Image this. There are 4 skiers standing in a begin gate, very similar to ski cross. Beneath them, a winding monitor that options pure, unmanicured terrain sprawls. This is a far cry from a manicured World Cup course. The beginning gate swings open. Whoever will get down first wins.That’s the premise of Daron Rahlves’ cult-classic Banzai Tour, which, subsequent winter, is returning to Palisades Tahoe, California, between April 10 and April 12, 2026, after a ten-year hiatus. Up to now, it blended ski racing, ski cross, and good old style unorganized races along with your buddies to spectacular impact. Take a look at a video from the 2012 Rahlves Banzai Tour beneath. Faucet or click on to play. Preserve studying for extra with Daron Rahlves concerning the return of the fan-favorite occasion.Need to sustain with the most effective tales and pictures in snowboarding? Subscribe to the brand new Powder To The Folks publication for weekly updates.
Rahlves, a member of Palisades Tahoe’s professional skier staff, has an extended relationship with pace. He competed as an alpine racer till 2006, showing at three Winter Olympics and successful the famously gnarly Hahnenkamm World Cup downhill. Then, he took up the burgeoning sport of ski cross and went to the Olympics once more 4 years later.“Being an athlete my entire life, I really like form of discovering what I was made of, and going through penalties and calculating threat after which leaving all of it on the hill,” he stated. With the Banzai Tour’s resurgence, he hopes attendees will discover that empowering feeling, too. “The Banzai is a pure match for our mountain,” Patrick Lacey, PR supervisor at Palisades, informed POWDER in an electronic mail. “The occasion brings out the vitality on our legendary terrain and is one thing our neighborhood connects with. It’s an ideal spring occasion, and we’re excited to have it again.”The upcoming Banzai Tour occasion is ready to be held alongside the famed KT-22 carry, recognized for its steep, difficult slopes. Rahlves described a course that winds from beneath the Base-to-Base gondola mid-station to the underside of Palisades Tahoe intersecting with the Julia’s Gold path, just like years previous (that leg-burning descent covers virtually 2,000 vertical ft). This might change if wanted, although. As soon as, after a big snowstorm, the Banzai course was shorter, ending atop the Exhibition carry.“We’re all used to coping with completely different situations and that is form of what the sport’s all about,” Rahlves stated. “It is gonna be time it doesn’t matter what.”
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Rahlves additionally remembered some standout moments at previous Banzai competitions. A snowboarder who threw a backflip in the course of the run. A park rat who, in an occasion the place having a racing background isn’t essential however in all probability helpful, made it to the finals.The Banzai Tour isn’t an invitational for professionals. When registration opens, if you’re over the age of 18, you may take part. Males, ladies, skiers, and snowboarders will all compete. Since information broke that the Banzai Tour was coming again, Rahlves has seen loads of curiosity, with folks sending him messages to ask, “When can I join?”Purple Bull has joined as an occasion sponsor, however Rahlves remains to be in quest of extra supporters. Beforehand, Alaska Airways partnered with the Banzai Tour, handing out low cost airplane ticket vouchers all through the competitions for “greatest air.”At Rahlves’ suggestion, the Banzai Tour began as a one-off competitors at Sugar Bowl in 2009. He’d been impressed, partly, by the Purple Bull White Rush, an off-piste, mountain-spanning race at Krippenstein, Austria, that had ski cross and freeride DNA. Later, the Banzai Tour expanded to embody a number of mountains round Lake Tahoe, together with Palisades, however in 2016, the collection went on an indefinite hiatus. Now, a brand new era of skiers—and seasoned veterans who fondly bear in mind the Banzai Tour—may have a possibility to see what the hype was about (this winter, the Palisades Tahoe competitors is the one deliberate Banzai Tour occasion).One large query stays. Traditionally, Rahlves, regardless of being the organizer, competed within the Banzai Tour Tremendous Finals, difficult the 4 rivals who ranked the best throughout the 4 stops. Subsequent winter, he doesn’t know if he’ll have the ability to take part in that approach given how busy he’s behind the scenes. What Rahlves is certain of, although, is that he’ll at the very least ski the course throughout the solo timed qualifier leg earlier than head-to-head races start. “I wanna run it, too,” he stated.
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