Make your way through the west end of Glasgow in May and the last thing you expect to see in its main park is seven truck ‘ s each loaded with over ten tonnes of snow. This was the setting for the latest and most unique SNO!zone outdoor event to date!

Kelvingrove park, normally host to Glasgow’s student population and topless male sunbathers, was transformed into a three-hit slopestyle park in temperatures of 18 degrees plus. You might think that this may make a recipe for watery disaster, but with Damian Doyle’s reputation for pulling the UK’s best urban rail events out of the bag, we knew we were set for an amazing day from the word go.

Following the success of SNO!zone’s Hull Street Session, Damian has been on the look out for the next big event space leaving everyone asking him “Where will it snow this summer?”.

For the Glasgow event, an 80 metre grass slope in the heart of the park was commandeered and packed with kickers, boxes, rails and a huge log stall to encourage some of the UK’s finest riders to throw down in a 6 hour head to head jam session and competition. The big guns were out to play with newly crowned women’s Slopestyle & Big Air champion Claire Frost riding well, along with Castleford’s Jonny Russell and Analog new boy Matt Higgson. With two thirds of the 30-strong crop of riders coming from Scotland, this was a chance for established locals Pete Weir, Craig Howie and Mark Watson to once again prove their reputations as some of the steeziest rail riders the UK has to offer.

The Scottish scene has seen an explosion of talent in the past two years with the construction of SNO!zone Scotland at Xscape Braehead along with a number of Snowflex establishments up and down the country. When the opportunity arises for the riders to show off this new found talent you need look no further than Glasgow’s own Danny McCormick and Marcus Deans who have marched their way through the recent West Beach series and stamped their mark proudly as the next generation of UK’s strongest riders. Following this they were quickly picked up by both Rome Snowboards and SNO!zone to give them the support they deserve and help them develop within the scene.

The Kelvingrove Park Session did not disappoint with the pair riding a hard session and rightfully earning themselves a place in the rider judged final. Jonny Russel and Murray Buchan walked away with the top places in the Standing Sideways and SNO!zone Park Session Comp while Rome’s own Stuart “Monkey” Horsham picked up special mention for pushing himself with the most tech runs of the day! Despite the Scottish Cup final taking place at the same time, it seemed that every news crew in Scotland had left the football and descended on the park, safe in the knowledge that with its 600+ steady crowd and a host of DJ’s, beat boxers, skiers, boarders and a penguin, Kelvingrove was the place to be.

Keep and eye out for a further five urban SNO!zone Sessions at locations up and down the UK this summer!

Check out an interview with Damian Doyle about the weekend’s fun

Words By Campbell Orr
Pictures by stevenmckenna.co.uk