Awesome 'superpipe' wows snowboarders

SODA SPRINGS - Both the sun and rider reviews shone Monday for Boreal Mountain Resort's new superpipe, open for its first day of ski and snowboard traffic. James Bratt, 25, of Truckee, while taking a lunch break with friends, gave the pipe his nod of approval."It's good, it's smooth, it's awesome, it's fun," Bratt, a snowboarder, said. Other snowboarders agreed."I think that pipe was awesome," said friend Phil Chung, 25 of Truckee.The new superpipe is located on Race Course Run, accessible via the Accelerator high-speed quad chair lift, and is quite visible from Interstate 80. The superpipe, which qualifies as an Olympic-caliber terrain park feature, measures 450 feet in length and 60 feet from side to side, has 18.5-foot high walls and has a consistent slope grade of 15 degrees, and is maintained by Boreal's Zaugg superpipe cutter. "We clean them up so every day we start nice and fresh," John Slaughter, marketing coordinator, said of the superpipe's walls. Paul Fovare, park supervisor, had the honor of first run down the superpipe Monday."It was a little fun, a little scary, a little intimidating being first one in the pipe," he said.Fovare said superpipes have improved in quality and increased in size over the years. "These things are so much easier to ride," he said, noting that while the larger size might be intimidating, "the bigger the pipe, the easier to ride."Fovare said bigger walls mean more setup time, which means a boarder or skier can get higher in the air and has more transition time for tricks and moves. It's good. It's really consistent, pretty long trannies," snowboarder Shawn Carney said while waiting for another run through the superpipe. "It's really symmetrical." Snowboarder Dave Brumm, of Alpine Meadows, said he was more than happy to test out the new superpipe, but could have done without the wind."It's sick," he said, meaning he thought the pipe was great. "For a first day it's really nice."Boreal gets a chance to show off the new superpipe with the upcoming World Superpipe Championship qualifier, scheduled for Feb. 11. Two snowboarders and one skier will continue to the 4th Annual World Superpipe Championship finals in Park City, Utah."It's a big deal, Slaughter said. "I mean, you've got Olympics, you've got X Games and you've got Superpipe."Snowboarder Andre Lalumiere, of Kings Beach, spent Monday training for the Superpipe qualifier."It's pretty good," Lalumiere said of Boreal's superpipe. "It needs to be ridden and then it'll be awesome."-Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com.