rd Tyler Anderson
4th Cory Wetstone
5th Brandon Concard

Open Women
1st Stacie Anderson
2nd Nirvana Ortanez
3rd Isabelle Lalive
4th Micki Slchta
5th Jamie Madrid

Open Skier
1st Lars Ellington
2nd Jeff Johnson
3rd Robby Burleson
4th Chase Vance
5th Charlie Ellington
6th Mike Gonzales

Best Trick
Lars Ellington