Westbound Boarder

As we here at Westbound have been promoting the heck out of the Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour, we hope that you were able to witness the insanity that was the finale this past Saturday. The event could not have been more perfect – with the sun blazing, temperatures in the near 90′s and the Wests best riders boasting their skillz – perfection is an understatement.

The competition began with round one where the male snowboarders set the bar quite high, then moved into the women’s snowboarders, followed directly by the co-ed ski session. The jam style enables all riders to take as many runs as physically possible during their heat. Each heat lasted about 30-45 minutes and was action pact. These guys and gals were sweating bullets and their runs only improved as the heat and pressure rose to unprecedented levels. Grady Skelton, one of the founders of Civil Brand Clothing, was on the mike during round one and increased the pressure further by sounding the 5 minute and 1 minute warnings and ended the heats by finally calling the dreaded last run.

The judges handpicked the best of each heat to advance to the Cricket Campus Rail Jam Finals. At about 3:30pm the finals commenced and the bars rose, yet again, to extraordinary levels of intensity. These guys and gals were throwing nutter butters and back fives out like there was no tomorrow. As the snow began melting away and the rail ruts grew, things got pretty sloppy – although this was not about to stop any one of the competitors from pushing through in order to stomp that one last trick – in hopes to be the recipient of that grand ca$h prize. The results are finally live so check out the official Rail Jam Finals here.

On top of the sick snowboarders and skiers we had entertainment from Fuel TV, Todd Richards, Grady Skelton of Civil Brand Apparel and all of the sponsors of the event, including (but not limited to) Cricket Wireless, Spyder, Hillcrest Sports, Atmosphere Clothing, Zagg – the list goes on. In between heats, Todd and Grady had a hell of a time taunting the audience and offering prizes in exchange for their pride. Whether they were asking to see the worst tattoo in the house (note picture above, view discretion is advised), the largest beer belly in attendance, or for your first born, everyone was willing to embarrass themselves for a chance to meet Todd Richards and get laughed at by him all at the same time.

We hope you were able to witness this event in person. If ya didn’t, check out our photo gallery at the westboundboarder flickr page. Interested in competing or attending next year? Let us know, we can send you in the right direction.

I know ya’llready heard the skinny on the Cricket Campus Rail Jam tomorrow, but here is a more than friendly reminder for those of you who need it…

The Jam is Mañana, beer garden opens at 12pm, the comp begins at 1pm and the finals are at 3:30pm. We’re going to be there with some sweet swag to give you and so will a million bada$s sponsors. For a full understanding of the magnatidue of this event check out the deets here; otherwise we’ll see you shred heads Downtown Portland Pioneer Square tomorrow!