Park City Training Trip
The Freeride Program just wrapped up their 2nd Park City training trip over the weekend of 1/17-1/20 with 6 athletes ages 10-13 making the trip in snowy weather to practice their terrain park skills at PCMR
Standout Freeskier Bennet Balogh was accompanied by up and comers Winston Ochs and brother Rhett and Rylan Smerklo. On the snowboard side we had young gun Ellis "Big L" Swain and Tiernan Schuldt along as well.
Day 1 dawned cloudy with 21" of fresh snow, unreal! We enjoyed some of that Utah light and fluffy stuff in the trees all morning long before hitting up lunch for a quick break. The afternoon was spent on the small jumps and box features, warming up for the rest of the weekend.
Days 2 and 3 were cool and cloudy, but with just enough visibility for us to work our way up in progression to the bigger jumps. Bennet worked his back-flips and switch tricks on the smaller jump while floating big 360s and 540s over the larger table top. Tiernan worked his way up to hitting jump 2 as well, which was almost 50 feet to clear it. He put down some nice 3's on jump 1 both days and was able to clean most of the larger rails as well. The younger crew on this trip really stepped it up big as well, with Winston, Rhett, Rylan and Ellis all spending the better part of the weekend hitting jump 1, probably the biggest any of them had hit. Winston and Rhett were especially eager on our last day, with both of them putting down a couple of their first 540's.
These trips to Park City to train in their parks have been extremely productive each and every time and we are excited to get back down there to see what they have in store for us at our USASA Rail Jam, Slope and Pipe events 2/17-3/3.
Snowbird National IFSA
The Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club sent some Freeride Program athletes to Snowbird in Utah for the first IFSA big mountain event of the year. Steven Bailey, Neo Emery, Rye Webb, Ronin, and Jack Kilmain all made the snowy trip down to battle it out, along with their coaches Lance Pitman and Aaron Hallenbeck. A big storm made for great conditions on the mountain, and long van rides to and from the house.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Freeride athletes completed their qualifying runs. Rye Web and Ronin Suclla Zell competed in the 12-14 snowboard division. Rye had a solid run that put him in third place going into finals, while Ronin took a unfortunate fall near the finish line and finished in sixth. Jack Kilmain put down an incredible run in the 12-14 skier division, landing big airs and skiing with speed and control. He qualified in fifth place. Neo Emery and Steven Bailey were in the 14-18 snowboard division. Steven had a great run, but bobbled down low and finished in 8th. Neo was able to put down a technical run, and qualified in 2nd.
Due to another huge storm that rolled in Monday night, the IFSA was forced to cancel the finals and stick with the qualifying results.
Jackson Hole Regional IFSA
We hosted yet another great event on our home court at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in the Toilet Bowl & Tower Three with nearly 20 athletes from the Freeride Program registered for the competition! We had incredible conditions for the event and standout performances by many athletes.
The event would not be possible without the support of our sponsors:
- Faction Skis
- Stio
- Hoback Sports
- Dragon Goggles
- Atomic Skis
- Arcade Belts
- Kate's Real Food
- The Splitboard Shop
- Teton Gravity Research
- Mead Ranch Natural Beef
Above- The first recipient of the Bryce Newcomb Memorial Award, nominated by his peers, goes to Jacob Smith! Tear off those sleeves!!
Below- JHSC Freeride Program's Ryan Glick takes the top spot in the podium for the Under 12 Female Freeski division.
Above- Coach Aaron Hallenbeck reminds the Neo Emery, Steven Bailey & Jake Johnson boarders to keep the vibes high.
Below- JHSC Freeride Program's Rye Web & Ronin Zell Claim 3rd and 2nd on the Podium for the 12-14 Male Snowboard Division.
For more information about the event see the JH News & Guide article here.
WNL Park & Snow King terrain park
The Slopestyle course will be open for testing this week during the Progression Plus practice. The Boardercross track will hopefully be open by the middle of next week.
January Core Value "Fun" Monthly Monsters -
Congrats to these athletes who stood out among their peers for embodying 'fun' in their day to day training routine.
- Miles Huseby
- Rhet Smerklo
- Renny Roberts
- Deagan Wilson
- Tiernan Schuldt
- Ronaldo Martell
- Ryder Mussleman
