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Grenade Games wraps up with a blast

Dave Fortin goes from ambulance to the top of the podium
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It took exactly one year for Whistler's Dave Fortin to go from agony to ecstasy, from the ambulance to the top of the Grenade Games podium. And although he started the day conservatively, he nailed the Grand Finale win and a $10,000 prize with the gutsiest trick of the day. Then the chanting began.

The Grand Finale slopestyle wrapped up six days of fun and competition, with a crowd over 10,000 turning out on Saturday night to watch the final chapter. The contest was invite-only, although event organizer Danny Kass handed out some additional invitations to riders who put on a good show in the first three days of competition.

From start to finish the Games are the opposite of what a conventional snowboarding competition is supposed to be about, emphasizing fun over form and throwing out the rulebook. Everything was designed to give riders the maximum amount of freedom to push the envelope, while emphasizing a lot of the little tricks and skills that every good rider should have.

And the turnout was huge, with over 320 riders signing up to compete in one or more events.

The competitions got underway on Wednesday with the Grenade Games "Search and Recovery Mission," a series of challenges spread around Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. There was an ollie/limbo contest, a spin contest, a snowskate gap jump and a GT Snow Racer contest. The main event, however, was the giant slalom race at the Pontiac GMC Race Centre on Blackcomb, where the 50 fastest times made the cut to advance to the finals of the dual moguls competition on Thursday on Davies' Dervish. Other riders would have to enter the dual moguls qualifier, and get bounced around a few more times, to have a shot at the win.

Travis Williams posted the fastest time on the race course, followed by Andrew Burns, Zach Wade, Julian Bell, Dave Fortin, Scott Hunter, Paul Rak, Greg Maidlow and Anthony Welgan. Less than a second separated the top 15 riders.

The dual slalom racers benefited from some fresh snow and a sun-softened course, which made it a little easier to stay on course this year and huck off the mandatory jumps.

Whistler's Pablo Aristeguieta took the win in the final dual against Travis Williams, while Myrosha Daley, the defending champion, placed third after besting Squamish rider Dennis Bannock. Rounding out the top top were Craig Beaulieu, Julian Bell, Beau Bishop, Gab Blais, Annie Boulanger - the top female - Andrew Burns and Ben Buschke. Mark Sollars won the "Most Radical Dude" award for attempting to straight line the course and crashing hard, breaking his finger and his board in the process.

The event was mainly judged on time, although the judges also liked to see the athletes use the jumps, which they considered more important than actually making the gates. A mandatory spin was also added to spice things up.

The fourth big contest was the superpipe, taking place on an Olympic-sized course with a few twists - a huge grenade pinata hanging over the course that riders were encouraged to make contact with and a hitching post that riders were encouraged to jib, handplant and bump with their boards or body parts.

Jordan Phillips placed first for the best run, followed by Kyle Thomas and Justin Lamoureux from the national snowboard team.

Best trick awards went to Eric Messier for taking down the piƱata; Korath Wright for his inverted handplant on the hitching post; T.J. Schneider for his 50-50 slide over the log, and Jake Koia for the biggest air of the day.

Danny Kass, a two-time Olympic medallist, also showed off his pipe skills but wasn't eligible to win his own contest.

That set the tone for the final contest, the Grande Final at the base of Whistler Mountain. The course started off with a huge table with an optional down-to-flat box, followed by another table with a log ride sticking out at a sharp angle, followed by a hip/gap jump, the Monster Energy Truck jib, followed by a selection of picnic benches piled up to create rails and wall rides.

There were 55 riders in the contest, which started out with an anything goes jam. Little by little the athletes started to push the limits of the course, getting inverted off the gap, spinning off the log and popping onto the top of the Monster truck. Dave Fortin was the first rider to get to the top of the truck and sit on the couch.

T.J. Schneider also set the tone of the contest jumping over the fence at the bottom of the course and crashing in the thin snow on the other side. Kael Hill, wearing track pants and a tank top, took the tank top off and attacked the Monster truck over and over again until his body was streaked by blood from his cut finger. Eero Neimela was the first rider to get inverted over the gap, although other riders - notably Mark Sollars - were not far behind.

In the end the judges were rewarding consistency, and the field was narrowed down to 10 riders who were given three runs each to make their case.

In the end it was Dave Fortin who stole the show, hucking a huge backflip off the top of the long ride on his very last run. Although all of his runs were solid, that trick sewed up the $10,000 first place cheque for the Whistler rider.

It was a world of difference from last year's Grenade Games Grand Finale, when Fortin somehow cleared an entire gap jump setup and landed flat. He was carried away on a stretcher with a concussion, a bruised kidney, bruised ribs and a dislocated hip and shoulder.

"I actually didn't want to hurt myself this year, that was my main goal coming in," he said. "I just did stuff I knew that I could do and that felt safe to me. I liked that jump (up top). Some people didn't like it because it was really pop-py, but I did and it just worked out."

And the flip off the log?

"I didn't know I was going to do that when I was on the log and then I was like 'here we go.' So yeah, it was basically a last-minute decision and it worked out. I even saw my shadow on the ground when I was flipping and thought, 'that looks pretty cool.' I'm so glad I did it."

It took Fortin a few runs to get the hang of the specially built course, but by the end he knew his lines by heart.

"At first it seemed like the features were small, but it wasn't small at all and it was quite technical actually," he said. "There was a big jump up top, the log ride was sick and all the things at the bottom were just amazing. It was a great course and everybody liked it."

The atmosphere was also great, he said. "I was up there with eight of my friends in the final and one guy who is probably going to end up as my friend by the end of tonight. This is the best contest."

Other than the slopestyle Fortin said his favourite event was the Search and Recovery Mission, although he enjoyed the moguls and pipe. "This whole week has been pretty awesome," he said.

Andrew Burns took second place and $5,000, while Zach Stone placed third and won $2,500.

"I couldn't be happier," said Stone. "It was a pretty tight course, you didn't want to go left or right or anything (after landing) because it could have been pretty sketchy. You had to hit everything perfect.

"I just wanted to have some fun, and I did that so I couldn't be happier."

Rounding out the top 10 were Craig Beaulieu, Jesmond Dubeau, Kevin Griffin, Jordan Phillips, Mark Sollors, Jon Versteeg and Pablo Aristeguita.

Molly Milligan won the "Radical Babe" award and was the only girl competing in the finals.

She missed most of the Grenade Games and Festival while waiting tables and managing her landscaping company, so she came into the Grenade Games a little cold.

"I didn't even know if I'd be able to do the competition, I rolled up at a quarter after four and managed two practice runs. It's definitely a hard course to gauge, what kind of speed you need on each obstacle and figuring out your angles, so I was kind of relaxed about the whole thing and didn't take it very seriously at all," said Milligan. "I haven't ridden in two weeks, so I was pretty cold coming in."

The two "Radical Dudes" of the competition were Mark Sollors and Dustin Craven, who were given a chance to win the Chevrolet Camaro up for grabs at the festival. Sollors picked the winning key on Sunday.

Best Trick awards went to T.J. Schneider, Kael Hill, Korath Wright and Kale Stephens.

That wrapped up the sixth annual Grenade Games, and the second year that Danny Kass has brought the event to Whistler.