The Athlete: ALEXIS WAITE
Episode: Snowboard Tow-In | Premiere: May 7, 2007

Eli's Thoughts:
When I got the call to pack up the snowboard and boots, I was well up for it (not having had much time this year for boarding) — what better way to get on the mountain then with the crew of Stunt Junkies. We flew to Oregon's Mt. Bachelor; without delay I put on my boots, grabbed my board and used what was left of the day to chip off some rust. We met Alexis and got the low down on the stunt — she was going to do the largest tow-in gap jump, which basically meant getting pulled really fast and flying really far over some sick gap. I got a chance to ride a bit with Alexis and after one run, I could have sworn she was testing me because we ended up going down a completely ungroomed, icy run that was straight-up unpleasant. Even she wasn't enjoying it, but nonetheless, I made it down without a crash and we were able to do some more runs. We then met with James and Pat. James had taught Alexis early in her career and Pat had shaped ramps for the Olympics. As Pat got started on the monumental task of creating this jump, James and Alexis worked out the towing procedure for the stunt. One big concern was Alexis was doing the tow-in stunt with a broken arm. Apparently it didn't hurt too badly just as long as she didn't crash down on that arm (not something you want to think about just before doing a stunt). When the ramp was built Alexis did some test tow-ins, running up the jump but not going over. Everything looked pretty good and although it didn't look huge when it was finished, I'm sure it was completely different actually doing it at over 40 mph. Stunt day came and so did the weather: foggy with a bit of snow and rain — not what we had hoped for. The jumped looked a lot more impressive with the cut out "gap" but with the weather getting worse it was going to be a long day. We waited it out for a while; then Alexis decided to go for it. She took a lot of runs at it stopping at the top. It seemed like she was having a hard time seeing with the snow falling and getting kicked up. She kept at it but no jump. Finally, she made the move and flew off the jump and almost completely over shot the landing. She took a little fall but nothing to bad. She got up and went back to it. A couple more times flying over the lip, she was having a hard time gauging where she was coming down, but she kept at it and before too long she had stuck it — the tow-in gap jump was all hers. It wasn't the biggest jump of all time but it probably was the biggest blind jump ever.