Pipe dream Top-ranked snowboarder seeking national title
BY SCOTT WALSH
STAFF WRITER
03/19/2008

First time Mark Speicher attempted to snowboard, he fell, hit his head and suffered a concussion.

And loved every minute of it.

That was about 12 years ago. Now, the 18-year-old Scranton Prep senior has perfected the sport to the point where he is ranked No. 1 nationally in his age group (18-22) by the United States of America Snowboard Association in the half-pipe.

He also is ranked seventh in boardercross and 23rd in slope style. But it is the half-pipe that is Speicher’s favorite.

“It definitely is the most fun,” Speicher said. “You can do a lot more different things in the half-pipe that you can’t do on jumps or on a rail.”

Speicher attained the No. 1 ranking in the half-pipe by winning all four of his regional competitions this year at Sno Mountain and Camelback.

Competitors score points based upon the height they get out of the top of the pipe, as well as the variety of spins and tricks they do.

Finishing first four times enabled Speicher to total 3,090 points — more than any of the other 36 snowboarders listed in the half-pipe national rankings.

All of this started when Speicher learned how to ski at age 3. After a few years, he eventually switched to snowboarding. He started competing about eight years ago, gradually working his way up from local contests to bigger tours. This year, he competed in the Revolution Tour, a high-amateur series designed to help up-and-coming riders make the jump to elite level competitions.

Most of the time, Speicher competes at venues in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but also has traveled as far as Park City, Utah, or Lake Tahoe, Calif., for an event.

As one could imagine, that can be expensive. But having sponsors such as Head Snowboards and Scott Goggles helps Speicher defray costs. He also works at the Ski Corner in Dickson City and gets discounted passes to area resorts.

Every day, Speicher practices at Sno Mountain or Camelback. He says he has missed only five days this season since Nov. 8, and that was because he was traveling to competitions.

“I pretty much teach myself,” Speicher said. “Mainly, I just ride with friends. They’ll think of some creative stuff and I’ll try to do the same thing or think of some more creative stuff.”

When Sno Mountain added a 22-foot half-pipe this year, it helped Speicher with his training and creativity.

“Camelback has a small half-pipe that’s 12-14 feet,” he said. “You can learn the basics, but there’s a limit to how high you can go and how much you can spin. So you need a super pipe, which is between an 18 and 22-foot wall to actually do the bigger tricks.

“This year, because Sno Mountain got the 22-foot half-pipe, I’ve been able to

train, get some good tricks and keep up with kids across the country. It’s been great.”

Attempting new tricks on the half-pipe can be dangerous, however.

USASA rules mandate that all snowboarders wear a helmet. Speicher said if the conditions are icy, he will wear a spine protector. He also said some competitors wear wrist guards.

Still, that hasn’t prevented Speicher this year from breaking his wrist twice and dislocating his shoulder three or four times.

But as they say, no pain, no gain. Speicher kept going, broken bones and all.

“It takes a lot of rehabilitation during the off season,” he said.

Not that Speicher has an off season. During the summer, when there is no snow to be found around here, he heads to Oregon and snowboards at Mount Hood.

“For the last four or five years, I’ve been going to a camp called Windells,” Speicer said. “You get to go out there and ride Mount Hood for a week and a half. Every summer, I’d end up working the entire summer to pay off the trip for the camp.

“So last summer, I decided to get a job at the resort and ride for free and actually made some money while I was there.”

Next up for Speicher is the USASA Nationals on March 28-April 5 at Copper Mountain, Colo.

This will be Speicher’s third trip to the nationals. Two years ago, he finished middle of the pack in the half-pipe and slope style. Then last year, a broken foot kept him out of the slope style competition, and he fell during both his half-pipe runs.

“Hopefully, this year will be a good year. I’m really motivated to do well,” Speicher said. “I have my run down. As long as I can land it, it will work out.”

He insists the No. 1 ranking does not put any added pressure on him. Speicher said he just snowboards to have fun.

“The number-one ranking is great, but coming in the top five at nationals is one of my goals,” he said. “The fact that I’m ranked first now is great and I’m really happy about it. But to me, it doesn’t count until nationals. I have to wait and see how I do there and see how happy I am then.”

In college, Speicher plans to continue his snowboarding. He is interested in two schools — Sierra Nevada College in California or Westminster College in Utah. Westminster is adding a skiing and snowboarding team to its athletic program this fall. Sierra Nevada recently won the 2008 United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboarding Association men’s snowboarding national championship. Both offer athletic scholarships for snowboarding.

After that, Speicher may one day consider trying to go pro, although he said he would be content to stay in the sport as a representative or building a terrain park.

Seems like that bump on the head he took that first day was all worth it.

Yeah i saw that in the paper lsat week. Mark is the man.




And that is totally true, he is in it to have fun. He is probably one of the most fun kids to ride with.

Cool article.
Nice to see PA represented.

I know it makes it easier to read, but what's with hitting the enter key after every sentence in that article?
What does that professional writer think he is, a poet ??????

uh i think theyre called paragraphs

I know. I usually hit the enter key after most sentences in my posts because it's easier to read that way. Some people bust my balls on here for doing it. So, I thought it was funny that a professional writer does the same thing. It's no big deal. Just an inside joke.

wow
your post looks

exactly the same
as that article