Congrats to Cam Zink, an old guy (24!) with a lot of metal in his body, who pulled off the first-ever “Slopestyle Slam” by winning (the return of) the Red Bull Rampage after taking home gold at the Kokanee Crankworx in Whistler in August. Zink also won Red Bull’s best trick comp. This is the equivalent to baseball’s Triple Crown and tennis’ Grand Slam, winning the top titles in the same season. Zink won Rampage with a 360 off the monster ramp. The drop itself was intimidating, but pulling a 360 (full rotation) at that height requires precision timing and contact control. Interestingly, the progenitor of the Big Drop 360, Darren Berrecloth, finished third despite a trick 3 of his own.

Cam Zink on podium. (Courtesy Red Bull Rampage)

Full results.

PinkBike has nice highlights video.

Cameron Zink 2010 Crankworx Champion from Taylor Sage on Vimeo.

We doubt we’d get much argument that Zink’s ride doesn’t really hold a candle to last year’s winner Greg Watts, who pulled off a double flip whip, or even Brandon Semenuk’s runner-up rides.

By the same token, most of the riders who pushed it this year saw their day ended in crashes.

A possible partial solution: If you weight points on tricks attempted, even if they fail, Slopestyle judging might prove a bit more exciting and the results a lot closer. Both competitors and fans would benefit from that.