Jimbo Webb Snowblade Extreme Champion

“How’s he going to deal with women throwing themselves at him everywhere he goes?” 

by Than Acuff

This community is filled with plenty of extraordinary athletes. Olympians, Skyrunning world champions, World Cup ski racers, National skimo champions, and the list goes on and on. Yet all of them pale in comparison to the athletic achievements of a group of men and women that gather every year on or around April 1 for the annual Snowblade Extremes, or, SBX. Truth be told, the good Lord above knows, hell, we all know, the verisimilitude of snowblading.

This year marked the 11th Annual SBX and the field has grown exponentially as winds have carried snowblade spores to Crested Butte only to have them land and germinate into pure athletes, the purest of the pure, pure as new fallen snow.

In essence, there are two kinds of people in the world, those who snowblade, and those who don’t. On Saturday, April 2 there were 37 people who snowblade, at least extreme snowblade, which is a subset of the larger snowblade community and is the subset that continues to push the boundaries of what is, and at times is not, possible on snowblades.

This year marked the largest showcase of teleblading as well. A subset of the extreme subset. Mark Robbins has been a lifelong teleblader smashing down the teleblade barrier for years so others could come out and feel comfortable. He’s racked up so many teleblade titles it’s hard to remember how many.

“It’s a blur,” admits Robbins. “I know I’ve won every time I’ve competed.”

This year, two telebladers, Robbins and Dylan Alagna, joined the fray to give ‘er, perhaps inspired by the words of U2’s Bono who said it best when it comes to teleblading.

“If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel,” says Bono.

Despite the work of Robbins to further the sport within the sport, teleblading has yet to take hold in the snowblade community.

“Snowblading is all about doing more with less, as is telemarking,” explains Robbins. “Combining the two is just too much for people to handle.”

Ultimately Robbins “walked” with another teleblade title, taking fourth place overall, but he still has yet to step on top of the SBX podium, making it as high as second place one year.

But the teleblading was merely a brief distraction from what turned out to be the ultimate battle as six-time SBX champion Ben Blackwood was knocked off his lofty perch as the most dominate snowblader on the planet, if not the universe. Although, we’ve literally just scratched the surface of Mars, so who knows what’s going on out there in the universe.

“If there are advanced life forms in the universe, I’m sure they’ve figured out that snowblading is the greatest form of athleticism possible, and I’m sure they partake,” says Blackwood. “I highly doubt they could ever do it as well as me, though.”

Blackwood knows whereof he speaks as the most decorated extreme snowblader ever and had no trepidations about defending his title once again.

“After six world championships, pressure really isn’t an issue,” explains Blackwood. “The excitement of stepping onto the stage of the greatest sporting event in history is an honor, and I just take it in stride. There’s not a lot of people in this world that belong in this extraordinarily profound atmosphere, and I know I’m one of them.”

As a result, he planned on implementing an infallible strategy, just like he always does.

“My plan was to just do what I naturally do, which is dominate on snowblades and make sure everyone knows it,” says Blackwood.

The talent pool on the Headwall venue Saturday was varied at best, an amalgam one might say if one knew what amalgam meant. There was a cast of former champions such as Adam Westlake and Grant Spear. John Ryan proved that you could actually carve turns on snowblades as did Ryan Sullivan. And if you even start to think these men and women aren’t athletes, one snowblader sent the Headwall with shake weight in hand to get an extra workout. Furthermore, Amanda Bowie proved that when you fall on snowblades in a gold lamé suit it becomes increasingly difficult to self-arrest and best to just go for the ride, think Nantucket Sleighride except on snow, wearing snowblades.

Suffice it to say, the first 35 snowbladers did provide a showcase of snowbladability, or bladeness.

“Without a doubt, this was the highest level of blade competition of all time. People like Lawson Yow, Charlie Parr, Zach Vaughter, Oz Scott, Mark Robbins, Adam Westlake, and Grant Spear bladed out of their minds,” says Blackwood.

“The only group of athletes I can think of to ever come close to this level of skill and raw athleticism might be the ‘92 USA Dream Team or possibly the 1962 World Champion Green Bay Packers.”

Jimbo Webb, who is a two-time Sickblade winner but never a SBX champion, put on a show opening with what appeared to be a 20-foot Lincoln Half-Loop off the end of the Angle Chute cliff band. Sure, Seth Morrison can fire off a 60-foot Lincoln Loop in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska and land on his feet, but only Webb can “stick” the Lincoln Half-Loop and keep on blading.

“It’s actually a misty hip plant,” says Webb. “It has the flavor of the 2000s and 90s moves where stomping to the hip was a good move, the Scott Schmidt era.”

Webb continued to work the venue like Picasso worked a blank canvas (think Guernica), putting the finishing touches on his masterpiece with a spread daffy in front of the judge’s stand.

With a run like that, the pressure was on the six-time winner.

“After witnessing Jimbo’s run, I knew there was no other option than to step up to the most challenging line on the venue,” says Blackwood.

He tipped his blades into the fall line and went to work. Blackwood knows what impresses the judges and what turns the fans on so he immediately looked for chaos in an effort to master it. Unfortunately, chaos reigned this time as Blackwood suffered a mechanical early in his run and would come up shy of his seventh title finishing in second place in the end.

“I am confident that I would have retained my title, but I want to be clear… Jimbo Webb is one hell of a blader and is very deserving of his first snowblade title,” admits Blackwood. “Unfortunately, I did have to deal with a major equipment failure during my run.

After stomping my first huck, I quickly found myself soaring through the air with the ease and grace of an angel and the style and awesomeness of Bruce Lee over the most intimidating cliff on the venue. But, the pure, intense power of my blading proved too much for my binding to handle, and it exploded upon impact. I wasn’t going to let some broken metal keep me from glory, though. I charged on, continuing with my line on just one blade, dropping one cliff after another, like Odysseus battling the storms of Poseidon. And with destiny on my side, I was able to overcome this imposing challenge and persevere.”

All was not lost though as Blackwood did earn his first Jeremy Worrell Memorial Sickblade Title for his effort.

“Yes, the six world championships puts me in a god-like status, but I don’t know how much that really means without a Jeremy Worrell Memorial Sickblade Title,” explains Blackwood. “With that now on my resume, I feel complete. I’m proud of Jimbo for the incredible achievement of winning the belt, and I feel comfortable that it’s a blader of his caliber who will be wearing it until I win it back.”

With the SBX belt around his waist and the world as his oyster, Webb puts his win into perspective seeing it as a catalyst for change in the SBX world.

“I always got a lot of respect for Blackwood, it’s just Blackwood was getting a little outdated,” says Webb. “It needed more New Kids on the Block feel, he has more of an old feel.”

Webb is now basking in the afterglow of being the SBX champion getting used to the fame and the filming opportunities that come with the title

“Getting on the bus without being noticed is a hard thing to do,” says Webb. “I’m looking forward to doing further filming work with non-Native.”

Despite losing to Webb, Blackwood will always be there for him in good times and bad.

“I do worry, though, about his ability to handle the pressures of being world champion,” explains Blackwood. “How’s he going to deal with women throwing themselves at him everywhere he goes? Or the endless stream of fan mail that will start to pour in? Or constantly being stopped on the street for autographs? These are things that people don’t think about. Everyone wants a piece of you. Sure, it’s easy for someone like me to handle it, especially the part about the ladies, but this will be a new experience for him. I wish him the best of luck with it, and I’ll be there for him if he needs any support.”