2015 Salomon New Mexico Extreme Skiing Championships Wraps Up
Storm makes for powder days, shortened event
The 2015 edition of the Salomon New Mexico Extreme Skiing Championships wrapped up today with snow still falling as a major storm whipped venues into shape but also resulted in a shorted event due to visibility issues and avalanche danger.
"Despite the challenges in dealing with the weather it was an amazing event," says Taos Event Director Jonah Salloway. "The storm put the venues into fantastic condition and the athletes responded."
We are pleased to announce that the Crested Butte 4 Star Freeskiing Extreme Championships is still scheduled for March 18-20th! The 25th Annual event will be held on March 19th and 20th with venue inspection and mandatory athlete meeting on March 18th.
Please understand that this competition is still snow dependent and therefore might be cancelled as close to 1 week out from the event. We are working with Crested Butte Ski Patrol to see what the upcoming storm brings and determine possible venues that meet our safety and competition quality standards at CBMR.
If you have any questions regarding the event, then please contact Patti Hensley at Crested Butte This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thank you for being part of the 2015 Salomon New Mexico Extreme Freeride Championships. We are exited about this year’s event and looking forward to hosting you. Please review the attached information prior to your arrival in Taos.
We will need you to print out and completer the following forms and bring them with you to Taos:
Dipentima and Boyden Take 1st at Unconventional Terrain Competition
Words: Chris James / Ski The East Freeride Tour Photos: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
The 6th annual Ski The East Freeride Tour (STEFT) kicked off with a sold out event at Mad River Glen on Saturday Feb. 21st. With over 6 feet of snow in the month of February alone, the Lift Line course was in prime condition showcasing plenty of natural features to get creative with. Skies were cloudy in the morning, and then turned to snow by early afternoon towards the tail end of the competition. Temps held steady in the teens, but with sub-zero readings for much of the month, it felt downright balmy outside.
As we all know, it has been a tough start to the season. Mother nature has not been cooperating as we hoped.
Fortunately one of the best values of a freerider is making the most of what we are given. As the season moves forward, we will continue to adjust in real time - carefully gaging snow conditions and working closely with event hosts to ensure the safety and quality of each event.
In the meantime, to adjust for the decrease in competition opportunities, the Board of Directors has voted to shift the ranking protocols for the 2015 season. Since every region has been impacted in some way by low snowpack, these shifts will be organization-wide.
We can now confirm that the Crested Butte 2* Freeride World Qualifier (FWQ), originally scheduled for February 27-28th, has been postponed until Wednesday, March 18th.
We can now confirm the plans for this weekend's competition. Although Fernie Alpine Resort is 100% open, due to our freeski venue locations being north facing, they do not have a chance to soften up during the day and therefore will be too firm to hold a safe competition on at this time.
We have worked diligently to create another option to still have the event which is to move the event to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, BC. The event dates will remain the same February 19th-22nd. All registrations for the Fernie event will carry over so no need to re-register any athletes.
We hope everyone is as excited as we are for this weekend! Please find a few updates, documents and housekeeping items for the upcoming Taos events.
Documents: Six Documents to hand in day of folks (that’s right, 6!) Athletes will not be able to participant in the event without the following documents;
The Crystal Mountain IFSA National scheduled for Feb. 26th to Mar. 1st is a GO! Crystal is pleased to announce there plenty of snow in our High Alpine bowls to run a safe, fun and challenging competition. There are currently three venues under consideration: Snorting Elk Chutes, The Silver Queen and the Silver King. All three venues have sunny and shady aspects that are suitable for Freeride competitions. Crystal will make a final venue decision as the event gets closer and we have a better idea of weather, snow conditions and lift access. We hope to post more photos of the venues on the IFSA website, so stay tuned.
It's been dumping tons of snow recently up in Canada and it's hard not to get excited about both the snowfall and what it means for the newest member of the FWQ family.
Kicking Horse has been hosting a crazy little party called Wrangle the Chute, and now that low key event has grown up and become the final event on the North American FWQ 4* schedule, March 27 – 28.
