9-17-06 // Events: Hot Dawgs and Handrails '06

It may only be the middle of September, but winter is right around the corner, in fact it was in full swing up at Big Bear over the weekend where the 3rd annual Hot Dawgs and Handrails contest went down!

Riders like Yale Cusino, Mike Casanova, Lucas Magoon, Pat Milbery were out ripping the Bear setup for most of the afternoon with other shredders like JP Walker, Darrell Mathes and many more just taking in the pre-season stoke!

There was a sea of spectating shredders just itching to get out on the hill as thousands of winter ready snow fiends showed up to watch, drink and be a part of the action. Companies from all over were posted up, tent in tow, but SNOWBOARDER Magazine held it down, doling out snow cones all day long to make sure that even though the riding was hot everyone else stayed cool.

For the contest set up, Big Bear came through with a unique and creative design that continued to push the level of where handrail contests are headed. The feature was a five-across rail setup, going left to right with a down box, down staircase rail, down round bar, a down-flat-down staircase and a down-flat-down box. Then as if that wasn’t enough at the bottom were two-wall rides connected together with coping forming a gap that you could transfer over.

Riders warmed up to the course slowly but once they had their speed dialed everyone dusted off their trickcionary and class was in session!

The jam session qualifiers followed by a jam session final made judging a Herculean job. But in the end, there were are few riders that stood boardslides above the rest of the field.

For the men, East Coast shredder, Yale Cusino, took the day and the $5,000 with his super steezy rail tricks and solid landings. Coming in second was Kyle Lopiccolo who worked the wall ride transfer all day. Finishing the podium was Minnesota local shred head, Joe Sexton who got super tech on his tricks with moves down staircase rail with 180 on to 180 while on the rail to 180 off!

For the ladies, they might as well just rename the contest the Laura Hadar Jib Jam, as she took home her third victory in a row! HAT TRICK! Big Bear local shreddet, Melissa Evans came in second.

As the day wrapped up most of the crew was ready to dry out the gear and wet their whistles at the bar. From the lodge after-party to Murray’s for some late night karaoke action, Big Bear went off on Saturday night and closed Hot Dawgs and Handrails with a shot and a Bud!