The initial Horseshoe Open Ski and Snowboard Festival, currently Ontario's only large-scale, mulit-day event, kicked off this weekend with some of Canada's best snowboarders, photographers, DJ's and massive after parties. On the line was $25,000 in cash and prizes. All this in the name of boarding, Beavertails, and good times...gotta love it.

Pulling up at Horseshoe one could be excused if they thought they had arrived at a previous triple-themed festival that shall go unnamed, but the change in scenery brought a fresh and exciting vibe. If anyone felt out of place, the familiar, soothing voices of MC's Cassandra "Hoodrich" Ironside and 102.1 The Edge's Josie Dye certainly put them at ease.

The riders came out in force; all of Ontario's top riders, plus some big names from the West Coast like Andrew Burns and Mike Osachuk, made the journey to spend a few days at the Horseshoe Open. Overall the talent levels were extremely high and coaching programs like Simple and Shreducation showed their worth as all of their riders were standing out.

One of the new highlights of the festival was the public-accessible SBC Photo Challenge. Open to anyone with a camera, the contestants upload their top three photos from the Festival on Facebook and then collected ‘likes.'

How anyone got any riding done with the epic amount of snacks available in the viewing area is beyond me. Once you tired of Beavertails there was still Fayes (deep fried) Cake Cabin, a standalone pizza hut cleverly entitled Rodeo Dough, and much more. Add a few Coors Light to this mix and some Rail Jam and Big Air watching goes down real smooth, variable weather or not.

Rail Jam.

Day One: Rail Jam
The skies were angry this day my friends, but the riders were hungry for more than deep-fried treats and didn't let the rain slow them down. After some time warming-up on the course - consisting of an SBC down-rail, an Electric Visual picnic table to dropout feature, and an SBC down-flat-down - the riders were ready for the one-hour jam format final.

On the female side of things Leanna King danced her way along the picnic table feature into third, Ailsa Boyd put in a commanding performance, and Victoria Marshall pressed through the kinky rail.

It was a tight battle for the guys with any number of riders nearly landing in the top three. But in the end Mason Hambly ruled with some signature tricks to sneak on the podium. Jamie Corneal nabbed second with a hardway cab backlip through the kink. Harrison Gray proved his mop of hair wasn't the secret to his talents and kicked off his Open campaign with a win. With his fairly recent high-and-tight hairstyle he decided to skip the hard part of sliding through the kinks and just gap 270 his way to the bottom kink.

Slopestyle.

Day Two: Slopestyle and Big Air followed by the Coors Light Afterparty
The skies dried allowing throbs of weekend warriors to enjoy the Festival on this slushy Saturday. Slopestyle came first and took up the majority of the day. The course utilized the entire run and had a smooth flow: two rails side-by-each came first up top, followed by a roller into a step-down jump. The small kicker beside the big air jump came next and the rail jam portion finished it off.

The warm-ups were fueled by the ‘Thugged not Plugged' DJ showcase on stage and it hyped up riders enough to try a few 1.5 corks into the soft landing. New papa Jesse Fulton from Shreducation ran onto the course to help injured riders...forgetting his four-week-old baby was strapped to his chest. To say this little one is going to have a wild life is an understatement. Yeah Moleman.

Seven's were the order of the day for most of the riders that ended up on the podium. Andrew Skelhorn laid down his home mountain stomping skills but couldn't quite crack the top three. It was Harrison Gray who took impressed the judges once again and continued his victorious streak.

Big Air.

The riders were given a few hours of r' 'n' r' to let the sun set and the lights illuminate the wu-tangy 50-foot big air jump. This invitation-only event was what the crowd had been waiting for all weekend and the riders fulfilled all expectations. With Harrison Gray pulling out of the big air due to a tweaked foot, the dream of a three-peat was over and it was time to crown a new champ. Stylish Craig Gouweloos chose this night to perform his first double-cork, stoking out the crowd and fellow riders but fell just short of the podium. Victoria Marshall was the lone female to tackle the massive jump in the challenging conditions earning her first place for the ladies. Back tens were the top three placing tricks of the night, but only one of the three podium earners threw the double cork into the 1080 equation. It was Trevor Niblett's night, putting the landing gear down on a smooth backside 10 double for just the second time. Congrats Trevor.

With the snow coming down it was time to announce the winners and head inside for the moment everyone had been waiting for - the Coors Light Afterparty in the Crazy Horse Saloon.

Men's Am Rail Jam
1) Tyler Nicholson

2) Mikey Ciccarelli

3) Stephen Anderson (Emblem Clothing)

Men's Pro Rail Jam
1) Harrison Gray (Burton, Nike 6.0, Oakley, Spacecraft, Icarus)

2) Jamie Corneal (Stepchild, 3CS, Union, 32, Smith, Switch Skate and Snow)

3) Mason Hambly (Nitro, L1, Raiden, iFound, Sanction)

Men's Pro Rail Podium, L to R: Mason Hambly (3rd), Harrison Gray (1st), Jamie Corneal (2nd)

Women's Pro Rail Jam
1) Victoria Marshall (Billabong, Von Zipper, Rome, Icarus)

2) Alisa Boyd (The Boardshop)

3) Leanna King (Nikita, Nitro, Boardshop)

Women's Rail Jam Podium, L to R: Leanna King, (3rd), Victoria Marshall (1st), Alisa Boyd (2nd)

Men's Am Slopestyle
1) Taylor Watling (Icarus, Salomon, Bonfire, Electric, Sandbox)

2) Mikey Ciccarelli (O'Neill)

3) Jordin Gilles

Men's Pro Slopestyle
1) Harrison Gray (Burton, Nike 6.0, Oakley, Spacecraft, Icarus)
2) Kevin Scriver (Quiksilver, Gnu)

3) Brady Schwartz (Signal, Westbeach, Celsius)

Men's Slopestyle Podium, L to R: Brady Schwartz (3rd), Harrison Gray (1st), Kevin Scriver (2nd)

Women's Pro Slopestyle
1) Kiersten Higginson (Forum, Special Blend, Bern)

2) Leanna King (Nikita, Nitro, Boardshop)

3) Erika Langman (Dragon, O'Neill, Blue Mountain)

Women's Pro Slopestyle, L to R: Erika Langman (3rd), Kiersten Higginson (1st), Leanna King (2nd)

Men's Big Air

1) Trevor Niblett (Stepchild, Nomis, Simple Snowboarding, Sanction, KUU)

2) Christian Primrose (Forum, Ripcurl, IS Eyewear, Thread Shed) 

3) Kevin Konings (Forum, Four Square, Oakley, Brass Knuckle Therapy, Meltdown)

Men's Big Air Podium, L to R: Kevin Konings (3rd), Trevor Niblett, (1st), Christian Primrose (2nd)

Women's Big Air

1) Victoria Marshall (Rome, Billabong, Von Zipper, Icarus)

All photos: Anderson Reid

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