November has arrived, ski areas have begun opening, and it’s that time of year when the only thing on a skier’s mind is skiing. While most major ski events take place mid-winter in January and February, a relatively new competition has taken over the early season scene. In early November, people from all aspects of the ski industry converge on San Francisco to attend Icer Air, which is now in it’s third year. On the Thursday before the event, I flew out of DIA and into Reno, NV where I met up with my good friends Didrik and Spencer from school. On Friday, with anticipation high, we drove to San Francisco where we crashed early for the night in preparation for the next night to come. We woke up early, ate breakfast, and toured the city before heading over to the Giants’ Stadium. A baseball field wouldn’t generally be an ideal location for a big air ski event, but thanks to scaffolding stacked over 100ft high and over 200 tons of snow, a text-book jump was created. Corey had flown in Friday night to San Francisco from Denver, while Dan and Jersey drove up from Los Angeles. Upon seeing the riders hit the jump, it was apparent that the artificial set-up was not hindering the athlete’s ability to throw their best tricks. Big props to the builders of the jump, and Jon Olsson for his input. The competition heated up fast, but a few managed to stand out above the rest. Sammy Carlson was throwing consistent poked out 10s, which got him 3rd place. Simon Dumont, a favorite to win as he scored an extremely high 93 on one of his jumps, was throwing 10s and double fronts for second place. Simon also notably through a styled out 1260, but wasn’t able to get it all the way around. It was Jon Olsson who put on the best show of the night, which gave him the edge to win. He threw three Kangaroo flips in a row, one being good enough to score a 95, just edging out the Dumont. After awards, Talib Kweli and Mos Def performed one hell of a concert. About 20-30 thousand people were there to see it. I was lucky enough to be on the edge of the stage for a couple of songs, before they kicked me out. Didrik managed to get some good photo’s while I was shooting video. After leaving the event pumped from the concert, we headed to the Phoenix hotel where all the athletes were staying. Athletes and crew had a large dinner together before the real festivities began. We all headed off in Limo’s to the Temple night club where the Pink Carpet wrap party was taking place. The club packed tight, which made carrying around a camera a challenge, but still managed to get some good footage for the night. After some funny events we headed back to the phoenix, which included randomly picking up stragglers from our crew off the side of the road miles away from the club. It was one great day to say the least, I personally can’t wait until next year. Icer Air is a great way to kick off the season, and this event should only get bigger and bigger.
Check back throughout the winter as we cover the season.
and remember, Onward!!

Josh Finbow

Icer Air - Onward!
Video - High Res - 2007 Icer Air, Produced by Corey Tibljas, Dan McClung, Michael Scenningsen, and Josh Finbow. Filmed and Edited by Josh Finbow. Onward!!

Check the Photo’s out in the Image Gallery, and the video on TwoPlank TV!!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007 at 4:54 am and is filed under TwoPlank Blog & News Archive.