Daron Rahlves on His 'Banzai' Ski Race Returning After a 10-Year Hiatus

Rahlves, a member of Palisades Tahoe’s pro skier team, has a long relationship with speed.

He competed as an alpine racer until 2006, appearing at three Winter Olympics and winning the famously gnarly Hahnenkamm World Cup downhill. Then, he took up the burgeoning sport of ski cross and went to the Olympics again four years later.

“Being an athlete my whole life, I love kind of finding what I was made of, and facing consequences and calculating risk and then leaving it all on the hill,” he said. With the Banzai Tour’s resurgence, he hopes attendees will find that empowering feeling, too. 

“The Banzai is a natural fit for our mountain,” Patrick Lacey, PR manager at Palisades, told POWDER in an email. “The event brings out the energy on our legendary terrain and is something our community connects with. It’s a perfect spring event, and we’re excited to have it back.”

The upcoming Banzai Tour event is set to be held alongside the famed KT-22 lift, known for its steep, challenging slopes. Rahlves described a course that winds from underneath the Base-to-Base gondola mid-station to the bottom of Palisades Tahoe intersecting with the Julia's Gold trail, similar to years past (that leg-burning descent covers almost 2,000 vertical feet). This could change if needed, though. Once, after a huge snowstorm, the Banzai course was shorter, finishing atop the Exhibition lift.

“We're all used to dealing with different conditions and that's kind of what the sport's all about,” Rahlves said. “It's gonna be a good time no matter what.”

Rahlves also remembered some standout moments at past Banzai competitions.

A snowboarder who threw a backflip in the middle of the run. A park rat who, in an event where having a racing background isn’t necessary but probably beneficial, made it to the finals.

The Banzai Tour isn’t an invitational for professionals. When registration opens, if you’re over the age of 18, you can participate. Men, women, skiers, and snowboarders will all compete. Since news broke that the Banzai Tour was coming back, Rahlves has seen plenty of interest, with people sending him messages to ask, “When can I sign up?”

Red Bull has joined as an event sponsor, but Rahlves is still in search of more supporters. Previously, Alaska Airlines partnered with the Banzai Tour, handing out discount plane ticket vouchers throughout the competitions for “best air.”

At Rahlves’ suggestion, the Banzai Tour started as a one-off competition at Sugar Bowl in 2009. He’d been inspired, in part, by the Red Bull White Rush, an off-piste, mountain-spanning race at Krippenstein, Austria, that had ski cross and freeride DNA. 

Later, the Banzai Tour expanded to encompass multiple mountains around Lake Tahoe, including Palisades, but in 2016, the series went on an indefinite hiatus. Now, a new generation of skiers—and seasoned veterans who fondly remember the Banzai Tour—will have an opportunity to see what the hype was about (this winter, the Palisades Tahoe competition is the only planned Banzai Tour event).

One big question remains.

Historically, Rahlves, despite being the organizer, competed in the Banzai Tour Super Finals, challenging the four competitors who ranked the highest across the four stops. Next winter, he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to participate in that way given how busy he is behind the scenes. 

What Rahlves is sure of, though, is that he’ll at least ski the course during the solo timed qualifier leg before head-to-head races begin. “I wanna run it, too,” he said.