ROWDY AWARD STORIES
There are three criteria to win a Rowdy Award: SKETCHY, INJURY FREE and FUNNY.
The Rowdy Award isn’t anything physical, it’s a title. If no one around you knows about it, you can give yourself a Rowdy Award if you think you deserve one.
Share your best Rowdy Award Story with The Rowdy Town and we'll make sure you get a free iron-on Rowdy Award patch with your next order!
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Phelim's Rowdy Award Story
Skiing
It was a day in December 2021 on Whistler Blackcomb. We were four friends skiing together. If you are familiar with the mountain, you might know about the wind lip of Seventh Heaven. When it’s a flat light day and you don’t know the mountain too well, you might be surprised by this jump. This is what happened to one of our friends, Phelim.
He knew there was a lip, but he didn’t know how big. He knew there was jump, but didn’t want to get stuck on the upwards approach. To make sure this didn't happen, he came in full speed... As soon as he hit the jump, he was flying through the air like a star or Cupid! He landed in a big heap on a wind scoured (aka ice), all his gear scattered around for big YARD SALE. The first thing he said once he got up was ‘’hurhh, MY FACE STOPPED ME, ha’’. Realizing he was okay, we all started laughing so hard about the whole situation.
Sketchy, funny and injury free, this is how Phelim won a Rowdy Award!
And this is actually how the Rowdy Award was born.
Shondra's Rowdy Award Story
Cliff Jumping
So the vision was to light me on fire a little bit, I was just gonna back flip over Sofia. But we kind of over did it with the ‘’break part fluid’’. It's flammable stuff. Suddenly, I WAS A BALL OF FLAMES ALL THE WAY TO MY EYEBALLS! So instead of doing a countdown, I panicked and just hucked it! It ended up being a cool photo and looked totally planned except for Sofia being completely unready. It was a very fireball moment. No one got injured, it was sketchy and funny, so it was pretty Rowdy.
Sketchy, funny and injury free, this is how Shondra won a Rowdy Award!
@shondra_martin & @sofia.warrington
@ejacksoninaction & @stecollins91
Erik's Rowdy Award Story
Climbing
The route is called ‘’Something Short’’. It’s a trad route that goes 5.11a. I figured out the crux at the bottom and was like ‘’oh okay, the top should be pretty chill so I’ll just run it out’’. On my previous attempt, I got almost as high and I had fallen: it was a smaller fall, but it kind of gave me a good idea of the margins that I had relative to the ground and it made me confident in the piece that I had in the wall and that the fall was clean (nothing to hit). So on my next try (video), I felt comfortable and continued to go up and not place a piece. Then I was just about at the top of the route, too pumped to continue climbing, and I had a few options:
1- I could’ve clip a quickdraw that we extended down from the anchor and then ask for a take.
2- I could’ve tried to put a piece in right where I was, clip the rope and ask for a take.
3- Or, the least bitch move option (and especially because Brandon was filming), I could just fall because I knew that the fall was clean. There was nothing really to worry about, besides from being scared.
I chose option 3: I fell.
On the video, IT KIND OF LOOKS BAD, BECAUSE I HIT THE GROUND😅 But Steve caught me about a meter and a half above the ground and then as he was pulled up, I got lowered down, so I pretty gently touched the ground.
It was as good as a fall in that scenario could’ve gone and I’m glad I was wearing my helmet!
Sketchy, funny and injury free, this is how Erik won a Rowdy Award!
I’m super stoked to finally won a Rowdy Award - it’s my dream come true!
Evan's Rowdy Award Story
Slacklining
When you highline, you will tie in. Unless you are free soloing, which is not very common. If you are familiar with the highlining community in Squamish, you have probably heard of Seal Cove. When the tide is high, one of the highlines is actually quite close to the water. In the past, just for fun, some people dove from the middle of the line.
Evan brought that to the next level. While going free solo, his plan was to freestyle in the middle of the line - Bouncy Flippy Spinny style. A few minutes into his session, instead of performing the perfect backflip he imagined.... He got a little wobbly and was LAUNCHED INTO AN UNINTENTIONAL TWO AND A QUARTER FLIP! Since he was definitely out of control, he took a bit of a hit because he landed with the side of his face/body. He did not get injured; however, let's not talk about his second attempt.
Sketchy, funny and injury free, this is how Evan won a Rowdy Award!
