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Mount St. Louis Moonstone Park Check in the new Snowboard Canada. Volume 18, Issue 2

Origional Photos:

Scot Brown

Mikey Ciccarelli

Quiksilver Down Low goes off, crowns Kevin Scriver ‘awesome’

Author: Greg Coulter; photos by Richard Roth (Rothphoto.ca)

Mount St. Louis-Moonstone, ON –  The 5th annual Down Low went off this past weekend at Mount St. Louis Resort. It was a blue bird day and some of Ontario’s best snowboarders came out to rip the re-designed park. The park staff and groomers at Mt. St. Louis step it up every year and this year the bar got raised again. This year the groomers cut a 30-foot gap out of the superpipe on both walls so riders had to clear the gaps back to back. Few riders even attempted this gnarly feature but Shane Dennis aka LS (your favorite neighborhood rapper) stepped up big time with the biggest 7 ever thrown in these parts. Unfortunately his shoulder got broken in the process but after a short trip to the hospital he was back to sling some CDs and perform one of his original tunes.

The next feature was a double tree jib inspired by Travis Rice in That’s It, That’s all. Andrew Kirn took the cake on this one with huge corked spins through the limbs and off the trunk of the tree. After the lumberjacking we broke for lunch and everyone ate free burgers that seemingly never ran out. The line up ran the rest of the afternoon. After lunch it was all about the double booter line. Of course it’s the Down Low so the double jump line was a 56-foot death gap into a 45-foot death gap. Andrew Skelhorn flew in from B.C. to show us how it’s done on the booters but few riders had the speed and confidence to link these bad ass jumps. Andrew Kirn and the eventual winner Kevin Scriver were crushing these jumps back-to-back, which is the way this contest is judged. Riders have to link the features, it’s not about the best single trick it’s about the best, well-rounded ripper. The day ended at the new stair feature which has two separate options for rails but with equal danger of the wooden stair set. This was followed by another round bar rail and a down-flat-down rail. Like the other features, riders had to link sick tricks together to be a contender on this one. Scot Brown is a freaking rail ninja and he won this feature, hands down.

Overall it was Kevin Scriver who was the standout of the day, killing the double pipe gaps, the trees, the jump line and the rail line. His prize? Kevin gets to go Vancouver this week, all expenses paid to ride in the Quiksilver Showdown Over the City pro contest.

The Down Low was originally a small invite only contest held by Tropical North’s Kevin Morris. Riders would show up at a rail in Barrie and rip until a winner was decided. The prizing was usually booze and it was an anti-contest where it was all about fun, great snowboarding and being motivated by your peers to kill a feature. In 2005, Kevin teamed up with the Quiksilver crew and took the contest to the next level.

“We wanted to host a fun day to give back to the snowboard community,” says Morris. “The free BBQ and cash prizes were the grass roots way of throwing a fun, free day for all to enjoy. We wanted to have huge gaps and features you wouldn’t normally have in a snowboard park”.

The first year was a success but now this contest has turned into one of the biggest and most anticipated contests in Ontario. It’s still all about the community though, and that part will never change. Getting the kids stoked and closing the season out with a bang is what the Down Low is all about.

Standouts:
Pipe gaps: Kevin Scriver
Tree jib booter: Andrew Kirn
Jump line: Kevin Scriver
Jib session: Scot Brown
Girl Ripper: Sam Deneana
Overall: Kevin Scriver

http://www.snowboardcanada.com/hotbox?news_id=507