Tweet

Written By: Stephen Williams

Last week, British Columbia’s Revelstoke Mountain Resort played host to the first freeskiing event of 2012, an ideal location to determine the best skiers and snowboarders in the world. For the first time the North/South American-based Freeskiing World Tour and the European-based Freeride World Tour met to explore a new format as a long-term, globally unified competition series. The best freeskiing athletes from both tours competed on the same stage to determine who is best-of-the-best. Also joining the stop at Revelstoke was The North Face Masters of Snowboarding Tour, whose North American-based riders competed with the European snowboarders on the Freeride Word Tour.

Snowfall–or the lack there of–has been a hot topic as of late in the west, while Alaska and British Columbia have been getting more than their fair share. With almost 200 inches of snow already fallen this season, Revelstoke’s snowpack was ready to host the event. The first two days of competition were snowy and socked in, but provided enough visibility for the skiers and riders to spot their soft landings. The snow, however, increased and the final day of competition was delayed from Sunday until Wednesday to allow Revelstoke ski patrol and staff to ready the venue. The wait was well worth it; the last day provided a foot a fresh snow under perfectly bluebird skies.

With such a large number of skiers, a qualifying day in the North Bowl of Revelstoke started out the weekend to narrow the field down to 25 men and 10 women. The field of skiers were warmed up and set to begin their two day competition, but before they could, the snowboarders lined up to take a crack at the North Bowl. With a one run final format, the snowboarders has to make it count and they did not disappoint. Big airs, huge combinations, and hard charging turns showed off the athleticism of the competitors. Taking the top prize for the men was Ralph Backstrom of Squaw Valley and for the women Maria Debari of Mount Baker.

In day one of the skiing competition the North Americans from the Freesking World Tour dominated North Bowl and put down the biggest lines of the day. British Columbia’s own Kye Petersen, who has been rising to superstar status with film segments in Teton Gravity Research and Sherpa Cinemas, led after the first day of competition with a line including a huge double combination cliff drop and a few solid spins on the lower features. Despite being favored coming into the competition due to great conditions in Europe, only one skier from the Freeride World Tour landed in the top 10.

With a three day weather delay that dropped over a foot of snow on Revelstoke, the skiers had plenty of time to study their lines for the Mackenzie face. The ‘MacDaddy,’ a huge out-of-bounds 2500′ vertical wall accessible only by helicopter provided infinite options of line choices for the athletes to choose from. The snow stopped and the skies cleared, the face was bombed and readied for competition by Revelstoke staff, and the skiers loaded into the helicopter. The majority of the mens final runs chose to head to the skiers left side of the face where a series of rock features allowed them to link together a combination multiple airs. The ‘Flyin’ Hawaiian’ Drew Tabke and Snowbird skier Oakley White-Allen both stomped all the airs in their combination as White-Allen eeked out second place over Tabke by less than two tenths of a point. Kye Petersen took the top score as he deviated from the rest of the skiers by skiing down the middle of the face, throwing a huge 360 towards the top, heading skiers right and stomping the largest air of the competition. Kye’s run really showcased the progression of freeskiing as he combined freestyle moves with powerful skiing on the technical face.

In the women’s finals, skiers Crystal Wright and Jess McMillan held it down for Jackson Hole, finishing on the podium with impressive performances at the difficult venue. Wright followed up her podium finish at the Red Bull Powder Disorder in Chili by taking second place behind Angel Collinson. With a combined score of 71.73, Wright skied a strong, creative line that showed her aggressive style with one of the biggest drops thrown by any female in the competition. McMillan rounded out the podium in third place with a score of 69.67 showcased her powerful skiing with big mountain turns on a line that propelled her down the 2,500′ vertical of Mackenzie Face at blazing speed. Check out the results and video highlights from the competition below.

Final Day Highlights

Revelstoke Top Runs Finals from Subaru Freeskiing World Tour on Vimeo.

Results

Revelstoke 2012 Day 1 Highlights from Subaru Freeskiing World Tour on Vimeo.

Revy 2012 Snowboard Day Highlights from Subaru Freeskiing World Tour on Vimeo.