O-Town Throw-Down

The riders in the competition used soap and water instead of snow to perform trick after trick as they rolled into the snowless rail jam.

“It’s not quite like snow, but it’s pretty good,” said Decade Snow & Skate rider Weston Charlesworth, 21, of South Ogden. “It’s a really good substitute.”

Riders lined up in the dusty renovated warehouse space called the Glass Atrium on 20th Street and Lincoln Avenue. At the front of the line, they climbed a ladder to the top of the jump platform and strapped on their skis and boards.

Three sets of rollers led steeply down toward three different shaped rails dripping with soapy water. At the top of the center rail, riders grabbed onto two skulls to push off and gain speed to slip slide down the rail and land on the padded Astroturf below.

“Nothing can get better in the summer,” said Descente North America rider Taylor Hendrickson, 16, of Ogden.

Standing at the top and thinking of going down can be intimidating at first. “The first couple of times I was freaked out,” Hendrickson said. “Now, it’s not even a problem.”

About 3 girls found the courage to compete at the male-dominated event. “We need to recruit some ladies,” Jamie Duby, 19, said.

The Throw-Down was a celebration of DNA’s Evolution Tour and was the only indoor event. The first ever snowless rail jam tour had 24 events that started last May in Ogden and traveled to cities in Utah, Idaho, Colorado and Montana.

The idea for the rail jam was thought up by DNA Evolution tour manager Brad Geiger two years ago in Ogden. The original event was held on 25th Street with two PVC tracks covered in motor oil and a four-wheeler to pull skiers down hill to a jump.

“It was a successful fail- ure,” Geiger said.

Friction was too much for skiers to gain speed on the jump, but the turnout of spectators made Geiger realize the potential for future events.

“Friction is our enemy,” Geiger said.

A year ago Geiger found the solution, a device he now calls, “The Beast.” While working in the Descente warehouse, he watched shipping boxes moving on ball-bearing rollers. After making some modifications to the rollers, they had a working jump. The soapy Astroturf idea for landing came from the original rig and is still used in the final version.

During the entire tour, only three broken arms resulted from The Beast. Geiger thinks this is relatively small compared with the hundreds of riders that used the device during summer.

The Beast went on tour and the finals will be held in Las Vegas at the end of January.

Geiger already has plans for next year’s tour with 60 events coast-to-coast and a new Beast with five to six rail options. Geiger said it will be bigger and fancier than this year’s, allowing more riders and less waiting in line. The first event should be held in Ogden at the beginning of May.

“This year was a test, next year’s will be perfect,” Geiger said.