WFC vs. KOTH and WESC

Updated: November 2, 2011, 12:11 PM ET

This story has been corrected. Read below

Jeff HaweThompson's Pass, Alaska: site of Tailgate Alaska and the big-mountain ski and snowboard contests in dispute.

A permitting dispute involving two of the most revered big-mountain competitions in snowsports history -- the World Extreme Skiing Championships and King of the Hill, both of which were founded in Valdez, Alaska -- has gotten testy between World Freeriding Championships founder Mark Sullivan and two of his colleagues, snowboarding legend Nick Perata and former WESC president Karen Stewart.

Perata and Stewart claim Sullivan unethically permitted with Alaska's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for events which they hold the rights to -- WESC in Stewart's case and King of the Hill in Perata's case -- thereby preventing them from securing their own permits to run those events. Sullivan maintains he did nothing wrong and says he now has no plans to use either name for the 2012 big-mountain competition, which had in the past been called King of the Hill but will be known as the World Freeriding Championships moving forward.

"Any debate over WESC or King of the Hill is mute [sic] and has been since the new permits were issued," Sullivan wrote in an email, referring to the fact that his permit is officially registered under the moniker "World Freeriding Championships."

Part of the problem, Stewart and Perata claim, is the DNR granted Sullivan's permit without requiring he own the names of the WESC and King of the Hill events, a standard practice at the state land agency. Stewart had planned to resurrect WESC last winter, and in anticipation of doing so, secured an Alaska business registration for the contest's name before Sullivan's permit was granted. Sullivan ultimately led the effort to resurrect WESC, and Stewart served as his volunteer coordinator.

Perata's King of the Hill service mark (originally filed in the 1990s) had apparently lapsed -- neither he nor his business partner Bonnie McDonald was able to provide ESPN proof of a current mark. That allowed Sullivan to apply for rights to the King of the Hill name this summer -- after his permit was granted -- a move he called "karma" in the smoldering dispute between him and Perata.

Perata still claims the event should belong to him and McDonald because they built the competition and are responsible for any renown associated with it. Sullivan disagrees, stating that he's the one who resurrected the competition and, as a result, its current value is due to his efforts.

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Jeff HaweThe late, great Aaron Robinson straight-lining his run in last year's contest.

DNR officer Cliff Larson confirmed Sullivan "requested the specific names of WESC and King of the Hill for his permit," but the fact that Sullivan didn't hold rights to those names "doesn't make any difference to us. We don't get involved with civil action."

When Sullivan originally pursued resurrecting WESC last winter, he found potential sponsors weren't as receptive as he'd hoped. "I was resoundingly disappointed by what the industry thought of WESC coming back," said Sullivan. "Talk about lack of funding -- it's like, if those people don't back it, then what's the point of doing it? Money talks."

Sullivan still ended up promoting a ski competition under the WESC moniker, and a number of pro skiers traveled to Valdez to compete. But due to stormy conditions, the event's weather window elapsed and the few skiers who stayed on-site ultimately competed alongside snowboarders later in the week during the World Freeriding Championships.

Despite all that has transpired, there is still hope for a happy ending that would benefit the big-mountain community. After a summer's worth of Stewart petitioning Sullivan to remove "WESC" from his permit, it was officially nixed on Oct. 25. This means Stewart could apply for her own permit and try to resurrect WESC this winter if she chooses.

However, King of the Hill remains in Sullivan's DNR permit through 2016, according to Natural Resource Specialist Candy Snow, and the dispute between Perata and Sullivan shows no signs of simmering. Sullivan claims to be initiating a slander lawsuit against Perata, and Perata claims he wasn't paid what he was promised by Sullivan to host last winter's Tailgate Alaska.

Perata said he is in talks with Tony Harrington, director of the World Heli Challenge in New Zealand, to add a North American competition to the WHC, possibly in Cordova. "I just want the contest to go on," Perata said in reference to King of the Hill. "I just want to give the competitors the opportunity to showcase themselves and grow and be professionals."

An Oct. 28 ESPN Action Sports story about a dispute over two big-mountain snowsports competitions and Alaska permits contained incomplete information. To clarify:
• The World Extreme Skiing Championships were resurrected in 2011 by Mark Sullivan, et al., but due to its weather window elapsing, the contest was ultimately rolled into the World Freeriding Championships and run under the latter moniker
•The Tailgate festival, founded by Sullivan, is run independent from either event.