JAMIE COBBETT INSIDE THE CONTROLLED CHAOS OF THE MIKE BAKER BANKED SLALOM They’ll post up where it’s easy access to the course, all throwing snowballs and plenty of debris, too – they’ve thrown broken tree limbs onto the course, snowmaking barrels; there was a limbo at one gate. D uring the '90s and into the and was an early fixture on the snowboard early 2000s, Waterville Valley held the most infamous contest on the East Coast known as the World Quarter-Pipe Championships. There were firebreathers, a girl riding down the hill on a bed of nails, cheerleaders on top of the quarter pipe...it was a really wild event. Riders would have to face the "gauntlet" on the way into the quarter pipe. It would start with the throwing of snowballs, beer cans, and eventually fire. When the event went away, so did the "gauntlet." But there’s an event in Washington State at Mt. Baker called the Legendary Mt. Baker Banked Slalom. It has been in existence for more than 30 years and brings out some of the most prestigious riders in the world. While thinking of a new snowboard event that would gather the East Coast community, young and old, my friend Mike Baker and I thought we should do a banked slalom event here called the Mike Baker Banked Slalom, as kind of a play on the Mt. Baker event. Mike grew up in New Hampshire scene here at Waterville Valley and at the famous "Blue Lodge" parties in Plymouth. Now, some five years after it began, the event is kind of like old home day here – older guys and the next generation, and a lot of guys who grew up here and remember the World Quarter-Pipe Championships. I have the format so the little guys, the ladies, and the older guys run first. That way, all the other racers are back up on the course for the heaviest gauntlet action that comes during the Open Division, which has a $1,500 cash purse. In the first five years, we’ve had two Olympians (Scotty Lago and Ross Powers) ABOUT JAMIE Cobbett, 37, has worked off and on – mostly on – at Waterville Valley since his days as a Plymouth State College student in the late 1990s. He started off as a snowboarding coach and has held his current position as marketing and events manager for the better part of the last decade. Many of the events are fun, crazy, or a combination of the two…but none like the Mike Baker Banked Slalom. �� NEW HAMPSHIRE’S FAMILY RESORT win the cash prize. Where the gauntlet is on the course and how crazy it gets is determined by the crowd. They’ll post up where it’s easy access to the course. All throwing snowballs at riders as they come through. And plenty of debris, too – they’ve thrown broken tree limbs onto the course, snowmaking barrels; there was a limbo at one gate. The riders have to be prepared for anything. There’s cheering when someone makes it through successfully – or when they fall. The best advice I can give for successfully running the gauntlet is don’t fall, go fast, and duck.
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