Jib Academy at Canada Olympic Park, Calgary, AB : Words by Ali T, Photos by Devon Boulton-Mills

Throwin’ Down in Cowtown

Forget the Stampede, it was a Stompede in Calgary this past weekend! Salomon and Canada Olympic Park hosted the second out of 3 Canadian Jib Academy stops. It was 10 degrees and bluebird, the park was pristine and the talent was off the hook. Kids came from as far away as Rossland, Fernie and Kelowna BC to get rad and work on their goggle tans!

Have you ever seen 10 year olds doing switch 900’s? Or learning a back flip in 5 minutes? We were having so much fun at the Jib Academy that the kids that were competing in the Alberta Halfpipe Nationals in the next lane kept sneaking over to our park to see the action.                                          

The Salomon Pro Coaches; Dane Tudor, Kaya Turski, Denise Jaworsky, Erin Kerr and Drew Wittstock were stoked on the skills the academy had so we had to give away a truckload of Salomon, and Smith prizes.

The entire Academy shredded with the coaches in the morning until early afternoon where they then sessioned for an hour so we could chose the Best Trick winner.

After the best trick contest each Jib Academy participant voted for their favourite skier of the day. 16 top skiers were chosen to conquer the big booters in the hot sun in front of the pumped Jib Academy crowd. The contenders were fierce; they all wanted to win the trip to the final Canadian Jib Academy in Mont Tremblant on March 30^th!

The final votes were then tallied by the Salomon Crew and Coaches and the following prizes were awarded.

Yeah Girl!: Jacki Warrener

Giver All Day: Michael Brush

Mini Shred: Finn Iles and Spencer McHardy

Best head shaking bail: Jack Iles

Best Trick, killing it all day: Cam Schuster

Time to get some Salomon equipment because your skis broke: Bobby Warrener

Dane Tudor coaches choice: Todd Loukras

Kaya Turski’s coaches choice: Jack Jones

Denise Jaworsky’s coaches choice: Sam Ruzycki

Erin Kerr’s coaches choice: Cam Duncan

Drew Wittstock’s coaches choice: Rob Heule

And finally!

Voted by the Academy, the skier of the day: Brendan Mackay!!

Brendan promised that he will practice his French all week for his big trip to Quebec!

Big thanks to Canada Olympic Park, Smith Goggles, SBC Skier Magazine, Fresh Sports, Salomon Coaches and Crew, the skiers, and the volunteers who made the event a huge success!

The Canadian Jib Academy series will be wrapping up March 30^th during the Spin Symposium at Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Registration is full so make sure you register early next year!