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March 30, 2004-- It
was the tele extreme freeskiing comp that almost didn't happen,
but in the end, last week's United States Championship event
at Crested Butte was one of the most memorable ever as some the
top tele skiers in the world overcame gnarly weather and extremely
challenging snow conditions to remind everyone, once again, just
how far freeheel skiing has come in recent years. And the field
was very strong from top to bottom.
Take Chris Erickson for example. That's
him in red (at right) being congratulated by men's winner Dylan
Crossman. Erickson went into Saturday's final dead-last, qualifying
22nd and just making the cut on Friday. Chris promptly went out
on the very first men's division run of the finals and stunned
the Saturday crowd by launching and stomping a 40 foot jump onto
3 or 4 inches of light fresh snow over a rock hard, noisy, base.
This first run of the day raised the bar for all of the rest
of the men to follow. Combined with his final run score, it was
enough to move Chris up to 9th place when the final results were
tallied.
Then there was the powerful showing by
the women. First place finisher Sarah Light of Whitefish (MT)
scored 112.8 points, a result that would have given her a sixth
place finish in the men's division!
As exciting as the final was it took impressive
tele skiing by all of the athletes listed below in Friday's qualifying
round just to get there. After weeks of hot weather on Thursday
night it got cold and the hard freeze set up the course into
what former Mad River Glen local Crossman described as "really,
really firm," many would think that being from MRG gives
Dylan a unique perspective on such matters. I would be among them.
So I was not surprised
that when it came time to ski down to the bottom of the venue
and do some filming that I was very nearly fearing for my life
while thinking "these guys and gals are going to compete
on this snow?" But they did, and the snow wasn't much better
after a few inches of fluff fell on Friday night. Despite terrible
visibility that resulted in several weather holds, a lot of the
competitors went big and all skied very hard in Saturday's final,
as can be seen in the videos.
And of course no report
on the 2004 Crested Butte U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Telemark Championships
would be complete without mention of the terrific job the organizers
did. Not in just pulling the event together at what was relatively
the last minute, but also in staging what was a well run, complete
and classy affair.
From the reception at the
conference center after Thursday's registration, to Friday's
apres ski party, to Saturday night's banquet and awards ceremony,
the beer flowed and the grinds were tasty. |
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VIDEO |
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The Top Two-- Here's
the top two men and women finsihers skiing run three --the first
of two runs skied in the finals--Janae's run probably gives the
best view of the Headwall course top to bottom but check out
the severe conditions Nick and Dylan were skiing in: hammering
snow and extremely poor visibility to go along with 3 inches
of dust over a base as hard as an ice rink. They went for it
anyway... |
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55mb
Mpeg |
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Ross Matlock--The
head judge at the Crested Butte tele extremes tells us what the
judges are primarily looking for...and surprise... it isn't pretty
little tele trurns... |
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5mb
Windows Media |
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NEW:
More athletes-- Here is a nearly 6 minute video featuring various
competitors skiing Headwall on the final day. Included are Rob
Nachtney, Pete Cook, Mark Robbins, Nick DeVore, Julie Conard,
and Ben Morello. |
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14mb
Windows Media
26mb Windows Media
55mb Mpeg |
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Chris Erickson is congratulated
on a strong finish by 1st and 2nd place winners Dylan Crossman
& Nick Devore (holding skis)
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All smiles while holding their skis,
cash prizes and gear, are the top five finishers (in order) in
the women's division, led by winner Sarah Light at left holding
her new Karhu Jils. On her left is second place finisher and
CB local Janae Deverill, Julie Conard (in red) from Sandy (UT),
Boulder Colorado's Hannah Hosch and Erika Perin, also of Crested
Butte.
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