Eastern Boarder’s 10th Annual Last Call Photos

March 25

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Eastern Boarder’s Last Call

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Shane stomped front sevens both ways over the channel; toes and heals. This shot is whichever way is more impressive to you.

Photos: Huggy

Captions: Reid

Words: T-Bird

Eastern Boarder’s 10th annual Last Call went off today at Loon Mountain, New Hampshire. That’s right. 10 years. Since its inception at Sunapee, NH a decade ago, Last Call has become the premier East Coast event. In those ten years, the host resorts’ build crews conjured up some wild features and this year’s venue went down on some of the classics throughout the contest’s tenure.

The infamous channel gap was the first feature sessioned by the contestants. Though the wind was whipping and the takeoffs were firm, it didn’t take long for those in attendance to see double. Fresh out of semi-retirement and officially back on the scene, Laconia’s Greg Maxwell dropped and fired off a healthy double backflip, and soon to follow were Nick Julius, Brandon Reis, and Shane Fortier. It was as ridiculous as it was impressive, and to top off the session, Maxwell threw down a Cab 10 double cork. Holy shit. Other jump standouts were Shaun Murphy, Chas Guldemond, Chelone Miller, Merrick Joyce, Jeremy Thompson, Tim Humphreys, Jack Herald, Graham Hoffman and a slew of others. Check the video for all the action.

The rhythm section was my personal favorite of the day, however I won’t lie. I was expecting more carnage. When the rhythm section debuted a few years back, riders were flailing through the air like gay bats, ready to test their spinal column’s strength on the icy flats below. It wouldn’t be that way this year though, but it was still fun as shit to watch. Fortier and Forest Bailey took turns lapping and as the other riders dropped, things got a bit more hectic. Brandon Reis linked together some impressive runs through the ups and downs as well as Kael Hill, Riley Nickerson, Thompson, Murphy and more. Though the rhythm section provided less airtime than the other two features, it was a crowd favorite, mainly because most people that came out for Last Call are snowboarders and they know how tricky it can be to ride one.

After the rhythm section, it was on to the quarterpipe. A 22-foot brick of ice lay before those in the drop zone and once Maxwell screamed in to hit the beast, it was on. A few flails to the flats and a handful of decking in the early stages, but before you knew it, most riders had the tranny dialed. Chas Guldemond’s consistent, head-high back rodeos got some whoops from the crowd and Shane Fortier’s heave-hos were sick. Maxwell boosted a few overhead airs while some cop that was there went massive. I say “some cop” because I didn’t quite get his name, but someone told me that he was a cop, but I kept it to myself during the event for fear of the heckling that would follow if the crowd found out he was local law enforcement. Brandon, Stompy, Humpy and the Flow team were training the tranny all afternoon, dropping one after another with healthy plants and airs aplenty. When the final whistle blew, it was Flow team rider Shane Fortier who took the win and the majority of the prize purse, with East Coast underdog Shaun Murphy in second and Brandon Reis in third.

Wait for the photos and videos to drop on the site, but if you were there, (and especially if you were a title sponsor), thank you, and a huge thanks is in order to the dudes at Eastern Boarder for always supporting the Northeast snowboard scene and putting on the best East Coast contest every year for a full decade.