Red Bull THRE3STYLE Denver At The Church

Photos by Matt Alberts.

The Red Bull Thre3Style international event series came through Denver last Thursday for one of its 14 stops on the way to the U.S. National Finals in October, which also happens to be back in Denver. The Red Bull Thre3Style brings local DJs out for one night of party rocking to see who can most successfully blend at least three genres of music and get the place jumpin’. A discerning panel of judges including the Denver Diggers’ DJ Lowkey took notes on creativeness, technicality and overall energy that the elite crew of Denver’s finest brought to the stage. DJs Amen, Sounds Supreme, Soup, Psycho, Shares, Skip Rip, Mada and Magmanimous went head to head to see for the title of Denver’s best DJ, with a special closing performance by Jay-Z’s tour DJ Neil Armstrong.

The Church was the setting for this event, Denver’s longtime staple of dance-oriented nightlife in the SoCo (South of Colfax) club district. Red Bull had a great presence as always, complete with the all-terrain mobile party unit parked outside, a well-designed lit logo over the stage and screens throughout the venue displaying each competitors’ name and time allotted.

DJ Z-Trip Invades Colorado

America’s Best DJ (DJ Times and ClubDistrict.com) Z-Trip blazed through Colorado in a whirlwind weekend with a Friday night show in Denver, a quick flight back to Los Angeles to accept the 2009 Spike Video Game Award for DJ Hero on Saturday, then turned around and flew back to get some shred on at local Summit County resorts Copper Mountain and Keystone Resort. It’s the life of a man on the move, and with Z-Trips schedule, there’s no time to spare.

Z Trip headlined the sold out show at the Ogden Theater with a worthy opening act in misty Canadian DJ Kid Koala, creator of graphic novels, soundtracks, album and, as he puts it, “new tours including but not limited to: a puppet musical about a robot who works at a cookie factory (complete with turntable orchestra pit), a quiet-time headphone/beanbag tour for the non-dancing listeners, and a hilarious Roller-rink tour which should be fun for the whole family.”

Southern Colorado Super Storm

Southern Colorado is finally getting the early season snow they are known for—Wolf Creek has received over 7 FEET of new snow since December 6th. Back to back storms brought the entire SOCO region up to speed, as October and November were a little drier than usual in terms of average snowfall. Well, all that is forgotten as Wolf Creek is now up to an 82 inch base with 168 total inches of snowfall so far.

When Wolf Creek gets hit, there’s only thing to do: Road Trip. All in hopes of seeing this the next day.

In storms like this the drive that normally takes 5 hours from Denver can take even longer. The roads can be treacherous and filled with all kinds of packed snow, blowing snow, wet snow, ice or a combination of everything. Truckers pull over for the night, cops patrol the highways for deadly accidents and 99% of people simply stay home. But as snowboarders who live for these moments, being blinded by winter conditions on the drive only brings smiles of anticipation for the fresh powder that awaits.

Wolf Creek We Go Hard

Colorado has many resorts, each with their own flavor and personality. Aspen is home to great parks and pipes at Snowmass and steep terrain at The Highlands. Vail has back bowls and lifts galore spread across thousands of acres. Summit County has a huge contest and party scene. But if you’re looking for just good ol’ fashioned snowboarding with none of the bells and whistles, the best place for pow in CO is Wolf Creek Pass. One of the last “mom and pop” style resorts left in the country, Wolf Creek is no frills shredding at its finest. No gondolas, no condos and no paid parking garages… just snow, and plenty of it.

If you check out this site at all, surely you’ve read about Wolf Creek many times in the past. It’s been blogged about before: Here, Here and Here, just to name a few. And that’s because Wolf Creek gets the most snow in the state. Period. While everyone else sits high and dry, Wolf Creek Pass sucks in the storms coming in from the West and hogs all the moisture. And that’s just fine with me; I’d rather drive 4 1/2 hours from Denver to ride epic pow with nobody around than sit in 1-70 traffic for at least 3 hours with 10,000 other kooks that track out the 4 inches at whatever crowded resort you choose to ride that day in 30 minutes. Get the point?