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Mammoth residents Ann Gimpel and her husband, Robert Carlson, got their feet wet last month on a National Geographic-sponsored walking tour across Northern England. They also made a swing through Scotland, climing Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the British Isles. “We were also within a stone’s throw of Carlisle, where Trevor, a character in my Transformation novel series, hails from,” Ann noted. (Photo courtesy Gimpel)

Prepping for the Nike Chosen event Saturday night. (Photo: Peter Morning/MMSA)

This week, The Sheet checked in with Eric Meyers, Brand Content Manager at Mammoth Mountain to find out the 411 on this Saturday’s Nike Chosen Tour event being held at the Main Lodge. The event is a two-part competition with the second half being held after the sun goes down. Riders will be competing for a piece of the $5,000 purse and a chance to be “chosen” for a trip to Austria where they will take on winners from around the world.

Sheet: When was the last time Mammoth held a night-time snowboarding event?

Eric Meyers: We’ve had the WCI rail jam at night in The Village for the last several years, but it’s been at least a decade since the last time there was a night contest on-hill.

Sheet: Who are some of the pro snowboarders that will be attending?

EM: Scott Blum, Frank Knabb, Jaeger Bailey, Jarod Johnson, Yale Cousino and several special guests from the Nike Snowboarding team.

Sheet: Is this a stop along a larger tour?

EM: Sure is, the Nike Chosen Tour made stops around the country this winter, and this is the last stop in America.

Sheet: What is the cutoff for the public to try and get “chosen”?

EM: Monday [Feb. 13] was the cutoff.

Sheet: Who are some of the chosen competitors?

EM: Some of the Chosen locals include Danny Thomas, Dakota Franklin, Chuck Evans, Alex Dawoud and Jared Dawoud.

Sheet: Is the goal of this competition to find new talent?

EM: The goal is just to get the best snowboarders on the west together for a really unique contest that’s a ton of fun for them, and for the spectators.

Sheet: Will riders be judged on a combination of the day and night event? Jump and rail?

EM: Yes, cash will be handed out for single tricks that impress the judges, but the overall winner will need to do well on bottom jump and the rail in order to win the trip to Austria.

Sheet: The evening event begins at 5 p.m. but it is not dark at that time, how late will the event go?

EM: Riders will begin warming up for the evening event at 5, and the contest will likely run until about 8 or 8:30. We’ll have a BBQ, drink specials, DJs, giveaways and plenty more to keep the crowd stoked while we wait for the sun to go down and the lights to fire up!

Visit www.mammothunbound.com and click Nike Chosen under the events tab for more info.

Christmas came a little early for Crowley Lake resident Kelly Berger. The young snowboarder, 15, competed earlier this week in the U.S. Snowboarding’s Revolution Tour kickoff event at Colorado’s Copper Mountain Dec. 19-20.

Berger narrowly missed the top 3 in Girls 13 and up, finishing 4th, but she was one of the top 3 American finishers in Halfpipe competition. The event included halfpipe skiing and snowboarding, and slopestyle competitions. The Revolution tour is part of the US Snowboard Team’s development pipeline for riders who want to make the U.S. Olympic team. Berger opted to focus on Halfpipe, which she prefers, and forego the Slopestyle competition.

Copper is known for its 22-foot pipe, which gives riders a lot of early-season practice.

How does Berger think she did? “The first contest of the season is always a little intimidating, but I think overall I was excited because I love competing,” Berger texted The Sheet while on the road home. “I’m really stoked about how I performed. I put down the run I wanted, so that’s always a good feeling.”

Never had a lesson … 

None of Kelly’s snowboarding prowess surprises her mom, Susan. “Maybe it was a sign of early athletic ability, but when she was little, she rode a bike with no training wheels at 3 1/2 years old,” Susan recalled. “When she was in third and fourth grade, she’d always say she wanted to go to the Olympics and the X-Games!”

Her daughter, Susan added, “likes to win.” When she’s not riding her board, Berger plays volleyball. A Mammoth High School Sophomore enrolled in the Independent Learning Center, she was on the JV Volleyball team last year, and moved up to the Varsity squad this year.

Berger’s mom said she also doesn’t train hard during the summer, but by the time November rolls around, she’s itching to get back on her board.

Kelly started boarding when she was 8, and as her mom related, literally never had a lesson. “She got a board for Christmas, and wanted to try it out,” Susan remembered. “I took her to Chair 7 and said, ‘You know how to ski, you know the way down.’ One year later, she was riding on the Mammoth Snowboard Team.” Susan pointed out that then-coach Leigh Ann Battista noted Kelly was one of the best riders.

Berger is partial to Halfpipe, even though she’s technically champion in her age group in Slopestyle. She admires top world-class competitors, such as Kelly Clark and Gretchen Bleiler. “I think she’s one of those riders who makes it look almost effortless,” Susan opined. “Her coaches [including Mammoth Mountain Head Snowboard Coach Ben Wisner] say she has really good air awareness … she knows where her body is the air.”

Susan is convinced her daughter is “someone to watch … the U.S. team knows her, and she’s been invited to the Olympic Gold Camp,” which is another development ground for up-and-coming talent. “U.S. Snowboarding Team Head Coach Mike Jankowski basically told her, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’”

No worries about that, says Berger, who’s planning on doing the entire Revolution Tour, which next moves to Northstar at Lake Tahoe on Jan. 9, said she’s ready to ride. “This season is going to be a good one; I’ll be traveling a lot and doing some larger contests,” she wrote.

Berger, whose sponsors include Smith, Solomon, Bonfire Apparel and Wave Rave, also plans to compete in upcoming U.S. Grand Prix and Burton Pro-Am events. “As far as the Olympics go, that would definitely be the ultimate goal, so we’ll see how these next couple of years turn out,” she summarized.

Not bad for a kid who never had a lesson.