SNO!zone - Castleford

Not the usual activities you'd associate with a snowboard rail jam… Until Cliffhanger, held in Millhouses Park, Sheffield.
As you entered the park the first thing you’d notice would be the massive red and yellow circus tent which housed the climbing wall, the surprising number of people running around in lycra whilst reading (orienteering) and the 25 tonnes of snow that formed the set-up for the SNO!zone Park

Session rail jam. A down box and side-on rail were the obstacles that 15 skiers and snowboarders would be hitting up during the weekend in a s and at the end of each day the final demo was a Team Battle where the riders were divided into 4 teams ending up in a super final to determine the overall winners. The demo’s kicked off around lunchtime with the riders taking a few practice runs to find their feet on the two features. Then it was every man or themselves as the skiers and snowboarders launched an onslaught on the rails throwing down a variation of pretty much every trick in the book.

Local boy Stu Edwards turned up to impress his home crowd by hitting all his tricks switch and ouzing style with every run. Jonny Russell was on form, laying down backside 180, switch 50/50, cab 360 out as well as a host of other tricks too technical to name. The skiers held their own on the set-up with James Rookley and Sheffield’s Andy Longley hitting up the feature with their own individual style and sense of humour. Castleford’s Kerri Daines was spinning to win on the box and Charlie Richards threw down the craziest trick of the weekend. A reverse back flip! In between sessions the skiers and snowboarders would get an opportunity to check out what the show had to offer. A particular favourite of the riders was the diving tank where you could get kitted up and try out deep sea diving from the comfort of a tennis court… in Sheffield! Other interesting things were the pull-up challenge were you could win £500, skate competition and kayaking on the parks pond.For the last session of each day the riders were divided into 4, given matching shirts and went head to head to see which team would come out top and take home the cash prize. This was great fun with judging being done by those skiers and snowboarders that were not taking part. The crowd even got involved at times to decide which team should be victorious. All in all, an extremely successful weekend with a great atmosphere, sunshine for at least one of the days and some impressive skiing and snowboarding.