{"id":48543,"date":"2015-05-12T12:41:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T19:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=48543"},"modified":"2015-05-12T12:47:30","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T19:47:30","slug":"the-2015-tailgate-alaska-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=48543","title":{"rendered":"The 2015 Tailgate Alaska Wrap Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/127523054\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>Each spring for the past 8 years snowboard media innovator <strong>Mark Sullivan<\/strong> has been gathering the freeride flock at Thompson Pass in Valdez, Alaska for a festival called <strong>Tailgate Alaska<\/strong>. An airstrip is turned into a motorhome community springs up out of the snow and for 10 days all everyone does is eat, sleep, party, and snowboard. This year they even learned a few things.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis year marked a new high point for the event in terms of snow conditions and access to snow safety education,&#8221; says Sullivan. &#8220;On blue days, riders went out in 2-6&#8242; of fresh snow and on down days they were treated to multiple daily classes, ensuring all participants went home having ridden the best peaks and snow conditions of their lives &#8211; but also a little bit smarter on how to responsibly access the backcountry.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you&#8217;re down with big mountain powder shred scene you should not miss it again. For the official word, including photos, please follow the jump.<!--more--><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0526-2.jpg\" onclick=\"window.open('http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0526-2.jpg','popup','width=1280,height=960,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=yes,left=0,top=0');return false\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0526-2-tm.jpg\" height=\"322\" width=\"430\" border=\"1\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" alt=\"Img 0526-2\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>NEW HIGH POINT FOR TAILGATE ALASKA IN 2015<br \/>\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>\nValdez, Alaska \u2013 May 11 , 2015.\u2013 Tailgate Alaska 2015 wrapped up on Thompson Pass, completing the eight annual edition of the now legendary big mountain festival.<\/p>\n<p>The legend of Thompson Pass riding isn\u02bct just hype, according to snowboarding legend Jamie Lynn who rode in the area around basecamp, \u201cIt\u02bcs like taking 100 powder days and combining them into one run.\u201d Bryan Iguchi agreed, \u201cI had the best turns of my life today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Riders from 16 countries descended on Valdez, Alaska on April 3rd for the ten day long event \u2013 and were greeted by the best snow conditions Alaska has seen in recent memory &#8211; and in the history of the event. In addition to direct access to the peaks that tower over basecamp, Tailgate Alaska had free daily snow science classes, speakers, a FM radio station (The Weagle 90.7 FM), an 8 man rescue team, on site medics, special parties and events.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0556.jpg\" onclick=\"window.open('http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0556.jpg','popup','width=1280,height=960,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=yes,left=0,top=0');return false\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0556-tm.jpg\" height=\"322\" width=\"430\" border=\"1\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" alt=\"Img 0556\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to event founder, Mark Sullivan, \u201c This year marked a new high point for the event in terms of snow conditions and access to snow safety education. On blue days, riders went out in 2-6&#8242; of fresh snow and on down days they were treated to multiple daily classes, ensuring all participants went home having ridden the best peaks and snow conditions of their lives &#8211; but also a little bit smarter on how to responsibly access the backcountry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year, Tailgate Alaska introduced a number of new events during the ten day festival. These included the Valdez Banked Slalom race, Knight Rider Racks Tandem Slalom Snowmobile race, a Wizard Stick Slalom, Alaska Vs. Canada Tandem Snowmobile race and Goal Zero and Traeger Grill Campsite Showdown.<br \/>\nThese events will be documented in future episodes of the In Short video series. &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Tailgate Alaska was formed in 2008 by Mark Sullivan (founder of SNOWBOARD magazine, and former editor of Snowboarder Magazine.) Held annually on Thompson Pass (Valdez, AK) at the bush pilot airstrip. Tailgate Alaska is brought to you by Valdez, Alaska, Never Summer Industries, Goal Zero, Spark R&#38;D, Homeschool Snowboarding, Unity Snowboards, Great Alaskan Holidays, Black Ops Valdez,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0655.jpg\" onclick=\"window.open('http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0655.jpg','popup','width=1280,height=873,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=yes,left=0,top=0');return false\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0655-tm.jpg\" height=\"293\" width=\"430\" border=\"1\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" alt=\"Img 0655\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_3039.jpg\" onclick=\"window.open('http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_3039.jpg','popup','width=1280,height=276,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=yes,left=0,top=0');return false\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_3039-tm.jpg\" height=\"92\" width=\"430\" border=\"1\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" alt=\"Img 3039\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mark-Sullivan-heli-run-2-pow-sluff-1-of-1.jpeg\" onclick=\"window.open('http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mark-Sullivan-heli-run-2-pow-sluff-1-of-1.jpeg','popup','width=413,height=640,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=yes,left=0,top=0');return false\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mark-Sullivan-heli-run-2-pow-sluff-1-of-1-tm.jpg\" height=\"666\" width=\"430\" border=\"1\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" alt=\"Mark Sullivan Heli Run 2 Pow-Sluff (1 Of 1)\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Rasmus-laid-back-slash-1-of-1.jpeg\" onclick=\"window.open('http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Rasmus-laid-back-slash-1-of-1.jpeg','popup','width=480,height=487,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=yes,left=0,top=0');return false\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Rasmus-laid-back-slash-1-of-1-tm.jpg\" height=\"436\" width=\"430\" border=\"1\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" alt=\"Rasmus Laid Back Slash  (1 Of 1)\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each spring for the past 8 years snowboard media innovator Mark Sullivan has been gathering the freeride flock at Thompson Pass in Valdez, Alaska for a festival called Tailgate Alaska. An airstrip is turned into a motorhome community springs up out of the snow and for 10 days all everyone does is eat, sleep, party, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,28],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48543"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48543"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48546,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48543\/revisions\/48546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}