Red Bull Rivals Oregon Style

The bet is in. A cinnamon roll handshake between 13 college kids at Cascade Lakes Brewing seals it. Two darts, lowest points loses. If you’re the chump who was unfortunate enough to miss the dartboard from 8 feet away, you’ll be taking a condiment drop shot--yep, mayo and tabasco in a PBR--or getting the shaved mustache hairs of two of the Northwest’s classiest MCs, Dillan Burgess and Grady Skelton glued to your face the next morning when you show up at Mt. Bachelor.

Worse things have happened though, and who cares anyway because this is just the beginning of Red Bull Rivals and they are paying the tab for a great weekend.

The format for Red Bull Rivals is simple: match two groups of geographic rivals in a head-to-head battle to see who is best at whatever extreme sport happens to be going down, whether it be surfing, skating, or in this case skiing/snowboarding. Add in a few wild card contestants to make the contest interesting, and see what happens.

Last Sunday, May 22nd, was the first time Red Bull hosted this competition on snow and they did it here in Oregon at Mt. Bachelor. The event was defined by the classic Oregon rivalry, 15 skiers and snowboarders from Oregon State University against 15 from University of Oregon.

The comp came down to which team could put together the smoothest, most stylish, and most creative runs on the course that combined quarter pipes, banked turns, and rail features into a free flowing jib fest. This year, it was team OSU, lead by captain Jason Shook and made up partially by members of CORE Freeride (an OSU freeride club), who were the best at rivaling.

Team OSU on the podium.  Got the sign Erik? Photo by Willow Hill.  

Night done right

The pre-funk started Saturday night at Cascade Lakes Brewing in Bend, OR. Red Bull hooked up free burgers, a few free drinks, and good beats from Team Banzai, DJ Wiky, and others to get the darts flying and bets rolling.

Riders mingled with Red Bull execs and crew, and showed off their “respectable” side. Talk drifted around the subject of the Campus Rail Jam Tour event the night before at Oregon State University. Memories were remembered, partially.

When the DJs got replaced by a cover band, and shot-skis quit tipping, it was safe to say that Cascades Lakes had done its part. The crew moved back to the Inn of the Seventh Mountain to take advantage of their comped rider condos.

The words of Jason Shook, OSU Core Freeride President, pretty much sum up the atmosphere at the Inn Saturday night. When checking in he told the front desk, “I can vouch for everyone from OSU that things will be chill, but I have some pro Wild Cards coming and sometimes they are hard to control.” He was right. Most of the evening is off the record, but there is a cab driver who will store it in his memory banks for a while and a bum somewhere who found some new jeans.

Comped

Early Sunday morning alarms started ringing in heads that were doing the same--response time was slow. Rider check-in was 8:00 am at Mt. Bachelor, and rules were “strict” about not being late and about riders being part of a school. Turns out not so much. OSU team snowboarder Danny McWilliams was there just because he is a “Wild Card at life,” not because he actually attended OSU. It wasn't till about 8:30 am that a ragged looking band of riders rolled into Bachelor’s parking lot, a little late, but they had made it. This was probably the earliest they had arrived at the mountain in months. Only one rider couldn’t find clothes or a cell phone in time to compete due to an excessively good time the night before, but luckily Bend, OR has no shortage of back-up talent. Sandbagged teams, glaring sun, Red Bull flowing like blood in a gladiator ring, and a course setup that was... interesting to say the least, describes the day.

Free pizza is legit.  Photo by Willow Hill. 

During rider check-in, the razor came out as promised and it was time to cash in some dart bets from the night before. Everyone with spare mustache, chest hair, or neckbeard pitched in to make a second-hand ‘stache. Mix in a little Elmer’s glue, and Kyle Peterson from OSU got a new handlebar to rock until his flame like skiing scorched it from his face. That’s what you get for missing the dartboard!

Kyle Peterson gettin 'stached.  Photo by Willow Hill.

Late morning the sun came out, the course softened up and teams got down to business to get the comp rolling. After some tense Roshambo for first drop between team captains Jason Shook (OSU) and Angela Swain (UO), riders started dropping. No-one knew exactly what approach to take in the course setup, which sparked creativity on the features. Hand plants, slashes, over-rotated back flips, flairs, rodeos, and switch-ups on the down-flat-down rail all came out to play.

Roshambo! OSU Captain Jason Shook vs. UO Captain Angela Swain.  The Red Bull horns always wins.  Photo by Willow Hill.

The comp powered through 3 heats, rider vs rider with the best of each head-to-head taking a point for their team. No one was afraid to huck a little larger in order to make a statement... the result, only one broken collarbone.

Congrats to Anton Hilts (OSU) and Justin Levin (UO) for getting “Best Deck” award. Anton with a huge 540 to slush pile double eject, and Justin with a backflip to face press.... that feels nice in the morning. Zoe Ansery of OSU Cascades nailed all 3 runs and stuck a rodeo 540, getting her MVP and a free snowboard.

Team OSU pulled through and in the last runs of the comp took the lead, holding on for the win. By that time though, riders had forgotten the score and the comp had turned into a genuinely good time of shredding with friends on the mountain--like it should be.

The Beavers will definitely enjoy their winning prize of a private tailgate party at the June 19th Portland Timbers vs. NY Red Bulls game. The stories for both teams and the bragging rights for OSU will stick around like a sunburn goggle tan on a white kid from the Willamette Valley.

Keep that rival spirit going colleges, and maybe you’ll see Red Bull at your mountain next year complete with a film crew, custom school jerseys, and buckets of energy drink courage! 

--Eli