The sixth annual Holy went down this past Saturday at the Summit at Snoqualmie in the land of sky blue water in the great Northwest. When I asked my boss if he wanted me to cover the Dew Tour in Tahoe or the Holy Oly (both went on at the same time) near Seattle he said it was up to me. Let’s see an event based on fun, run by snowboarders who love snowboarding and supported by some of the coolest companies or an event run by a soda company and based solely on winning money. Well The Dew Tour is great, the action is sick and all but it was a no brainer to head to the Holy Oly, an event that almost feels like family. There are basically no rules, free Cobra Dogs, insane ripping, great attitudes and a fuck it attitude. All the factors make this contest 66.6% more fun than any other contest, except maybe the Grenade Games. The first Holy Oly took place on a hand shaped 15 foot tall qp with tombstones and it has evolved to the current machine shaped 28 foot tall Mammoth qp. In addition there were 3 additional “official” obstacles; the That’s it That’s all car, a Red Bull can jib and a propane tank. However many more un-official obstacles came to be used; a small hip at the bottom, jibbing the announcing booth, hipping the qp to the right, hipping the qp to the left and actually jumping into the announcing or storming the castle. The heart of the contest is of course, the QP but a lot of action happened in the jib zone. Every year the Holy Oly gets 666% more metal, especially with Krush’s I-pod serving as the dj. Nothing more appropriate to accompany a huge Method Air on a 28’ qp than music like Motorhead, Judas Priest or likewise. The Dew Tour and the Arctic Challenging were going at the same time but that did not matter. The Northwest is full of guys you never heard of (and many you have or should) that will throw down with absolutely no money on the line so the action was hot. The rumor was that Danny Kass would have preferred to come to the Holy Oly, as he did last year, but he was obligated to go the Dew Tour but Peter Line rode and just seeing a guy like Peter ride is always pretty much insane. The weather cooperated with temps hovering just above freezing with the sun poking out through the clouds after noon. Who really wants to ride before noon anyway? Who really wants to read my gibberish so I am going to shut up and let the pictures do the talking? By the way we are going to post 2 galleries on the Holy Oly, this one and another in the near future so stay tuned. Also I have to apologize for any mis-spellings since there was no start list and I was trying to interpret the names form announcers and use Ebonics to spell stuff – all part of the casualness of the event. 

An early morning (11 am) view of the venue as it was pretty much about to start with the massive quarter pipe on the right and the jibzone on the left. Not long after this photo the crowds filled in and the sun came out

The contest god couldn't stop. A mudslide took out a lift and other things over at the traditional Holy Oly venue, Hyak. The contest was moved to Summit West, no harm no foul except that the big inflatable Oly can that Krush ordered weeks in advance never showed up. Krush here is the Youth Marketing Director at Summit and also runs Snowboy Productions. Basically he has something to do with all that is rad in the NW and lives to make the NW fun. Many thanks go out to a lot of people that made this event happen for, uh nothing but a love of the sport

Oly shit its Peter Line! Peter opted not to go the Arctic Challenge, which happened at the same time. Pete stayed closer to home and rode a giant quarterpipe instead, makes sense to me

Jesse Burtner was in the running for the beard award but deserved an award for the mc award as he entertained and informed the crowd for upwards of five hours

Here is the Highest Air award winner Austin Hironaka

Justin Heath here has won the Holiest award in the past so you know he can hang

Pretty sure this is Devun Elliot who won the Hucking his Meat award

Kurt Jenson won the NW Method Award. He says the secret is to "Grab between the legs"

For all you young kids that don’t know your history, don't think you are the raddest snowboarder in the world because no matter how many sick tricks you can do, the chances are that Peter Line did them all and better in like 1999 - Mctwist

Nick Russell graduated from Stratton Mountain School with Danny Davis and Louie Vito so when he made the trek from Utah he knew how to pay proper NW respects by grabbing properly between the legs

Matt Guess doing the best trick which was an alley oop back 7

Jay Kelly is the Raddest Guy with a day job

Jason Robinson doing a lien to tail or maybe a frontside tail tap melon grab. This was after the sun went behind the mountains and the event was pretty much over so that means it may have trick number 72 of the 73 tricks he did that day

Sean Genovese has won the Destroyer of all things Jib award a few years in a row. Until this year, when he showed up at 3:30pm (the event ran 11am-4 or 5ish) and Andre Spinelli took the honors

Andre Spinelli does a front board to 270 out the same way on the That's It. That's All car. The good folks from Mervin brought this thing across a ferry over the rivers and through the woods to Snoqualmie where it was towed up the hill and into place

Norm from Mervin turns the Cobra Dogs and also wins the 2009 beard contest. Cory Grove from Cobra Dogs was in the hospital with his Dad who has cancer but he was at the Holy Oly in spirit

The winner gets the best prize – 55 cases of Holy, the best prize in all of snowboarding

Former overall winners on the Holy Oly Cup, to which the name Monty Hayes will be added

Pete Sarri from Mervin, Austin Hironaka, highest air winner, and Krush's daughter

Pete, Monty Hayes, the Holyest of the Oly and Krush

and here is Monty spinning to win, so to speak Results Beard Contest – Norm Hardest Charging Industry Hero – Kaiser from POW Gloves Highest Air – Austin Hironaka Raddest Guy with a Day Job – Jay Kelly 73 Tricks and Counting – Jason Robinson Destroyer of all things Jib – Andre Spinelli Best Trick – Matt Guess/Alley Oop back 7 Hucking his Meat Award – Devun Elliott NW Method Award – Kurt Jensen Holyest of the Oly – Monty Hayes