Lost Trail Smash Life Banked Slalom 2018

Photos: Alex Kim.

Getting together with friends old and new to test your luck on some steep, squirrely berms is almost always a good time, and it's made even better when it's for a good cause. The two-part A-Rob Smash Life Banked Slalom continually hit the mark on both fronts. Smash Life courses are fast and keep riders on their toes (just how the late Aaron Robinson would have liked it) and event proceeds go to the A-Rob Plant A Seed Project, a non-profit organization designed to help underprivileged youth experience the joy of snowboarding.

We were lucky enough to be on-hill for the first of two stops this year, getting amongst the madness at Alpental, WA, and photographer Alex Kim captured the fun at Lost Trail, MT this past weekend. "It was our best course in seven years," says Shane Stalling, one of the main men behind the events. "There were over a minute's worth of hand built berms thanks to help of volunteer diggers from Montana and Washington. Lost Trail still has the vibe of what I believe ski areas used to be in the 70's. Lifties have worked there for over a decade and carharts outnumber the gore-tex. Robert at the top of chair one has snow sculptures of the entire cast of toy story. The snowboard and ski culture is alive and well at lost trail.

"I've done this event at a large corporate hill, that has endless resources, yet at this small hill the staff went out of their way to make sure that every element of the event was set for the best experience possible. Manny, a new lifty, provided bonfire entertainment with a projector and sheet hung from a bus so we could watch Manifest live from the bonfire. He also provided some late night ski-bike fun.

"The amount of people that continue to come to support what we are doing for the future generation of shredders in whitefish amazes me every year. That mountain produced Andrew Crawford, Travis Parker, Tanner Hall, The Robinson Brothers. I wonder who the next big name will be, and if they will have gotten their start in the Plant a Seed Program."

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who helped make this year's A-Rob Smash Life Banked Slaloms events to remember. We'll see you in the trenches again next season.

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