GIRDWOOD -- When spokesman Jordan Miller said the Red Bull Fuel and Fury event would be a jam session like no other, he was not kidding. Of the 16 riders selected for the world-class snowmobile event at Alyeska Resort, only six ended up competing.
Jammed bodies and broken snowmachines from a week of rugged backcountry riding whittled the field down to a final few with enough energy left.
The weeklong competition -- in which riders paired with filmmakers to create X-games style video of their backcountry stunts -- was brutal.
"There have been four broken backs (ranging from compressions to fractures), a broken leg and a broken foot in five days," said Jenna Germer, girlfriend of rider Dan Phillips. Half an hour after she spoke, Phillips would become the next casualty, jamming into his seat so hard after a big jump that he tumbled off his sled and was carried off the mountain by medics.
"Yes, we've had a bit of attrition this week," Miller agreed.
Friday's event was the culmination of the athletes' and filmmakers' work. Alyeska set up what some free-ride snowmachiners called the biggest and wildest course they'd seen, spanning the entire width and depth of the mountain's upper bowl. About a half-dozen ramps, ranging from 20-foot rollers to 90-foot jumps scattered the course, and riders had two five-minute turns to select their routes and wow the crowds.
The winner of the day's competition, Chris Burandt of Colorado, took home $5,000.
But another chance for glory will come today, when online voters get to view segments of the riders in action and vote on their favorites. The winners share a $20,000 purse, which will be announced at a free viewing party set for 7 tonight at the 4th Avenue Theatre.
On Friday, hundreds of revelers watched -- some drinking at the beer garden set up under a giant Red Bull tent, some lined up along snow fences by the snowmobile pit crew and some taking a break from skiing or snowboarding. A Red Bull helicopter circled the bowl, dipping low as cameramen hung out like spiders on webs to get up-close action shots.
Heavy-metal music blared from speakers and when the Black Sabbath lyrics "I am Ironman" began, one snowmachiner, lounging on his sled before competition started, raised his fists in victory.
One by one, the riders dipped into the bowl and attacked the course.
Kyle Armbrust, an Anchorage 20-year-old who has been riding snowmachines since he was 5 and is known for his huge whips, was first. At one point, he shot up the far side of the bowl and executed his signature one-handed sideways jump off the lip of the bowl and into the air for several seconds.
Armbrust's near-flawless performance made him the early favorite after Burandt, the 2005 Fuel and Fury champion, tumbled during his first round.
But British Columbia's Cody Borchers, also challenged. He completed one of the larger and longer jumps, and although he nearly fell on one jump, he managed to stay on his machine throughout both runs.
"That was insane," Borchers said after his first run.
Burandt agreed the Alyeska course was the wildest he had ever seen. For the past two years, the event had been held in Milwaukee at an abandoned brewery covered with wood shavings. Not only did the setting slow the event down, but it did not have the huge scale that Alaska mountains offer.
"This is a whole new style, bigger times 10," Burandt said before the competition. "It's going to be a blast. You'll probably see a little bit more technical riding. The tricks won't be so noticeable."
Ten competitors signed up for Friday's jam session, but by the time the event kicked off -- at 4 p.m. to allow the snow a chance to soften up -- four had pulled out. One of them, Randy Sherman of Anchorage, was concerned about a shoulder that bothered him.
As he sat on his snowmachine before the event started, he mulled whether to pull out.
"I've been doing this since I was 5," he said. "I grew up in Glennallen so we did this a lot. But my shoulder's been popping in and out and I don't want to mess that up."
Jordan said the physical nature of the weeklong event took its toll on the racers.
And although the conditions were beautiful for videographers, with cobalt-blue skies and the mountains across Turnagain Arm glistening white, the temperature was about 10 degrees too cold.
Armbrust said that kept the snow from softening up, meaning riders were landing hard and feeling it.
"If it was just a little softer, and slushy, everything is so much better," he said.
Jordan said this is the sixth and final year for the Fuel and Fury event, as promoters aim to come up with new ideas. Still, he said, ending the event in Alaska, made "all the sense in the world."
"This is where the sport is the most popular and where a lot of the talent comes from," he said. "We wanted to progress the sport and that's what we did."
Daily News reporter Melissa DeVaughn can be reached at mdevaughn@adn.com.
INTERACTIVE ONLINE VOTING takes place all day today. To view and vote on your favorite 2- to 4-minute videos in the categories of best overall, best run, biggest air and worst wreck.
A VIEWING AND VOTING PARTY hosted by Red Bull will be at 7 tonight at the 4th Avenue Theatre. The party is free, and about 650 people are expected, including the riders and filmmakers.