@qevin.freshens.the.heavens
@jakermeister24
Jake's Rowdy Award Story
Snowboarding
You might know that snow sports can get sketchy real quick, when it's flat light and you decide to get adventurous off-piste. Especially if you don't know where you're going.
One day, we were a pretty big group of friends skiing and snowboarding together in the alpine of Blackcomb. Not only Jake was charging in low vis conditions, he was also wearing foggy goggles. At one point, he clipped an edge and started tomahawking down the hill. When he finally stood back up and tried to clear the snow from his face, he also started to slowly slide backwards on his toe edge. Seeing him blindly approach a 4-5m cliff, we tried to scream at him! But the wind dissipated our voices. The next thing we knew, Jake fell off the rock backwards and disappeared in a cloud of powder below.
One of our friends quickly went over to check on him. Since he had fallen flat on his back, we hoped he hadn't hit a rock or injured himself. Once our friend reached him in the rock well, Jake confirmed he was A-OK and Stoked. He had just found a pair of goggles that might help him see better! He was stoked... until he realized that he had recovered the goggles that had just fallen off his head.
Sketchy, funny and injury free, this is how Jake won a Rowdy Award!
Mimi's Rowdy Award Story
Rope Swing
You may have heard of a big rope swing being rigged up on The Chief in Squamish. Jumping off the edge when you're tied to the end of a 70m rope can be quite nerve wracking. Some people scream, some people backflip, some people seem to soar. Some people freeze and plummet. This is how Mimi experience her first jump. She gathered her courage, ran for the cliff, and as soon as she took off she froze into what we now know as the "FROZEN GOAT" position. It is one of the funniest things ever and has become kind of iconic in our community.
It's hard to say if the situation was sketchy because the rope swing is technically quite safe and, therefore, injury-free. But hey, it's still a huge (kind of) homemade rope swing. Regardless, this is how Mimi won The Rowdy Award and earned her new nickname, The Frozen Goat.
@mimi.bernabeu
@maynegld
Zac's Rowdy Award Story
Base Jumping
We were on site filming a TV show with Slacklife BC , and when we had a little midday break, Hannah and I snuck out to go for a quick base jump. I was excited to show her all of the places on the island that she never got to jump before.
When we pulled up, I only then realized that I wasn’t packed so I quickly prepped on the side of the highway for an unpacked jump.
FYI: An unpacked jump is exactly what it sounds like: you take your parachute, dangle it over the edge, and then you jump off.
I must have routed something incorrectly, as I found myself instantly going sideways into the trees, and into the only cliff that is around there. Hard to tell from the video, but yes, that really was a cliff.
I slid off of the cliff, but thank God, my parachute caught a little bit of air (and some tree branches) allowing me to descend slowly into the river below.
As soon as I thought I was okay, A TREE LANDED ON MY HEAD😵💫
Sketchy, funny nd injury free, this is how Zac won a Rowdy Award!
PS: We got out of there and didn’t tell anyone for a few days what had happened. Leave it to me to have a Cliff strike on a bridge…
Claire's Rowdy Award Story
Disc golfing
My parents got into disc golf when they visited me in Squamish. This morning, my Mom (Claire) sent me a voice message saying this: *English version below*
Allo, je voulais juste te dire que je pense qu’on mérite un ‘’Rowdy Award’’. Nous sommes allés au cours de disque golf et Yves se pratiquait à ‘’putter’’ et il voulait que je me pratique aussi. Il m’a donc lancé un disque, mais je ne le regardais pas. J’avais la bouche juste un peu ouverte et son disque m’est arrivé en plein SUR UNE DENT! Une chance que je ne l’ai pas reçu sur la baboune sinon j’aurais eu un méchant bleu! Ma dent est bien correcte, haha! Yves ne trouve pas que ça mérite un Rowdy Award, mais moi je pense que oui, alors je vais coudre la patch de Rowdy Award sur notre sac de disques!
Hi, I think we deserve a Rowdy Award. We went to a disc golf class and Yves was practicing his putter shots and he wanted me to practice too so he threw me a disc. He thought I was watching him, but I wasn’t. My mouth was slightly open when one of his discs hit me right ON A TOOTH. My tooth is all good though, haha! Yves doesn’t think it deserves a Rowdy Award. But I think it does, so I will sew the Rowdy Award patch on our disc golf bag !
Sketchy, funny and injury free, this is how Claire won a Rowdy Award!
