Summer Camp Slaying-Stop 12 at High Cascade Snowboard Camp, Mt. Hood, Oregon
The Vans Hi-Standard Series took over High Cascade Summer Camp at Mt. Hood, Oregon on Monday, June 20th under sunny bluebird skies and warm temps after an overnight dusting of June pow. For the campers there it was easily the highlight of the week.
When style is everything and nothing over a 720 counts, you have to go deep with your bag of tricks or get learning some new ones quick—and since that’s what summer camp is all about, this stop at High Cascade couldn’t have been a better fit. And Vans pros Darrell Mathes and Mike Ravelson were there to cheer on the kids and help give out $2,000 in $5-bills for the day’s Big Air jam format and another $500 for the Van Doren Rail Best Trick.
“The Vans Hi-Standard is the perfect contest for every level of boarder to have fun and progress their snowboarding with others,” says Ravelson. “When your criteria is smooth riding and style, you can't really go wrong.”
You really can’t. And this stop brought everyone—HCSC campers, coaches, diggers and pros—together with pow turns, pipe runs, jumps and rails and made for one of the greatest sessions of the series as the energy level of every rider got more amped as the morning went on.
The Big Air Jam —where riders have a blast doing a series of called tricks—was dominated by the day’s standouts, brothers Joey and Pat Fava, who shared the title of MVP and banked a bunch of VHSTD cash in $5-bills. (Pat Fava actually cleaned up at the Park City, Utah stop of this year’s Vans Hi-Standard Series, taking $300 for his Hardway 270-Boardlide-to-270 Out on the Kink Rail that day.)
The day’s Most Improved Award went to Kyle Melton for consistently pushing himself to learn, and the Worst Bail of the Day title belonged to a camper named Emmett.
At the Van Doren Rail Best Trick, Joey Fava took top prize of $300 cash for destroying pretty much everything in the rail park, which featured a down rail, down tube, triple flat and a straight-up down rail. Brendan Hart took the $150 and for his insane One-Foot Cab 270 Tuck Knee on the Down Tube—truly representing all the style and creativity the Vans Hi-Standard Series stands for. And not to be outshone by the boys, Jill Perkins took home $50 as the jam’s Stand Out Girl.
At the end of the session, everyone went back down to nearby Government Camp for the day’s off-snow activities, which included many happy bellies full of signature Vans waffles hot off the iron, and an awesome skate jam at HCSC’s signature park setup.
By day’s end, everyone went back to their bunks with more cash than they came with and tons of prizes to bring back home. Even Darrell Mathes went home a little richer, albeit, of a different kind.
"I was very pleased to see how many kids turned out for Hi-Standard event,” says Mathes, who seemed really impressed with the high level of riding here at HCSC. “To see kids having such a good time and showcasing amazing style with creative tricks it was very exciting to watch. Can’t wait to see what goes down next year!"
The 13th and final stop of the 2016 Vans Hi-Standard Series will be Whistler, B.C. at Camp of Champions on July 1st.
