GorpCore or Not? Peak Performance Hosts Urban Rail Jam

While some ski outerwear brands are working to broaden their consumer bases by blurring the line between technical apparel and high fashion, Peak Performance is taking a different approach.

Rather than bringing GORE-TEX ski shells to the city and calling it ‘gorpcore,’ they decided to bring skiing to the city, and the result was simply ‘core.’

In honor of the brand’s second storefront opening in Vancouver, British Columbia, Peak Performance teamed up with CHEF LLC, Red Bull Canada, UBC Ski & Board, and Arena Snowparks to put on an urban rail jam, dubbed The Vancouver Drop In, on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery last weekend. Event setup began at 7 a.m. on the day of the event on the edge of Robson Square, with UBC Ski and Snowboard Club driving over 2,000 cubic feet of snow. Arena Snowparks then got to work installing three custom-built rail features.

With the help of Red Bull Canada, a DJ and an open bar VIP area set the mood for a little urban competition, cooked up by CHEF LLC. UBC Ski & Board members were joined for practice and a qualifying round by several pro athletes, before the final round.

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Shonny Charbonneau, who had my personal favorite segment in ‘The Harvest,’ Mili Hoffman, who took part in POWDER/Newschooler’s Gear Week this year, and Peak Performance athlete Makenna Griffiths, made up the women’s field for finals, with Charbonneau coming in first, Griffith in second, and Hoffman in third place.

Level 1 skier, Rudy Lepine, Peak Performance athlete Mark Hendrickson, and Olympic hopeful and slope skier, Max Moffat rounded out the men’s field, with Hendrickson taking the win, Moffat coming in second, and Lepine in third. The winners split a $6,000 prize purse.

It’s not just the abundance of baggy pants that makes an event like this feel reminiscent of another time. Bringing action sports like slopestyle skiing into city centers has long been a way of bringing what’s niche to the masses.

Purists might shun stunts like these, after all, don’t we recreate to be in the mountains?

However, in an age where athlete funding simply isn’t what it used to be, and many brands are still untangling the post-COVID mess, bringing these sports to a wider audience can only be good.

Events like Red Bull District Ride and Heavy Metal brought not just the eyes of the public to these niche sports, but also allowed non-endemic brands to capitalize on the spectacle and invest in these sports. Perhaps Peak Performance has tapped into something bigger for our sport with this event.

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