I stand in a media corral below the Red Bull Rampage venue with similarly bewildered and amped people. Above us, hand-carved ramps slash the mountain and make up what you’d call the ‘course.’
Can you call it that? I’m about to find out, up close and personal, thanks to Rampage veteran Darren Berrelcloth.
Berrelcloth and freeskier Michelle Parker, who helped orchestrate Red Bull Formation at this same location 2 years ago, are about to lead us on a hike to get acquainted with the Rampage runs.
They forbid us, firmly and repeatedly, from stepping on ramps or kicking rocks and we head up.
For anyone who doesn’t know why: A pebble in the wrong place can send a rider flying toward a wadded landing.
View this post on Instagram
Diggers — the term for folks who build the course lines — are still working all over the mountain. It has two main bowls, and most riders are choosing the lines to looker’s right.
That’s where, tomorrow, Brandon Semenuk will supposedly try a 70-foot drop-in that looks absolutely vertical from below.
Seeing this place with my own eyes, I couldn’t get down it safely on a bike if you bubble-wrapped me and the bike into a giant ball and rolled it down. I’d still crater.
![Screen Shot 2022-10-20 at 2.16.08 PM red bull rampage 2022](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/10/Screen-Shot-2022-10-20-at-2.16.08-PM.jpg)
View this post on Instagram
![Screen Shot 2022-10-20 at 2.17.51 PM red bull rampage 2022](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/10/Screen-Shot-2022-10-20-at-2.17.51-PM.jpg)
![Screen Shot 2022-10-20 at 2.17.00 PM cam zink red bull rampage 2022](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/10/Screen-Shot-2022-10-20-at-2.17.00-PM.jpg)