On April 8-10, The Roxy Chicken Jam was held in Switzerland in the big and beautiful resort town of Engadin/St. Moritz. Twenty of the world’s best women in snowboarding were invited to take part in a very progressive slopestyle course, ride with each other, put together runs for the film crews of ChunkyKnit Productions (the makers of DropStitch and the newest movie, Transfer) and GKATV, take photos with leading photographers from major snowboarding magazines from all over the world, and have the chance to win money. Some of these top pros had traveled far from their local resorts: defending champion Natasza Zurek (Canada), Silvia Mittermueller (Germany), Emily Akerblom (Sweden), Vicci Miller (England), Margot Rozies (France), Jenny Jones (England), Lesley McKenna (Scotland), Cheryl Maas (Holland), Kjersti Buaas (Norway), Tania Detoman (Italy), Tina Ramholt (Switzerland), Lisa Wiik (Norway), Torah Bright (Australia). Three women represented the U.S.: Erin Comstock (Utah), Alexis Waite (Nevada), and Jonnel Janewicz (California).

Hosted by fellow professional snowboarder Tina Birbaum, The Roxy Chicken Jam’s focus on progression has made the contests a raving success. “Too often, professional snowboard events are organized with only male riders in mind, and consequently the women’s runs receive little, if any, coverage,” explains Birbaum. “Nevertheless, the girls are now regularly throwing down 540s and 720s in all their forms, and even attempting courageous 900s, as Silvia Mittermueller and Cheryl Maas did in the first leg of the Roxy Chicken Jam in Park City earlier this winter. The quality of women’s riding and level of commitment are today demanding more and more respect, and in return the best female riders fully deserve events, obstacles, and formats to be built purposely for them. This is precisely what the Roxy Chicken Jam has set out to do.”

Austrian Tommi “Mellow” Marsh built the course, which included boxes, rails, big jumps, transfer options, and a quarterpipe hit. Riders were given the course design and sizes of features via Internet prior to the event, with the largest jump being 14 meters. Seeing what was to come helped the girls anticipate the excitement of another great Roxy Chicken Jam competition that would focus solely on them.

With Europe experiencing a patchy winter season, the snow conditions seemed questionable; only a strip of snow was seen under the gondola on the first day of arrival. But as more of the invited riders showed up by train to the Hotel Misani in Celerina, the weather began to turn and snow was in the forecast. During the three-day competition, the weather turned to typical winter conditions with wind, snow, and cold temperatures (up to –11 at times). Despite challenging weather, all the girls rode tough, including the five amateurs who qualified for the finals on Sunday. Zurek’s consistency and technicality on all the rails and jumps stood out among her fellow competitors, and she took home her third Roxy Chicken Jam title. In second was Jones, who proved to be very smooth on each feature in the course, including the C-box and the bigger line of jumps. Waite took third place, handplanting her way to top scores in the jam format.

The Roxy Chicken Jam in Switzerland was a huge success, and all the competitors are looking forward to the next competition, in Park City, Utah, this December. For more information and photos, visit www.chickenjam.com. For diaries and video clips on the future stars of Transfer, visit www.chunkyknit.com. For information about the Hotel Misani, go to www.hotelmisani.ch.

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