Manhattan Snowboard Rail Jam
Pro snowboard riders come to New York City Feb. 8
Mountain Creek Resort, Jeep and others bring the mountain to Manhattan as the city sees its first major pro snowboarding rail jam competition.
New York City's Parks & Recreation Department will hold the city's first major pro snowboarding rail jam competition, The Union Square Street Sessions, on Thursday, February 8. Some of the world’s top pro riders, including Marc Frank Montoya, Danny Kass and Eddie Wall, will compete head-to-head for a prize purse of $30,000.
New Jersey’s Mountain Creek Resort is a sponsor of The Union Square Street Sessions, which is presented by Jeep. The landmark event, produced by Aura360, is free and open to the public.
Twenty-four men and eight women will participate in Union Square Street Sessions and will show off their skills on a customized urban rail fabricated at Mountain Creek Resort’s Jib Lab. This will be the largest such structure ever produced for an event of this kind in New York City.
This custom 40-foot urban rail has a 2007 Jeep Wrangler built right into it, so competitors will actually ride over the Jeep. In all, there will be five features, including the debut of Mountain Creek’s much-anticipated Stair Set incorporating three separate features, a downslope box, round bar handrail and ledge box with handrail, plus the Jeep Wrangler Rail and a battleship rail on the flats. The Stair Set is impressive, weighing in at approximately 3500 lbs, and measuring 20’ long x 16’ wide x 10’ high with a 31 degree angle.
The invitational pro field of top riders will be augmented by up-and-coming athletes selected at three Street Session qualifiers. Winners at The Block Party in Tahoe and Rails to Riches and Shop Wars events at Killington receive automatic qualifications.
The winter sports celebrations will continue in New York City on Saturday, February 10 with NYC Parks & Recreation’s Winter Jam, a pro/am rail jam and winter carnival with snowshoeing and cross country skiing held in Central Park.
The Union Square Street Sessions schedule:
- 3:00 p.m. – Demo & festival area opens
- 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. - Athlete autograph signing and demos
- 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. - Athlete warm-up
- 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. - Music act 1
- 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. - Rail competition preliminaries
- 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. - Music act 2
- 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. - Rail competition finals
- 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. - Awards
- 9:30 p.m. - VIP Rail Jam Party
