Kass, Bleiler Nail Halfpipe In First 07/08 TTR Snowboarding Stop!

E365 -- Oh, man, over at E365 we miss names like Danny Kass and Gretchen Bleiler since snowboarding season ended!! Well, they're back, and the Abominable Snow Jam Halfpipe Competition apparently went off at Mt Hood, giving the two top-level boarders victory in halfpipe!

The 22-foot halfpipe was the feature of the event, and got mouths watering way before the barbeque was even fired up. Cheers to Planet Snow Designs for that.
 
All the riders were pretty stoked, given that this was the first chance of the 07/08 season to rack up Ticket To Ride points for the world's most killer snowboard tour.

In an hour-long jam session, ladies hit the pipe, making the first lines in the snow and pushing it for. Clair Bidez nailed a 900 to claim a Mac Book Pro spot prize for the best trick award. She also took third place overall.

Kelly Clark came second for her frontside 720, backside 540 and backside 360.

But ladies' stalwart Gretchen Bleiler was the danger-girl on this occasion, nailing a frontside alley-oop, frontside 540, backside 540 and a frontside 720 to take first place and $5,000.

The guys' session started with Mason Aguirre and Kazu Kokubo pulling some large-ish airs (to say it meekly), but Danny Kass scooped up the first prize with a flawless run of back-to-back 1080s and an alley-oop backside 720.

Final Results:

Men:
1. Danny Kass
2. Kevin Pearce
3. Scotty Lago
Best Trick - Keir Dillon (alley-oop McTwist)

Women:
1. Gretchen Bleiler
2. Kelly Clark
3. Clair Bidez

Best Trick - Clair Bidez (frontside 900)