Rampage 2024

[climberevan]

The women's edition is really entertaining. They are riding well and going big. The inspiration for the next generation must be huge, and I'm excited to see what the now-teens are doing in the next 5 years.

[toast2266]

Yeah, really cool to see the women do their thing. There were a few large sends. Glad everyone made it down safely.

Looking forward to the men's comp tomorrow. Just from some of the instagram clips I've seen, there's some rowdy shit going down (per usual).

[sfotex]

That gap is fucking huge!!

[PlayItLeo]

Brendog robbed again. His line was absolutely ridiculous. What a joke.


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[toast2266]

Maybe the best riding of any rampage i can remember. Ridiculous lines, and a pretty wide variety. Some years it feels like 70% of the riders are doing more or less the same lines with variations on the same tricks. This year it seems like only a few people were on the same line. Super entertaining to watch.

And yeah, Brendog got robbed (again). I can quibble with some of the other scores (would've put t-mac on top, TVS in second), but Fairclough is the only one that just felt completely wrong. Although admittedly, scoring a gnarly tech line against a bunch of massive tricks is kind of impossible.

*writing this during the wind hold before 2nd runs, so if 2nd runs happen, maybe all will be rectified. Although Brendog has already said he's not gonna take another run.

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[raisingarizona13]

Faircloughs line was my favorite for sure. There should be an award for most creative because that was definitely it imho not to mention the technical aspect of it all. F that was tech!

[bamboocoreONLY]

At this point I kind of wish there was 2 separate comps, one for slopestyle and one for freeride. I'm not going to say what semenuk did wasn't absolutely rad, since it was, but his line this year looked 0% freeride in terms of how much building went into perfectly sculpting his entire line to be ideal for slope tricks. It just didn't seem like a blend of both like some his past runs, and I feel that way with quite a few of the runs seen yesterday.

[NW_SKIER]

Brendog pushing away the redbull can they offered him and saying "to be honest, I'm probably not coming back" during his interview was epic. He knows he got fucked two years in a row now and no longer sees the point of doing it. Pretty sad really because it was an incredible line that he rode and that kind of riding was where rampage started. All the spinny flippy shit needs to stay at crankworx.

[smmokan]

Fairclough's run was fun to watch and exciting... everyone else, although ridiculously talented, was like watching a slopestyle snowboard event. Just a bunch of flips and spins off (huge) manicured jumps and to paved landings that all looked the same. I probably said the same thing last year. And the year before.

I agree with Bamboo, if they're going to award the highest scores to the guy who does the most flips and spins, then at least create another category for freeride or whatever they want to call it.

[toast2266]

The geoblocked live feed in the U.S. says everything you need to know. The intended audience is your average ESPN viewer, not core mountain bikers. The general population has a much easier time appreciating a big trick off a big drop than they do a line like Fairclough's.

That said, the event for people who appreciate precise, trickless riding in rowdy terrain is really hardline these days. Rampage is about going big. And as with skiing / snowboarding, there's kind of a limit as to how big they can realistically go, so instead of continually going bigger, riders start adding tricks. It still feels way, way different than slopestyle.

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[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Brendog pushing away the redbull can they offered him and saying "to be honest, I'm probably not coming back" during his interview was epic. He knows he got fucked two years in a row now and no longer sees the point of doing it. Pretty sad really because it was an incredible line that he rode and that kind of riding was where rampage started. All the spinny flippy shit needs to stay at crankworx.

Watched the whole thing, but missed this somehow. Time stamp of him pushing away the redbull can? Amazing.

Edit: Nevermind I found it. He didn't push it away, just refused one when they offered.

[NW_SKIER]

Watched the whole thing, but missed this somehow. Time stamp of him pushing away the redbull can? Amazing.

Edit: Nevermind I found it. He didn't push it away, just refused one when they offered.

He's also sponsored by monster energy. Can't be advertising for the enemy.

[BFD]

Great competition. Amazing that to win you need to throw a trick off every air. When this started they were just probably happy to survive the air. Bienvenido was probably thankfull he was wearing gloves. To weigh in on the Fairclough ride. I enjoyed watching it. I may be wrong but I think all those riders were capable of riding it. Where as there is a level of commitment to lead with your head over a 50ft jump at a high rate of speed not all of them were capable of. Not a slight to anyone just an opinion from the general population.

[toast2266]

To weigh in on the Fairclough ride. I enjoyed watching it. I may be wrong but I think all those riders were capable of riding it. Where as there is a level of commitment to lead with your head over a 50ft jump at a high rate of speed not all of them were capable of. Not a slight to anyone just an opinion from the general population.

Agreed. I'd say there were quite a few competitors that could ride Brendogs line, like he rode it. Conversely, I don't think Brendog could ride some of the other lines, like the other competitors rode them. He's a great technical rider, but I've never seen him go *that* big and he definitely doesn't have the bag of tricks.

