DICK’S: Jackson's hole lot of ditch
So you don't know Dick, but you may have heard of his ditch. Dick's Ditch is a terrain trap at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort named after a patrolman named Dick Porter who survived a 55-minute avalanche burial there in 1966. The JHMR management eight years ago decided that the ditch would be a perfect do-or-die racecourse for the mountain's hardcore snowboarders.
Dick's Ditch Banked Slalom, a pride race like the Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom in Washington state where winners get the coveted golden roll of Duct tape, has evolved into a gnarly race for skiers, too. In a good snow year, and Jackson's had an epic one, the pipe and park guys have full reign to build a course that will make riders pee their pants on many a parts. "It requires some serious Jedi maneuvering," said J.P. Martin, pike and park supervisor. He meant how the crew had to build the course in a blizzard, blind. But it also took super Jedi powers to ski through the 700-vertical-foot gully course. Build huge features into a ditch, add some gates, and as one racer put it, "the potential for carnage was high."
A course known to cause tib-fib breaks and make people cry dished out some carnage this weekend, Feb. 25-26, but thankfully only in the small bumps-and-bruises variety. The warm temps baked the snow, making for a slushy, super fun ride said competitors. This race was more about community that competition though, said pro freeskier Lynsey Dyer who moved to Jackson from Sun Valley, Idaho, this season. "It's really a community event," she said. "You get to meet all the snowboarders, you get to meet all the kids [in the ski club]. It really starts to feel like home." During the final run, going over a double-double feature too fast, she cased the backside of the first one and went knee to jaw, slamming to the ground. Dyer picked herself up and still beat her pioneering big-mountain freeskiing cousin A.J. Cargill by a slight 0.65 seconds coming in at 2:00.17. They placed second and third, respectively. In the spirit of competition after the race, Cargill sarcastically said to Dyer who lives with her: "Your rent's going up." Dyer said if it were not for Cargill, she couldn't afford Jackson rent. "A.J. was a huge reason I came her," she said. "I wouldn't be here without her." The purse might help: Dyer won $500 and Cargill banked $200. Jackson Hole Ski Club freeskiing coach Lela Hebard smoked the course with a time of 1:54.12 to win the first-place $700 purse and the coveted Dick's Ditch belt buckle.
In the men's competition, the race was about speed and style, the top placing guys said over Full Sail brew at the awards ceremony and party. Bob Kilmain said he didn't know how to kick his nerves before the qualifying run on Saturday. His solution: throw a back flip off the first big kicker. Kilmain stomped it and made it to the finals (but he crashed Sunday and didn't make the podium). Qualifier day was about making it look good. "Yesterday was dedicated to Lindsey Jacobellis," said snowboard pro Rob Kingwill after he won the men's snowboard division. Showboating in the Olympic snowboarder cross cost Jacobellis the gold medal, but Kingwill said that's what it's all about. "Style is a matter of honor," he said repeating a mantra a German friend once told him. But the guy skiers gave up local air-pride points for speed during Sunday's final. "Stay on your skis," O'Donnell said about the key to getting on the podium. "Hope for the best and point it for the first gate."
The first and third gates were the two toughest obstacles in the beginning of the race. The start was a 35-40 degree pitch that sent racers going in hot to the first gate about 100 feet below the start. The options were either point it down the rut or take a long, slow arching turn to get to it. The guys generally pointed it. The third gate also had a long rutted entry that barely avoided a clump of rocks. O'Donnell said he was talking to some kids about that trouble gate on the gondola ride to the race. Next thing he knows, one of the junior racers picks a new line that goes high through some little trees and blows through the corner. The "ski-through-the-trees line" became the trend. No stranger to the podium, 18-year-old Max Hammer won the pro men's race with a time of 1:42.90 and took home $700 and the belt buckle. Nicklas Anderson came in at 1:46.42 and O'Donnell got third with 1:50.06.
"You have to want it," said local freeskier Britt Miller, 15, about the mindset to win. "It's just like a nirvana almost, it's a balance." Dick's Ditch didn't care. The course tossed her to the floor, too.
Women's Pro
1. Lela Hebard 1:54.12
2. Lynsey Dyer 2:00.17
3. AJ Cargill 2.00.82
(with JHMR events coordinator Erica Pitts not getting out of the way)
Men's Pro
1. Max Hammer 1:42.90
2. Nicklas Anderson 1:44.42
3. Matt O'Donnell 1:50.06
Vanessa wants to show some props to Paul and Peter at the Jackson Hole Sports demo tent for letting her use some bomber Elan 777 for the comp. She miraculously came in first in her two-person amateur 20-29 division.