Monday, December 20, 2010

Packed, Stacked and Jacked 2010-2011

The Packed, Stacked and Jacked 2010-2011 season kicked off last night in the Goggle Bowl at Seven Springs. The Seven Springs Terrain Park Crew created an amazing set up for the event – and with the Goggle rockin’ the competitors put on quite a show.

Sponsored by Ride Snowboards and Line Skis this first event in the PSJ Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Series was set in a rail jam format with Amateur Ski, Amateur Snowboard, Amateur Women’s Ski and Amateur Women’s Snowboard as well as Open divisions for both ski and snowboard. This division format came as a direct result of the successful inaugural 2009-2010 season and will continue throughout the series.

Packed, Jacked and Stacked, brainchild of Willi’s Ski Shop owner Greg Klein, kicked off in January of 2010 with a 5 event series that gained national recognition and sponsorships to some of the areas great talent. “Our goal”, says Klein, “is to spotlight Seven Springs and the athletes that are coming out of this area. We want it to be a fun series that celebrates the fun and camaraderie of competing.” With that goal in mind Events Manager, Katy Rullo, has designed a competitive series with events that focus on the key ski and snowboard freestyle skills allowing everyone to show off their particular talent.

For the 2010-2011 season the PSJ series has been cut to 4 events and the prize structure has been altered. The competitive field has been split into an Amateur division for both men and women, ski and snowboard and an Open division in which the sponsored athletes must compete. This allows for more of the up-coming athletes to gain more than just competitive experience and throws and added level of excitement into the event.

Using the power of social media the PSJ event series, has developed a life of its own. The Packed, Stacked and Jacked Facebook page is a place where event coordinators, athletes, spectators and sponsors talk, share pictures, pass critical event information or just chat about life, the mountain and the series itself.

The 2010-2011 PSJ season-opening, Ride Snowboards and Line Skis rail jam was an incredible show. It brought some old favorites and some new faces together on an artisitically designed set up by the award winning Seven Springs Terrain Park Crew. Rail jams are fun, spectator-friendly events because there is so much going on all the time…very little waiting around. Goggle Bowl is the prefect place for such an event because people can watch from the lift, from the trail-side, from the Foggy Goggle bar and from the bottom of the venue. With the lights on and the music jamin’ the tricks look impressive and this crew gave the crowd plenty to cheer about. Results were tough to determine but in the end the Open Division winners for snowboard were 1st Tristan Sadler 2nd Cooper Thomas and 3rd Zack Yourd. For Ski 1st Tyler Pence 2nd Justin Petricko and 3rd Eric Taylor. The first place ski and snowboard winners walked away with $300 in cash from the Jib Shop thanks to vitaminwater, and the 2nd and 3rd place finishers walked away with goggles, t-shirts, hats etc. from Smith and some of the other PSJ sponsors. All of the Open division competitors are fighting for points collected through all four events that to determine the grand prize winner that includes a trip to Camp of Champions and $1,000 in spending money. These points are collected during each event based on the FIS point system and will be posted on the Packed, Stacked and Jacked Facebook page after each event.

The Amateur division was a new addition for the 2010-2011 PSJ to help bring more of a grassroots approach to the competition. Everyone likes to compete just for the sake of experience. Younger competitors understand that it is as much for the experience as it is for the fun of being a competitor rather than a spectator…but it is nice to know you have a chance at winning something – and thanks to our sponsors there are some fantastic things to win. At the end of the night the some great talent found the podium. For the men's Ameture Snowboard division it was 1st Chris Poe, 2nd Spencer Strayer and 3rd Trevor Eichelberger. In the men's Amateur Ski division, 1st Jimmy Leslie, 2nd Max Goldstein and 3rd Kyle Scheth. Places for the women’s Amateur Snowboard division were… 1st Ashley Vander Meer, 2nd Brooke Finney and 3rd Haley Milac; and for the women’s Amateur Ski division it was 1st Elle Pappas 2nd Alessa Conner 3rd Andrea Dinderman. Amateur division athletes are competing for sponsorship opportunities and other prizes…so they too can be Packed, Stacked and Jacked!

All in all it was an amazing event. While fewer snowboarders showed up to throw down more women came to this event – many of them new to the competitive scene. The youngest athlete of the night was only 8 years old but already an experienced competitor as she participated in PSJ last year and is a member of the local WPRC ski team registered with USSA as both a Freestyle and an Alpine competitor.

Packed, Jacked and Stacked brings out all levels of competitors so it is an easy way for anyone interested in freestyle skiing and snowboarding to get in the game. There are three more great events the Salomon Ski and Forum Snowboard Big Air Challenge on January 29th, the Burton and Armada Halfpipe Competition on February 20th and the vitaminwater, Camp of Champions Finals on March 4th – whether it is as a spectator or a competitor….you really should be there!

See ya on the slopes!

Kjerstin