Banzai! This word has varied meanings. It is a traditional Japanese maxim meaning “ten thousand years.” A banzai attack would be a desperate military charge. The Banzai Drop is a wrestling move. Banzai skydiving is throwing your parachute out of the plane, then jumping after to catch it before plummeting to your demise. The Daron Rahlves Banzai Tour is a four-stop, high-speed, action-packed, off-piste downhill race!
Words and Photos from Rob Vandervoort.
A view from the top of the Alpine Meadows start.
The Banzai races are essentially a hybrid between a Chinese Downhill and a skier/boardercross race. The Tour makes four stops around the Lake Tahoe Basin. Day one is qualifing time trials. On day two competitors are seeded and brackets are made. These races are four person heats, the top two advancing. This is the real action.
On Feb. 2nd and 3rd the tour showed up to Kirkwoood, where they promptly set up what many dubbed the “gnarliest snowboard start” they had ever seen. It was tough for skiers too, but the snowboarders really had an interesting time locking it in. It was an eight foot cornice to bumps and pure ice, into a hard right hand turn. This was followed by three more bumpy, icy turns. Then it dropped into a gully, off a cat track, and into a classic banked slalom.
Kirkwood locals Casey Lucas and Adam De Vargas took first for the women and men snowboarders, respectively. Tara Hines traveled from Utah to take home top honors for Skier Women, and old Jonny Banzai (John Bochenek Jr.), himself ,was the fastest competitor of the weekend, taking top honors for skier men. Crested Butte representation included Casey Riva (last years Sugar Bowl winner), Lucas Demlow, and myself. Riva and Demlow both finished 6th.
Skiers charging at Alpine Meadows.
The next weekend the tour came to Alpine Meadows. The drop in was far less challenging here. However, this course had a rock hard mogul field to straight line. It also had a tricky gully feature right before the finish line. “The Mine Field” as the moguls on “The Face” came to be known, claimed many victims. It was the point where people would bottle neck into a cluster, make hairball passes, or blow up!
Once again, Casey Lucas took 1st amongst snowboard women. Chelone Miller was the fastest male snowboarder on the day. Shannon Rahlves beat a stacked field of skier chicks, and in an exhilarating photo finish Jesse Maddox edged out Jonny “Banzai” Bochenek by inches! Lucas Demlow made the trip from C.B. and finished in 5th, while I finished in 7th.
The tour is half over. In March, it will stop at Squaw Valley and finish at Sugar Bowl. This is truly an amazing event. It has excitement, good people, and great competition and I would love to see more of the same around the US.
Stay tuned for the next races and trip report from Rob Vandervoort. Check his website here.
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