By Katie Linton
Since the birth of snowboarding in the 1960’s Baker has been a headlining mountain for boarders all over the world. The slalom is one of those things that highlights Baker’s history within the culture of snowboarding.
The weekend of February 18, 19, 20, and 21 Mt. Baker held their annual event marking this year the year of the 30th Legendary Banked Slalom.
“Baker is such a great boarding mountain in my mind because of the terrain, it’s definitely not a beginner mountain, and the community is always stoked to ride,” said Nate Steinkamp, a 20-year-old Whatcom student who’s competed in the slalom the past four years, five now including this year.
His first two years competing Steinkamp placed fourth.
“Competing in the slalom is simultaneously one of the hardest and most fun things about my year. There are no tricks or judges scoring you, it’s just good old fashioned turning. I dream about each of my turns, and any one of them could make or break my run.” Steinkamp said.
As Steinkamp said “the whole event is a place to behold, the atmosphere, people from all over the globe coming together to ride our little hill, all in all, I couldn’t be happier being able to race year after year.”
The slalom takes place in the natural half-pipe, on the top of chair five, which isn’t generally as alive as it was this weekend during such a “legendary” event. There was a tent set-up serving some warm drinks, a fire pit, and festive music pumping.
As Steinkamp said “the whole event is a place to behold, the atmosphere, people from all over the globe coming together to ride our little hill, all in all, I couldn’t be happier being able to race year after year.”
The course begins in the “start shack” where racers are reminded to “say their prayers,” by the doorway sign, before they take off down the slope making their turns between the red and blue gates.
The 30th Baker Banked Slalom kicked-off on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016 with the “classic qualifiers” racing (excluding the “juniors” and the “next generation” categories) to finish with a time in the top 15 percent, and therefore qualify for finals on Sunday. On Friday all the “classic qualifiers” are able to take a second run to try and qualify for finals, and the “juniors” and “next generation” racers are able to take their two runs seeing as they didn’t race Thursday. The top 15 percent of times on Friday will also move on to finals on Sunday. According to the “Race Rules and Info” section on the Mt. Baker website; the number of finals qualifiers “will total at least 50 percent of each division and total at least 50 percent of the entire race field collectively.” On Saturday all “legends” category racers make their two runs and the top 20 percent move on to Sunday’s finals.
Sunday is finals day. Each qualified finalist takes two runs down the course. The faster of the two times for each racer is the time used to compile the list of final placing and determine the winner for each category (next generation girls/boys, junior girls/boys, younger/older amateurs, women amateurs, women masters, masters men, mid masters men, grand masters, super masters, pro masters men/women, and pro men/women). Winners are announced at the awards ceremony later that day.
Steinkamp said “It’s such an honor just to be a part of this amazing race with such history behind it, and winning really means something in the snowboarding community.”
