In our post Revelstoke party haze we made our way, almost completely by chance, to Rossland, BC home of Red Mountain and the Canadian Freeskiing Open. Lars kept his podium streak alive despite a pulled groin placing 3rd in tough conditions. Visibility was tough, and skiing by brail seemed to be the favorite saying of the weekend. Thanks to a weather day the finals run down Mt Roberts was in held on a lucky sunny day much to the delight of the competitors. Silas took advantage of the light and skied to very strong runs finishing in 7th place.
The after party held in the gypsy lot held up to classic Red style, complete with a nice Christmas tree bonfire, lots of Kokanee, and a full on blizzard. Unfortunately, that snow turned to rain in the early hours putting a damping on the skiing today. So we’re pointing the General north, back to Revelstoke and Rogers pass in hopes of catching some deep turns in the meter of fresh snow.
In the meantime, here’s edit number one of the season. Hope you enjoy.
Yes it’s been a while since our last post but get ready because it on up here in beautiful British Columbia. The snow keeps coming and the vans are locked in 4 wheel drive mode. While I’d love to sit here and type right now, we’re going to go build a jump with Friends Collin Collins and Chuck Mumford in snowy Nelson, BC. We’ll be back later to give you the full story but for now you can rest easy knowing that somewhere to your north, we’re getting lots of face shots.
Peace, Love and Deep Snow,
GMF
PS the internet is on Island time here, so it may take another day for the comp runs to load on to the world wide web…
Tired of waiting for winter, GMF riders Ryan Hawks, Lars Chickering-Ayers and Chuck Mumford made there way south to Schralptown, located in the heart of the Central Andees. There we were told that it was the lowest snow year in over a decade but that didn’t seem to bother us as we couldn’t be more stoked to be back on skis. Lars especially took advantage with a 2nd place finish at the Argentinian Freeskiing Championships- Stop number Two of the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour.
It was a great weekend for Green Mountain Freeride and the Ayers brothers as Lars was crowned World Champion and Silas took home another third place in the Jr Freeskiing Tour adding to his overall points.
Lars skied a flawless run- fast, fluid and directly falline aiming for the biggest cliffs on the venue. He capped off the run with a perfectly executed massive double cliff right in front of the home crowd at Snowbird, UT. I was watching the action live on freeskiingworldtour.com and just about reinjured my knee as I jumped around with excitement. It was truly the greatest show on earth and probably the most difficult and competitive tour stop yet. We’ll post the videos up on the media page shortly.
It’s been a long three weeks with many highs and lows. Crested Butte backcountry was a lot of fun and even more work. We had no idea how hard it would be to access the goods on sleds in such deep snow but had a lot of fun finding out. After feeling thoroughly worked, we heard it was snowing in SLC so we packed up the sleds and pointed the General west. Alta was skiing great, but for the second time in a row skiing little cottonwood, I was handed a lesson in humility and tore my MCL again. After trekking back to Jackson to get an MRI I learned it was a grade three tear in the MCL ending my season once again. The good new about this was that my ACL and meniscus were both perfectly healthy, which is apparently rare for a grade 3 tear. Also, no bone avulsions this year, so recovery should be quicker, getting me back into the PT earlier.
On the bright side of things, GMF team member Dylan Crossman killed it at Kirkwood by skiing closeout shoots and unique cliffs all his patented Crossman style and speed, and ended up taking home the coveted winners cup. Lars skied one the gnarliest closeout lines ever but unfortunately found a rock hidden under 6 inches of snow after landing the 40-50 ft air. Both Lars and Dylan’s runs are up on the videos section on freeskiingworldtour.com.
Fast-forward a week of recovery in sunny So Cal and we find ourselves at Snowbird for the Jr. Freeskiing Championships. Silas showed off his skills to all watching letting everyone know why he is with out question one of the best young skiers in the world. With less than ideal visibility Silas was in 1st place with a good lead after day. Not wanting to coast to Victory, he skied the toughest line of the day again on day two, skiing with fluidity, power and grace. Unfortunately on his final hit he landed on a boot track left by a competitor hiking for lost skis from earlier in the day and got bucked. Personally, I had blast at Snowbird. Not only was I free from the confines of our house in Driggs, but thanks to Steve Miller and the Snowbird Pro Patrol who shuttled my broken ass to the venue on snowmobile (for the second year in a row!) I was able to spend some time as an apprentice judge, learning from the pros. Due to the poor visibility, we ended up splitting the judges, sending head judge Jim Norm Jack up the hill, leaving me as an official Judge alongside Eric Schmitz and Jonny Manwarring. It was a really great experience and left me with an immense respect for just how tough it can be. Watching all of the juniors ski was pretty incredible in itself. There is a ripping group of skiers growing up and improving in ways I never thought possible at such young ages with a highlight on the 12-14 yr old girls, holy cow they can ski!
