Photo by Kayla Bevaart
A local boy happily rides one of the dummies from the Downhill Dummy Competition at this year's Snow Jam.

DOUGLAS - The snowfall might have been light but the action was heavy on March 9 for the 2008 Snow Jam at the Eaglecrest Ski Area.

The 4^th annual Snow Jam, in previous years called the UAS Winter Games, was sponsored by University of Alaska Southeast, Eaglecrest Ski Area, KINY radio and Red Bull.

“It’s an opportunity for students of UAS to go up to the slopes and to meet other people in the community. It promotes UAS as not only an educational opportunity, but as a social environment,” stated Laura Powers, an Administrative Assistant for the UAS Student Government, from Juneau, Alaska. “It gets students away from academia and it gets them in a social environment to just have fun.”

All events were free and included a Nordic Race, Slope Style Competition, Kid’s Obstacle Course, Snow Art, Team Relay, Downhill Dummy, and Human Sled Dog Race.

“I especially like seeing people come up to the mountain with no expectations and then leave with the cheesiest smile on their face,” said Ashley Saupé, a 20-year-old Marketing Assistant and Snowboard Instructor at Eaglecrest from Anchorage, Alaska. “It’s something I look forward to. The smiles I get to see. That makes all the hard work of putting something like this together worthwhile.”

The events started at 11:00 a.m. and ended shortly before 5:00 p.m.

The Nordic Race took place on the lower cross-country loop with a total of 5 competitors.

Up on the alpine slopes the Slope Style Competition was by far the most popular event.

Competitors showed off their snowboarding and skiing tricks, resulting in some stylish air time and a few painful looking wipeouts.

The run was closed that morning, but all competitors were given two practice runs to prepare just prior to the competition. Each competitor was judged on two runs.

The Slope Style Competition sported some of the youngest competitors of the day’s events as two 4-year-olds showed off their tricks, and even a crazy costume made its way down the slopes as a young boy dressed as an alligator competed as well.

Two Slope Style competitors, 14-year-old McKenzie Wilson and 15-year-old Devan Neal, both freshmen at Juneau Douglas High School and from Juneau, stated that they enjoyed the event and would be back for next year’s Snow Jam.

“You think about what you can land and what you think you can’t,” Wilson said when asked how to prepare for a competition. “You want to push yourself still, but you want to be able to land all of your tricks, so that’s what you aim for.”

Neal stated that he was slightly nervous before the competition due to the fact that it was his first time. He went on to explain the tricks he performed, which included a Japan, a cork five (540), a 360, and a backside not all of the tricks were landed, Neal admitted.

According to Wilson, the judges and organization of the event was better than last year’s competition. 

The competition was judged by the Bad Larry Production boys, which included Lucas Merli, Paul Paramore, Will Geiger and Makai Millay.

The Snow Art quickly drew a crowd, as young artists painted on snow banks using spray bottles of colored water.

11-year-old Samantha Thompson, a 5^th grader, and 9-year-old Rhian Andrews, a 4^th grader, both students at Mendenhall River Community School and from Juneau, collaborated and painted a scene which consisted of their names, flowers, hearts, smiley faces and a sun.

At 3:00 p.m., the Alaskan Celtic rock band, Fire on McGinnis, performed inside the Eaglecrest lodge. The band played a wide variety of instruments including bagpipes, fiddles and pennywhistles.

The Down Hill Dummy event included several entries. Dummies were released from the top of a hill and let to slide down on their own. Entries included a variety of dummies from a skiing deer to a dummy attached to a shopping cart releasing lit fireworks.

Father and son team, Doug Peel, a self-employed carpenter from Juneau, and Peter Peel, an 8^th grade student from Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School created their dummy , a skiing tree with an attached sign that read, “Ski with caution, avoid the skiers,” in an estimated 15 minutes.

Peel stated that they had other ideas for a dummy which included a Darwinian theme of a hanging ape on a hangman’s gallows, a pregnant governor and a two-headed serpent with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as the headed creature.

The Downhill Dummy grand prize winner was the “Vehicle Shop,” a fully light barbecue with hamburger patties and hot dogs on the grill, and an attached radio and small cooler.

The Human Sled Dog Race, the last event of the day, consisted of two teams of children. One team of 4 young girls and another team of 3 young “sled dog” boys pulling a young girl dressed in Hawaiian attire.

There were abundant prizes for all events which included donations from Nugget Alaskan Outfitters, Foggy Mountain and the Eaglecrest Repair Shop as well as gift certificates to Heritage Coffee, Bullwinkle’s Pizza, Fred Meyers, Blockbuster and the UAS Bookstore.

The grand prize drawing was a 2008-2009 Eaglecrest season pass.

This year’s Snow Jam was a success due to the help of volunteers, Eaglecrest staff, UAS Student Government and Student Activities Board members.