I journeyed 2 ½ hours east of the city to check out the slopestyle comp at Hemlock this weekend. Apparently the event had gone off last year, and organizers did a good job of hyping it up. This attracted some big name sponsors and a deep talent pool including Cam and Joe Schuster. With good weather forecasted, everything looked to be in place for a sick competition to go down.

Jeff Thomas and Theory 3 sponsored the event and were scheduled to do shoot on the course after the comp was finished, so expectations were high for a lofty jump. Jeffy delivered, helping construct a monster 70 footer despite what he called a lack of cooperation from the park building crew. But the effort was wasted in the end, as organizers determined the jump was not safe and closed it for the comp. This meant the 60+ competitors were left with only a kink box and a down rail to session.

While the set up was a disappointment, organizers worked hard to keep the contest going and narrowed down the large field into a competitive final. In both the pro and amateur categories the level of jibbing was high. The younger of the Schuster brothers, Cam, was untouchable in the pro category. He took home $1500 for his 270 prowess. As runner up, a dude named Colston jibbed his way to a cat skiing voucher.

When considering the sponsors, media in attendance, and caliber of riders, the Lord of the Park has to go down as a success. There is significant interest in park skiing around Vancouver and the organizers at Hemlock have proven this again. At the same time, if holding a pro level slopestyle contest at an out-of-the-way resort, you need to have at least one jump. The weather was not an excuse, and there is plenty of snow and terrain suitable for a large and "safe" tabletop on the mountain. This had to get done and it did not, which puts the legitimacy of a future Lord of the Park at Hemlock into question.