This week is the Subaru World Championships at Snowbird. Due to weather it was pushed back a day and will be shown live on Saturday and Sunday. Watch Lars, Dylan and other rippin freeskiers show everyone what’s possible on skis with up to a foot of fresh on Snowbirds North Baldy. I’ll be online watching from my home in Vermont where I’ve come back for rehab and to finish up my last semester at University of Vermont…graduation here I come!
Ryan, Lars, Chuck and Dylan all made it to the superfinals yesterday finishing 15th, 11th, 10th and 9th respectively. With 2 feet of snow blanketing the Staircase, Dead End shoots and Body Bag, the skiing was incredible. It was truly a skiers event with competitors from everywhere throwing down solid runs, it took much more than staying on your feet to do well.
Today we’re heading out to the back country on sleds where nearly 5ft of snow has fallen in the last week. The cloudshave cleared leaving a sparkling blanket of snow covering the rockies. Crested Butte rocks.
We’ll be thinking of Wray while we’re out there, remembering all of the good turns and laughs, and how much wonderful sufering he caused my legs over the years.
It’s been a good three days for GMF here at Crested Butte; two feet of snow has fallen, the skiing’s great and we’re taking advantage of it. Chuck placed 4th in the qualifier and 13th after day one, Ryan placed 5th and Lars took 3rd. Due to visibility they had to postpone 16 athletes run on day one. Crossman took full advantage of the 2ft of snow and took 1st place for the second heat. Due to the drastic change in conditions it was decided there was no fair way to combine the scores so cuts were made from each day and the score cards are being wiped clear for the finals tomorrow. With 8 more inches forecasted for tonight tomorrows skiing promises to be exciting. GMF plans to keep the momentum rolling and stay on top of all the new snow!
Silas led GMF to a 3rd place podium today at Crested Butte Jr Freeskiing Championships with back to back solid runs. He skied fast, fluid lines over firm snow and rocks and showed why he’s on of the best up and coming skiers in North America.
Tomorrow begins the official FWT comp. Big flakes are piling up outside the van and the skiing will be exciting to say the least.
The General made it down to Crested Butte! The mountain is rocky and steep; the snow chalky and carvable. After a few good ski bum tricks we made it on the hill yesterday to scope out the venue with Silas. He was the first competitor to run today and will easily be in the top 5 after a rock solid performance. Lars and I had fun watching the Juniors shred up Hawks Nest in between ski laps. It was very apparent that the FWT was in town: by noon today the mountain was jam packed with skiers of Olympic caliber ripping down solid runs on snow that had other skiers bouncing around wildly.
The General is hidden behind a massive snow bank in a tight parking lot behind our friends, Scott McBrayers and Devon Balets house, who have been kind enough to provide us with a bathroom and some chillin room. I especially appreciate the chillin space because as much as I love van life, being 6′1″ tall in a van with 44″ of inside clearance is rough on my back and neck.
Tomorrow should be a great day; the clouds are rolling in and up to 7″ of snow is expected within 24hrs and hopefully Silas can keep up the good work and cap off the day with a big win.
After an epic pond hockey session last night we loaded up the General full of gear and snowmobiles and pointed it south towards our final destination: Crested Butte. But first we had a few stops to make: 1) pick up my skis (and fire firghters mug) from the side of the road on Teton Pass 2) stop at the Army Surplus Store in Idaho Falls where we were like kids in a candy store (and found our sweet new future yurt/mobile house) 3) Lonestar Taqueria- best mexican food in the USA (watch for full Mexican restaurant review in future posts which includes Lonestar, the bus, the popsicle place and more!) 4) Stop at the Skierboyz home for some quality ski jibber jabber, trip planning and good old time reminiscing 5) blog update (I’m working on this one still 6) SLEEP- we think we’ll get two hours of quality shut eye before continuing to head south. 7) Probably have to stop for more diesel too, 10 mpg doesn’t get you too far especially with a custom welded shrunk down tank. 8 ) ski crested butte and hopefully some powder!
