Spring is here, World Cups are done and largely forgotten, which means the real contest season begins. By which I mean the ones the athletes actually enjoy going to. And, as a big fan of the event, stoked is an understatement for when I got the call from Red Bull telling me they wanted to fly me out to Cascade at Solitude, UT.
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If you’ve missed it in the past, here’s a quick recap on why this event is a banger. It’s the brainchild of Bobby Brown, and the event has produced the best T2B lines IG has ever seen. The course is a mix of all-mountain freeride features and massive slopestyle type jumps. This year's lineup of athletes each had their own way of charging the extremely long, leg burner of a course.
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Bobby Brown going T2B on the lengthy Solitude Course
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This year's two-day event saw more than just the location change from past runnings. A bracket-style contest between four teams saw a who's who of elite men and women put down their best top-to-bottom runs on a course designed to challenge every discipline of skier. Teams were chosen at random after the 4 female captains were assigned their roles, and athletes were certainly nervous as the stacked team of Rell Harwood, Bobby Brown, Jed Waters, and Colby Stevenson took shape.
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Day 1 kicked off the seeding/ qualifiers for the teams with blue skies and a clear course. Gus Kenworthy came out of retirement swinging with a Dub 10 blunt so perfect it left everyone doubting he ever took a break. Siblings Irvine both put down their respective runs and showed their versatility outside of the halfpipe, and Colby showed us why he is our reigning Skier of the Year with absolute domination on every aspect of the course.
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However, continuing a theme that plagued the regular comp season, Solitude saw fresh snow and cloudy skies for the Saturday's finals tournament. The deep ruts laid down the day previous had a light dusting and made the conditions variable at best. 4 teams quickly turned to 2 through Semis, and the finals were left with a battle of the titans featuring Team Center Punch; Jay Riccomini, Cody LaPlante, Ben Smith, and Birk Irving VS. Team Mando; Rell Harwood, Bobby Brown, Jed Waters, and Colby Stevenson.
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Team Center Punch kicked it off, Benny Smith put down an absolute heater and secured one of the highest scores of the day, Jay and Cody both held it down to keep them in the running, while Birk, unfortunately, slipped up on his final run of the day.
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Team Mando answered quickly with Rell and Jed putting on a style clinic for all to see. Bobby showed the fans why he’s such a legend until he got caught up on the whale tale and took an impressive slam. This left it all up to Colby Stevenson who needed the highest score of the event to take home the win for his team. In true Colby fashion, the bar was raised, tricks were laced, and a dub 12 mute on the final transfer jump took home the gold for the stacked team.
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Final Results
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First Place - Mando
Bobby Brown
Jedson Blue Waters
Colby Stevenson
Rell Harwood
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Second Place - Center Punch
Jay Riccomini
Cody LaPlante
Ben Smith
Birk Irving
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Third Place - Overshoot
Marin Hamill
Aaron Blunck
Konnor Ralph
Tanner Blakely
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