I have to admit, watching the weather over the past two days had me scared. The thought of non-crystalline precipitation (rain) during the biggest event the East Coast has seen since the X Games would be a bit of a bummer. Thankfully Mother Nature stepped up to the plate and delivered an upper deck shot in the form of 8+ inches of pow, yes there is pow in the east coast.
The snow was so good Tanner Hall was hiking the side of the pipe to get some deep slashes. Those wondering why Tanner wasn’t taking any laps, he was pre-qualified due to his 1st place finish in Breckenridge.
While everyone else was off enjoying the newly fallen snow, pipe prelims were well underway at Carinthia. Unfortunately, due to the snow, getting the speed needed to go into orbit was a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, the pipe was perfectly sculpted and riders came prepared with wax.
Simon cruises into the first hit, doesn’t go quite as big as he’s used to, however still manages to make his tricks look effortless and rides into the top qualifying spot. For those wondering, Simon Dumont is an ambi-turner, going left and right on his 9’s.
It was hammering snow all morning and afternoon however guys still found ways to throw down clean 1080’s, 900’s and a full menu of tricks in order to entertain the crowd and earn one of the coveted 9 spots so they can advance to the big show.
Colby West did work and found his way into the 5th qualifying spot.
Matt Philippi once again qualified and will be continuing his comeback after being injured last season. He’s an East Coast native and will be a name to watch this week.
Mike Riddle, sans Canada.
Mean muggin’.
Men’s Prelims Top 9
1) Simon Dumont
2) Mike Riddle
3) Tucker Perkins
4) Matt Philippi
5) Colby West
6) Peter Olenick
7) AJ Kemppainen
8) Taylor Seaton
9) Byron Wells
Men’s pre-qualified
1) Tanner Hall
2) Justin Dorey
3) Duncan Adams
Tune in tomorrow for our slopestyle coverage from the Mount Snow stop of the Winter Dew Tour. Here is a brief preview of the slope course from the helmet of Banks Gilberti. We’ll have more course previews, video and news tomorrow here on Freeskier.com.
