DYNASTAR WINS ORAGE: sunshine, costumes, technical tricks
CHECK OUT THE ORAGE MASTERS 2005 VIDEO
The third annual Orage Masters was graced with perfect Mammoth Mountain sunshine and went off without a hitch. The day was all about skiing with friends, good vibes, and quality jam format competition.
Corey Vanular, Tanner Rainville, Dan Marion, and Marie Martinod of Team Dynastar came out strong in their final heat to take the victory. The trick list that they threw down in their 15 minute heat is far to crazy to list but some highlights include Vanular’s switch 630 on to 270 off the first box and Rainville’s huge cab 7’s going both ways.
“We knew we had a shot at winning going in.” said Vanular. “We went in with a strategy to each stick to a different line, that way we covered every feature.”
After four, 15 minute, head to head, elimination heats, the original line up of eight factory teams was narrowed to four finalists. Team Dynastar, 4FRNT, Line, and Rossignol each had the course to themselves for 15 minutes while the other seven teams judged their efforts.
Candide Thovex bruised his heel early in the competition after a hard landing off the pillar box and couldn’t continue to compete.
“I am really pissed, I was skiing well and planned a cork 810 on the first box.” Candide said after several unsuccessful attempts at skiing through the pain.
Candide managed a smooth 450 on to 450 off the box before injuring himself, and plenty of other skiers stepped up, attempting some insane stunts. Rory Bushfield laid out a switch double back off the first hip; he completed the rotation but sketched the landing. After several tries, Scott Hibbert landed a switch flair over a gap and onto the down rail, and the whole field landed technical tricks with style throughout the entire competition.
In addition to consistently ridiculous skiing, the riders fully embraced the Master’s “anti-comp” mentality, including the suggestion to don team costumes. In true spring skiing style the Armada team brought a BBQ, plenty of PBR and rocked out in neon stenciled jump suits with beautiful flowing blond band wigs. The 4 FRNT team wore 10th Mountain Division style white, complete with rifle props. And the winning Dynastar team looked thugged out in bright orange prison jump suits.
“The jump suits were surprisingly comfortable. I’m going to be rocking mine plenty next season.” Said a stoked Vanular.
