From Snowdays Foundation's Desk:
Core Nation 2024 - Timberline for Snowdays Foundation
Within 3 years, Erik Leon’s CORE Nation Rail Jam has become a staple of the snowboarding community. The 2024 tour had 6 stops across the US, from California to New Hampshire. While it’s growing, Erik is seeing “participants are coming back year after year, and previous winners are helping judge”. But the most rewarding thing for Erik is that “whether it's a new or recurring stop, the community always comes out to help with the event”.
At every stop, the entry fees and raffle proceeds all go to a local nonprofit that’s working to make snowboarding more accessible. The Timberline stop benefits Snowdays Foundation, and on top of raising funds and awareness, Erik volunteers as a coach with Snowdays after the jam.
During the Timberline stop, Ari Suarez, who has participated at CORE all 3 years, said the jam is special because “it’s not based on who has the best trick or best style! It’s based on who’s having the most fun, who’s being the most supportive and positive. That just brings out the best in everyone”. At this stop, one of the best tricks was Nina doing her first down-flat-down after countless tries, and the best style came from Kai Flugal, a first time park rider, throwing a backflip off of a lip. Both of those riders were named as some of the day’s 5 “standouts” (you can’t win at having the most fun).
To Erik’s point of riders coming back, another one of the day’s standouts was a grom named Max. In 2023, Max happened to be riding at Timberline the day of CORE with his dad and they decided to sign up. When Erik asked him what he remembered about last year, Max said “Everyone was cheering me on and I remember airing off the first box.” This year, Max joined USASA and competed at Nationals, “You inspired me to do more Rail Jams and other events, and I appreciate that”.
Erik is organizing all of this on top of the demands of being a pro snowboarder. In the middle of it all, he filmed a “Super Top Secret Video Part”.
Founded in 2004, Snowdays partners with youth-mentoring organizations In Portland and Bend/Central Oregon to empower youth through snowboarding. Snowdays removes barriers to access by providing instruction, meals, transportation, equipment and tickets at no charge. Trips create a safe space for students to challenge themselves and apply that success in their daily lives.
To learn more or sign up to volunteer with Snowdays Foundation, go to https://www.