Return of King of the Hill

Bars and restaurants have been packed.

Hotels are doing brisk business.

The city council learned a big-name event may come to town next year.

And Travis Rice of Jackson, Wyo., landed a 70-foot backside 720.

You may not be alone if your reaction to that last item is, "Huh?" But for a couple hundred people who came from all over the world for the 17-day Tailgate Alaska that runs through Sunday in the Chugach Mountains near Valdez, the return of the King of the Hill snowboarding competition after a decade's absence was beyond big news.

It was radical, awesome, mind-bending news.

"It was great to see this event finally return to snowboarding," was Rice's widely quoted comment after Saturday's competition. "Conditions were all-time and the venue was spot-on for a long overdue AK shred contest. Everyone there threw down. It was a great day for snowboarding.

"I hope to see this event grow to what it once was in the years to come."

It might do that. The event attracted numerous big-name riders who came to Thompson Pass to take advantage of good weather and towering, powder-filled peaks -- and who gave some Valdez businesses a late-winter economic boost that could be just as big or even bigger next year.

City officials Monday met with Tailgate Alaska organizers. After resurrecting the King of the Hill following a decade-long hiatus, organizers next year hope to bring back the World Extreme Skiing Championships after a similarly long absence from Valdez.

"Tailgate had a work session with the city council and said they wanted to bring WESC back, and there was a good response from the city council," said Dave Petersen, executive director of the Valdez Convention and Visitor Bureau.

"They're not asking for money. They're just letting them know what's going on and hoping to receive some infrastructure support."

Nick Perata of Boise, Idaho, the co-organizer of Tailgate Alaska who got to know Valdez in the late 1980s when he competed in WESC before the sport and the event had a big growth spurt, said industry sponsorships helped make this year's event possible.

Buzz about the event -- and for some, trips financed by sponsors -- lured numerous world-class and legendary riders, and the town reaped the consequences. "Almost all the hotels are full, and the restaurants and bars are doing very well," Petersen said Wednesday.

But for snowboarders, the big story unfolded on Bro Bowl, where Rice's trick-filled runs helped him thoroughly dominate all three runs. He was the landslide winner of the King of the Hill title, cementing his status as the best snowboarder on the planet.

Though he's the star of the moment, he's not the only snowboard celebrity who came to Valdez.

Seth Westcott, the 2010 and 2006 Olympic gold medalist in snowboardcross and a nine-time X Games champion, was there.

Scotty Lago, the bronze medalist in the halfpipe earlier this year at the Vancouver Olympics -- who made news after he won his medal thanks to a photo of a woman kissing his medal as it dangled below his waist -- was there.

Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, the Girdwood snowboardcross racer who made history this year by becoming the first Alaska Native to qualify for the Olympics, was there.

Terry Kidwell, the "Father of Freestyle" and four-time world champion in the 1980s who began his mastery of the halfpipe in the '70s, long before the McTwist found its way into every kid's vocabulary, was there.

"It was a gathering of the best in the world," said Mark Sullivan of Hailey, Idaho, former editor-in-chief of Snowboarder Magazine, founder of Snowboard Magazine and a co-organizer along with Perata.

"It doesn't really happen anywhere else. It really brings together multiple generations, at least four generations (of snowboarders). At the Olympics, a few legends may show up, but not a concentrated collection."

The legendary innovators and current stars descended upon Valdez for Saturday's King of the Hill competition. Forty-one men and women competed -- Vera Janssen of Germany took the women's title and Rob Kingwell and Lago finished second and third, respectively, in the men's event -- and loads more watched in awe.

And everyone availed themselves of terrain near the event's base camp at Mile 29.5 of the Richardson Highway. Helicopters and snowmachines carried them up the steep slopes, and guts and creativity carried them down.

"It's like the Olympics of freeriding," Perata said. "The mountains are the draw. That's why everyone wants to come here. They're the best mountains in the world. Even the people from Europe are just blown away."

Perata said anyone is welcome for the final four days. There's RV parking, a daily salmon bake, a beer garden and even a ping-pong tournament.

People are welcomed to come hang out, but if they want to snowboard, they need to come prepared.

"They need to have their beacon, their probe, their shovel and all their safety equipment," Sullivan said. "Big Mountain Taxi rides people up, but they're responsible for themselves on the way down."

In a place filled with challenging peaks, Bro Bowl provided a suitable stage for the best in the world Saturday, offering cliffs, couloirs, chutes, cornices and plenty of exposure to massive rocks. The first two runs were held on a 900-foot face that served up many technical demands; the final run was lower on the slope and provided competitors with a five-minute ride in a 2,000-foot gully.

Rice turned in daring, skillful runs each time out. "I felt like my eyes were popping out of my head," Sullivan said.

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Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.