Tailgate Alaska and the King of the Hill are fast approaching.

Please contact us anytime with questions about your arrangements for the event.

Please contact Mark Sullivan for information on Tailgate Alaska at 801.897.4369 or at mediaknievel@gmail.com

or Nick Perata at 208.629.6307 or nperata@yahoo.com for more information.

Or contact Dave Geis to make sure you are on our schedule snomardave@mac.com

GUIDED SNOWMACHINE TAXI - VALDEZ ALASKA

Big Mountain Taxi LLC. welcomes all the Tailgate Alaska participants and King of the Hill contestants to VALDEZ, ALASKA! Big Mountain Taxi is offering snowmachine transport services during the Tailgate AK 2010 event. Most drop zones offer potential for 3500+ vertical descents of various terrain and aspects. Whether your looking for more remote splitboard/skitouring potential, single drops, gear hauling, or lapping vertical all day on a run of your choice. All trips will depart from the Tailgate Alaska base-camp. We will have at least five snowmachines and drivers to keep the riders rolling into the Alaskan Backcountry. Big Mountain Taxi will load you onto a snowmachine and transport you to one of our many chosen drop zones within the Thompson Pass Arena.

What to Expect:

We will have numerous drivers and sleds available for transporting backcountry users at a first come first serve basis. Everyone should have a partner in the backcountry. The buddy system is strictly enforced and every participant must provide all required safety gear other than the full-face helmet that will be worn by every client while the snowmachine is in operation. A Backpack, Harness with a locking carabiner, Avalanche Beacon, Shovel, and Probe are mandatory gear to participate in this activity. You will be given a brief safety talk and then asked to sign a liability waiver that will kept on file with our office.

Typical Shake-Down:

You buy your chips from Tailgate Alaska Base-camp office. Sign up for your rides at the base-camp office and get your name on the board for the day. Once you have your safety talk, helmet fitting, and wavier taken care of you will be driven via snowmachine to your chosen drop zone. You will wait at this drop zone for your partner to be dropped of as well. After you are driven to the drop zone your party will be on their own means of egress to the highway below. Transportation from the highway to the base-camp is not provided by Big Mountain Taxi. We will have all drop zones and trails marked on a topo map in the office and also pictures to provide more detail and riders can choose the type of terrain they are looking for. Each run will cost one chip. Some of our zones require two chips and will be marked on the map accordingly.

Tailgate Alaska isn't just an event - it is the experience of a lifetime! Come ski or snowboard Alaska and you will understand what we mean.

Tailgate Alaska is an open-invitation gathering. Anyone is welcome to show up at our location: 29.5 mile on the Richardson Highway, a parking lot, carved out of the drifted snow in the middle of Thompson Pass.

Riders access the steep and deep via helicopters, snowcat, snowmobiles and hiking.

CLICK ON MARKERS TO SEE PHOTOS AND MOUNTAIN NAMES

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The Tailgate Alaska Village serves as a rallying point in the middle of it all.

For 2010, Alaskan Brewing will return with a beer garden area, two urts and our wall tents.

Add a Daily BBQ, WiFi access, local knowledge, and a collection of die-hard powder hounds make the experience unforgettable.

Turnkey packages are available, but anyone is welcome to participate —

This is Alaska, pretty much anything goes.

Click Here For More Information

COME RIDE AND TAILGATE WITH US BETWEEN MARCH 26 AND APRIL 11, 2010

The Tailgate Alaska Freeride Festival was founded in 2008 as a way to honor the pioneering spirit of riding in Valdez, while giving access to a whole new group of riders in an affordable way.

Set in the ultimate arena for riders, in the middle of Alaska's Chugach mountain range, Tailgate Alaska is your opportunity to come ride the most compelling peaks in the world at their best. Access to powder and mountain terrain is virtually unlimited.

Sit out the downtime in our heated, wi-fied basecamp or take in some of the activities that will keep you riding and show you Alaskan culture firsthand.

Our goal is to get more people up to Alaska to enjoy the best riding on Earth!

Message from Nick Perata

As host of Tailgate Alaska, I would like to welcome you to some of the best snowboarding on the planet. Come ride with me and the top pros of today in a place where legends are made. You will ride every kind of terrain there is, chutes, bowls, tight couloirs, natural halfpipes and open pow fields. But on such a grand scale that with each run comes an even greater feeling of accomplishment, awe, and achievement. The unknown truth about Alaska is that 60% of the terrain is intermediate and you don't have to be a backcountry expert to enjoy these mountains. Even the beginner will have the time of their life. This is the place to come to improve your big mountain skills and experience the best riding of your life with your best bros, snowboard heros, and all the local legends.

You have always wanted to ride Alaska, so come ride it with me and my bros. Come ride at Tailgate Alaska 2010.

photos by Howard Stoddard, Andrew Miller and Mark Sullivan

Situated in the middle of Thompson Pass, our basecamp is located smack dab in the middle of the best snowboarding terrain yet discovered. Every season, since its discovery in the early 1990s, professional riders have returned each season to test themselves in the Chugach.