Video: Aggy's Qualifying Run - Red Bull Rampage 2015

 that run was absolutely insane. i have to admit i got kinda scared watching that drop

 I agree Faircloughs run last year was unreal but his score in my opinion did not match he should have been in the top three.

 And oh my gosh Brett Rheeder threw a sick 3 followed moments later by a backflip right at the top and the rest of his run was super smooth and he got 5th. In my opinion he was soooo cheated.

 If you ride the ridge you definitely need tricks, but if you send the gnar you just need to go big and make it out the other side I think.

 its the size of the drops and gaps and hits they do. its also how steep and fast their line is, and tricks are just icing on the cake. but big huge gaps and drops that take 40lbs of balls to send. thats what wins rampage.

 its all line choice, if you can stomp an insane line sometimes that just looks better to the judges than tricking a relatively easy run. If easy even exist at rampage!

 yeah. that last big hip is insane

 yeah I'm in the same boat, but it's kinda cool I think. getting too technical on this stuff kills it IMO. on the other hand with guys like semenuk in the field you'd probably have to flip something to win...I dunno man. just so stoked to see huge riding like this. these guys are all mad buggers and if you could give em all $100k you probably would. the judges have a hard job...

 From our armchairs we have such a crude perception of how difficult some of these lines are. Some DH (free) racers may have incredibly techie lines which don't look so impressive on camera e.g. Fairclough lands a drop, rails a tight turn and immediately sends a canyon gap (WTF!). All we can do it trust the people who are there to appreciate the "tech" weighting on the score.

 I feel like I cant even watch normal videos now! Here is the Claws run, surprised they haven't posted this yet: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOlOMIrwN94

 My post wasn't meant to sound disapproving of the judges . I can't imagine having to do that job, judging such a diverse group of competitors must be hell. Especially with how brutally critical the Internet is. I'd just love to know the criteria because at times it seems arbitrary

 In my mind judging a competition like this is like a surfing event. It's highly subjective. Maybe they should do some sort of price for fan favorite run, judges favorite, and riders favorite.

 Yeah I'm having trouble taking the new with the old. Not criticizing the current Rampage at all. It is absolutely amazing. I just think it's hard to compare a true free ride/big mountain line with a groomed, sandbagged, wooden ramp line. I don't think the competitors should change their approach, but maybe Redbull could require a mix of terrain for everyone.
Not sure what to compare it to. Maybe the way half pipe bmx was scored? Every competitor had to cover all bases.

 I'm going to go out on a limb here and say even the Rampage judges don't exactly know *what* to judge here, because difficulty comes from so many different disciplines. Flow, ease, throwing tricks on this kind of terrain, amplitude, speed. They're probably just gonna have to go with an "overall impression" they get from a run, but like above posters have said, the overall impression you get will be subject to what you perceive as impressive. Really really huge gray area, and I do hope they eventually come up with a format that gives people an idea of what to shoot for out here. I personally thing throwing banger tricks on this kind of terrain (360's down cliffs and shit) is much more horrifying then sending it, but thats just the kind of rider I am. It's subjective to everyone and how they know biking.

Sucks, because I wish every rider here could walk away with the cash prize for just risking it like this. There's really no fair way to judge this. I'm not gonna lie though, it's pretty obvious the judges value amplitude. I think the entertainment value amplitude adds for the marketing giant Redbull is what swings things this way. They want to see more of that, it makes the sport look like insanity to the world, which is soooo in line with redbull branding.

 m.pinkbike.com/news/Redbull-Rampage-Judging-Explained-2012.html

This was from a few years ago but it gives a good idea of how they judge.

 I remember that article, a very difficult one to swallow after the Norbs fiasco.

 Yea regardless of the criteria they are looking at, it's ultimately still a judged event so there will always be differences of opinion.

 Thinking Bizet should have qualified 1st and Aggy second, maybe just me, but flipping the canyon and flatspin on the razor with plenty of tech line above I just think the overall was better. Aggy is def a heavyweight as far as ball size goes, but judges favored him too much.

 The judging at rampage is and will always be a mess

 Judged events , it is all about how you were your flat brim hat with your flowing locks and a beard. Imo judged events don't really tell us who the best athletes are. I think "free ride" events are lame. Except for red bull rampage, these guys huck there meat

 At this point I don't even care who wins. I just watch it for the riding.

 MORE BOOST MORE POTATOES

 I thought boost is a forbidden word in here...

