2011-12 Final K-town Showdown

front L to R: Chris Oko (tie dye), Maggie Leon, Ryan Sihler, Joey Leon, Michale Capasse

back L to R: Will Steller, George McKeever-Parkes, Robbie Ettori, Alex Sheppard, Jake Fourneir, Justin Peyton, Bobby Bergen, Andrew Rybecky

After a tough, warm, snowless winter, we thought Killington might just cancel the final K-town Showdown altogether...but they came through for us! They always do!! A week of temps in the 80's couldn't stop the Killington Terrain Parks crew from letting shredders and skiers from around VT show of what they've learned over the winter, and the KMS Snowboard Team was no exception.

Beneath overcast skies and the ever-present threat of showers, KMS riders battled it out in Grom (14 and Under), Women's Open and Men's Open Divisions. The Dew Tour round bar was the first feature, and below that was rider's choice: on the left, a 15' long down bar; center was a 5' cannon and right was the good 'ol down-flat-down rail (DFD).

The 30 minute Grom Jam saw riders trying to mix as many different tricks on as many different features as possible. Highlights from the KMS team:

-8 year old Chris Oko throwing HUGE front 180's off the cannon, including a couple with grabs

-Jake Fournier throwing 180's off the cannon in both directions as well as cleaning the DFD

-Ryan Sihler 270 off the cannon

-Michael Capasse cleaning the fs 50-50 on the down bar

-George McKeever-Parkes smooth boardslinding the cannon

-Bobby Bergen going man-size gap on the DFD

-Robbie Ettori mixing it up on everything and clean fs board on the DFD

-Joey Leon throwing variety with a clean bs 50-50/board switch pretz out

In the end, winners were announced

Joey Leon 1st Place

Robbie Ettori 3rd Place

Next came the 45 minute Open jam with some even sicker riding

-Will Steller was riding great on everything from one footed cannons to gap-to-stale-to-rail on the DFD to super tech tricks on the down bar. It was great to see old Will back on it!

-Alex Sheppard was killing the down bar with 50-50's and fs 50-50 bs 180 out attempts

-As usual, Justin Peyton was holding nothing back with gap-disaster boardslides on the DFD and fs 270 onto the down bar

-Maggie Leon took a bunch of swings at 2 big tricks: fs lip on the downbar and gap to 50-50 on the DFD (the only lady to step to a trick that size).

Maggie Leon 3rd Place Open Women

The KMS Coaches couldn't be more proud of our riders- after a long season of challenging conditions, they all proved that training and hard work gets results. These results might not always be podium visits, but the satisfaction that comes from landing a trick in the pressure of a competition and proving that you've got what it takes to step up and give it your best! Thanks for a GREAT day KMS SNowboard Team!