Makin' Bacon

Remember using your trusty left hook to beat your classmates in a fierce game of P-I-G, H-O-R-S-E, or, if you had time, R-H-I-N-O-C-E-R-O-S? Well, some action-sports producer did—and decided the playground game was worthy of the small screen, with a twist: Forget basketball, play it with skiers.

Filmed last spring and scheduled to air this December on Rush HD—a new extreme-sports channel on the VOOM network—Ski P.I.G. (there’s a snowboard event, too) features the likes of Tanner Hall, Michael Olenick, and Andy Woods trying to out-maneuver one another on 30- to 60-foot kickers at The Canyons, Utah. As three contestants sit on the sidelines sipping Red Bull and talking smack, one skier draws a card, which has the name of a trick written on it. He then attempts the stunt, and, if he sticks it, the others must follow suit—or get a letter. Spell “P-I-G, and you’re out.

“Most of the tricks weren’t that hard, but when you’re up against these guys, you want to match them no matter what, says Olenick. That’s not to say the athletes weren’t going big. Olenick fell while trying a switch takeoff in the second round. And, despite nailing a Bio 900 (an off-axis, two-and-a-half-rotation spin with a grab), Hall was later whisked away on a ski-patrol sled after catching an edge and knocking himself unconscious. (Moments later, however, he was walking around, high-fiving his entourage.) “Tanner said he was fine, but they put him in a neck brace and called an ambulance anyway, says Woods. “The promoters were just doing things by the book. Tanner was pissed.