Jamie Trinder on his way to the win at the Lecht Rail Jam. Photo: Sam Longmire

Despite being the smallest of the Scottish resorts, the Lecht manages to get their park going as soon as it’s physically possible to do so. Their stop of the January Jams went off; here’s organiser Kevin Cowie‘s report:

“It had been a strange start to this year’s season: two feet of snow arrived before Christmas and melted within 24 hours, causing major flooding. It wasn’t until the 9th January that there was a big enough dump for a rail jam.

I’ve spent many years sitting next to Nick in his PistenBully at the Lecht, as he has built and shaped jumps without having to lift a shovel. The Lecht has their rails out all year round so as soon as there is snow they are ready to shape. I knew we were on to a good thing.

On Saturday 16th January we couldn’t have asked for better conditions: no wind, the sun poking through and a dusting of fresh on top of our groomed, shaped park. The set up was ten rails – among them the down-flat-down, the notorious banger, flat-down and rainbow rail – making up three seperate lines.

A few highlights from the day included Kirsty Taylor pressing down hard on the flat-down, Neil Cruikshank steezing his tail presses on the banger, and Ed Grieg teaming up with Jamie Trinder to over’n’under the A-frame.

Best male: Jamie Trinder
Best female: Claire Frost
Youth snowboarder: Cameron Smith

Big shout out to Simon at Boarderline for main prizes; KidProQuo for keeping us warm with his beats; Nicol Paton for judging; Chris, Ed and Mikey for shaping Friday night; and the main man Nick McIntosh. 

It was a great start to the jam season for everyone, and with the continued support of the Lecht, it shoudn’t be the last!”

Scroll down to see more photos, shot by Sam Longmire