Olympic, X Games skiers head to Seven Springs for rail jam competition

Skiers who placed in the Olympics and X Games are taking to the slopes at Seven Springs this weekend as Pittsburgh native and professional freeskier Tom Wallisch brings a piece of his childhood back to the area.

Steel City Showdown is one of the first rail jams — or contests including rails and ramps — to come to the area in years, Wallisch said in a video posted on the ski resort’s Facebook page.

“Rail jams don’t exist anymore,” he said. “This is what I grew up doing. We used to host a lot of them here, all over the east coast, and I feel like it kind of went away and I was just like, ‘We’ve got to do a big one again.’ ”

Starting Saturday, 12 Olympic and X Game placers will compete for the top spot based on rail technicality including Joss Christensen, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, Devin Logan, Alex Hall, Antti Ollila, LJ Strenio, Phil Casabon, Alex Bellemare, Quinn Wolferman, Ferdinand Dahl, Alex Bellemare and Evan McEachran.

Of those, eight — Christensen, Beaulieu-Marchand, Logan, Hall, Ollila, Bellemare and McEachran — have placed in the Olympics over the years.

Christensen won the gold medal during the 2014 Olympics with the U.S. Ski Team in the slopestyle category, Beaulieu-Marchand received bronze in 2018 with the Canadian National Ski Team and Logan won silver in 2014 with the U.S. Ski Team.

Logan also won the bronze medal at the 2017 X Games, Ollila took home silver in 2018, Casabon won gold in 2018 and 2019 in the real ski category while Hall took home gold in the 2019 slopestyle. Bellemare, Wolferman and Dahl all won the bronze medal at the X Games between 2015 and 2019 in both slopestyle and real ski categories.

But professionals won’t be the only ones on the slopes Saturday. On Friday, locals will have their chance to compete for a spot to ski alongside gold medalists through an invite-only amateur rail jam that starts at 5 p.m.

According to Seven Springs spokesperson Katie Buchan, the first-time event started by Wallisch “pays tribute to his roots” while bringing professional skiers to the Pittsburgh area for the first time.

The course, which is set up outside the Foggy Goggle, a resort bar, was designed and built by the Seven Springs Parks and Pipes Team.

“No one was doing an event like this so I’m making it happen,” Wallisch said in a news release. “The crew at Seven Springs can build a setup that’s just as good or better than even resorts in the Rockies. We’re bringing everyone together for the first of hopefully many Steel City Showdown events at Seven Springs.”

Saturday’s qualifying rounds begin at 2 p.m. Finals will follow at 8 p.m. and the night will end with an awards ceremony at 9 p.m. The top winner will take home $10,000.