A bright light of winter amidst an unseasonably warm year in State College, Pennsylvania. photo: Zacchery Hobbs

Red Bull Butter Cup arrived in State College, Pennsylvania in the early morning last Friday. Penn State University, an institution of daunting size, expands into all corners of State College, and as the Red Bull crew pulled up, on every sidewalk, co-eds hurried to and from class, headed to coffee dates, and/or scattered to escape the freshman dorm room they woke up in that morning. The day was sunny and inviting to enjoy with only a sweatshirt. Like most every day so far on the East Coast this season, it was unseasonably warm out. Luckily, Red Bull was packing snow to make sure that State College had at least one day of winter.

photo: Zacchery Hobbs

Scaffolding was erected across from popular State College bar, Gingerbread Man (known fondly as G-Man). Seven Springs brought a few hefty truckloads of snow and Red Bull’s butter pads were set in place. By the time the sun set, the DJ was spinning, 75 eager riders were lined up to practice, and the snow shone like a beacon of winter under the event lights.

photo: Zacchery Hobbs

The ams rode first, and if there is something to be said about the students and locals of State College, they’re nothing if not extremely excited. They have a bonafied love of snowboarding that they were stoked to exercise at Red Bull Butter Cup. Smiles were plastered across riders’ faces, no matter if they landed their trick or fell on the finish. They hustled up to the top of the drop-in ramp for more, time after time, and the crowd was ablaze, cheering for friends, good tricks, and epic bails. Numerous competitors went for flips, which were, as always, a crowd favorite. The small, yet talented crew of ladies kept pace with the ams.

Dave "Dark Blizzard" Spruille provided his signature New Jersey commentary for the event. photo: Zacchery Hobbs

Emcees Dave Spruille and Pat Morgan, from Jersey and upstate NY respectively, kept the crowd entertained with dueling banter. As the pros began their heats, Dave and Pat were on point with call outs, props, and good, hardened, East Coast emcee commentary. The pro division quickly displayed their collective riding talent; presses were locked in and style was smooth, making things difficult for the judges.

During finals, ams, ladies, and pros all threw down within their divisions. The combined excitement from the riders and spectators brought bar-goers out to the streets and nearby apartment-dwellers to their windows. At one point, a small crew asked for everyone’s attention, as their friend, with more energy than foresight, launched off a half-vertical butter pad over the fence, onto the flat pavement next to the crowd. The rider kind of landed, and walked away triumphantly. Everyone cheered.

The Pennsylvania snowboard scene is notoriously devoted to its community, whether it’s riders local to their respective resorts, or students at Penn State, there’s something very pure about how much passion this geographic area has for snowboarding. This was evident at Penn State on Friday, as all the riders needed was a little bit of snow and scaffolding to forget about the sunny weather and dive headfirst into winter.

The ams get a dusting of silly string. We didn't even know they still made that stuff. photo: Kyle Arc

Results:

Pro:

1st - Clint Cooper

2nd - Steven Weatherly

3rd - Kevin Breen

Am:

1st - Christian Solberg

2nd - Jimmy McLooe

3rd - Mikaja Mogu

Ladies:

1st - Loryn Way

2nd - Tanya Rissmiller

3rd - Marissa Guariello

Best Trick:

Trevor Taylor - nosepress to frontflip on the whaletail

Thank you to Forum, Oakley, NXTZ, Neff, Nike, Teag from G-Man, Seven Springs and their amazing park crew, Dave, Pat, and everyone that came out to ride and enjoy the event!

For more info check out www.redbullusa.com/buttercup and follow #rbbuttercup on twitter and instagram.