BOISE — The United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) helped Boise bring in the new year with a regional qualifying series at the iconic Idaho Potato Drop next to the state capital.
This weekend 6 on Your Side profiled Ryan Neptune, the owner of Gateway Parks who transported snow from Eagle Island State Park to downtown Boise where he started building jumps for the rail jam.
It was crazy to see how high some of these athletes flew from one jump to another in a patch of snow that was surrounded by grass in Cecil D. Andrus Park.
One of the athletes competing is a professional skier from Boise who learned how to snowboard at Bogus Basin at the age of four, Justin "Juice" Kennedy said he loves coming back to Boise to ring in the new year.
“It’s great, I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, I love skiing and being in my hometown," said Juice. “We are bringing the action from the mountains down to town while trying to engage more people and show them what we are into.”
The Idaho Potato Drop Rail Jam is one of 32 regional series events that USASA has put on this year, the organization told us they hold more than 500 events nationwide for athletes ranging from three-years-old to 72 years-old.
"Boise is amazing this is my second year being at the Idaho Potato Drop," said Zippy Neil the director of administration at USASA.
Besides the big air competition the Idaho Mountain Freeride Series installed rails to give younger kids a chance to compete.
“We are going to have kids from eight to seventeen-years-old competing for national points to go to nationals," said Mark Teschner of Idaho Mountain Freeride.
Nationals will be held at Copper Mountain in Colorado at the end of March and early April.
There will be more competitions in Idaho as we enter the new year and those will be featured at Tamarack Resort, Bogus Basin and Little Ski Hill.