 More like "oh, HELL NO!!!".

I'm sure there's people on facebook, etc. that think it's CGI...kind of like that military jet doing the flip on takeoff or the GP moto one.

 That's the thing with a Gopro. A vid never really shows how steep the run is. But the second it actually does look steep, times that by 10. I got Vertigo 3 times then.

 I agree with part of your statement, but...

The truth is, pretty much every rider uses the same line from last years comp.
The fact you're so tired of the Aggy/Lacon line is that it;s pretty much the craziest shit ever seen on this event- hardcore shredding from top to bottom, with not a single moment when U can relax or let your attention fade away. I'm sure that this second drop is waaaay bigger than Oakley Sender, the first drop is also enormously big, with such a sketchy in-run. That's why it got so much coverage last year.
This year they rebuilt the hip, made it bigger, same with the gaps on the higher part of the line.

For me that's THE PERFECT LINE, I've watched every Rampage live on the net, I've seen a lot of coverage from the previous editions and that LINE IS THE S**T!
Just compare this line with the others- its way faster, waaaaaaaay more scary, the biggest drop is included, big gaps are in, what do U want more?!

I mean, they are using the same line second year in a row and I still cannot believe they're actually riding it!

 Whoa now, I never said, and I hope I never implied that I was tired of this run, I watched Andreu ride it countless times, on round six for Aggy. I thought I was pretty clear that it is a Perfect Run. The numbers are clear that the big drop in this run is bigger than the Oakley sender, 75ish feet compared to 65ish feet, never disputed.

My point is that is seems wrong to me that the exact same line can be considered a winning line 2 years in a row. Where is the creative aspect, where is the free part of the riding when you are on (granted, the sickest ever line, again, I do not dispute that the line is perfect) what is essentially an established trail?

Not trying to take anything away from Aggy and company, more a confusion with the scoring process, if line choice is only 25% of score, how can one line be so dominant over all the others?

 We've gotta make a list of the greatest lines of rampage, id throw in Zink's flip off the big girl drop or whatever they called it, and Gee's run from 2010!

 Bourdo's Billygoat line from 03? 04? that was sweet.

 I don't know man, that line was insane and all but it didn't really capture the rampage atmosphere for me. It was kind of just like a big smooth line of jumps. I didn't get quite as excited as I do for some of the other lines

 Im torn, that was definitely an insane run but it really doesnt have the free ride aspect to it anymore. Everything was sculpted like an over sized bike park

 I agree... lots of speed and big hits, but lacking in raw terrain.

 Thats basiclly what Darren said: "we are all screwed because Aggy's line is the narliest one"

 Well, there is only limited space on the mountain, you cant just tell everyone to build new lines every year, without changing the venue..

 Also, Aggy didn't get to ride it in the finals last year due to injury. So I think it's pretty fair for him to want to kill all the dongers on it and take first place.

 He running a 500lb coil. For comparison, Crimmins and Fearon (WC racers on the 'same' bike that weigh almost the same as Aggy) run 350-400lb coils. I'm sure the fork is set up similarly. Gwin would approve, I'm sure!

 I do back things to my kona, it lives on, thanks for bringing the green back AGGY

 Strait pulled a suicide no-hander off the big drop last year.

 You're totally right my friend!
I'm just talking about Aggy throwing in some extra stuff from last years qualifications run.

 Seems a likely scenario, can't wait to see what his finals look like. I'm friggin giddy, work is gonna hate me tomorrow, rocking Rampage in the store, customers are gonna be freaked out when I start screaming!

 My bet is suicide on the big drop and corkflip/dump 3 on the RZR booter.
It's really rare opportunity on this site to say so, but I'm stoked I live in Europe, 8.30 PM is just perfect to watch the shredders from outerspace and drinking a beer or 12...

 I'm glad I don't have to work tomorrow. I'd be useless. I'm not riding it (duh) nor am I there, but I can't wait to see what these boys have in store. From what I've seen so far in qualies, my mind is already blown!

 This

 The one glove was distracting me, not sure why, had to hit replay and watch it again to see the whole run, lol

 Same here...missed a lot of the top section going "huh?". I'll bet he meant to do exactly that. If so, well played, Aggy...well played.

 Quadruple tie-dye.

 trailforks has double orange diamond for anything over double black. Pro-only difficulty level.

 Plaid.

 That moment when you're sipping on your beverage and reading the above comment.......and somehow manage to not spit out and/or choke on said beverage.

True story.