For the fourth year running, the event day for Office Booyz (April 9th at Grouse Mountain, Vancouver) - a.k.a.: the best possible excuse to skip a day of work and shred with the homies - brought foggy skies and limited visibility. With the only other option being going to their actual jobs, Office Booyz across Vancouver made the effort to arrive at the contest site right on time: at noon.

Founded by Vancouver industry vets Karl Fuhre and Perry Pugh, the annual excuse-to-skip-work draws a who's-who of snowboard industry workers. Whether you're washed up, a never-has-been, or just a fan of good times, you're welcome to take part in Office Booyz.

Karl Fuhre, as seen by a doughnut. Colin Adair photo.

After picking up a registration package, consisting of an Office Boyz t-shirt, vouchers for 2 Coors Lights (which will hereby be referred to as "CL Smooth's"), a burger, and a pound of fries, everyone met in the freshly renovated Grouse Mountain park to eat some donuts and swill some sludgy coffee, not unlike your average office day. There were some hungry muffin tops in this group, judging by how fast the donuts were disappearing.

The unique course had an office vibe, with a mailbox- topped spine, a tire "donut" jib, a few step-down filing cabinet jib boxes, as well as a "Office Booyz sized" jump, a hip, and various other obstacles conducive to good times. As the weather began to clear, gloves full of CL Smooth started appearing. Let the madness begin.

Including après, there were 5 main sessions throughout the day.

Session 1: Mailbox Spine/Catapult

What started as a typical coping spine session quickly turned upside down once team Spy's Daryl Trinidad started throwing some large Wildcats off the mailbox, landing on the backside of the hip. Immediately the crowd got hungry for blood and started calling for "double backies." Westbeach's Jon Cartwright and Trini mistook this demand for tandem backflips, and quickly obliged the masses by performing a simultaneous "double" backflip. Mikey Macquisten knew what they really wanted through, and took to the spine at breakneck speed, successfully performing the double back right onto his back. Up next was No Limit's Dez Price, looking to perform his patented "Wildchrist" (a backflip Christ Air). He got the first flip around and then proceeded to keep rising. The rowdy crowd started hooting as Dez ended up landing upside down from 15 feet in the air on a "one-and-a-half'er." Dez briefly lay on the ground unconscious before getting up, smoking a cig, and dropping into a successful double backy. It's that kind of determination that turns everyday Cffice Booyz into champions.

Dez Price, backflip to disaster. Colin Adair photo.

Cartwright and Trini going UFD.

Footage from the Mailbox Spine session:

Session 2: Stalefish Contest over the "Donut"

The stalefish contest saw just about every combo imaginable go down: straight airs, 360's, bonk variations, handplants... In the end the judges picked five of their favorite stalefishers, then narrowed those five to a final three before making them switch stalefish to glory.

Sayer, stalefish over the doughtnut, as seen by a doughnut. Trini photo.

Throwback mexi-method. Colin Adair photo.

Session 3: Hip/Booter

A brief break in the cloud cover let everyone enjoy some serious airtime over the hip. Going "O.T." (over the top) was the preferred line and provided some interesting bails as desk jockeys tried to hit the sniper landing.

Session 4: High Ollie Contest

The staple event for Office Booyz, year after year, brought the excitement once again. The bar was raised an inch at a time until only three competitors remained at the seven foot mark. Keep in mind the sketchy little kicker was only about a foot high, and the landing was a minefield of slushy bombholes. Little shredder Cody managed to out-pop my lanky ass, as well as Team Mayhem's Ian Baker by clearing the highest rung.

High ollie contest. Colin Adair photo.

Session 5: Après

A feeding trough full of CL Smooth's greeted competitors as they made their way back into the base lodge for the session they'd been anticipating all day after training for it all season. Grouse Mountain wisely kept us contained in a private room while we stuffed ourselves with burgers and pounds of fries, keeping the drunken shenanigans away from the general public. The pound of fries weren't enough for many of these après revelers, as the gravy and cheese upgrade was a popular upgrade for many of the Office Booyz.

The judges and organizers poured (beers?) over the result, while everyone else passed around bottles of Advil and washed them down with CL Smooth's. Winners were toasted and temporary goodbye pounds were tossed as everyone would be meeting up at the after-party three hours later.

With no lasting injuries and great times had by all, it's safe to say that the fourth annual Office Booyz was a raging boner of a success. Start sharpening your skills and expanding that waistline for Office Booyz 2010, coming next spring to California, Vancouver, and perhaps even Ontario.

Now get back to work! Colin Adair photo.

Highlights:

Corey Sheppard trying to hippie jump through the "donut".
Karl and Perry's verbal assault on the microphone.
Sean Miller and the rest of team Wickwinders outfits and all-around smooth shredding.
Coastal Riders Mexican-themed outfits and non-stop stoke.
Mikey Scott showing he's still ripping, with player/coach status.
Guest judge Chris Dufficy shredding against the doctor's orders for the first time, just weeks after major elbow reconstructive surgery.
The secret snow cooler of CL Smooth's hidden in the woods just off-course.

Team List:

OB1 a.k.a. Foreplay
Spy Optics a.k.a. Daughters Lock up your Mothers
Shred Ent.
Westbeach a.k.a. Jon Cartwright/Office Babes
Faceshots a.k.a. Drink Drank Drunk
Supra Distribution
WIckwinder a.k.a. My Other Ride is your Mom
Beaver Wax
No Limits a.k.a Economic Downturn
Boardroom
Smoking Trees and Spinning 3s
Marketing Machine
Coastal Riders/Nitro a.k.a. The Mexicans
Team Mayhem
Endeavor

"2009's Office Booyz started off with a familiar feel. The Coffee was drank, the donuts were pillaged (any Honey Crullers left?) and the visibility on Grouse was extremely limited due to a lingering cloud that seems to know exactly when we're all planning to take a day off. As we worked through the course, the bar kept getting raised (in all of the events), so the stoke must have helped burn off some of the cloud cover. By the end of the day there were burgers and frosty tacklers going down, and everyone was recapping the tricks that went down with the sun shining on the patio of Lupins. It could not have gone any better."
-- Perry Pugh, OG Office Booyz Event Planner and Apres MVP

"The curse of the contest weather did not disappoint, but that did not stop the third Office Booyz at Grouse Mountain from being a success. Held in the rookie park for the second consecutive year, my idea for the set-up was to have a fun, skatepark-inspired course. Karl from IS Eyewear brought up some special Ooffice Booyz features, which made it feel even more like a skate set-up or possibly a playground, with brightly colored desks, filing cabinets and two oversize truck tires painted to look like giant donuts -- one even had sprinkles on it! As always there was lots of donuts to go around and coffee to dunk them in. Coors Light pulled through with great support by supplying some coldies for the non-coffee drinkers as well. All in all it was a great day; the sun even came out at the end and laps were had by all, making it a must-do on next year's calendar of things to do... especially if you missed this year. See you next year."
-- Dave Cashen, OG Wildcat and Grouse park designer

Thanks to: Grouse Mountain, IS Eyewear, 686, Malakye.com, Coors Light and everyone else who supported with time, product, and effort.

After much deliberation the celebrity judging panel (which included Chris Dufficy and Devun Walsh) came up with the following winners:

2009 OFFICE BOOYZ RESULTS