World Quarters at Mammoth is Just as It Should Be: Big Airs and Bragging Rights

Of course, things evolve. Hangovers get worse as you get older. Health insurance becomes more expensive. But the siren’s song of a 20-foot quarterpipe hasn’t ever lost its appeal, whether you’re the one hitting it or in the crowd watching.

And it was that last part that Pat Bridges underlined when he resurrected World Quarters, because it’s really hard to bring anything back that was so beloved two decades prior. Nostalgia is something that doesn’t always age well outside of memory. But that’s why the current World Quarterpipe Championships is so awesome. It focuses on what’s really important: the snowboarding (obviously). A pristine quarterpipe, highly talented riders, and the bragging rights that naturally come with going triple overhead above the deck.

On Friday, May 3^rd, World Quarters touched down at Mammoth Mountain, a resort with a long tradition of celebrated springtime events—Superpark, WCI, Grenade Games. The season is long in the Eastern Sierra and Mammoth Unbound knows a thing or three about building immaculate jumps and transition.

The Unbound crew had pushed the behemoth wall at the base of The Mill, just looker’s right of Chair 2, nestled against the trees. Quarterpipes, rare as they tend to be in snowboarding, have a “build it and they will come” austerity. Since Slush’s first edition of World Quarters, the event's roster of riders has grown every year. 

On Friday, nearly 100 of snowboarding’s best were in the lineup, including Dustin Craven, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Kennedi Deck, Keegan Hosefros, Judd Henkes, Iikka Backstrom, Luke Lund, Shannon Dunn, Ellie Weiler, Brooke D’Hondt, Valentino Guseli, Raibu Katayama, Ryo Aizawa, Gabe Ferguson, Bode Merrill, Harrison Gordon, Summer Fenton, Joey Okesson, Darrah Reid-McLean, Jeff Kramer, Brandon Davis, Darcy Sharpe, Stefi Luxton, Scott Blum, Morris Gifford, Lyon Farrell, Levko Fedorowycz, and Teddy Rauh. Flanked by an audience that set up lawn chairs to watch the proceedings, the riders represented a true cross-section of snowboarding—past World Quarters winners, NST champs, Olympians, backcountry veterans, street boarders, legends, and up-and-comers.

Quarterpipes, in all their glory, are about resistance to intimidation as much as they are about skill; straight-lining toward a vertical wall is no small feat. Blasting high above the heads of the media circus on the deck is another. Quarters are king- and queen-makers, rewarding those that set course and don’t blink, combining lofty amplitude with technical precision. And it's because of this that it's so exciting to spectate.

So, there were awe-inspiring moments that afternoon at The Mill. Judd’s air-to-fakie, Ellie’s McTwist, Goop’s handplant on the tombstone, every time Keegan dropped, and of course, the heated battle between Raibu and Valentino. The two men tested the limits of the QP, going tit for tat as they creeped higher and higher in the sky and closer and closer to World Quarters glory. In the end, their duel was settled by a super finals and Val rode away victorious. 

On the women's, it was Ellie Weiler's combination of big airs, handplants, and the McTwist that secured her first World Quarters title. For fun's sake, the Nixon Best Time awards went to Raibu and Shannon Dunn-Downing.

It’s really hard to bring anything back that was beloved two decades prior. But Pat and the Slush Magazine crew have done it. There’s no gauntlet. There’s less havoc. But you can’t force a ruckus and more importantly, you don’t need to. The riding is the reason the World Quarterpipe Championships shines. The reunion on the sidelines. The awe in the air. Because no matter the passing of time, if you build a perfect quarterpipe, the riders will come, the crowd will assemble, and the show will be great.

Big congrats to the 2024 Slush World Quarterpipe Champions, Ellie Weiler and Valentino Guseli.

See you next year.