Downtown Throwdown

This past weekend I saw the future of snowboarding – and it was a lot different than I had imagined. I always assumed the future would somehow involve hoverboards and jetpacks – you know, very Back to the Future-ish. But I’m here to tell you: the future of snowboarding is very similar to what we know today, except that the snow is brought to you – literally to where you live – instead of having to drive to the mountains to find the stuff. That’s exactly what Krush and the Snowboy Productions crew did this past weekend with the Downtown Throwdown – they brought the snow to us, right in the middle of Seattle, in October. How rad is that?

Krush and the crew brought the park to the park

Ivan Marcinko

Chris Brewster

It’s about time somebody got this stuff right. No more spending money on expensive outerwear to stay warm, waking up early to drive to the mountain, sitting on uncomfortable chairlifts or spending way too much on expensive beers in the lodge. No sir, I’ll take my snowboarding in the comfort of the city. I’ll roll out of bed around noon, toss on a hoodie and jeans (the tight ones are cool now, right?) and catch a bus downtown where my snow has been delivered by dump trucks. After a few hours of riding, I’ll head down the street to a bar to do my drinking. No more having to decide between overpriced beers in the warm lodge, or sneaking cheap beers in the cold parking lot for this guy. Krush and crew even got this part right by hosting the afterparty with Pyramid Brewery, where Minus the Bear was playing.

Ben Bogart

Gus Engle

You might be wondering: since this is the 4th year Krush has put on the Downtown Throwdown, why am I just now figuring this out? Well, the truth is I don’t pay too much attention to snowboarding in October – I’m usually way too busy trying to figure out what I’m going to be for Halloween. This year though, I somehow got my costume figured out early (come find me in Whistler on Halloween if you want to know what it is), so I figured I might as well check out the event.

Pat Milbery

Johnny Lazz

As I mentioned, Krush and the Snowboy crew did an amazing job with the setup. Even more amazing were the riders at this thing. During the two-hour jam session, there were plenty of 270-360-five-oh-back-front-lip-board-180-on-off-out-upside-down-handplant-wallride-stall-flip maneuvers to entertain a bunch of confused spectators. Seriously, that’s about the best I’ve got. Jesse Burtner was yelling out trick names over the mic as fast as the kids could throw them, but even he wasn’t sure what was going on sometimes.

Scott Stevens

Nick Visconti

In the end, the top five riders, along with best trick, were given big pieces of cardboard with some black spray paint on them. Krush claimed these were I.O.U.’s, but since I never saw any money handed out, I have to believe he spent it all hauling snow down from the mountains. That, or maybe big pieces of cardboard are the currency of this snowboarding future I witnessed. In that case, I’m off to dig some boxes out of the dumpster and grab some paint – I’m going to be rich when the future gets here!

Winners!

Here are the official results:

Nick Visconti ($3,000)
Forrest Bailey ($2,000)
Scott Stevens ($1,000)
Johnny Lazzareschi ($750)
Ben Bogart ($500)

Peep some fancy photos from the "Minus the Bear" show:

Words and Photos by Greg Miller