Get upside down over the planter box? No big deal.

For full photo gallery click HERE

Creative and progressive park features. Swag raining from the sky. Snowboarding's best jibbers in one spot. Endless amounts of beanie clad chicks in September stalking pros. Raging after party.

All those things can only add up to one thing - Hot Dawgs and Handrails 2010. This rowdy event just went off this weekend, marking its 7th year as the raddest pre-season snowboard event known to man.

The Scene at Bear Mountain was stock full of vendor booths, shredders from all over fiending for a chance to witness some snowboarding, groms taking paparazzi shots of the pros that were wandering around, and the buzz of excitement that the season is only getting closer.

Bear unveiled their signature feature alongside Red Bull's secret feature and the competitors were fearlessly slaying it all. With a flat handrail to bomb drop to wall ride - Bear's feature was breaking people off but at the same time bringing about some killer snowboarding. Red Bull's feature was a production in itself - imagine a big planter box filled with plants and trees with staircases on either side. Add two flat boxes and down hand rails and that was what the riders were working with.


Nick Visconti hitting the Bear feature to take home the big "W".

People were sending it - back flipping, gapping, spinning and charging all over the set ups. The crowd witnessed a lot of ice burns, close concussions, and collisions. As the sun set over Big Bear, the beer was flowing, the crowd was mingling and the winners were announced, the results were as follows:

1st place - Nick Visconti
2nd place - Jake Kusyk
3rd place - Johnny Lazz

$5,000 Red Bull Best Trick - Mike Casanova
$1,000 Red Bull Best Trick - Jess Kimura


Snowboarders sure do like those big checks...

With so many people attacking the set up, the judge's decision couldn't have been easy. The contest was fierce with creative and balls out riding. Everyone was in high spirits (well, that's one way to put it) during the video premieres of "Paint It Red" and "Cheers" and the good vibes continued to Mandarin Garden - the only remaining establishment in Big Bear that will allow the after party to be there.

Dance parties, hoarse voices, beer spillage, and mediocre balance were all aspects of the party scene as the night came to a close. Another successful HDHR down in the books.

Next on the agenda? Opening day.

Session cinco (oh, you don't speak spanish...? FIVE. Just thought it was time to spice up these snowboard camp blogs since there's about 700 different sessions...) Anyway, this video will put a smile on your face.

One of the best Windells edits yet, this camp sesh had some banger riding featuring Kazu Kokubo, Johnny Lazz, Mike Casanova, Sage Kotesenburg, Austin Hironaka, Teddy Koo, and more, PLUS all those little diggers everyone knows and loves. The Burton crew was there to hang out and shred with the campers as well. Pies to the face and dodgeball were also on the "to-do" list up there at Mt. Hood.

Be ready to get funky. You'll understand once you watch (and listen) to this video.

Josh Sherman and Mike Casanova headed down to Southern California to kill some time before the season kicks off . Check out how the "Spray Tan Challenge" manifested itself on the B-Ball court and come back next week to see how it pans out for Nova.

If you are in the Southern California region this weekend and you are craving a little snowboarding action after this wet, hot American summer, do yourself a favor and head up the hill to Big Bear on Saturday, September 19th for the annual Hot Dawgs and Handrails event.

Bear's going to magically pump out enough snow for a pro-invitational rail jam and the all the big boys (and some girls) of snowboarding are on their way out to play. Expect appearances by LNP, Pat Milbery, Johnny Miller, Zak Hale, Jed Anderson, Michael Casanova, Kyle Clancy, Austin Hironaka and a shit-load more.

Todd Richards and Snowboarder Magazine Editor Pat Bridges will be announcing the shin-dig (those two are hilarious announcing together, you don't want to miss that), and judging the rail jam will be pro rider's JP Walker, Simon Chamberlain, Joe Sexton, Keegan Valaika and Seth Huot (just in case there weren't enough pro's on hand already)

Other goodies include weenie roasting (the "Hot Dawg" part of "Hot Dawgs and Handrails"), music, vendor booth city, pro autograph signings. product giveaways and much, much more. Oh yeah, and it's the last chance to buy a Bear Mountain/Snow Summit Season Pass at the special "Roll Back Price"

And, probably what I'm looking forward to the most, the new Bear Mountain Movie "Parkumentary" is set to premier directly following the event along with the new Stepchild/ThirtyTwo movie "This Video Sucks".

The premiers are free, just show up on Saturday. Check out the trailers below for a taste of what the movies are.




Bear Mountain's "Parkumentary"
This film tracks 20 years of terrain park and snowboarding innovation, style, creativity and history at Bear Mountain and Snow Summit. Beginning with Summit's hand-dug halfpipe in 1989 and the opening of Bear's Outlaw terrain park in 1990 it all started in Big Bear. From the domination of Summit's Westridge and Ego Trip parks of the late 1990's, and the rise of Bear's All-Mountain Park in 2002, to new one of a kind features coming this season, Big Bear has been leading the way in terrain park development and helping to push the progression of snowboarding for two decades. It's a solid place in snowboarding history for a couple of resorts located in sunny Southern California.
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Stepchild and ThirtyTwo present "This Video Sucks"