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Thursday, 15 July 2004

Bringing snowboarding's A-list of legends and current stars together for a weekend of intensely relaxed midsummer mayhem, Burton's Abominable Snow Jam concluded Sunday under sunny skies and a grand finale at slopestyle that put Travis Rice in the driver's seat of a brand new Volvo V50 Sportswagon. With outstanding performances in both slopestyle and quarterpipe, Rice amazed everyone and left Mt. Hood with $20,000 in cash, the Volvo and a bright smile on his face.

Hannah Teter had an amazing weekend as well with a clean sweep in quarterpipe taking 1st Overall, Biggest Air and Best Trick. Not stopping there she took first in halfpipe and second in slopestyle leaving Mt. Hood with a total of $12,500 in cash, a Philips Plasma Screen TV and a new Rolex. When asked about the weekend Hannah said, "I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Everything was cool, especially the quarterpipe and the bibs. I was psyched it was so low key, but that such an amazing group of riders turned out. I felt myself smiling all weekend long!"

The star-studded weekend had pinnacle moments from start to finish. Beginning in foggy, thick weather on Friday, the men's quarterpipe was a showdown like no other. Despite the nasty weather, the crowd was left awestruck by preeminent performances from Keir Dillon, Travis Rice and a rare appearance from everyone's favorite Norwegian, Terje Haakonsen. "Seeing Terje is always great," said Snowboard Journal editor, Jason Ford. "To see his passion, his very unique style and to see him work so hard was very cool. He got more runs in the quarterpipe and showed more hard work and determination than anyone, and it was truly amazing."

In addition to the fog, day two of the jam, which featured the halfpipe contest, was the coldest day of July at 52 degrees. The weather didn't seem to matter much to Terje who again astounded the crowd with seamless runs of graceful rotations and huge airs. Takaharu Nakai was another great crowd pleaser ending his run with possibly one of the biggest frontside 7s ever seen. In the end, Danny Kass copped first with a vintage Kass halfpipe run consisting of cored back-to-back 7s, a frontside 9 and a McTwist.

The warm summer sun finally showed itself on the third and final day of the event for slopestyle, allowing the crowd to watch full runs of all the competitors. Travis Rice had the crowd going off at the top of the course when in the distance they witnessed his backside rodeo 7 to, double back, to the gap to rail that clinched first. Natasza Zurek seized first with a perfectly consistent run.

Shortly after the awards presentation for slopestyle, Yvonne Porter, Drive Programs Manager of Volvo Cars North America, bestowed Travis with a certificate and catalog for a brand new Volvo V50 Sportswagon. "Sponsoring this event and giving away the all new Volvo V50 to the overall champ of the first ever Burton Abominable Snow Jam is very exciting for our company," said Yvonne. "We feel the timing is great as both the car and the event are brand spanking new! The new V50 is synonymous with an active lifestyle and versatility, so Volvo felt it was the perfect prize for this new event," said Porter. Even though Travis's new car will be made to order, he couldn't resist making his way down to the Burton Demo Center in Govy to test drive the demo on display. With friends in tow, Rice peeled out of the lot.

2004 BURTON ABOMINABLE SNOW JAM FINAL RESULTS

WOMEN'S QUARTERPIPE
1st Overall - Hannah Teter ($5,000)
Biggest Air - Hannah Teter (Rolex)
Best Trick - Hannah Teter (Philips Plasma Screen TV)

MEN'S QUARTERPIPE
1st Overall - Travis Rice ($10,000)
Biggest Air - Wille Yli Luoma (Rolex)
Best Trick - Jake Blauvelt (Philips Plasma Screen TV)

WOMEN'S HALFPIPE
1st - Hannah Teter ($5,000)
2nd - Gretchen Bleiler ($2,500)
3rd - Mercedes Nicholl ($1,500)
Best Trick - Junko Asazuma (Philips Plasma Screen TV)

MEN'S HALFPIPE
1st - Danny Kass ($10,000)
2nd - Andy Finch ($5,000)
3rd - JJ Thomas ($3,000)
Best Trick - Takaharu Nakai (Philips Plasma Screen TV)

WOMEN'S SLOPESTYLE
1st - Natasza Zurek ($5,000)
2nd - Hannah Teter ($2,500)
3rd - Channelle Sladics ($1,500)

MEN'S SLOPESTYLE
1st - Travis Rice ($10,000)
2nd - Danny Kass ($5,000)
3rd - Andreas Wiig ($3,000)

BEST OVERALL RIDER
Travis Rice (Volvo V50 Sportswagon)