Crazy Weather, Killer Style: Tenth Stop Recap of the 2017 Vans Hi-Standard Series at Mt. Seymour, B.C, Canada

Sometimes North Van mountain weather can be unpredictable and challenging, but for the Vans Hi-Standard Mt. Seymour stop on Saturday, March 11, it was downright nuts with super high winds with rain and times were it was literally snowing sideways. And to top it off, thick fog caused drastically reduced visibility.

But the crazy weather wasn't enough to decrease the incredible level of riding here at the only event series in the world where no spins over a 720 are allowed—and style is the only thing that really matters.

"Even the downpour of this rainforest can't dampen the spirit of this soul sport we call snowboarding," says Vans rider Ben Poechman. "Style is everything and you can't control the weather!

Poechman was on hand up to help hand out $2,000 in $5-bills to all worthy competitors for reaching into their bags of tricks.

Up-and-comer Jasper Fast didn't seem to mind the weather insanity. He threw down all morning to earn fistfuls of $5-ers and the title of MVP. He'll also join all the other MVPs from each Vans Hi-Standard tour stop for the finals next weekend at Sierra-at-Tahoe, California, where Mother Nature will hopefully be a little less pissed off.

Like all other stops of the Vans Hi-Standard Series today day was to be broken up into two parts: multiple Big Air-style jam sessions followed by the Van Doren Rail Best Trick contest, where another $500 would be up for grabs. But this wouldn’t be the case today. Organizers were able to make two morning jump sessions happen but were forced to cancel the second round after lunch due to bad weather—and that meant no Van Doren Best Trick in the rail section. Instead, they gave out the $500 normally reserved for it in $5-bills in an impromptu rail jam where both the 15-and-Under and 16-and-Up categories rode together in a 30 minute session on Seymour's awesome rail setup that included a flat-to-down rail with tranny on both sides, a straight pole jam, a pole jam gap transfer to down rail, and a down rail.

By the contest's end, the award for the Most Improved Rider went to Gavin Pederson and the Worst Bail went to Riel Bertrand though there were plenty of good slams to pick from.

On the visually creative side, this stop's House of Vans Art Workshop featured Vancouver artist, Ali Bruce, who put her killer style onto a giant Vans Sk8-Hi, which was eventually raffled off to one lucky participant: Oscar Twist. But every one of the artists today got to take home their own free pair of Vans painted up with their own artwork.

For more info on the Vans Hi-Standard Series—which gets riders to be as creative and stylish as possible, while keeping all spins under a 720—go to vans.com/histandardseries . The Vans Hi-Standard Series returns to U.S. for the final stop of the winter series—and MVP showdown—at Sierra-at-Tahoe on Saturday, March 18th.

Over the course of its 2017 world tour, the Vans Hi-Standard series hit South Korea, China, France, Switzerland, Argentina, the United States and Canada—and every stop, featured free registration, lift tickets, lunch for all participants, as well as freshly-made waffles hot off the irons for spectators and riders alike.