 
Mike Dill - Grand PoohBah Champion
Photo by Andy McGuidwin |
The word is out - there is a new form of sport snow racing out there. Chris Ernst, Tahoe local and crazy ski flipster started this event last year with a little help from his friends. I spoke with him at the opening day of his 1997 Fresh Tour at Northstar. It was a gorgeous day, the crowd was going wild.
KF: So we're here with the man ... Mr. Ernst, Uncle E to many. I've been around Tahoe long enough now and I feel what happened here today was quite the phenomenon. The level of athletes here was very commendable. You have world class racers showing up to participate in what I think could really be the future of racing. Tell me, how did this all get started and what's it all about.
Keoki...on the job |
E: The whole concept behind this was designed on a golf course one day. Nick Perata, Jim Morgan and myself, thought of this idea to unite the Alpine world if you will. We wanted to get away from the segregation of skiers vs. snowboarders vs. telemarkers, cause there's a lot of people who like to go out and slide on snow -- no matter what form it may be. We came up with this concept, called Lord of the Boards to unite all of these. We created a totally unique course, complete with burms and whooptidos, chasms, triple jumps and gates. It has a little bit of everything thats been designed in the 20th Century. We're marketing the Lord of the Boards as a 21st Century concept for Alpine sporting events.
KF: Chris, the first Lord of the Boards event last year was at Homewood, but this year you have expanded the tour to cover three mountains- the Fresh Tour right?
E. Yeah - the Lord of the Boards Fresh Tour 97 is the Worlds First Ski, Snowboard, and Telemark competition Series. This year there are three tour stops, NorthStar, Alpine Meadows, and Homewood for the Finals.
KF. Sounds great! Tell me how its all going to work?
E. Well, were starting with the big daddy, were on a quest to find the most skilled athlete to win the Overall Grand Poobah Title.
KF: Grand Poobah ?
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Bordercross |
E. The Grand Poobah is the superhuman, man and woman, who comes up with the lowest cumulative time throughout the entire Fresh Tour.
KF: How does the point or time system work?
E: Well, the beautiful thing about this event is that its totally dependent on speed and raw time. And as we all know, timing doesn't lie.
KF: Do you have to compete in all three disciplines?
E: No, the event format runs like this. A competitor can sign up for one, two or all three disciplines. We always start with the snowboard discipline first -- ladies, then men.
Nick & Chris, founding fathers - Lord of the Boards |
Each competitor runs through the course once for a qualifying time. According to these times, we then pair the athletes into groups of four and start the Lordercross. Within each heat of four, only the top two move onto the next round. Eventually we have a final Lordercross and that person who crosses the finish line first is the Lord of the Snowboard only. We then repeat this exact formula for Telemarking in the a.m. of day two, and Alpine Skiing raps it all up. This format enables us to give the specialists in each discipline a chance to participate in this novel event as well as the multi-gliese athletes who sign up for the overall title.
KF: When I got here, the first thing I did was look at the course, and what came to my mind was, I want to ride this thing!. I see this as the future -- I mean this event has everything, and the fans were really getting into it.
Men's skier cross finals - battling for position |
E. Our focus was to develop an event that promoted the industry as a whole, not as a segregated marketplace. Weve now brought skiers, snowboarders, telemarkers together into one arena and created a wild course, and everyone is out there having a great time no matter what they're slidin' on. Hell, weve just started the unlimited category where bigfeet and monoskis, are allowed to have a go. Its all in the name of Alpine sports fun. You can say weve created a big kids schoolyard playground and both days are lunchtime recess with all your buddies and theres never a bell all day.
KF: Right On! So, the next few days are here at Northstar, then you go on to Alpine Meadows one week from today, and then the final closing of the championships is at Homewood on Feb. 22-23rd. Where do you envision taking this? How do you see Lord of the Boards in the next generation?
E: I see no reason why this cant be an Olympic event, because it combines skiing and snowboarding. Snowboarding is now in the Olympics, and telemarking is the beginning of all skiing. This is a timed event and there is very little judging involved. I dont see why this couldn't get to be at an Olympic level, say around 2010-2012, or somewhere in that ballpark. That is the goal for EXP Productions.
KF: I'd also like to talk to you about how you arranged for such great weather?
E: It's purely the luck of the draw. Just one week earlier we would have been sandbagging or under four to five feet of snow, but today its bluebird skies. All I can say is that the Lords are with us.
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