Quiksilver’s Xfox wins the Pirate Nightrail Session in an absolutely EPIC night!
As the rail-ninjas of China converged on the Quiksilver Nanshan Mellow Park on the last day of February for the Pirate Nightrail Session, one thing was for sure – these local riders can shred. With the weather warming up, Spring has definitely arrived in Beijing, but thanks to lower temperatures after the sun sinks beneath the horizon, the park’s snow and setup couldn’t have been in better condition for Saturday Night’s session.
The Nightrail Session has an infamous reputation amongst China’s snowboard community. In it’s fourth year now, not only is the event one of the few opportunities local riders get to shred during the night-time, but it is also associated with one of the year’s ‘rowdier’ after-parties – but we will save that story for another time. The night is also one of the best snowboard spectator events in the country – a cranking soundtrack provided by DJ Steve, and free beer for the crowd. No, you didn’t read that wrong – free beer for the crowd!
Saturday’s Pirate Nightrail Session was no different from the others – an absolutely epic shred session on yet another creative park setup from the Mellow Parks crew. This year the crew introduced a 9m down rail, a double picnic table setup, and a long high-mount black propane tank – with a nickname I can’t post here – along with a snow bank combo that allows for an almost unlimited number of different combos. You could tell the guys were enjoying the new setup, as the tricks got more and more technical and creative.
Taking away top honors this year was Quiksilver rider Xfox, pulling impressive moves on almost all the features. His trick of the day, however, was his you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it BS180 switch 50-50, BS180 off on the downrail – so steezy! On the individual objects, local hero and Burton rider Wanglei took best trick on the downrail, with a super smooth BS lipslide, as well as ripping it up on the other objects. Huwei was a definite crowd pleaser, winning the wallride with a sweet 540. Quiksilver rider Zhangwei totally owned the picnic tables and also threw a huge FS270 on, 270 off on the big black barrel to win that particular feature. The twin picnic tables were also showing some of the more impressive tricks. Quiksilver rider Fanlei stepped it up with a 50-50 to frontflip off, however it was Russian rider Alexey who would secure his place on the winner’s board with a huge 360-gap on, 50-50, 180 off – and achieving the biggest gasp from the local crowd!
