The Shakedown - Day 1

The Empire Shakedown kicked of Friday at Mt Saint Sauveur resort in Quebec. The Future Mag crew represented in the sponsor village with our trusty 10×10 tent, despite almost being arrested at the boarder and having all our sweet giveaways taken by Canadian Customs. To their credit the customs dudes ended up being pretty cool because they let us go and we made it on time.

The Shakedown is a legendary event and the largest snowboarding contest in Quebec. It was with this anticipation that I came for my first look at how the Quebecois do it. Having lived in Vermont for a number of years I’d always known they were up there. Even made a few jaunts to Montreal, but truth be told, I’d never actually snowboarded in the French province.

Upon arriving at Mount Saint Sauveur, I wasn’t surprised to see that it was rather small in vertical (as most East Coast resorts are), but I was taken aback by how nice the place was, with a cool little village area, a bunch of new condos and a swank hotel.

I was also surprised at how dope the setup was for the event. Though different than year’s past, the effort the shakedown crew put forth to build a monstrous big air jump and flashy rail course - complete with light boxes and themed paint jobs — is a credit to them.

During much of the day I meandered about trying to stay warm as a snowstorm blew through…also a surprise being that it’s now April…and watched over 100 competitors vie for three finals spots in the big air qualifying round. It was rather entertaining watching rider after rider knuckle the jump as the unexpected fresh snow slowed the run-in just enough. A handful of guys were able to make the trajectory including eventual top qualifier Matt Kulisek who stuck a frontside 9.

As the day became evening (after a few bloody caesars with the Alberta contingent) the light boxes awoke and a 45-minute jam session got the crowd into a fair bit of frenzy. Though much smaller in size and noticeably tamer than last year, the Quebecois onlookers provided plenty of motivation for the 20+ rail warriors. In a surprise finish, young gun, Kael Hill from Calgary outlasted such heavies as Charles Reid, Chris Rotax, Scotty Arnold, Keegan Valaika, LNP and others to take home the $5000 top prize by landing a nollie hardway back three 5-0.

After the contest ended I was introduced into the St. Sauveur tradition of visiting the New Orleans-inspired La Lausanne “bourbon” club, where hundreds of sassy French civilians danced the night away. After a few bourbons of my own and some French lessons from a nice girl named Chantal, I shall without a doubt offer my endorsement to the friendly French Province to the North.

Snow greeted us by early afternoon.

Future Snowboarding was in the house.

Crowd was a bit smaller but still enthusiastic.

Scotty Arnold

Darrell Mathes

Charles Reid

Keegan V.

Eesa hooked FSM up with a bunch of collab scarves. Here two spectators get theirs.

Later Eesa hooked up a ride to the club - thanks Cleary!

Bourbon club - I guess it’s appropriate to have some French Quarter in this French Province.

The boys agreed.

So did Kael Hill, who enjoyed the spoils of victory!

Kael Hill - Winner

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