Photos by Gill Montgomery / Words by Ted Borland
I think it's pretty easy to look at a place like Salt Lake City and see a strong sense of community of snowboarders. There isn’t a better place to see everyone come together than the Bone Zone. So this set up the perfect venue for “Barrier to Entry 2.” The basic premise is simple - get the snowboard community together to have a big session and raise money for non profit organizations that help kids get on snow. It was a concept that was originally put together in the spring of 2020 by Jeff Holce, Laura Rogoski, and Mike McDaniel. With a few early season storms this year in October, and a lot of friends in town for premiere season, it seemed like a great time to have the second event.
From Jeff Holce -
“The day before the event, we closed the Zone to build a fresh course for everyone. We had an open invitation to everyone who wanted to help shovel, and I was blown away when we had about 50 heads show up. We hadn’t had snow in a while, so we were farming snow from areas pretty far away from where people ride. That means we were throwing snow on top of tarps and dragging them through the woods until they either made it to the jibs, or they ripped. But this wasn’t anything that our crew couldn’t handle, and we got it done. Due to this effort it was probably the best that the lower Bone Zone has ever looked on Halloween. We had flow, airtime, and jibs - all bases covered for a fun session. Everyone dressed up and came together to raise money for a good cause. It was one of the busiest days we’ve ever had up there, a great mix of chaos and community. Excited to do it again this spring!”
On the morning of the 30th, people made their way up to the Bone Zone, battling mighty hangovers from the night before, courtesy of the Dustbox Premiere. A recommended 5 dollar donation at the entrance got you a raffle ticket and good karma - all proceeds from that went straight towards the Dillon Ojo Foundation and the SLC Chill Program. After that, a slight walk through the mud got you to the action.
Guaranteed that the first thing you might have noticed was some unmistakeable barks and grunts from none other than Lucas Magoon. However, it ended up being Joey Fava in his spot-on Halloween Costume. Joey remained completely in character the entire day from Gooner’s tricks to the way that he talked, to the point where most people thought he was actually Lucas. Other notable costumes included Hot Rod, Bob Ross, Chris Beresford, Unicorns, Hunter S Thompson, Jackie Moon, and then a bunch of weird outfits where people didn’t really know how to describe themselves. But hey, it’s hard to snowboard in an elaborate costume so we’ll let em slide.
The day was pure mayhem. With a much-improved setup (compared to the last few weeks) confined to a thin strip of icy snow, people were everywhere. Riders took to the volcano section like kids trick or treating. One person ringing their bell after another. The Brighton Diggers started the session early while the run-in still had a nice patch of ice before the take off. But rippers like Emma Crosby and Isabella Gomez got it figured out early on, and the session never stopped after that. Julian Gluck made the trip down from Boise to put on a demo, and the Batwing crew spread their wings as they trained the gaps as a group all day. Laura Rogoski was everywhere on the course, putting down a heavy frontside board slide on the barrier waterfall setup. For those who’ve never seen those up close, they are just asking you to catch an edge. No easy feat to survive those. Jeff Holce was quoted as saying “This is the worst day ever”, but this was only due to his emo costume. He had a great time.
And so did everyone else. As chaotic as it was, it was an incredible day. People walked away with tons of raffle prizes from Airblaster, DWD, Union, Camp Wears, Dang Shades, and plenty more. All in all, Barrier to Entry 2 was a huge success as they raised $2632 in just a few hours. We'll see you at the next one. Major thanks to Jeff, Laura, Mike, Joey, Pat, Brighton, the diggers, Gill, Mike Jones, and all the volunteers and sponsors for helping out!!!