Stacy Tatman Photography

The Ups and Downs of

The Donner Downhill Festival

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away a beautiful green mountain rose above clear, blue lakes. Golden California sunshine warmed each morning; crisp Sierra breezes cooled each day. Camps were set among tall pines and redwoods. And for an entire weekend, mountain boarders enjoyed a challenging course with well-organized competitions, professional time keeping, and generous donations of prizes.

Sound like a fairy tale? Except for a few (well, okay, several hundred) steroid-addicted mosquitoes, the First Annual Donner Summit Downhill Festival was about as storybook perfect as an event can get. Unlike the fables, however, the Downhill Festival came to life not by the waving of a magic wand, but by an enormous amount of effort by a lot of really cool people.

Norm Saeler, owner of Donner Summit Ski Ranch got things rolling by agreeing to host the event at his resort in Norden, California. No stranger to trying new things; old-school snowboarders will remember Donner Summit was among the first ski areas to allow the new sport.

It was, in fact, a natural transition. A dual slalom mountain bike course already existed on the mountain. Existed under a few dozen very large bales of hay! So after much pushing and pulling, shoveling and shaping, not to mention bulldozing and watering, a track began to take form.

And what a course! Perhaps the toughest ever? Unforgivingly long, with tight turns and a huge gap jump placed strategically where riders would be most tired, it promised to provide the ground for an exciting competition.

The groundwork was done; next came the paperwork. So many details…forms, flags, first aid, food, people, prizes, phone calls, and of course, the party! Eventually all the pieces came together, and the big weekend of June 16th and 17th finally arrived. As did the racers, fans, volunteers, and nice weather. Everything was shaping up as riders prepared for racing down.

Many conveniences had been provided by Norm and his Donner Summit Crew: professional medics, laser triggered timing gates, and a great BBQ for lunch. Probably the most appreciated bonus, however, was the constantly running chairlift. Riders enjoyed an easy ride to the top, as well as a nice view of the course, the resort, and beautiful Northern California scenery.

When everyone finally reached summit, O2 canisters were passed out. Oh, wait, wrong summit! What really happened was Chris Pincetich of NPD explained the rules: "Okay everyone, when you hear the bell, keep it clean and come out swinging." No, actually he described the racing format to the eager group of participants. Saturday's races would be timed qualifying runs, one in lane A and one in lane B for each racer. On Sunday, it was a head to head dual slalom with the differential timing system. Crossing the finish line starts the clock, and it is stopped when the second rider crosses, giving the winning time differential. The rider with the biggest winning time differential after races in each of the two lanes advances. This eliminates any advantage of racing in one lane or the other.

And then they were off! Ryan Heumann shows the heavy lean required to make the first turn, while Jill Lawler tries a different strategy and uses her hand brake.

The competition usually started separating on the next turn, as they prepared for the big whoopdees. And racers still faced two-thirds of the course below them! The devastating gapper was still to come. Boarders chewed it up or gotten eaten alive, as this is where the track got hungry for riders. Then it was five more banked turns down the home stretch to the finish line, and get across however you can!

The survivors of the dual slalom race made their way over to the big air ramp to fling themselves toward the sky. The lip on this hit was over 10 feet higher than the ground it was built on. It propelled rider after rider through the air, and if they had enough speed, all the way over 12 feet of flat onto the sloped dirt landing ramp. The crowd roared and cheered the 360s, 540s, back flips, and many other stylish airs performed before them. The crowd was loud, the music was pumpin', and the cameras were rollin'. The pros put on a creative and technical show, landing flips and spins that soared far above the heads of the crowd. In a super-close battle for title of Am Big Air champ, Ryan Heumann and Eric Santiago stole the show by attempting back and front flips on their third and final jumps in the contest. As the judges tallied scores, the most hard-core of the group continued a relentless assault on the ramp for the Fox Sports Net cameras.

And what event would be complete without an awards ceremony? Two picnic tables at the Donner Ski Ranch lodge were covered with donated prizes; like Christmas Eve without a tree. Complete boards, decks, pads, a skateboard, a traction kite, and dozens of short and long sleeve t-shirts found their way into the arms of the winners. Lance Null of NPD presented the NorCal Dirt Ripper Award to Don Baker for his consistent top finishes in West Coast events throughout the years. Everyone was stoked, and there really were no losers this weekend. In fact, you could say everyone "lived happily aver after."

The End

The Donner Summit Downhill Festival was made possible by the efforts of Donner Ski Ranch, NPD All-Terrain Skateboards, and Exteme Downhill International. Big thanks go out to MBS, Harbinger, Dirtheads.com, Terraboard, Outback, Xtreme Wheelz, Slingshot Kites, and Sobe for their generous donations.