{"id":49906,"date":"2016-04-29T09:28:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T16:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=49906"},"modified":"2016-04-29T09:28:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T16:28:51","slug":"tailgate-alaska-wraps-9th-annual-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=49906","title":{"rendered":"Tailgate Alaska Wraps 9th Annual Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"polarisclass\"<\/p>\n

Mark Sullivan<\/strong> and the Tailgate Alaska<\/strong> crew wrapped up their ninth annual event on Alaska’s Thompson Pass on April 10, 2016 and from the looks of things, it was another epic year of powder, people, and parties.<\/p>\n

With zero approach access to 1.6 million acres of terrain, there are literally hundreds of glaciers and hundreds of thousands of peaks surrounding the Thompson Pass basecamp. For ten days,\u00a0Tailgate Alaska\u00a0puts riders in the heart of Mother Nature\u2019s greatest snowboard park. It\u2019s hard to even comprehend the magnitude of the Chugach Mountains – \u00a0and when it went blue, teams of backcountry riders from 16 countries, explored and challenged themselves with snowboarding\u2019s ultimate\u00a0rubik’s\u00a0cube.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds like snowboard heaven, huh? For the official word from Tailgate Alaska, please follow the jump.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"plane\"<\/p>\n

Valdez, Alaska – April 27, 2016 –\u00a0Tailgate Alaska\u00a0wrapped up the now legendary ninth annual event on Thompson Pass on April tenth, making it the longest running, purely wintersports event in Alaska.<\/p>\n

Alaska is the dream of snowboarders from around the world and for nine years,\u00a0Tailgate Alaska\u00a0has helped make the trip safe, affordable and unforgettable.<\/p>\n

According to Olympian Tailgater Julia Dujmovits, \u201cThe first thing I decided when I won the gold medal was to come to Alaska… Tailgate has been awesome. This is just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"cordova\"<\/p>\n

With zero approach access to 1.6 million acres of terrain, there are literally hundreds of glaciers and hundreds of thousands of peaks surrounding the Thompson Pass basecamp. For ten days,\u00a0Tailgate Alaska\u00a0puts riders in the heart of Mother Nature\u2019s greatest snowboard park. It\u2019s hard to even comprehend the magnitude of the Chugach Mountains – \u00a0and when it went blue, teams of backcountry riders from 16 countries, explored and challenged themselves with snowboarding\u2019s ultimate rubix cube.<\/p>\n

Alaskan patience is an acquired skill, and waiting out the weather is a mandatory part of every trip.\u00a0Tailgate Alaska\u00a0fills these times with daily classes taught by the\u00a0Alaska Avalanche Information Center, events like the\u00a0Wizard Stick Slalom,\u00a0Frankenbanken Big Air\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0Polaris Snowmobile\u2019s Riding Clinic.<\/p>\n

\"party\"<\/p>\n

At night, Tailgater\u2019s celebrated with savage parties, bonfires, Man Games After Dark, and live music including a northern lights, bonfire performance by Justin Boots and two floor breaking shows by The Shoot Dangs that went until the morning hours.<\/p>\n

According to pro rider John Jackson, \u201cThe Shoot Dangs were great. We got their CD and are listening to it every morning. That party was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"partylap\"<\/p>\n

Ultimately,\u00a0Tailgate Alaska\u00a0is about creating unique and pinnacle mountain experiences through mentorship and brotherhood for those that covet the ultimate mountains and snow conditions that Valdez, Alaska offers.<\/p>\n

Participants agree. Five time Tailgater Jimmy Laghezza said, \u201cI had the single best day ever this year. I drove a snowmobile to the top of one of these peaks for the first time and went inside a glacier. It was terrifying. It was amazing. I\u2019ll never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As spring dawns on Valdez, Alaska, the\u00a0Tailgate Family\u00a0returned to all points on the globe, from Australia to Austria, and Hong Kong to Costa Rica, fulfilled with new mountain experiences, friendships and knowledge, and a deep desire to return next year, because even after years of riding and exploring these mountains, you still have everything to learn.<\/p>\n

For more information, check out\u00a0www.tailgatealaska.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Sullivan and the Tailgate Alaska crew wrapped up their ninth annual event on Alaska’s Thompson Pass on April 10, 2016 and from the looks of things, it was another epic year of powder, people, and parties. With zero approach access to 1.6 million acres of terrain, there are literally hundreds of glaciers and hundreds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49906"}],"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=49906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49912,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49906\/revisions\/49912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}