The ever Jet setting supernatural judge Mel Simmons

On the job with Mel Simmons

Mel Simmons started snowboarding at Coronet peak way back in 1997, soon after that she started snowboarding competitively in the NZ scene. Then in one of the early Remarkables slopestyle comps she blew out her knee and as fate would have it the judging panel were short of a judge and so her judging career began. Since then Mel has trotted the globe judging some of the biggest snowboard events on the international scene. Now as an International Judges Commission (IJC) judge she contracts to events on the TTR world tour and is the southern hemisphere TTR tour representative.

We caught up with Mel while she was at Baldface BC playing the role of Assistant Head Judge at the epic Red Bull Supernatural contest…

Q. Where you at right now?

Redbull Supernatural  at Baldface in Nelson, BC Canada.

Q. And before?

Munich, Germany at ISPO.

Q. What has been the best event so far this season?

Without a doubt, the Supernatural for sure!

Is this comp one of your career highlights?

This event is for sure the highlight of my career. Getting this gig was not really guaranteed, it was literally a lottery draw. I was one of a few and there were some pretty high-profile names in there , who were considered for the role as Assistant Head Judge. So I’m super pumped. It’s such a privilege to be here. Administrating a panel that consists of legends Tom Burt, Andy Hetzel, Temple Cummins, Shin Campos & Bryan Iguchi is seriously sick!

Q. Describe Redbull Supernatural in 4 words.

Nothing short of EPIC.

Q. What was the judging for that comp like, what was the format, how did it all work?

I’m the Assistant Head Judge so I’m not actually scoring, I moderate the scores coming in from the judges & keep it all in sync where Tom Burt is the Head Judge and has the final say… Basically it’s judged by combining the judging formats of the Freeride World Tour; based on line difficulty, creativity, air and style, flow and control and the TTR World Snowboarding Tour; style, variety, execution, amplitude, progression, risk combo’s and technical nature. Like the event itself, this judging format is something that’s never been done before in the history of snowboard competition, so I’m pumped to see it played out so well.

Q. What riders were killing it, any stand-outs?

All of them. Every one of them was killing it. They’re all outstanding.

Q. What was the most impressively gnarly thing you saw go down?

Lucas Debari freakin’ sending it! Kid’s a charger…

Lucas Debari “Freakin Sendin it!” Photo Danny Zapalac- Redbull photo pool

Q. What was the scariest gnarly thing you saw?

Lucas freakin’ sending it.

Q. Whats up next, where are you headed after Canada?

I’m to Oslo, Norway for TTR/WSF World Snowboarding Champs

Q. Plans for NZ winter?

I’ll head home to NZ around July for our season and head up the TTR events in Australasia.

Huge thanks to Mel for taking the time out to do this, we hope to bring you more on what Mel’s been up to over the coming months.

Some more of the action at the supernatural!