Rosco Ross da Boss Powers took to the air strong today to reclaim what is rightfully his. Ross threw down some steady runs, huge airs and added a switch mctwist at the bottom just for the judges. Ross was up against some serious international veteran rippers today with the likes of John Sommers, Fredrik Sterner, Daniel Migneault and Rob Kingwill all kicking down for the big blue bong trophy.

Michele Tag-air

For the ladies it was about stepping up to what has been known as the men's standard...ouch. 720's have for the last year often set the top women apart. Shannon Dunn suprisingly left her standard 7's out of her run, opting instead for her clean and shiny mctwists and grabs to take her to the top today. Instead her runs brought her second and split last weekend's top two, the US's Tricia Byrnes and France's Doriane Vidal.

"I felt really squirrely and I think I might have been screaming..."— Tricia Byrnes

Both young women opted for 720's and stuck 'em when they counted. Tricia said "I felt really squirrely and I think I might have been screaming." Apparently the judges thought she was screaming with glee and not fear and awarded her top bong today.

French Fly Vidal

As for Vidal, she had questions about her placement. "I think I would have deserved to be not maybe second," she said, "but this is okay I think Tricia deserved to have the yellow bib." She said she didn't care about losing the bib and proved it by leaving the competition circus here and heading straight for some freeriding in Whistler.

Barrett Christy just missed the finals with a 35.0. Michele Taggart threw down her back-to-back 540's to no avail and Kim Stacy still goes biggest beyond a doubt, but the judges just weren't impressed enough to let them into the "Super Finals". No bongs for you.

Mike Michael-huck

Then there is Mr. Mike Michaelchuck. The lad just stops traffic when he rides. An older couple stepped up to see what was going on in the pipe today just as Mike was dropping in. His signature switch rodeo about 10 feet out had them instantly terrified and disgusted.

They didn't stay long.

Michaelchuck claimed to not be going that big. Well he must not be comparing himself to (or seeing) other riders. He injured his ankle a few weeks ago "screwing around on a straight jump, but with lots of tape and pain killers, I can ride." Nobody noticed the injury. Mr. Mike says he's working on "a straight backflip with a backside kinda 900." No name for this as of today, but he still won a big blue glass "water pipe" looking thing as well.

OZZY IS GOD
During the finals the DJ let go and let God (OZZY that is). Sure you hear it once every contest, but this was like OZZY hour. So...I asked around.

Dan Mig-vault

Daniel Migneault seemed indifferent. "Yeah, it's okay." Rob Kingwill reminded us, "I like OZZY and all, but I'm more of a hip-hop halfpipe rider," but for the finals Rob got the Star Wars theme and diced up the judges at the bottom with his snow sabre. Now that was cool. Judge Jason claimed to have nothing to do with the music, but also refused to let us see his knuckles. You know what that means.

Shannon Dunn didn't show up to the podium and everyone was claiming that she wasn't getting her three plus grand for second place because it's in some dumb contract that you have to be there for the TV that's going to show a half hour at three in the morning in February. Whooops.

Zach Horwitz claimed he had kidnapped her and was holding her ransom in his lair. He also said he was going to stay on the FIS tour and take all their money and he doesn't have Clicker style because he runs six to seven miles a day and swims in his Clickers. Believe what you want but if any of this holds true, look for follow up story titled Freak Throws Spastic Fit For Dunn's Just Desserts.

— Hans Prosl, doing the kickin' chicken for The Mountain Zone

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