This winter we had the privilege of partnering with Visit Durango and Natural Selection to host a “DUEL” competition between Nils Mindnich and Victor Daviet. The original plan was to throw down somewhere in the 35,000 acres of backcountry terrain that Purgatory Snowcat Adventures operates in. After many scout missions, 2 locations were chosen and a crew of Durango locals began working tirelessly to enhance the natural terrain.
Arrival day was a Sunday. The team would have a 1 week window starting Monday morning to complete the DUEL. Unfortunately, things got off to a rocky start when the team arrived on Sunday – Victor’s belongings were lost in an airline mix-up. A massive storm was blowing in and Monday (the next day) seemed to be the only viable window for this portion of the competition to take place.
Crews had been painstakingly working on an ~85′ jump that would be the first obstacle tackled on Monday, but with Victor’s gear missing, plans began to unravel. Teams made the call at 11pm on Sunday night that they would miss the weather window, and if the storm produced as expected, the conditions would become unsafe.
Monday morning the crew went back to the drawing board to figure out a plan b to keep the competition on track. The storm was set to arrive Monday night and a day was already lost. While Nils, Victor and the Natural Selection crew went to scope out the backcountry zones by snowmobile, the Purgatory Marketing, and Visit Durango teams stayed at the resort to scout viable routes within the resort boundary. By the end of the day, it was clear there was really only one option based on the incoming storm. It was settled- Teams would work to enhance the steep and rolling terrain on the in-bounds and locally-loved run known as Styx.
During initial scouting on the trail, it was hard to imagine how this project would be possible with only a few days to go, but the creative ideas were already flowing and before long, a viable option began to form. The only obstacles remaining would be to get fast buy-in from Purgatory’s leadership team and for Victor’s gear to arrive. First thing Tuesday morning key players convened to make the call that would be vital to ensuring this event could move forward at Purgatory Resort. Every option necessitated detailed examination, and all parties needed to buy into the idea. After a long scouting mission and a thorough dissection of the plan, the team came to an agreement on how to proceed.
The moment approval was given on Tuesday morning, a crew of local shredders rallied with shovels in-hand to start the build on Styx. The beginning of the day was spent removing moguls by hand on the planned out-take and landing areas. After a few hours of hard labor, Nils, Victor and the Natural Selection crew showed up to scout the progress. Nils and Victor immediately saw the potential and got right to work planning the location and size of the jumps that would be needed. With the storm already starting to stack up, the crew worked all day until dusk.
Tuesday night Purgatory’s winch cat operator, Logan James, made his way out to the steep black diamond zone that hadn’t been groomed in about a decade on his day off. Logan worked tirelessly through the night to provide a suitable run-in and landing for the final jump. As Wednesday’s early morning sun started to shine on Styx, newly coated in powder, the crew of locals assisted by the Purgatory Patrollers got to work roping off this portion of the run. It was time to start building all 5 features.
The crew of local builders accompanied by Nils and Victor worked tirelessly shoveling and shaping jumps to their satisfaction. Six pizzas delivered by snowboard helped keep morale high despite the grueling work. As the sun started to set, the jumps were complete and the vision had come to life. Even Victor’s gear had finally arrived. Things were looking up! All that was needed now was another fresh blanket of snow, which, as fate would have it, was already falling.
Day 4, Thursday, started off with another early-morning. Build crews got to work clearing the fresh flakes from the takeoffs of the jumps while the film crew planned out how to capture the competition. For one moment, the storm began to clear as the last few jumps were being maintained and a beautiful portion of blue sky broke through, shining on all the hard work that had been completed in the last 48 hours. Nils and Victor were almost ready to throw down within the boundaries of our beloved Purg!
At last, the time arrived. Late Thursday morning as the clouds closed in again, riders put the finishing touches on the final jump and headed down to the Purgatory Express Lift. All that was left was a short lift ride back to the top and the DUEL would officially begin. Standing at the drop-in, Nils and Victor settled on who would drop first with some good old fashion roshambo. Victor won so he would be dropping first. 3,2,1…and it was on!
A HUGE shout out to the local community that took time out of their busy lives providing support to pull this event off. You know who you are!
A special thanks to the following members of the Purgatory Team for the efforts by them and their teams in making this event possible. Thank you all for being willing to pivot for all the unexpected obstacles and plan changes.
›› Dave Rathbun, General Manager
›› Jim Brantley, Resort Operation Director
›› Blayne Woods, Patrol Manager
›› Dylan Dreher, Trails Manager
›› Logan James, Grooming Supervisor
›› Grady James, Purgatory Snowcat Adventures Manager
›› Tony Torsell, Director of Business Operations
›› Josh Kahn, Lift Operations Manager
›› Isaac Dean, Content Coordinator
›› Christian Ridings, Graphic Designer
›› John Ragozzino, Marketing and Sales Director of Visit Durango
