The Minus 7 Melee took place at Donner Ski Ranch on March 16, 2013. The contest consisted of skatercross, slopestlye, and Chinese downhill heats. At registration, everyone got a t shirt with a playing card printed on the back. The meaning of the cards was revealed at the awards ceremony. Gotta be in it to win it!!
The skatecross went down first with the women and youth semis leading the way. Then the semis for the men got going. After that were the 3 skatercross finals. The course was short and weaved through the slopestyle course with 4 turns, so there was no time to make up for any mistakes, and the start was crucial. Jeff Nokkeo compiled nice video coverage but I can’t share Facebook videos on here, so just click here to go watch it! This is how it shook out:
View from the Top of the Skatercross course.
Youth:
1. John Zapata
2. Chris Cassetta
3. Blake Bonito
Women:
1. Kendra Wilson
2. Beckstar Galactica
3. Mathilda Spiers
Men:
1. Joachim Bronzich
2. Pat Bonser
3. Randy Mertl
The course for the slopestyle contest was compact and on the face of the mountain which made spectating and hiking easy. The Minus 7 crew made a custom snowskate park which included an up “shotgun” pipe, a flat ride-on box, an ollie-on rail, and a barrel hit. The shotgun pipe was a favorite for the women and youth, but by the time the men got on course, the feature was just about destroyed, so the men proved themselves with huge ollies and flip tricks on to and over the rail. Final results for slopestyle:
Pat Jerome going huge. Sorry for the blur!
Youth:
1. Kain Meiser
2. Chris Cassetta
3. Collyn Kellogg
Women:
1. Kendra Wilson
2. Michelle Minahan Hickman
3. Mathilda Spiers
Men:
1. Pat Quinn
2. Joachim Bronzich
3. Sean Davis
Finally, the whole crew met up at the top of The Face at 3:45 for the Chinese Downhill. Rules: None…oh except don’t run over the children. First one to claim the beer at the bottom in the bar was the winner. The twist to this one was that the start was right after the group picture, so people posing in front were at a distinct disadvantage. Joachim got to the bottom first, but the youngin’ had to order a Sprite!
Rad snowskater trophies!
The swag pile was huge! Trophies were blown glass snowskaters doing a variety of tricks made by a local artist. Everyone who podiumed got a pile of stickers and tshirts. And, Season Passes at Donner Ski Ranch were up for grabs for skaters who swept their division. Then after the awards, the deck of cards was pulled out. If the card that you were wearing on your tee shirt was pulled, you got even MORE prizes!
To summarize, the Melee this year lived up to its “melee” reputation. It proved to be a big party, with good people, lots of beer, gnarly hits, and prizes. What is not to like?
