Alpine U14

Last week, 11 members of Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club’s U14 Alpine Team traveled to Winter Park to compete in the 2016 Rocky/Central Region Junior Championships. SSWSC athletes raced against 97 male and 95 female racers from across the midwest. The spring conditions ceased and as the snow fell, racers fought their way through ruts, powder, and bumpy courses to post their personal fastest times. The team showed great spirit in their preparation, perseverance, and determination to compete with the region’s best. Top individual results from the weekend were…

Molly Mueller- SG 8th, GS 12th/18th
Ryli Adrian- SL 10th/14th, SG 16th
Ella Pietras- Kombi 25, SL 25th, SG 30th
Emi Cooper- GS 32nd, 40th
Emily Craig- Kombi 37th, SL 37th
Cooper Puckett- Kombi 3rd, SL 2nd, GS 1st/1st, SG 2nd, 1st Overall, invited to CanAms
Marat Washburn- Kombi 4th, SL 6th/7th, SG 7th, invited to CanAms
Nico Richeda- SL 8th, GS 6th/7th, invited to CanAms
Cole Gedeon- Kombi 12th, SL 10th, GS 14th
Leo Davies- SG 19th, GS 30th
Bode Flanigan- Kombi 14th, SL 20th/22nd

Bode Flanigan, Emily Craig, and Emi Cooper also won the “bibbo” awards in Kombi, SL, and GS. Emily Craig took home 3 of these awards, while Bode and Emi each took home one. Great job skiing fast from the back of the pack!

Freeskiing

This past weekend the SSWSC big mountain team competed in the Breckenridge GoPro Big Mountain Challenge. The venue was on Peak 6 in the Sixth Senses Chutes.

Day 1 was the 14 and under age groups.
Men: Callum Becvarik 22nd, Jackson Foote 34th
Day 2 was the 15-18 age groups
Women: Kristina Steinberg 9th
Men: Parker Temple 3rd plus won the Judges Choice Award and a brand new GoPro. Will Eck 20th, Mcallan Moody 22nd, Frank Becker 24th

Parker Temple skied a great line gapping over a huge band of rocks to enter the venue (photo provided, you can see his shadow on the left). He then thru a big 360 to enter into Savor Chute and ended with a huge cosac over the cliffs dividing Savor and Contact Chutes (photo provided). He wowed the judges enough to walk away with a new GoPro 4 session for the “Judges Choice Award” (goes to a run that really stood out to the judges) and an engraved 3rd place Belt Buckle.

Snowboarding

Revolution Tour is an event for snowboarding and skiing athletes to get the next level of competition above USASA.  In order to compete at this level you must have the FIS points to do so, or compete and do well in a qualifier event in your region.  This year Spencer Vaughan and Savanna Atkins were already qualified for the event based on their USASA National scores and the training started early for them.  Both athletes started in the fall doing dryland training to get in shape for the winter and the contest season that was among them.  They came into their first Rev tour of the year at Mammoth Mountain located in California in the month of January with high hopes.  The weather was promising for the first few days with soft conditions and blue skies.  Cant say the name for contest day bringing in nasty winds and freezing rain.  This didn’t phase Savanna one bit and took the first chance she could to show off her skills.  She was one of the first girls to go and set the bar high for the rest of the competitor field scoring an 83.75 and finishing her first run in 4th out of 28 girls.  Savanna unfortunately fell her second run, but finished off the day in 4th and made an appearance in her first ever Finals rev tour.  The weather didn’t let up and the slopestyle event was canceled due to new snowfall.

Now it was Spencer Vaughans turn to show the circuit what he was made of.  The next Rev Tour event was at Winter Park Resort in Colorado and he didn’t hesitate at all.  On the first run on the first day he scored an 88.75 which set the bar high for the rest of the field.  After the second run, Spencer qualified 1st for both heats and made his way to finals.  Spencer blew the judges away with his technical rail maneuvers and smooth style over the jumps and landed himself in his first ever podium finish, 3rd place.  Not only was this his first time making a final in a Rev Tour event, but his first ever podium as well in a Rev Tour.

As the athletes got closer to the next and final stop, Seven Springs Resort in Pennsylvania, we expected the worse.  Seven Springs in the past has brought not much other but rainy and snowy weather.  We took a chance this year and made our way to the resort.  When we got there we were greeted with rain/foggy weather and a closed mountain.  Luckily the resort still allowed for the contest to happen.  Savanna competed first and on the day off was postponed due to extreme fog.  After a 3 hour delay the judges saw a break in the weather and started to contest right away.  Even with still foggy weather, Savanna still managed to land her run and made her way 3rd into finals.  Finals was a tough battle, many of the girls were landing very technical runs despite the weather, and so did Savanna.  She finished the day just shy of 3rd and walked away with yet another 4th place finish.  The next day wasn’t much better for the slopestyle competition.  Spencer started off the day with a relatively “nice” morning, but soon after high winds and rain.  This didn’t slow him down at all, landing both his runs and making his way to finals in 5th place.  Finals were tough, almost every athlete landed amazing runs and the scores were high.  Spencer finished his first run in 7th place where he stayed.  This was definitely one of the most skilled rider field he has ever faced, but was still very satisfied with his result.

In the end, both Spencer Vaughan and Savanna Atkins had amazing results and have come so far from the previous year.  Also both athletes got invites to the World Rookie Tour this year in Austria, which was based off their Revolution Tour results.  They both head to USASA Nationals knowing what they need to make podium.  These riders won’t be any different from the ones they’ve already face and they look forward with their heads high.  Good luck you two.

Last weekend the Slash and Burn was a great event! Over 300 athletes competed, of all ages! Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the course!

Cross Country

Hakan Festival 2016

In its 12th edition, the Hakan Festival provided the opportunity for Cross Country and Nordic Combined athletes and families to get together and celebrate skiing. The Steamboat Ski Touring Center and the SSSWSC join forces to stage the festival. This event always has a costume theme associated with it, with this year’s theme was Biking Vikings. Some came in themed costumes and others just came in costumes. The snow conditions at the Touring Center were mid-winter and fabulous. The day started out with a costume race/tour of the Meadows Loop. Next on the list was a XC ski obstacle course which included: bicycle bumps, wave rollers, and a drop jump. Kids had fun negotiating the features on their narrow skis. After the skiing segment, a BBQ was held on the Touring Center patio. The Hakan Festival is a fundraiser for an annual scholarship fund that benefits SSWSC Nordic Athletes. Each year top performing athletes are chosen from the SSWSC XC and Ski Jump/ NC Programs. This year’s winners included Noel Keeffe and Wyatt Gebhardt for XC and Logan Sankey for Ski Jump/NC. This event and scholarship fund would not be possible if not for the hard work and enthusiasm from Touring Center owner Birgitta Lindgren and her staff!