Tignes Banked Slalom….

Sep 5

It has been a frustrating few years not being able to build on the success of the first two Banked Slaloms in Tignes but since the trials and tribulations of COVID it has been a struggle to get the event going again.

2024 saw its return and after much worry and stress, asking myself most days ‘will anyone turn up’ I can happily say that the day was a great success.

The idea of an inclusive snowboarding competition, open to anyone that can turn right and left, is what lead me to organise the first event. I love the idea of celebrating snowboarding at all levels, sharing the stoke and riding as a crew, regardless of what tricks you can do, which gnarly lines you can hike and your level of experience shredding. This is a rare thing to find on the hill as we tend to ride with people at our similar level.

On the day it was clear that who was going to be the overall winner wasn’t what was on most peoples mind. Quite quickly mini rivalries started poping up all the way through the line up, friends pitting themselves against each other and banter flying around the start gates.

The weather played a huge part in the days proceedings. Two days of changeable conditions made the course build pretty challenging, but with a solid crew of volunteers we managed to get some good turns planned out.

Race day started with very low visibility, making the first run a real test for the competitors. After a short break before the second runs, allowing us to re mark the banks, the sun turned up making for an epic second run.

After the race finished the vibe continued off the mountain with music, drinks, raffle and prize giving.

The evening party was super fun and there was a huge sense of community all focused around everyones love of snowboarding. This is the moment that I love, everyone recalling moments from the day on the hill and just having a good time together.

We were fortunate to have a bunch of epic prizes to raffle off to help raise money for Protect Our Winter Uk, out of which we managed to raise £700, stoked!

Planning for next years event is already underway and now summer has parted it’s time to get the stoke on for powder turns and hot laps.

See you out on the hill.

I must say a huge thank you to all those that helped to make this event happen:

Dragon Lodge crew - https://dragonlodge.com/

Loop Bar - https://www.bartignes.com/

Stance Europe - https://stance.eu.com/

Slash Snowboards - https://slashsnow.com/?v=79cba1185463

Black Cats Tignes - https://www.blackcatstignes.net/

Volcom Europe - https://www.volcom.co.uk/

Tignes Spirit Crew - https://www.tignes-spirit.com/

1910 - https://9teenten.com/

Scott Burnett (for the awesome artwork poster) - https://www.instagram.com/sburn23/