Thursday, March 28, 2024

Skiers, snowboarders gather for Rail Jam event at Valley Court Park

February 8, 2022
<p>Students gathered on Feb. 05, 2022, for &quot;Rail Jam 2022&quot;, a skiing and snowboarding competition hosted by the MSU Wakeboard Team, Spartan Ski Club and the MSU Ski and Snowboard Team.</p>

Students gathered on Feb. 05, 2022, for "Rail Jam 2022", a skiing and snowboarding competition hosted by the MSU Wakeboard Team, Spartan Ski Club and the MSU Ski and Snowboard Team.

Photo by Sheldon Krause | The State News

The snow piled up from Wednesday’s snowstorm provided the perfect conditions for Rail Jam, an event hosted by Ski Club, MSU Wakeboard Club and the ski and snowboard team last weekend. Participants were able to show off their winter sports moves while onlookers were treated to the darty of the winter. 

Saturday afternoon, the booming voice of finance senior Cole Degroat rang through Valley Court Park as he commentated at the event.

Homemade rails in MSU green were set up on a hill near Valley Court Park, and MSU Wake invested in a rewinch system for the event, a device that gives athletes momentum.

Finance senior Charlie Keranen from the Wake Team said, “Basically, we got two separate rails to hit and a kicker in the middle, and participants are scored based on their style, the difficulty of the tricks they’re hitting and different features.”

The first was a large jump that participants could flip, spin or drag off of. The second was a rail, where participants attempted to do the most elaborate move possible as they slid downhill. 

Communication leadership and strategy freshman Lucas King was competing with his snowboard. “We’re just out throwing down, seeing who can do the coolest trick,” he said. “I’m just trying my best to do something as cool as I possibly can.”

King’s go-to move was a backside boardslide, where the snowboard is perpendicular to the rail as the snowboarder glides down.

Other competitors did daring flips and other moves in hopes to win prizes and the glory of being Ski Club’s best.

Ski Club officer and fifth year Sam King said, “We have something like 30 competitors right now, and this is actually one of the larger years I’ve seen.”

Several students came out to Valley Court Park just to watch their friends hit some of East Lansing's finest slopes available.

“We just wanna get kids out here, and it’s fun to finally have things open and be out and about, especially when we get a nice, relatively sunny day,” King said.

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