Which isn't to say I don't enjoy watching him ride, and the vision to build his line is pretty cool. And while I don't think he should have won (or podiumed), he was definitely underscored.

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[mntlion]

Highlight reel seemed very "big mnt jib" Super cool, but very bike park like

Does Tippie annoy anyone else? Seems so contrived and washed up.. Maybe a really nice guy in public? no idea Maybe just to extroverted for me

[joetron]

Tippie is legit an excellent human. He’s just a lot.


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[mntlion]

Tippie is legit an excellent human. He’s just a lot.


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glad to hear, cuz its the "a lot" part that is all I see on the screen

[NuclearNachos21]

Agreed. I'd say there were quite a few competitors that could ride Brendogs line, like he rode it. Conversely, I don't think Brendog could ride some of the other lines, like the other competitors rode them. He's a great technical rider, but I've never seen him go *that* big and he definitely doesn't have the bag of tricks.

Which isn't to say I don't enjoy watching him ride, and the vision to build his line is pretty cool. And while I don't think he should have won (or podiumed), he was definitely underscored.

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i didn't follow this rampage too closely but what i appreciate most about brendog is his vision/digging. other riders could probably ride his stuff but don't think they would make the lines he does and get them rideable easily. not sure how he got 4th and 10 points higher in 19 when he did the same route but ended up worse on an improved version of it


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[Dantheman]

Rampage is about going big. And as with skiing / snowboarding, there's kind of a limit as to how big they can realistically go, so instead of continually going bigger, riders start adding tricks. It still feels way, way different than slopestyle.

Exactly. We've been having this exact conversation every year for 5-10 years. Calling it slopestyle is silly. There's a catch berm at the bottom of the Price is Right drop that if you blow it you go flying off a 100 footer.

edit: looks like Zink broke 6 ribs and collapsed a lung. There's no "slopestyle" course where a mildly squirrelly landing produces that result.

i didn't follow this rampage too closely but what i appreciate most about brendog is his vision/digging. other riders could probably ride his stuff but don't think they would make the lines he does and get them rideable easily. not sure how he got 4th and 10 points higher in 19 when he did the same route but ended up worse on an improved version of it


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The level has gone up a lot in 5 years. Though I certainly agree he was underscored.

[NuclearNachos21]

The level has gone up a lot in 5 years. Though I certainly agree he was underscored.

very true, was comparing for fun sincd semenuk got 1st with a 92 and scores for places match up suprising close for years. will miss him if he decides not to continue showing up


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[ironhippy]

I don't really watch this stuff, but is it possible the organizers are influencing the judging to avoid the really big stuff?

If the goal is to keep going bigger and bigger, eventually someone's going to end up dead. I can't imagine red bull wants the evolution to head that way, so rewarding multiple smaller tricks vs the one big trick could be a way to try and shift the trend to a safer competition.

[Dantheman]

That is absolutely the case. It's not even covert. After Paul Bass broke his back and the whole #fuckrampage thing happened the organizers made a very conscious decision to move the comp in that direction.

[jackstraw]

Faircloughs line was my favorite for sure. There should be an award for most creative because that was definitely it imho not to mention the technical aspect of it all. F that was tech!

Yup. I much prefer watching a line like that vs the park style in such rowdy terrain.
Spinny twisty no hands stuff obviously adds a various degree of difficulty to their lines, but it just doesn't do it for me personally. I feel that way about ski/snowboard also. I like a clean tech line slicing through gnar and sure throw in a backie Seth style

[toast2266]

I don't really watch this stuff, but is it possible the organizers are influencing the judging to avoid the really big stuff?

If the goal is to keep going bigger and bigger, eventually someone's going to end up dead. I can't imagine red bull wants the evolution to head that way, so rewarding multiple smaller tricks vs the one big trick could be a way to try and shift the trend to a safer competition.

It's exactly the same in skiing with the FWT. A clean run will score better than a bigger, looser run. Smaller technical tricks will score above a massive air with a backslap / sketchy landing. Control is rewarded more than balls.

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[grskier]

Rampage is more akin to redbull cold rush and cascade than it is to a FWT event... There is a big mountain element to it and a slopestyle element to it. Brendog was full on big mountain, I think only a handful of those guys would ride his two chutes, but he does not have the bag of tricks. He talks pretty candidly about that stuff and knows he picks his lines because he doesn't have the deep bag off of the silly stepdowns the other guys are hitting.

Rampage used to be one of my favorites, I follow the builds, watch a replay and am done... I still watch but it doesn't have the same cache it used to for me.
I don't know what a big mountain comp in mtb would look like nowadays, rampage is probably as close as we'd get.