'King of the Hill' came, saw and shredded

You may have already heard that International snowboarding royalty (including Alaska's own Callan Chythlook-Sifsof) arrived recently in Valdez to re-inaugurate the "King of the Hill" extreme snowboarding competition after a 10-year hiatus. Well, the action ended last weekend, and the results have been finalized. The Anchorage Daily News has the final standings, here, and a great preview of the event's return, here. Reportedly the eventual men's champion, Travis Rice, pulled off the first-ever handplant in a big-mountain freeriding competition, further driving the hybridization of freeriding and freestyle snowboarding. Video of the competition (including a massive 720 from Rice and some helmet-cam footage from fourth-place finisher, Ralph Backstrom) can be found at Tailgate Alaska's home on the Web, here.