Snowbird: Day 4 – Semi-Finals

While I’m not actually there (taking the day off to do homework), I am watching some lines on MSI live webcast (http://freeskiingworldtour.com/live.html).

Looks like some pretty burly conditions as Carston Oliver (qualified 3rd yesterday) has gone down as well as Taos’ female 2nd place finisher McKenna Peterson. Hopefully everyone is okay.

Here is some video of the top 6 runs from yesterday (including Carston’s) and some of the falls (courtesy of Superhuman Mag).

Filed under: Trip Reports

Snowbird: Freeskiing Nationals – Qualifier Run

Prepare for a bumpy ride.

Here is the helmet-cam video from my qualifier run. The count -> 2 spreads and 2 airs (bottom was a double) too me exactly 60 seconds top to bottom. I think I’m going to start spring break and just begin training myself to point the whole venue. Go for a Tatsuno style straight-line.

full res: http://www.jakecast.com/helmetclips/snowbirdQualifier09.m4v

Better luck next year,
Jake :(

Filed under: Trip Reports

Snowbird: Day 3 – Qualifiers II

Welcome to my best attempt to live-blog day 2 of Qualifiers at Snowbird’s US Freeskiing Nationals.

Day 1 was pretty gnarly with snow conditions being hard to predict. Snowbird’s Nik A., Kyle W., and Chuck M. all took falls during their runs.

The women should be starting soon and I’ll update this post as that goes down.

I’m running 64th of 68 or so and I’m hoping that means the snow will soften up by the time I run-

—11:05a—
Ladies have wrapped up. looks like a lot of coral reef snow on west baldy.

—11:07a—
#2 in Taos Abbott Smith (sp?) just took a couple hard falls

—11:59a—
Daryn E. just took a hard fall at the top and is not stoked in the slightest

—12:36p—
Carston O. just killed it down the center section of the venue!

—3:16p—
Made it down my run in one piece! Not sure if it was enough, but I’m glad to be down. Insanely variable snow on West Baldy-

—4:45p—
Bummer :( judges didn’t think I had enough speed through my line. ended up 36 of 64 :-/…I need to ski faster
Good luck to McKenna, Carston, & Tim tomorrow on Silvy

Filed under: Trip Reports

Taos: Day 6 – Junk Show

I figured the drive back wouldn’t yield much in the way of usable trip report photos, but what was supposed to be an 11-hour drive through the desert turned into a 14-hour junk show in all things sketchy-

Complete results, in case you missed them:
Qualifier:
Women
Men, Page 1
Men, Page 2

Finals:
Women
Men, Page 1
Men, Page 2

I realize the Rio Grande is huge

Nik stares back at Taos Ski Valley

Durango Ski Area, Ski Hesperus

Nik shows what it takes to place 19th in a Big Mountain Competition

JakeCast hucks in jeans
Read more…

Filed under: Trip Reports

08/09 Ski Update 23

Ski Days this season: 80

Alta Backcountry, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT: 1
Rocky Point, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT: 1
Collins Gulch, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT: 3
Snowbird, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT: 58
Alta, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT: 7
UofU Golf Course, Salt Lake City, UT: 1
Telluride, San Juan Mountains, CO: 3
Powder Mountain, Ogden, UT: 1
Taos Ski Valley, Taos, NM: 4
Ski Hesperus, Durango, CO: 1

Sorry for the delay in posts and downtime for my site. I just switched hosting companies (yet again) so I’ve been trying to keep up with that.

I’m going to post a trip report from the drive back from Taos later today (it’s gaper-tastic).

For those wanting Taos Freeride Comp Results:
Qualifier:
Women
Men, Page 1
Men, Page 2

Finals:
Women
Men, Page 1
Men, Page 2

Ullr, way to set off the Snowbird Freeskiing Nationals with some fresh snow =)
Jake

Filed under: Ski Updates