Photos: Drew Diehl
Words: Keenan Jones

For the full photo gallery click HERE!

It’s all or nothing. After five months and over 15,000 miles traveled, the crew made it to the City of Roses, Portland, Oregon for the fourth annual Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour Finals. 60 of the top skiers and snowboarders from around the nation found their way to Pioneer Square with hopes of snagging a piece of the $5,000 cash purse, heaps of gear, and bragging rights for a year.

Riders arrived to a clear bluebird day, but to no ones surprise the unpredictable spring weather of Oregon rolled in and rain started falling…hard! For the thousands of people who showed up, the rain didn’t discourage the excitement. Copious amounts of free beverages provided by Vitamin Water and Widmer, and ridiculous riding made even the skeptics stay to enjoy the event. Ponchos were handed out keeping people nice and dry and Team Banzai started spinning to kick thing off.

With familiar faces everywhere in sight, the best male snowboarders of the tour made their way to the top of the setup. Things got interesting fast. No stranger to the Tour, Jordan Morse destroyed the features finding his way to third place. Local favorite, Jordan Welter was awarded second and snagged himself a nice $600. Utah’s own Christian Hobush was awarded the crown and named the 2011 Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour’s champion taking home $1,000, First Drop Outerwear, Celsius boots, and a new board provided by Exit Real World.

Nine lady shredders made it to the finals and battled it out for the title. Krysta Pelchar wound up in third place after some fancy footwork on the dfd. In second place, taking home a new pair of Roxy bindings was Janessa Bork. For the win, Erika Vikander destroyed the setup and received a new Roxy snowboard, Celsius boots, $500 in cash and some swag from Betty Rides. Congratulations ladies, you killed it!

The skiers couldn’t get more entertaining. Banger after banger made judging nearly impossible. Pete Arneson made the down flat down look like child’s play landing him in third place. Second place was awarded to Utah’s own Khai Krepela receiving $600 in cash to help get him through the summer in Govy. Young gun Conner Bennett was awarded the 2011 Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour crown receiving $1,000 in cash, a pair of Pabst x K2 and some First Drop Outerwear. Congratulations to all skiers, absolutely killed it!

And that’s how to the cookie crumbles. The 2011 Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour was a success. Many thanks to Ford, K2, First Drop Outerwear, Roxy and Vitamin Water for making this one heck of a year, along with the riders for coming out and shredding hard. The boys at Galvanic are already planning for next year, so until next time… Stay classy!

Photos: Drew Diehl
Words: Keenan Jones

For the full photo gallery click HERE!

With more than 10,000 miles under the crew’s belt, the boys finally made it back to the birthplace of the Tour, Corvallis, Oregon for the seventh stop of the Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour . The weather forecast predicted seventy degree temps and crisp blue skies, and the crew was more than stoked to hop on their skateboards and spread the word about the 30 tons of snow that were about to be dropped on campus. With summer right around the corner and carloads of shreds migrating to Mt. Hood, OSU made for a nice pit stop for riders to win some cash to help get through the hot summer months in Govy. Over 150 shredders applied making it one tough event to judge.

Not only was 30 tons of snow hauled in, but 42,000+ gallons of water filled two manmade pools for the first ever wakeboard event on OSU turf. As the event neared, with no surprise, the clouds started to roll in. This change of scenery didn’t phase the riders or crowd. Hundreds of students toughed out the weather while standing in line for custom t-shirts at the Ford booth. Worth it!

With one of the loudest crowds the Campus Rail Jam Tour has ever seen, the competition exploded right from the start. This year we saw it all, k-feds, disasters, hippy killers, flips…the list could go on! Regardless, you were either jaw-dropped speechless or screaming your lungs out.

Joey Vandermeer got techy with his hardway 270 onto the down tube as well as some steezy frontside switchups to pretzels. Tanner Boudreau had k-feds on lock throughout the comp and scooped up some First Drop Outerwear. Through all the chaos, Maks Gotham was crowned champion taking home a pair of the coveted Pabst x K2 skis.

1st – Maks Gotham
2nd – Tanner Boudreau
3rd – Joey Vandermeer

The snowboarders had their work cut out for them. Stefan Krumm, Justin Norman and Lou Macias were battling it out all competition. Justin Norman laid down a proper lip slide to bonk on the down tube that landed him in third. Stefan Krumm claimed the second place spot with solid style and techy tricks on all three features. In the end, everyone was blown away by first place finisher Lou Macias’ disaster 3’s off the dfd. Lou spun cab, frontside, backside…Macias was on a mission! Lou walked away with a bunch of new gear including some boots from Celsius.

1st – Lou Macias
2nd – Stefan Krumm
3rd – Justin Norman

The top three lady shreds were some familiar faces, tearing apart the setup with ease. Randa Shahin took the cake for best overall, and went home with all sorts of Roxy gear and an invite to the Portland finals.

1st – Randa Shahin
2nd – Krysta Pelchar
3rd – Sarah Gill

Big thanks to C.ORE Freeride, MUPC and all the help in making this amazing event happen! Next stop…Portland Finals! The top riders from every stop will be making the trek to Portland to battle it out for a $5,000 cash purse and bragging rights till next year!

Photos: Drew Diehl
Words: Keenan Jones

For the full photo gallery click HERE!

Reno is no stranger to a good time. The city is literally built around ways for you to go against your better judgement. Whether it’s eating questionable three dollar shellfish or deciding it’s a good idea to “invest” your paycheck into your foolproof method of craps, there’s a good chance you are going to regret it in the morning. Nevertheless, Reno has a lot more to offer than just bright lights and temptation. With the University of Reno situated right beyond the strip, thousands of Sierra-shredding rippers are ready at all times to ride whatever you throw in front of them. Lucky for them, the Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour decided to truck in 25 tons of slush and three rails to help them get their fix.

As the tents went up, motley crews of local shredders began to roll onto the scene. With the scent of the BBQ attracting hungry hotdog-eating co-eds, the crowd assembled, riders geared up, and it was time for blast off.

With the jitters out of the way and the cash purse dangled in front of them, finals went off without a hitch. Snowboarder Bryce Salazar stomped all three features for a clean third place finish while Max Fokanaga took home some swag from the sponsors in second. Danny Smith ended up absolutely slaying the setup taking home a wad of cash and some nice new boots from Celsius!

No stranger to the podium, skier Jed Kravitz took home a nice pair of Pabst x K2 skis to solidify his invitation to the Portland Finals. Charlie Ingalls came in a close second followed by Jaime Melton.

Nothing could stop Kristen McCormack as she was the only female skier brave enough to take on the set-up. The lack of competition didn’t phase her, she definitely knows how to ride and scooped up some First Drop Outerwear for making it happen.

The girl snowboarders took a beating trying to take the top spot. Christi Nasser found her way to third followed by Bella Rodriquez in second while the top spot and a new board from Roxy went to none other than Danyale Patterson. You girls killed it!

Big thanks to ASUN, Ford, Roxy, K2 and First Drop for making this annual event so awesome. Next stop, Corvallis, Oregon. Be sure to check out the event video to see the crew getting weird in Reno.