Gerry Lopez Big Wave Challenge @ Mt. Bachelor, OR This Saturday:

Mt. Bachelor ski resort in Bend, OR is hosting their 4th annual Gerry Lopez Big Wave Challenge. Just in case you didn’t know, Gerry Lopez is also known as Mr. Pipeline. Yeah, he’s the guy that first mastered the nastiest, most gorgeous barrel wave in the world. He’s also been a potent innovator in the surf industry as far as surfboard design, style, and attitude is concerned. You can think of him as the Shane McConkey of surfing… but maybe even bigger than that.

You can watch the Gerry Lopez Big Wave Challenge here via webcast on Saturday:

LIVE Gerry Lopez Big Wave Challenge

Gerry also loves to snowboard and has been ripping Mt. Bachelor since 1989. He’a a great guy and SnowBrains reporter Andrew Marshall caught up with Gerry last year for a quick interview:

“Guys like Sunny Garcia and Derek Ho got me snowboarding. They were into it way more than I was at the time. Tom Sims told me, ‘you’re gonna love that mountain – it’s full of snow waves.’”

“The snow waves are a result of wind build up. They are in the same places year after year, but always a bit different – just like real waves. Eventually I started to name them after spots they reminded me of and people have begun to recognize…Uluwatu, G-land, Mavericks.”

The style doesn't fade an iota once Gerry puts on a snowboard. — The style doesn’t fade an iota once Gerry puts on a snowboard.

“That’s where the idea for the Big Wave Challenge came from.”

“Of course visiting the mountain’s natural waves would be neat, but logistically it made more sense to build our own. Getting machines, judges, riders all over the mountain would be tough. Plus it’s late in the season – features will be changing enough as the day warms up.”