About 45 minutes and 7000 vertical feet from the world famous Las Vegas Strip, a small ski resort sits deep in Lee Canyon on Mt Charlestons northeastern flank. A couple weekends ago, Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, or LVSSR, hosted the annual Sin City Slopestyle event, a chance for local boarders (there were a few two-plankers, but the boarders owned the day) to show their stuff on the rails, jumps, and quarter-pipe of the LVSSR terrain park.
The irony of the event is that despite the competition, this Sunday afternoon was little different than any other winter Sunday at the ski resort. You see, LVSSR enjoys a throng of locals who know that the best place to be on Las Vegas winter weekends is on the slopes of LVSSR or sipping a Bristlecone Brew at LVSSRs Bristlecone Bar. The driving force behind this killer weekend scene are a pair of local DJs and apparel designers known as Sno:Bro. In just a few years, these guys have put together a great line up of urban ski and snowboard threads and sponsored their own Sno:Bro slopestyle team, whose members managed to take away most of the prizes. Sno:Bro kept the music going all day with some freestylin to accompany the slopestylin and despite the frigid temps and howling winds, a good time was had by all.
LVSSR was bought by Powder Corp, owners of Park City, a few years ago and each season the inevitable expansion and renovation of the resort draws nearer. So do yourself a favor, and next time your in Sin City, head up to the mountains and catch a day of shredding the gnar and quaffing the fresh at what is one of the last great down home ski resorts in the U.S.
P.S.: I took tons of great pictures of all the competitors, so if you were competing and your picture isnt here, you can find it in a larger gallery at Camino Photo.
