Judgin’, like pimpin’, ain’t easy. From frostbitten fingers to choosing winners and losers, it was a long day for Marco. But we’re curious what his crew got up to after 2am at Tango. Check out the competition results at mellowparks.cn, or tell us what you think of his day in the comments section below.

7:00
Wake up, check weather report. Big day today with the Eighth Red Bull Nanshan Open National Qualifier, and no wind is good news. Brush my teeth. I broke my collarbone snowboarding last week, so I’ve had to adjust to doing all these tasks one handed … or with help from my girlfriend.

7:30
Head for breakfast with the crew: huntun soup, baozi—delicious.

8:00
Arrive at the ski resort. A big sandstorm came through on Thursday, so we spent all of Friday cleaning one cm of dirt off the slopes. Luckily, we made the ski resort blow fresh snow throughout the park, and once again it’s white.

9:15
Talk to the groomer about the snow. We need him to do another run through the park and pack it down. Start setting up the sponsor signage.

9:30
The park is ready to open for warm-ups. The guys are looking good and throwing down some good moves.

9:45
Check out the riders warm-up session, see what tricks they’re gonna pull out during the competition, and talk to the riders to see if there’s any problems with the park.

11:00
Sign up is complete. I get word that we have 50 competitors—the most ever.

12:00
Get feedback from the riders. The take-offs are a bit soft, making it hard to spin off, so we shave some more snow off them and pack them down.

13:00
The competition’s about to get underway. I walk up to the judge’s panel and we watch the guys finish off their practice session. A lot of our friends are riding today so we’re stoked to cheer them on and hope they do well.

14:00
Halfway through the first qualifier session, and it’s freezing. Just sitting here, I get cold. The guys haven’t been riding as well as during practice. The pressure must be getting to them.

15:00
First run’s complete—judges Alan Wong, Olli Fenwick-Ross and I jump around to try and keep warm. We hear the in-run is getting a bit icy. The conditions aren’t perfect, but it will separate the boys from the men.

16:00
Think I have hypothermia in my fingers, but we’re done. We quickly huddle together to discuss which riders will progress through to the Eighth Red Bull Nanshan Open and compete with 24 invited international pro snowboarders for US$25,000 in prize money. The first few are easy to pick, but we are having trouble deciding the remaining two or three.

16:15
Prize-giving time. The guys who made it through are stoked, but you can see the disappointment in those that didn’t. Sometimes being a judge is hard.

16:30
Straight back to work. All the signage needs to be taken down straight away before it gets dark, and repair work needs to be done on the jumps and other features for when the snow hardens over night.

17:00
I finally get to take my snowboard boots off and get a snack. I check some of the photos from today’s action with my boss Steve Zdarsky. He’s stressed about finding some good ones to send out.

18:00
Leave the ski resort, but no chance to rest. I go straight home for a shower before heading out again.

19:30
Dinner with the crew. We celebrate a successful event, with more than a few beers over dinner.

21:00
Head to the unofficial event afterparty, DJ Wordy at Club Tango. We party hard with all the winners and our close crew that put it together.

2:00
My girlfriend and I are tired. Finally time for home! But not without getting in trouble for “leaving so early” from some of the guys.