Sheehan and Anderson Cash Out

Vans must have some kind of agreement with Mother Nature because today turned out to be perfect contest conditions. The snowy skies of the previous day opened up to the famous Tahoe bluebird and the 2006 Vans Cup Slopestyle was on! The course consisted of nice mix of features, starting things out on the top with a rail feature then into a double kicker line, which set you up for the channel gap at the bottom. Riders then finished the course on a staircase rail feature at the bottom.

Riders were pumped as the day got underway, and while powder seekers were shredding the rest of the mountain, today’s top riders turned the Vans Cup into a killer park session. The feel was different from any contest this year, as the riders seemed to be riding for the fun of it, throwing down, not the washing machine spins, but unique and stylish moves.

For the men it was the channel gap that would prove to be their stomping grounds and it was the best view for the fans so everyone was stoked on the action. Riders had to stomp their set up trick into it in order to have enough speed too really throw down, so the linking of trick was really important. For the riders that did put it together, they gave the crowd a show from Andreas Wiig corked backside 900s over the channel to Chaz Guldemond’s backside rodeos over the gap, everyone was pumped up! One of the sled drivers from the resort was so pumped on Andreas he was yelling to his buddies in the crowd, “Hey did you see that sh*t Andreas Wiig pulled!!” Even snowboarding legend Todd Richards was riding and he came out swinging, stomping big spins over the channel gap and taking home 6th place to boot. Todd was the oldest rider in the event and he is still killing it.

Now, sorting out the top three riders for the men was a shakedown. In fourth place, just missing out on the podium was Dennis aka “Sketchy D” Biongiorno. He rode hard all day and was slaying the channel gap. In 3rd place was Chaz Guldemond, who was also killing it with huge backside rodeos over the channel gap! Coming in 2nd was halfpipe phenom and US Olympic team member, Mason Aguirre, who showed that he’s not just a pipe kid. His backside 900 over the channel was stomped clean and he was pretty stoked to be on a slopestyle podium for a change of pace! Be sure to watch for him in the superpipe as well. Last but not least was Nate Sheehan. Nate came in 2nd last year and definitely upped the ante for 2006 taking home top honors and $22,000.

The women looked like they had some problems as many of the girls had a hard time stomping their setup tricks into the channel gap, which meant they wouldn’t have enough speed to throw down on it. But by their final runs, the girls seemed to have the course on lock as riders like Tara Dakides, Jamie Anderson, Izumi Amakie, Alexis Waite and Silvia Mittermueller battled for the title. And once they were dialed in they started killing it on the course, especially one person in particular: Jamie Anderson. At just 15 years old, Jamie took home $17,000 as she stepped up the bigger side of the jumps all day and stomped her landings. On the podium she was asked to say something, she said: “I’m LOADED!” Spend wisely. Coming in just behind Jamie was snowboarding legend Tara Dakides who stomped a HUGE backflip and rode solid through the finals. In 3rd was Izumi Amaike, who was solid all day landing one of the nicest trick combinations of the day with a frontside 540 into a cab 540 over the channel gap.