Stories from the FRNT : Ian Hamilton goes Hella Big

The Hella Big Air Competition at Mt. Bachelor has become a "must watch” event with some of the industry's top competitors battling it out for over $15,000 in prize money. This year our own Ian Hamilton showed up and threw down. We'll let him tell you the full story...

"Last season I more or less retired from serious competitions. When my buddy, Dean Bercovitch, suggested we drive 11 hours to Mt. Bachelor, directly from a backcountry trip in Montana I was a little hesitant. But, the $15,000 in prize money convinced me, and we drove west on Friday to compete on Saturday. I hadn’t been hitting many big park jumps, so I had low expectations as there was a strong field of talented skiers; Jonah Williams, Noah Morrison, Nicky Keefer, Jaime Melton, and others. I felt confident on my skis and managed to qualify first into finals with my favorite trick, the Double Misty 1080. The Final was best 2 jumps out of three and I managed to put down my Dub Misty 10 double safety and Switch Misty 10 Truckdriver on my first two jumps. Since I qualified first I was the last man to drop. With nothing to lose I decided to send it and go for a Dub Misty 1260. I managed to stomp it and end up 2nd on the podium with two close friends. Needless to say I’ll probably be entering more big air competitions." - Ian Hamilton

Ian competed on his favorite ski The Vandal!

Skier : Ian Hamilton | Photo : Matt Sklar

Left to Right : Ian Hamilton, Dean Bercovitch, Jonah Williams | Photo : Matt Sklar