Rahlves Banzai Tour takes on Alpine Meadows

This past Sunday was packed with adrenaline-fueled action as the top 16 skiers and snowboarders raced down the extremely icy and windy Face Banzai at Alpine Meadows for a spot in the Rahlves Banzai Tour (RBT) finals. Earlier in the morning, 60 mile per hour East winds forced Alpine Meadows to put its upper mountain chairs on hold.

Thankfully, the resourcefulness, commitment, and enthusiasm from the Alpine Meadows and RBT crews made it happen. Because of the high winds, RBT was forced to improvise a start mid-way down Wolverine. With no way of moving the start gate down, Daron Rahlves came up with the impromptu idea to have a good old fashion “kick-start” where racers all face sideways on the mountain and then make a 90 degree hop-turn and sprint for the GoPro HoleShot.

Highlights of the day were a return from Casey Riva (Denver, Colo.) in Men’s Ski putting the pressure on 2014 Champ Kyle Coxon, with Shawn McGee and Ben Paciotti in a tight battle for the podium. In Men’s Snowboard, the “never give up approach” to make all the gates by Bobby Minghini enabled him to take the win ahead of smooth French rider Sylvain Duclos and 2014 Champ Jayson Hale. South Lake Tahoe local Dillon Candelaria rounded out the final in fourth. Shannon Rahlves and Shelly Robertson’s battle continued from last year with a final run of multiple passes and a close finish with Caite Zeliff skiing all over Shelly on the top half of the course and Alexis Machovsky flying right behind them.Women SNB reigning champ Audrey Hebert continued her success with Mariah Dugan, Lindsay Wexler and Erika Vikander all riding great in these extreme conditions.

With Kyle “Big Swinging” Coxon’s win, he secured the first spot in the Men Ski Super Final against Daron Rahlves for a winner takes all one run for the “Banzai Master” title and $5,000. The show down will take place March 15 at Sugar Bowl’s “Silver Belt Banzai”. Who’s next? There will be three Men Skiers who get in the gate with Rahlves and the next two spots will be earned with a win at Kirkwood March 8 and Sugar Bowl March 15.

“From Alpine Meadows to the athletes, everyone was on edge and a little scared of the snow conditions this weekend for the Face Banzai. Rough as it was, it’s not anything unusual, but this time taken to the next level like a water injected World Cup hill would be,” said Rahlves. “Mother Nature created a bulletproof and slick surface with massive bumps that forced the competitors to attack with calculated risk and an all out fight. It was intense. I’m proud of all the competitors and very thankful to Alpine Meadows and my event crew for putting the effort in and trusting our course set and the skills of our competitors for a successful and safe competition.”

2015 Face Banzai Results

Men’s Ski: 1 – Kyle Coxon, 2 – Casey Riva, 3 – Shawn McGee, 4 – Ben Paciotti

Women’s Ski: 1 – Shannon Rahlves, 2 – Shelly Robertson, 3 – Caite Zeliff, 4 – Alexis Machovsky

Men’s Snowboard: 1 – Bobby Minghini, 2 – Sylvain Duclos, 3 – Jayson Hale, 4 – Dillon Candelaria

Women’s Snowboard: 1 – Audrey Hebert, 2 – Mariah Dugan, 3 – Lindsay Wexler, 4 – Erika Vikander

Release courtesy of RBT