Sugarbush Parks hosted the first annual Lawsons Finest Super Sessions, drawing in a bunch of bosses from The West Coast, to Quebec and Vermont. Oliver Hoblitzelle (@OHoblitzelle ) came in to cover the filming and editing for a recap edit and join the festivities. One of the locals, Chase Morhman (@mohrman ), was the main man to thank for this event. He works in Lawson’s taproom and the Super Session idea was his brainchild (inspired by the Bush Project). Being the first Super Sessions, things did not always go according to plan. Budgeting was tight which led to restrictions with the build and rider list, but that didn’t stop the event from being a complete success.
Lawson’s sponsored the riders with endless brews throughout the week, along with a case of beer for each person and some Lawson’s threads of their choice to snag from the gift shop. The free cans were primarily put to use after the lifts stopped spinning, where the Hoblitzelle house and Chase’s place (both in Waitsfield) were the home bases for the week.
Talking to Chase, he brought up giving the East Coast more life and how this event will ideally do that. It’s a fantastic idea that was clearly pretty inspiring to the younger riders that came out to ski and watch some of the best around. Since it was an open event, there were no ropes or closed off sections so it was just everyone lapping the park normally. This gave the event a homie feel which complimented the crew nicely.
I couldn’t make it every day but I was there most of the time, and my favorite part of the week was seeing some heat on the jumps. Bobby Sullivan and Chris Bechtold stood out the most from when I was there. I’m not a ramp guy but it was wild watching the jump hits logged throughout the week. Bush is known for its rails, and the setup did not disappoint. I asked the majority of the riders what they thought and everyone seemed hyped on the flow of Riemergasse (the main park trail).
The top section of the park consisted of small to medium features that are the most rewarding when skied laterally. The jump section comes up next with a 3 pack of the best jumps Bush has made to date, and the rollers hit too. The last zone includes some bigger features like the up flat transfer to Catfish down rail (S/O Catfish Chronicles), the snow crater field, and the Windells DFD which feeds into the Monster Energy plaza and a signature Bush bottom section with a wallride/QP to finish the lap.
Most parks have a more conventional layout, where going straight down will open up the best options for features, but Bush has a different philosophy. The skate inspiration creates a different kind of technical riding that isn’t about swaps and spins as much as it is fluidity and precision. Skiing between the features is equally important as skiing the features.
Saturday was the last day of the event and it was beautiful out. Down Rails and Double Kinks overlapped the Super Sessions week, which led to a madhouse on Riemergasse. The whole park was slab ice and half the trail was closed off for the event, but everyone was vibing despite the brick conditions. Some of the crew actually ended up judging the competition.
The East Coast has been largely overlooked in the recent past, but observing more closely, you can find unique communities of riders across the region, whose love for sliding on snow matches the die-hards of Colorado or Utah. That is why this event is so meaningful. Chase and Lawson’s have created an East Coast event that people everywhere can get behind.
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