Marmot Basin brought the beach to the mountain, April 18, with the fourth annual Aloha Cup.
The “non-traditional” race attracted 130 competitors, most of whom were sporting grass skirts, leis, Hawaiian shirts and various kinds of retro ski gear.
The race was set up on Tranquilizer and featured banked turns, rollers and a few small jumps. Each competitor was given the opportunity to run through the race twice, in search of their best time, and at the end of the day, everyone was invited to the lower chalet for an awards ceremony.
In women’s snowboarding, the top two competitors were Mariah Fisher with a time of 96.06 and Britt Reed with a time of 110.23.
On the men’s side, Jonathan Jesperson came out on top with a time of 116.56, followed by Chris LeBlanc—who was wearing an inflatable sumo suit—with a time of 121.34. In third place was Ethan Bambrick with a time of 126.09.
The fastest man on skis was Patrick Mahler, who completed the course in a sizzling 62.97 seconds. Following him was Colin Jack with 63.49 and Mike Kertesz with 66.19.
And on the women’s side, Jacquelyn Proc took the top spot with a time of 66.78 seconds, followed by Kathleen Buffell at 67.72 and Brielle Souter at 67.93.
Marmot Basin closes for the season on May 3, leaving only two more weekends of spring skiing.
To finish the season with a bang, there are events both weekends. April 25 is the Kokanee Freeride party and May 2 is the second annual dual slalom/fat bike relay race, where one person skis or snowboards down the lower slope of Highway 16 and then tags a teammate for the fat bike course below the head wall.
To register a team, contact Marmot by email at [email protected] or by phone at 780-852-3816.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
