The 1998 Indoor Championships

4:20 Saturday, March 7
Middle School Gym
Jackson Hole, WY

Here we are at the Indoor Championships, in a gym, 15 degrees (F) outside, the beautiful Grand Tetons towering outside on a perfectly clear day. Now that all jammers are off the slopes and out of the woods, the warm-up has begun.

I see John (finally there's a tournament near me) Andre from Montana jamming with Danny Myers from Hawaii, quite the contrast of conditions for Danny.

Yesterday, Mikey took two of us on a little 3200 foot vertical hike through magical glades of towering pines, covered with fresh fallen snow. The white draped trees invited us to dance through them on the way down. But we had to meet the test of the climb first, stopping only to feed our heads on the way. After three hours of pushing uphill, I came over a rise and Learbs and Mikey were up on a knoll "deskinning". This meant is was time to dance. "Take the first track", Mikey said with that typical Jackson Hole hospitality. As Learbs and I started to turn in two feet of the finest champagne powder the planet has to offer, I thought my grin was gonna split my cheeks. Mikey bounded and danced a different kind of freestyle jam as the snow flew around his smooth Tele turns. This went on for 3200 vertical feet, turn after turn of bottomless heaven-sent fluff. "Epic day", even by local standards. Can't wait till next year.

The "Random Jam" is about to happen and the fans are coming in. They look a little different from the regular fans - why?, Totally bundled up - it's Jackson Hole. Skiing was a gas at the Hole yesterday the group Cazio, Rob, Christina, Jaime, Danny and Z all scoured the mountain to check on the freshies and of course numerous "picnics" in the trees. Lots of fluff, now it's time for lots of Z's. Life is like a mountain you climb it and its your best friend ,you betray it and its the Spanck. No doubt, Jackson Hole is the best skiing in North America.

Random Jam

Top Teams - Z, Rick, and Danny kicked off the festivities, but Tommy, Randy and Jim Terhorst took the top spot in my opinion in the prelims.

Mixed Pairs

Prelims opened with Anne and Dave Schiller - some quick catches, some individual moves, no planned routine, but they had fun playing to Allman Bros.

Next up - Randy Silvey and Lisa Hunrichs. Playing to the Talking Head's Pulled Up, they obviously had much more planned than Dave/Anne, but seemed to fall back on more spontaneous play than their typical routine, obviously not wanting to peak too early in the competition.

Outside is the splendor of the ROCKY MOUNTAINS, and the best view I've ever seen at a World Event !!! The jagged peaks of the TETONS, the Double Diamond chutes of Jackson Hole, and the cool Frisbee players here make this THE DESTINATION of the winter season so far. I hope you are here nailed and g---ed up, ZZZ ya at the beach in Hein Diego!

Open Pairs

First up is Larry Imperiale/Jim Terhorst. Jim is Larry's partner from Chico days. Jim hasn't been playing much but showed moments of brilliance despite having jammed maybe only 10 times in the last 15 years. Larry was a bit hobbled (left knee surgery in November/right torn MCL from hitting a tree skiing last week), but just a flesh wound wouldn't keep him from jammin' in Jackson. The last time Larry was the lowest seed in a prelim was when he also played with Jim - in 1978 Santa Barbara. They put on some Nirvana and jammed.

Next was TL/Jon Andre - Tommy limped into the competition after injuring his foot on the beach last week, but it wasn't evident as he jammed like the Tommy we know. And John Andre, despite few jamming partners in Montana, played great, hitting him moves with great confidence.

Third up was Rick C and Danny Myers. Rick lives a mile high, Danny only simulates from a beach in Hawaii. Toe jams at altitude aren't much different, say Danny, a\

Rob and Jamie, the east coasters, then took the stage as the 4th team, playing to "Summertime" to help them get hot. They're from the east, New York precisely, where it's also often cold but not much to do except get warm next to a building's air ducts. They get hot! Jamie sits down next to me while I'm typing - he's breathing hard and is sweating. Yuk!

Randy and Schill ripped out a hot routine - yea, they practiced last week in San Diego. They started with some hot double disc stuff, and then started peeling out. Definitely much more of a routine than anyone else here, but what else did you expect from the reigning World Champs, even though I heard Schill say "man, it's hard to get warm here" right before he went on. Don't worry, Schill and Randy heated up the place just fine.

So who won the prelims? We all did because we're here and you're not. But we wish you were.

The only down side was having some of the best players at the tourney being paid judges - Mikey, Jonathan, and Z. They got to show their stuff during the random jam, at least. It seems more fitting for judges to have to "earn" the right to judge by not making it out of the finals, rather than having these hot players on the bench. But it's always cool to try new things.

Now can we get the judges out to do a threesome?

Nope - but we're off to the Jackson Brewpub and then some late night backcountry skiing to some hot springs - another adventure on Mikey's Kind list of things to do in Jackson.

It's now -1 F.

More tomorrow

More Random Comments and some play by play:

The power is deep. The indoor jam is crispy. I wish you were here. Love, Dani Myers

Jackson Hole is a little town surrounded by beautiful snow covered mountains. The downtown area is reminiscent of times gone by. I left my car running and unlocked while doing some quick shopping for snow boots, parked out front of the shop people passing by walking quickly seeing their breath, rushing home to the quiet fire. I could live here. Maybe I will some day. Meanwhile, skiing and jamming is a great combination and I'm adjusting to the indoor situation though I miss the warm wind. Love to all, Anne

Note: There was no time limit in any of the routines, except teams had to play for at least 4 minutes. Some teams like John Andre and Tommy L played for six minutes, while most other teams played for 4 or 5. Tommy paid the price for the 6 minute routine at 6,000, coming from sea level to thin air of Jackson, he was a huffin' and puffin' after 6 minutes of shreddin'...