Street snowboarding has long been a coveted form of rebellion and creative expression, yet for most, hitting rails and constructing ramps in urban playgrounds risks fines — or even arrest — since it’s often illegal. But once a year, Red Bull Heavy Metal flips that narrative on its head.
For the second year in a row, Red Bull Heavy Metal transformed Boston’s City Hall into the ultimate street riding showdown last Saturday. The games were hosted by professional snowboarder and X Games gold medalist Zeb Powell, where top street snowboarders pulled out their best tricks in a competition for $30,000.
The riders competed in front of an amped crowd of thousands of fans crowding the streets of downtown Boston.
“Just looking out into the crowd before you drop is a crazy feeling, so many people coming here definitely makes everyone want to go a little harder,” professional snowboarder Jess Perlmutter said in an interview with The Beacon.
Perlmutter, a 16-year-old phenom, was the Heavy Metal reigning champion. Coming off of her Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle, Perlmutter was ready for a day full of street-style extravaganza.
Over 100 tons of snow were dumped into the plaza to form a three-zone venue, with features ranging from rails to jumps and stair gaps. Each zone included two heats, which is a timed round where riders simultaneously compete in a head-to-head format, with a third and final heat made up of the top-scoring snowboarders.
Snowboard legends such as Sam Klein, Benny Milam, and Maggie Leon came out to compete, joined by riders from around the globe aged 14 to 36. Both heats contained a combination of seasoned veterans, such as Lucas Magoon and Halldór Helgason, who helped popularize the sport and rising talents, such as Perlmutter and Telma Särkipaju, eager to make their mark.
In this year’s event, the new generation of street snowboarders made their presence undeniable. 17-year-old LJ “El Niño” Henriquez and 20-year-old Särkipaju both took home the gold. While the veterans delivered strong performances, the young wave of riders broke through and are emerging as the new face of street riding.
“There’s nothing you can’t enjoy about Heavy Metal, there’s always a lit ass crowd and everyone’s vibing, everyone’s stoked, it’s always a good time,” Henriquez said in an interview with The Beacon.
Henriquez has been competing in snowboarding events since he was 7 years old, and has already started breaking records: he was the youngest male rider in the X Games Aspen 2025 Street Style competition and one of the youngest riders to land both Red Bull and Burton Snowboards sponsorships. Powell described Henriquez as “a legend in the making.”
Henriquez notably gained momentum during zone three after a gnarly fall during a rail slide; he described the tumble as a “kick-start” that fueled his fire. Henriquez returned with a perfectly executed frontside boardslide 270 out, a 50-50 180 out, and other technical jumps and ledge work. After dominating the first two zones, these rides solidified his lead.
For Henriquez, his overall first-place win was “surreal,” as he hadn’t come in with any expectations. He said he was excited to see young riders like himself place, adding that “maybe it’s time for the next generation” to step up and take the lead.
Powell, who has been an inspiring trailblazer in the street snowboarding community, echoed Henriquez’s assertion.
“We love snowboarding; so we see these kids as little kids, and then for them to rise up and step up and over us with hunger and passion is so sick, it’s always the best,” he said.
Seeing younger riders like Henriquez and Särkipaju grow has been especially memorable for Powell.
“You watch them for a while … and they’re finally getting their bearings and getting comfortable on a board and starting to really shine, so it’s a treat,” he said.
Särkipaju, another young competitor who took home first place for both zone one and the women’s all-around win, agreed with Powell’s sentiments about the competition’s ability to showcase young riders’ talents. However, she was even more ecstatic about the community that Heavy Metal brings in.
“I think it’s just really awesome that we’re all here together and show the community that snowboarding has, and it’s only growing,” Särkipaju said in an interview with The Beacon. “We’re getting more women into this sport, which is super sick.”
Although street snowboarding is a male-dominated sport, Heavy Metal spotlighted an electric array of female snowboarding talent, including icons such as Leon, Egan Wint, and Erin Alexander. Leon in particular had some technical rides in zone three that blew the crowd away, and Wint’s airs in zone two rivaled many of the male competitors.
Särkipaju emphasized that the heart of street snowboarding lies not in competition, but in the love of the sport.
“Get out there, try snowboarding, you may fall in love like I did,” Särkipaju said. “Just try to have as much fun, don’t stress about having to be somewhere, go with the flow, and you’ll get there.”
