Lucas Demlow and Rob Vandervoort take 1st and 2nd in Men’s Snowboarding at a weather-shortened Rahlves’ Banzai held on the legendary KT-22 at Squaw Valley.
Words and Photos: Rob Vandervoort
The Daron Rahlves Banzai Tour made its way to Squaw Valley for the weekend of March 2-3. The weather was warm and sunny for Saturday’s time trials. Tahoe had received well below average snowfall for over a month. The legendary KT-22 was a bumpy minefield from top to bottom. This course was over a minute longer than the first two stops on the tour, a real leg burner.
Rob Vandervoort and Lucas Demlow at the top of KT-22.
In time trials, women snowboarders dropped in first, led by Macy Price, then Iris Lazzareschi, and Casey Lucas. Women Skiers were next. Shannon Rahlves edged out Shelly Robertson by less than a half second for the fastest time. Behind them was McKenzy Golding.
Men snowboarders dropped and, after much confusion over official times, Crested Butte’s Lucas Demlow held onto a .23 second lead over yours truly, Rob Vandervoort. We were followed by Ronnie Schoff of Northstar (who ran a significant portion of the course switch). Of course Jonny “Banzai” Bochenek took the fastest overall time, with almost 5 seconds on the next guys back, Kyle Coxon and John Lange.
Daron Rahlves, who generally posts a time around 5 seconds faster than anyone else, ran the course as well. However, around the middle of the course approaching the most technical section, Rahlves somehow lost control and crashed through the control fencing, narrowly missing a jagged rock outcropping. He sustained some injuries to a lingering hip injury, but managed to be okay otherwise.
Blurry selfies while tuning your board definitely makes you faster.
The next morning we found Squaw to be inundated with a rainy, snowy mess. To be honest, the course felt better, with the soft, mushy snow filling in the bumps. However, visibility was garbage, and the control fencing was not up to safety requirements with the snow it was anchored in turning to slush.
Men’s Snowboard Final Results
After about an hour of inspections it was announced that we would not be racing that day. The Squaw Valley racing department shut it down due to safety concerns. The final stop on the tour is to be held on the weekend of March 9-10 at the original Rahlves Banzai venue: The Silver Belt Gully, at Sugar Bowl. While it feels odd to take the podium in a weather shortened event, we’ll take it!
Stay Tuned for the write-up from Rob at the finals!
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