A time to celebrate Mikey P

Snowboarding jam a way to remember fallen friend

By Milo Dailey, Belle Fourche Post & Bee | Tuesday, February 26, 2008

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BELLE FOURCHE — This year's first Mikey P Memorial Jam at Terry Peak this coming Saturday is mostly a celebration of the extremes of snowboarding and skiing.

But organizer Perry Jewett says plans are for it to be the start of a major national competition to put the Black Hills on the snowboard map.

Jewett said the event is not just a memorial to the late Belle Fourche native Mike Peterson. It's also a way to promote the sport where the international boarding star once had to sneak onto the mountain to practice.

Peterson and Jewett are Belle Fourche natives who boarded together for 20 years. Peterson went to Washington state to snowboard and pursue a career in real estate; Jewett remains in the Northern Hills where he boards, mountain bikes and works at the Fort Meade VA hospital.

Peterson died in a car accident in Washington state last fall. Jewett saw the opportunity to gain a broad recognition of the area's extreme snow sports with the "Jam."

He worked with Mike's parents, Alan and Joann Wells of Belle Fourche, to set up an event that has the potential to become a serious international competition.

All boarders and extreme skiers are welcome to participate, Jewett said, to celebrate a sport that took Peterson around the world and into professional-level boarding.

Registration is from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Stewart Lodge, the upper lodge at Terry Peak.

There are both boarding and skiing divisions in each age classes — 15 and under, 16 and over, men's open and women's open classes. (Ages 17 and under require a guardian's signature.)

The competition will be at the "Terrain Park" where there are jumps, rail slides — and the kind of lumps and snow that lend them to the tricks of extreme snow sports.

This year, Jewett said, "It's not real structured because I wanted the first year to be professionally judged, but I also want it to have a festive atmosphere."

Each division entrant will have 45 minutes to display their best tricks.

"Big air," Jewett said. "We are judging on difficulty of the trick, speed, amplitude and style. Another thing we will be judging is sportsmanship."

He added that in his mid-30s, "I'm not a big trickster any more. I've broken too many bones. But I want to encourage everybody to come, partake, have some fun and remember Mike."

Skiers will be doing rails, box slides and different jumps, too.

Spectators are encouraged to watch the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. competition and the 4 p.m. awards ceremony to get an idea of how the international potential for the exciting sport at Terry Peak.

"It's not a big mountain, but we have great terrain," Jewett said. "We want to put Terry Peak on the map and have an event where the pros can come to ride."

This year, "We basically are throwing a party for Mikey."

There is 100 percent payback to riders, and there

are prizes galore for participants.

Jewett said it may seem unusual to have a pro-level boarder from the relatively flat lands of Belle Fourche. On the other hand, he said, the community has had generations of extreme sport champions in rodeo.

When the two were getting deeply into boarding, they discovered Terry Peak had a "no boards allowed" rule.

"Now it's really turned into a boarding mountain," Jewett said. "About half the people are on boards. We've got a great little mountain."

When Peterson left the Hills, he did more than ride with the professionals in the sport, Jewett said.

The pros loved to have him at competitions because of "his sheer enthusiasm. He always brought out the positive in the day. He could make the worst day fun."

Peterson brought as much skill as enthusiasm. "The pros recognized that on any given day, he could ride with the best of them."

He was good enough to be featured in Warren Miller's movie "Endless Winter," and Tanner Hall's new movie "Believe."

Saturday's event will have riders coming from Washington state and the five-state region. Some are regularly sponsored competitors at the professional level of the sport.

Next year Jewett said they hope to have professional cash purses and a major event that could draw top boarders and extreme skiers.

But this year? It's a celebration of the sport and life that a Belle Fourche native rode with unique enthusiasm.