Some of the history of this event:
Once upon a time (1992) a couple local riders thought we should have an Alaska style big mountain contest. So was born the World Extreme Snowboard Championships. A very intimate event with only a tiny bit of media and maybe a dozen spectators. Intimate yes, small? Not even! See the videos:
"Sudden Exposure" (92)
"Extremes" (93)
Some of the best riders in the country showed up in Valdez, Alaska to win this contest but that only lasted for the first run. The rest of the three days were about respecting these mountains with your friends.
Nobody died. That competition only happened twice.

For various reasons not related to the event itself, the WESBC wasn't continuing so Nick Peratta stepped up and created the King of the Hill. The format was different, fresh. Not just an extreme contest but a downhill day leading to a freestyle day leading to an extreme day.

This contest has become quite an event with full on media circus coverage, crowds, and riders attracted from all over the world. Barely half the '97' riders were from the US. The very different styles and priorities of the assorted nationals makes for some really interesting competition. This event carries on one aspect from the old WESBC, these mountains and the respect they demand.

The Downhill is a 4000 vertical foot run with some wind lips, rollers, and gullies. One inspection run and two timed runs.

The Freestyle is a 3000 + vertical foot run with wind lips, rolls, cornices, small cliffs, and natural half pipes. One inspection and two judged runs.





White room on Extreme day

The Extreme is 4000 + vertical feet of steeps, cornices, cliffs, couloirs, drops, and generally big terrain. This IS as good as it gets in the world! Two judged runs.

Matt Goodwill. Winner WESBC '93' King of the Hill '94' '97'

After that is the Feast and then the Coronation of the new King and Queen of the Hill.

Scoring for each day is translated into a percentage. The winner of the day gets 100%, everyone else gets scored a percentage of the winner. This preserves any big leads (or lags) and also makes a fair way to compare timed events to judged ones. It's also a ruthlessly fair way to compare riders!

The judging criteria is weighted towards skill and intelligence and away from guts. This tends to keep us out of a huckfest and someone getting hurt. There have been no serious injuries in our contest to date. We intend to keep it that way.




King of the Hill offers an opportunity for snowboarders to receive well deserved exposure and credibility.