Super Pipe opens at Alyeska with Pipeline Masters competition

38 competitors take on the massive 300-foot halfpipe

By Kris Weldon
Special to the Turnagain Times

The Grand Opening of Alyeska Resorts brand new feature—the 300 foot long Super Pipe—took place Saturday, Jan. 16. The event was highlighted by the inaugural Alyeska Pipeline Masters competition with 38 participants ranging in age from 12-35.

There was some question amongst competitors whether the Super Pipe would be ready and rumors spread that it was only about half done the night before the competition.

But Alyeska and its crew pulled it together to get the rest of the halfpipe completed despite blustery conditions.

“It was a little tough but we pulled together and got it complete and the way we liked it,” said Alyeska's terrain park manager Matt Parisen.

The event was a thumbs up from park crew and staff Saturday morning. The next step was to register competitors and organize the competion.

Alyeska wrote out all the specifications for the event. This reporter, who was also a competitor, called earlier in the week to see when and how to register, being interested to see how they do competitions here in Alaska, since I'm new to the area.

With a stop by the ticket counter and a friendly conversation the day of the competition, I was registered. It was as easy as that.

With my lift ticket and registration, I headed to the venue, which was located at the bottom of chair 7, a short walk from The Hotel Alyeska, which made it very convenient for spectator viewing.

I headed to the top of the pipe at around 2 p.m. for a rider's meeting. The tents were set up and ready to serve people that would be out braving the weather to see the kick off of this new event here at Alyeska.

Competitors took some warm up lines though the pipe, familiarizing themselves with the 55 foot wide Super Pipe and its 18-foot walls.

The clock struck 4 p.m. and chatter of the event started. It was game on.

The first judged runs were taken, the vibe was good, and you could tell by the yelling and cheering that everyone was totally into it.

That energy is hard to come by. I was a high school coach for a snowboard team back in Oregon and to get them cheering for their own team was a challenge, so to have one person cheer for another even though they might not have known each other was an amazing scene in itself.

As all the participants took their personal runs in the competition, there seemed to be a group thing happening.

Playing off of the vibe was one competitor, who in his first run came out swinging with a giant air called a flair—a side flip while returning to the half pipe wall pointed in the same direction as you approached it.

So, while he was throwing that, another competitor, Eric Bralin, told me, “Well, shoot, if that kind of stuff is going on, I might as well try.”

I asked if this would be his first attempt, and he looked at me with a mildly humorous grin, and replied, “Yep”.

With that said, he set into the pipe on his second and final run dropping in with more speed than he had before and coming up the next wall.

I could see his body motion starting to twist like he needed to and he sped into the air while going totally inverted and bringing it back around setting it back down on the pipe wall like he had been doing it for years.

At the end of the runs, there were places taken, but I think to do it correctly, you would have to score the entire event instead of individuals.

It was an epic time of a community of like-minded people coming together to enjoy something all at once.

Overall, the competition was a success, bringing a bunch of people out and kicking off the Super Pipe opening right.

I know I had an amazing time just being up there. Getting to take a few runs was an added bonus, and I bet we will be seeing more and more of these go on in the future.

A big thanks to Alyeska resort and their staff that helped put it on. Lets have another one very soon!