Words: Garrett Bright
Photos: Drew Diehl & Jake Vivori
For the full photo gallery click here. 

Remember that feeling you had as a kid the night before Christmas? A little bit restless, a little bit anxious, and a lotta bit excited. Yeah, that’s what the crew felt the night before the first stop of the 2011 Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour. But with sunny skies, 75-degree temps, and the entire cheerleading squad at their disposal it was obvious the first event was going to go off without a hitch. Top that off with a fresh mini-ramp, live music, and even a ferris wheel, and you’ve got all the key ingredients for an epic event.

With the CRJT crew full of fresh new faces for 2011, the boys were hyped and ready to rally. Local shred talent came out in droves, anxiously waiting to hit the new 2011 features! A greasy 30ft down tube and a 7ft cannon box made for the dopest set-up yet.

ASU’s own Sparky the Sun Devil claimed first drop and seemed pretty confident for a dude wearing an awkward jumpsuit. Everyone held their breath as he pointed his board down the set-up. With a properly executed straight air off the cannon box, the seal was broken and heat one was underway. Some of Arizona’s finest snowboarders threw down all over the man-made mountain.

Young gun, Isiah Goedee, didn’t seem phased by the older competition as he kept up with the big dogs throughout the day. The rails may have been as tall as he was but that didn’t seem to hinder his mellow 360’s off the cannon box. Trevor Routman had his backside boardslides on lock and Greg Sudac make his tail-presses look far too easy.

At the end of the third heat, the ASU marching band came out and got the crowd stoked for the finals. It went down just as heavy as any football halftime show.

First Drop Outerwear, Roxy, K2 Skis, and Siege Audio all had their booths up displaying product as well as giving out stickers, wristbands and other free goodies. Many of the lucky ASU students changed their Facebook profile picture to the tour poster which allotted them a free Siege Audio drawstring bag.

Hint hint…start changing your Facebook profile pictures as the tour rolls through your town! Of course, the major attraction of the Sponsor Village was the Ford Campus Rail Jam Tour booth. The line went clear to the Ferris wheel, a good hundred yards away. Why you ask?? People were hyped on the custom t-shirt printing as well as the chance to win a TRIP TO VEGAS!.C’mon…It’s Vegas! Who wouldn’t be stoked?

Finals went down with a bang! Everyone one-upped their qualifying runs and crowd was in awe. It was hard for the judges to keep track of everything as riders stomped trick after trick. James Johnson stepped his game up and threw downhill switch-ups on both the down flat down and down tube landing him 1st place on the podium. David Biner threw one of the most stylish backflip nosegrabs off the cannon box.

Sara Mazzererella proved she was the top girl snowboarder of the day with a front 180 melon while Allan Splitter took 1st place with a switch front flip off the cannon box and smooth back 180 on nose press to 180 off. Kid slayed! 

Womens Snowboarding 1st Place Sara Mazzerella 2nd Place Jenna Wittl  

Mens Snowboarding 1st Place Allan Splitter 2nd Place John Montana 3rd Place David Biner

Thanks to ASU, the Snow Devils, PAB, the student body and Ford for an amazing event to kick off the 2011 Tour! See ya’ll next week at the University of Arizona, followed by the University of Utah for the second and third stops of the Campus Rail Jam Tour.