SG/Emu Australia Queen of the Mountain
Benefiting Boarding for Breast Cancer
Leanne Pelosi rocks the rail jam, taking home $5,000 and a Fender guitar

Despite fears that Southern California’s long, wet winter season might equal a contest carried out in a snowstorm, spring arrived in full bloom just in time for the SG/Emu Australia Queen of the Mountain Pro/Am Rail Jam Benefiting Boarding for Breast Cancer on Saturday, March 12, at Mountain High Resort.

Talent stacked the third-annual event, which drew competitors ranging from younger than 12 to older than 40. The warm weather brought with it slushy, slow snow, but it appeared to everyone to be an acceptable trade-off for snowboarding in mid-March in only a T-shirt and pipe gloves.

Based on feedback from competitors at past Queen of the Mountain events, this year’s format switched up and featured a rail jam instead of a slopestyle. In addition, the pro division included two wildcard spots, pulled from the top two competitors in the Open division that preceded it.

The girls rode for 20- to 40-minute heats and were judged on their best two hits in two zones—four scores in total. The upper zone of the course gave the riders a choice of two boxes, while the lower zone offered three different rails—the hardest being a kinked down-flat-down “dragon rail,” which many of the girls focused their energy on throughout the day.

The rails and jibs were a little crazy for the 12-and-younger groms, but they charged anyway. Twelve-year-old Bryn Valaika placed first in the 12 and younger division, and ripped so hard that she received a wildcard to compete in the 13 and older division. “I felt pretty good,” said Valaika of her performance in both divisions. “Most of the rail jams don’t have age groups for girls—they just put us into one event. So I’ve been used to competing against, like, 20-year-olds.”

Pro skateboarder Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins also attended the event, competing in the 13 and older division. Even though skateboarding is her sport of choice, Hawkins had a blast, running up and down the course and even trying to land some sick switch tricks off the box.

Meanwhile, at the base of the mountain, live music rocked the Fender Guitar Stage, courtesy of Jerra, while Oakley DJs Soluz and Bianca, and <i>Powder Magazine</i>’s own Sonny Sisto, took turns holding it down on the turntables. B-girl collective Sisterz of the Underground busted breakdance moves on linoleum trucked in all the way from San Francisco. Sponsor booths by Volcom, Boarding for Breast Cancer, Billabong, Etnies, Emu, <i>Snowboarder</i> and <i>SG</i> also drew a large crowd—riders learned how to do self-breast exams, got their boards waxed and stenciled, and even received chair massages with a five-dollar donation to Boarding for Breast Cancer.

The sun went down after the amateur awards ceremony as the Oakley DJs hit the turntables and pros geared up to compete under the lights. Due to the level of riding in the am divisions, four wildcard spots ended up being awarded instead of two: three to the top three finishers in the Open division ( Joanna Dzierzawski, Erin Podue, and Drea Russll), and one to the top finisher in the 13 and older division (Jenna Klein).

A minor controversy ensued over the enforcement of a helmet-mandatory rule, and the last-minute decision to eliminate one of the boxes in the upper zone due to the lack of light on the feature. Spectators ran to the course to volunteer the use of their helmets for the pros who hadn’t brought theirs, and despite some grumblings from the pros who’d practiced on, and planned their runs around, the eliminated box, the contest continued without a hitch.

The USASA judges, who were joined by pro guest judges Jacqui Berg and Jonnel Janewicz, looked for three main things from the riders: inventiveness, creativity, and difficulty. With this in mind, any girl who slid the entire dragon rail had a chance of placing well.

“I did a 270 on, 270 off the rail on the downhill. Then I did a noseslide on the downside of the kink,” said Leanne Pelosi of one of the best moves of the day (which happened to land her first place). “It is rad to win in front of all the people that were here,” she added. “It was a great atmosphere—the setup was really fun. The biggest thing about the course was getting speed.”

Decked out in her matching plaid outfit, second-place finisher Molly Aguirre was very pleased with her performance. “I just love this contest—the girls were ripping,” she said. “The progression of girls in the past couple years has been insane.” Aguirre was also honored to win right behind Pelosi: “To be second place next to her is amazing. I just told Leanne she inspires me.”

Aguirre also had some parting words that summed up the progression of the sport over the years: “The women are pushing to the next level and it’s all us,” she said. “The guys come to the contests to watch us. They ride with us. It’s not like women are second best to the men now.”

By Lindsay Tredent

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For the full results, click here:
http://sgmag.com/qotm/results/