Big Mountain Telemark Skier

Posts tagged “Open

Skiing My Butt Off!

I just tallied up all of the hours I’ve spent skiing so far this year, and I was shocked to see that I have skied over 150 hours already!!! I got an early start on my ski season this year with a two and a half week trip to Summit County, CO. Now I’m back home in Sun Valley, I’m feeling stronger than ever, and I’m antsy for winter to show up. Snow is in forecast this weekend but Sun Valley isn’t waiting. They have put snowmaking efforts on full throttle, and new terrain is opening every few days…

Snow Making Nov-Dec 09

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[img alt="" src="http://www.conordavis.com/wp-content/flagallery/snow-making-nov-dec-09/thumbs/thumbs_5.jpg"]Whales!!!
Greyhawk
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3000 miles later…

Two weeks, two comps, and 3000 miles later, I’m finically back home in Sun Valley, Idaho. It all started with the Subaru U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships in Crested Butte, Colorado. In typical ski bum style, North Parker, Bryce Newcomb, and I all mobbed over to the Comp in my mothers Big Blue Van. We were greeted with a much need blanked of fresh snow, followed by an amazing blue bird sunny weekend. With these ideal conditions I had the most fun I’ve ever had at Crested Butte. North kept his Jr. title for the second year in a row, and Bryce and I both fell which caused us to place further back than what we wanted(I ended up in 36th). I also skied the most burly line I think I have ever skies and aired a 50-footer at the bottom of the Dead End Chute. I got to meet lots of the alpine athletes and make friends outside of the SV-Possy. Then we were on the road again headed back to Sun Valley. After I dropped Bryce and North off, I only had time to Unpack, do laundry, Repack and get some food, before I was on the road again headed to California for the first extreme Telemark comp at Alpine Meadows.

The Alpine Comp was another great competition, and it felt good to be back in the company of so many rippin’ Telemark Skiers. The First day I skied well but I had an unfortunate bobble upon landing the bottom cliff out of the “Key Hole,” but I redeemed my self second run, with the highest total run score for the whole comp, which put me into 3rd place, right behind Jake Sakson, and JT Robinson. The next day in the Finals I was hoping to bypass JT and Jake by skiing the “money-line” faster and better than I had done the day before. I ended up being too aggressive and I lost my balance as I dropped into the keyhole and I fell in the “NO-FALL Zone.” Obviously my scores suffered, but I with the great run the day before, I was able to pull off a 8th place finish.

Now it feel like have time to breath, but im back to training, Crested Butte is coming up in a few weeks…
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Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships 2009

The Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships at Red Mountain Resort was my first big mountain competition of this season. In training I fell and when I self arrested I injured my wrist. I decided to take a more conservative line than I initially planned because I didn’t want to hurt my wrist any further and because the crash rattled me and shook me up a little. The event went well although I missed the cut to the finals by 0.8points! Even though I was cut, I feel good about the line I decided to ski and I stomped it. Also I feel that it is worth mentioning that this was an alpine skiing event and I beat over half the field on telemark equipment, and I’m happy about that… Hopefully I can heal up my wrist and come back strong and do well in my next comp at Crested Butte.


The Best Christmas Present EVER!!!

This morning I woke up and I was ecstatic that mother nature gave us over two feet of fresh light fluffy snow for Christmas! There was so much snow in fact, that I couldn’t find my car when I went out side to look for it! Anyway, after standing in line for 2.5hrs with my friend Chris Tatsuno, the ski patrol finally declared the lower portion of the mountain open at 11:00. The scene was awesome, people were hootin’ and hollering and laughing and there was a vibe of an old resort, where everyone is in a great mood and having a blast. Chris and I stormed down for first tracks on Exhibition, passing about 50-60 poeple, and we continued charging down the whole morning. We ended up getting eleven runs in on the Exhibition chair before the top opened at 2:00. By the time the top opened the mountain had already tired out most of its morning skiers, and we had to many untracked lined to choose from the rest of the day. During a quick water break, Chris and I met up with Lynsey Dyer and Sven Kueenle and we skied until the mountain closed at 4:00. This was probably one of the days I’ve ever had at Sun Valley resort, and it was the best present I’ve ever received for Christmas


Dude where’s my Car?

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Lift Line


Megawatts=best powder ski ever!!! I love these skis


Chris and I are loving life!


Dumping at Silverstar!!!

“Powder Day!!!” These were the only words I could think of when I awoke to a beautiful white blanket of 15in/38cm of fresh snow this morning(12/13/08). It was great to finally ski on some “good” coverage, as snow has been scarce this early season and conditions have been dismal at best. In addition to the newly fallen blessing, Sliverstar resort open their backside, which is where the majority of black and double black diamonds are located, which meant even more fun for me. This powder day was just what I needed, my legs were burning, my heart was pumping, and I was having a blast. However, in my overly ecstatic state of mind, I didn’t heed to the signs clearly stating “Caution: Unmarked Hazards Exist,” and I ended up introducing my thigh to a very mean tree stump. Ultimately the wicked stump left me with quite a large bruise; thankfully I suffered no major damage. Other then my little incident I had an amazing day.


My 08/09 Season Blasts Off At Revelstoke

I went to Revelstoke Mountain resort for opening day on Nov. 27, 2008. The mountain opened with 80cm, which is awesome compared to other mountains in the American Northwest. Revelstoke Is an amazing mountain, there isn’t too much for one learn on, but the intermediate, and advanced terrain is impressive. I had a great time and I can’t wait to see what this mountain is like with some real snow on it. I had an amazing first day skiing, but it seems that no matter how much I train, my legs turn to flab within the first couple of hours or so each season. Nevertheless, it was great to finally get some vert in; I managed to get about 31095ft in the 5hrs I skied. I’m ecstatic that ski season is upon us once again, see you out there…


2008 Canadian Freeskiing Open

This was my first freeskiing competition of my 2008 winter season. I had a lot of fun and I placed well considering I was the only competitor on telemark equipment. The snow was amazing, but the visibility went to zero soon after the competition started, so finding my line was a bit difficult.