Lago Wins QP Best Trick at Snow Jam

It is truly a sign that summer is at its peak and the winter ski and snowboard seaso is not too far off in the distance when we see these press releases starting to flow in. Look for regular postings of news and events from the mountains.

TIMBERLINE, Ore. (July 10) - U.S. Snowboarding’s Scotty Lago (Seabrook, NH) stuck an alley oop 720, grabbed truck driver to win the Best Trick award Tuesday as the quarterpipe competition kicked off the 4th Annual Abominable Snow Jam at Mt. Hood. The monster air gave the reigning World Quarterpipe Champion (the event was cancelled after the ‘04 season) a shiny new Rolex watch for his efforts.

Held in jam session format, riders hucked as many tricks as possible in 90 minutes on the 30-foot quarterpipe before the judges hunkered down and awarded Norwegian Torstein Horgmo and Hana Beaman (Mammoth, CA) the first place checks. Horgmo owned the snow, throwing a backside 720, a huge backside air, a switch backside 360 and a Michalchuk to take the first spot and $10,000. Beaman unloaded a barrage of backside airs, a backside 360 and a McTwist to take the women’s top spot and $5,000.

As the first major competition of the season, the Abominable Snow Jam draws around 60 of the world’s elite for a laid-back contest that also includes halfpipe and slopestyle.

“It turns into a friendly form of competition,” U.S. Snowboarding Freestyle Head Coach Mike Jankowski told reporters. “They’re not totally trying to be jocks and beat each other. They just want to represent themselves in a good way. And sponsors. There are lots of influential people in the snowboarding world here. If you can have a standout performance at an event like this you can translate that into some good things.”

Along with Lago, other standout performances went to 2002 Olympic haflpipe gold medalist Kelly Clark (Mount Snow, VT) and Japanese men’s rider Fumiyuki Murakami. Each boosted the biggest airs of the day - 12 and 22 feet respectively - to cruise away with a pair of snowmobiles. The women’s Best Trick award went to Yuki Furihata of Japan with a McTwist.

“It’s fun to come out in the middle of the summer and see all your friends, see how everyone’s summer is going,” said Clark. “It’s not super-competitive.”

Halfpipe goes off Wednesday where Lago and the rest of the U.S. Snowboarding big guns, including Louie Vito (Columbus, OH), Steve Fisher (Breckenridge, CO) and Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO) will work the 22-foot walls for a share of the Abominable Snow Jam $140,000 overall purse.

4th Annual Abominable Snow Jam
Timberline, OR - July 10, 2007
Quarterpipe
Men
1. Torstein Horgmo, Norway
2. Kevin Pearce, Norwich, VT
3. Mason Aguirre, Mammoth Lakes, CA
4. Jake Blauvelt, Waterbury Center, VT
5. Dustin Craven, Canada
-
Highest Air: Fumiyuki Murakami, Japan
-
Best Trick: Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH
–
Women
1. Hana Beaman, Mammoth Lakes, CA
2. Yuki Furihata, Japan
3. Kelly Clark, Mount Snow, VT
4. Meg Pugh, Government Camp, OR
5. Leslie Glenn, Breckenridge, CO
-
Highest Air: Kelly Clark, Mount Snow, VT
-
Best Trick: Yuki Furihata, Japan

For complete results
www.abominablesnowjam.com

TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2007
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Juliann Fritz, jfritz@ussa.org