This article originally appeared on Freeskier.com on March 19th, 2011.
The fourth and final stop of the USSA Revolution tour has just concluded here at Mount Snow with two days of heated competition. The West Dover, Vermont resort played host to a wealth of competition as Revolution Tour, in its 7th season, started it’s ski events with Men & Women’s Halfpipe on Thursday. Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, the mountain was awash in green and Irish eyes were certainly smiling on the halfpipe as it was a beautiful day to be out on the hill, 50º & bluebird.
Due to a smaller than expected number of competitors, fielding only 22 men and 4 women, qualifiers were abbreviated and the finals were moved up from their original start at 3:00 pm to 12:30. From the initial field of athletes, 8 men and all of the women would move on to finals. With a two run format to show their stuff, both men & women shared the pipe for a single finals event, with the ladies hitting it first. First for the ladies was Julia Marino, from Plymouth, NH, who seemed to struggle a bit with speed in the second half of the pipe as the warm weather certainly slowed things down. Following Marino was Mashfield, MA’s Jess Breda who had a bit of better luck and laid down a consistent run that allowed her to climb into the third spot on the podium. Dropping in next was Eden Netelkos of Underhill, VT, who, not only took 2nd for the day, but also the highest airs out of the field of women. Taking first with a very smooth run was Canadian Dara Howell. Bringing their A game, the men certainly put on a show in Mount Snow’s halfpipe, but only three would be the true show stoppers, earning a spot at the top of the podium and an armful of schwag. Coming in third was Darien, CT’s Scott Nelson who’s run included left & rightside 7’s. In second was Boulder, CO local Lyman Currier and Manchester Center, VT’s Brian Kish who included a switch 1080 on his first hit.
With awards wrapped up shortly after finals, many of the competitors set their sights on the terrain park located adjacent to the superpipe in order to log some practice runs ahead of the slopestyle event which took place to day. A growing crowd at the bottom of the 2 jump line watched as dub after dub was thrown. With the amount of talent on display for this impromptu big air event, it was clear that these athletes would be throwing down.
The 2nd day of skiing at the Rev Tour stop saw intermittent rain and cloudy skies greet the morning which cast an ominous shadow on the day’s slope course. Warm temperatures, wind and a bit of rain made for slushy conditions. Riders had a tough time judging their speed on the slower snow and played a game of roulette with the wind; dropping in on a jump at the wrong time and a strong tailwind would easily send a skier past their intended landings. Despite the iffy weather, the Mount Snow park crew did a great job preparing the course for the day’s event. Starting off with a cannon box, athletes would then hit a step up, followed by the option of a flat box or flat, down rail into the last two jumps and would have two runs to make a go at it. The day started with qualifiers and in a similar manner to yesterday’s halfpipe event, both men and women would start their heats together, alternating the starts of their first and second runs. 42 men and 4 women would compete today, among them a contingent of Japanese athletes that had come stateside to train and compete while their own home mountains sat shuttered as a result of the earth quake and tsunami that hit the island nation last Friday. The top twelve runs of the men and all of the women would advance to finals. Due to the large field of competitors, qualifiers took most of the morning. With a brief pause for course maintenance, 1 practice run and the sun joining us for the remainder of the day, finals started at 12:30.
The ladies were the first to drop in to the course and while many opted to take a conservative approach, opting to choose the smaller lips on the jump but things got serious quick when Jess Breda, in her first run, would go down hard on the 2nd to last jump and had to be taken away by ski patrol. We wish her a speedy recovery. It was once again Canadian Dara Howell who would top the podium with a run which included a stylish cork 7 and 540. Joining her in 2nd was PA native Maggie Stout and in third, Japan’s Chiho Takao. Moving on to the men, there was a lot of creativity in the top section, with a number of cork rotations and inverts out of the cannon box & numerous 270 combos on the flat down option for the rail features. The trickery on the jumps was a bit tapered at times as the wind caused a number of issues. In the end, it would be Carrabassett, ME’s James Campbell on top, who’s run included a misty out of the cannon, switch 5 tail, front swap, 270 out of the flat down, dub 1080 and finished with a rodeo 5. In 2nd for the 2nd time at this event was Ketchum, ID’s Lyman Currier who threw down a run that cork 630 out of cannon, right cork 7 lead tail, 270 disaster on the flat down, cork 900 tail grab and a switch 1080 mute. Rounding out the podium was Montclair, NJ’s Jack Strain. His run included a 630 out of the cannon, 7 mute on the step up, 270 disaster on the flat down, 9 blunt into a switch 10 blunt.
Congrats to all the competitors!
While that concludes the Revolution Tour, the action doesn’t stop. The Carinthia Open takes place tomorrow which will surely be another event to catch. Look for a recap of that later tomorrow.
