ICER Air 2007: Jon Olsson Wins Big Air
Photos: Morgan Meredith, Anthony Smith, and John Stifter
Go HERE for a photo gallery from this event.
We finally arrived back at Powder HQ last night from the ICER Air 2007 extravaganza in San Francisco. Before we left last week, we decided to drive to San Francisco in Joaquin (Powder cop car) for the third edition of the annual Big Air event. The stud that is Joaquin got us home safely, and now we’re here to tell and show you the hoopla from the parties and stadium that was ICER 2007.
From Fillmore Street the first year to AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants, last year, the Esurance ICER Air 2007 Big Air emerged out of center field once again. But unlike last year’s circus-like jump, the ICER crew worked out the kinks, received insight from Big Air jump expert Jon Olsson, and constructed a massive, well-built kicker for 2007. And the 28 invited skiers and snowboarders (14 for each sport) did not disappoint the unofficial crowd of 25,000 people soaking up the beautiful Bay Area weather with temperatures in the low 70s, blue skies, and little wind.
On Saturday afternoon, 14 skiers had two chances to advance to the seven-man night Finals, a difficult task in itself with a stacked roster of athletes, but even harder since nearly every competitor suffered from a nauseating hangover from the VIP party the night prior. Notwithstanding, the enormous stadium-style jump, constructed out of scaffolding, had a steep, rutted-out in-run courtesy of melting snow with a relatively smooth transition before skiers launched themselves down onto a small landing zone. Just reaching the top of the jump required determination. Each skier had to walk up several flights—I can’t remember how many stairs, but I’d have to guess it was at least a seven-story structure—with ski boots on and skis in hand.
The field narrowed to seven as the likes of Peter Olenick, Josh Bibby, Oscar Scherlin, Colby West, John Spriggs, Tim Durtschi, and Tim Russell were eliminated in the prelims. As the sun descended behind home plate, gorgeous views of the San Francisco skyline, Bay Bridge, stadium, and sunset abounded. Waves of winter-starved fans rolled inside for the night’s main event followed up by the Black Star duo of Mos Def and Talib Kweli.
Under stadium lights, the trick of the night seemed to be a switch 1080 (no small feat with the steep, narrow in-run) for the three-hit Finals. But everyone, including each Finals competitor, wondered whether Jon Olsson would throw his signature Kangaroo double. One person who wasn’t about to throw a double was Golden Boy and Bay Area local Jonny Moseley, who stomped a laid-out back flip to the delight of his hometown crowd. In addition, one of many highlights from the action-packed evening, East Coaster turned Breck resident Tanner Rainville tossed in some stylie switch 9 double grabs—poking out a mute grab before finishing off his rotation with a seamless indy-tail grab earning a respectable 4th place finish. On Jon’s second attempt, he stomped a Kangaroo putting him in first place heading into the last run, where it seemed only A.D.D. freakshow Sammy Carlson, ICER Air 2006 champ T.J. Schiller, and Mr. Halfpipe Simon Dumont could unseat the 25-year-old Swede.
Sammy landed a switch mute 1080, which scored him an 83, and Schiller nearly landed a switch 1260 but sketched out on the landing. Since Dumont and Olsson each had higher scores from the two earlier rounds, Sammy took home a third place finish and, surprise, he was stoked. “I’m super pumped,” he said following the event. “It’s the first comp of the year and I felt super good on my skis. The jump was a little intimidating dropping in switch, but I’m psyched and now I’m gonna go listen to Talib Kweli.”
With a score of 95 on his second-hit Kangaroo, Jon elected not to try it again and spun instead, where he washed on the landing. Way high up atop the in-run, Dumont, sitting in second with a 91, knew he needed to score above a 95 to beat out Jon. As the crowd cheered in excitement, Dumont threw his switch, cork high-mute 1080 but sketched out on the landing. The ultra-competitive Dumont was, undoubtedly, frustrated with his inability to land his last trick. But the 21-year-old has quickly become a legitimate Big Air contender. Yet his loss was Jon’s gain as the ICER Air 2007 title went to a smiling Olsson.
“I came here to win and I won,” said Olsson after he tossed his first-place glass trophy into the concert crowd. “I knew it was going to be tight there at the end since Simon is Simon, but I figured I had the upper hand. A lot of people spin and not that many do doubles (Kangaroo). It feels great ‘cause I’ve stopped setting goals to win events and I just want to be happy with my skiing ‘cause if I am happy, then I am winning events. Today, I was happy.”
Talib Kweli and Mos Def followed up the podium presentation and performed adjacent to the jump structure to a packed crowd on the field and in the stands at AT&T Park. The duo culminated a fun-filled, sun-soaked weekend hopefully foreshadowing another exciting winter. Thanks to ICER and everyone else involved with organizing and putting together such a comprehensive event. Suffice to say, the third edition of ICER was the best yet.
Official Results:
1. Jon Olsson
2. Simon Dumont
3. Sammy Carlson
4. Tanner Rainville
5. Mike Riddle
6. Sean Field
7. T.J. Schiller
Go HERE for a photo gallery from this event.