Bull of the Woods 2015

Hunter Fruschte. Photo: Chip Proulx

Words Drew Herder.

Held on the outskirts of Breckenridge, Colorado, Bull of The Woods may seem like sort of cover up for a mass hippie gathering, but it’s actually an event that gets back down to the roots of actual snowboarding without the bullshit. Bowl of The Woods consists of a ridiculous amount of logs put together in just about every way you can imagine, along with a unique crew of attendees… young, old, mothers, fathers. It seemed every kind of person was there from the Nightmare team to the Satellite team, the Impalers to the crazy Seth Karlsrud (rumored to be from a forest just like this!) This year’s logging competition brought in a new flock of young calves looking to become bulls from the surrounding areas of Summit County.

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Putting in work. Photo: Pat Albrent

Inspired by the way Satellite Boardshop brought together a community through its Lovegames event, the Nightmare crew and friends around Summit County set out to bring the community together again. These events have been created so that snowboarding is more accessible without having to pay or ride with the many bombarded and tourist packed resorts throughout the season. Can’t blame them, have you ever tried to ride Breck on a weekend, or really any day?

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Jake Black. Photo: Drew Herder

After the first B.O.T.W. last year, the structures and concrete that were built were removed from the land owned by the Forest Service (who stopped by to check out this year’s comp.) In order to keep what they had started and keep it legal, Breck living legend Jay Nelson, began building on his property. An upper zone began to be built, but the snow began to melt out, leading them to put together the third logging zone for the year.

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Dudes. Hanging in the woods.

Since the “contest” is just a bunch of dudes that want to hang out in the woods and build snowboard features, the “competition” side of things is pretty relaxed. It’s rider built and rider judged. The whole property accommodates every riders’ style, but with features made only from wood. Each of the 3 zones is jam format and once the results poll in from the riders, finalists were chosen for a best-trick-format finals on the road gap, and the bottom of zone 3.

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Casey Lehmicke. Photo: Drew Herder

Zone 1 known for its arsenal of big features consists of a massive battleship log that flows straight into a road gap. Riders can choose to either launch or slide over it.

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Zone 2, unconquered. Photo: Drew Herder

Zone 2 is for the weird and creative, consisting of a pole jam taller than Shaq, a massively long C-rail/Rainbow combo (nearly doubles the world record setting python length) and a small (it’s not small because it has spikes) pole jam that flows into a wallride. The Impaler crew decided to swing by the day before and add their own personal touch to zone 2 with a pocket bowl.

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Chris Sypert. Photo: Drew Herder

Zone 3 is more technical with many logs such as the perfectly sculpted down-flat-down or the z-rail. Another two features near the bottom of zone 3 were a towering up log hip and a gap-to-trailer that only ended by grinding the down log off the backside.

If this is what’s done in a matter of 2-3 weeks, the possibilities for future Bull of the Woods are endless. The rumble of the bulls has rocked the mountains once again and until next year.. see you in the woods.