Despite Mother Nature's less than cooperative attitude towards the inaugural year of the IFSA Collegiate Freeride Series (CFS), athletes and their schools made an impression on the sport of freeride and set the tone for years to come. For the first time in the history of competitive big mountain skiing, collegiate athletes celebrated the sport of freeride with a series of their own. The Tour reunited many atheltes that competed together for years as IFSA juniors and blended them with a whole new freeride community.
An amazing group of U12 freeriders gathered April 9 and 10 at the Breckenridge Ski Resort in Summit County, Colorado for the 2015 US Freeride U12 Championships. Athletes traveled from the west, east, north, intermountain and rockies to represent virtually all IFSA regions in the US for the final U12 event of the season.
The event was co-hosted by the Breckenridge Ski Resort and Team Summit. Forty-four of the nation's top young athletes were given access to Breckenridge's new hike to high-alpine environment on Peak Six for two days. At an altitude of 12,573 feet, the huge face challenged these U12 Champs with the boldest venue they've ever faced.
The Red Mountain Freeski Academy is now accepting registrations for the 2015/2016 academic year. The Academy program combines on snow and dryland training focused on IFSA Freeski competitions with a quality and flexible grade 8-12 academic curriculum. The Red Mountain Academy also provides a homestay program for visiting American and Canadian athletes.
In a season plagued by low snow and short winters, the IFSA concluded its third year of independent junior competitions at the North American Championships at Grand Targhee Resort, Wyoming. The event was the culmination of a long season that saw events cancelled or postponed because of low snow and even too much snow. Over April 8th-11th weekend, the top 10% of junior athletes, pulled from the National and Regional rankings, demonstrated an elite level of skiing, really impressive, technical skiing and snowboarding in great snow.
Junior Freeski Big Mountain Regioanal scheduled for March 27th-29th at Crystal Mountain has been cancelled. This decision has been made due to the current conditions. The warm temperatures and lack of snow have forced this unfortunate outcome. Event organizers have made the decision that there is no appropriate event venue available.
Refund information will follow. We look forward to hosting this great event again next season.
(Alta, WY – March 13, 2015) The IFSA and Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows have decided to re-site the IFSA NORAM Jr. Championships event that was scheduled for April 8-12 at Squaw Valley. Although Squaw Valley has received snow, the amount of time and snow needed for the event is significant, and the resort has chosen to allocate its resources solely to providing the best possible guest experience. IFSA has announced to hold the NORAM Jr. Championships at Grand Targhee Resort.
Scott Mahoney, IFSA President stated, ""We are super pumped to be at Grand Targhee Resort. Grand Targhee has a phenomenal events staff and it is always a pleasure to be there. We are very pleased that they have stepped up to support the athletes with this mid-season venue change!"
The IFSA Alpental Freeride Öpen is a youth based freeski and snowboard competition that will be held on the chair line of Chair 2 on Alpental's upper slopes. This will be a scored IFSA Junior regional event. An IFSA membership is recommended for all participants. Membership can be purchased directly from the IFSA website in yearly and single competition increments.
This weekend, The Smugglers' Notch Ski and Snowboard Club hosted the 3rd Annual Extreme Skiing Challenge! The course: the Madonna headwall - an ungroomed steep with a double fall line descent filled with cliffs, bumps, trees, chutes, and stumps.
A few updates/documents/housekeeping items for the upcoming Vail events.
Documents: Five documents to hand in day of folks (that's right, 5!) Athletes will not be able to participant in the event without the following documents; IFSA 2015 Waiver, JETA Waiver, HDS Participant Waiver, Vail Special Events Release, Athlete Profile.
As we quickly approach the IFSA Junior National at Alpine Meadows, here is the latest on how conditions are shaping up. Reviewing the weather forecast please keep in mind that we be to adjusting in real time to the low to moderate coverage we are experiencing throughout the Tahoe region.
