Hello again from warm and sunny Southern California, we’re here for Day 2 of the Paul Mitchell Big Bear Freeskiing Open, held at Bear Mountain Resort. On today’s agenda was the men’s and women’s slopestyle competition, and with around 90 male competitors, this was one of the largest slopestyles of the season, making it very difficult to make it into the final round of competition. On the bright side, if you could not make finals, you had a perfect opportunity to get some time in the sun, with the temperatures reaching into the 50s.
Defining this course is how technical a skier had to be, with 4 rails, 3 jumps and a wall ride, the competitors also had to hold it together for a long run. Make no mistake, this was no spin-to-win contest, with more emphasis on style and fluidity of a run. From qualifying the highlights included Ian Cosco’s 630-to-disaster on the gnarly down-flat-down rail, Mike Clarke’s switch on, blind 450 out on the road gap rail, and Taylor Felton’s switch-900 to 900 jump combos. The competition was tight, but only 12 of the 90 made it into the big show.
On the women’s side, the decision was made to opt out of a semi-final and move straight into a two run final. Yesterday’s superpipe winner, Keri Herman, utilized her left and right spinning to slide into third. But in the end, it was Utah’s Ashley Battersby, whose 540 to switch 540 double line landed her atop the rest. We’ve seen women push freeskiing all season and here in Big Bear was no exception.
However, once the finals started, and the boys were separated from the men, the show-stopping runs were thrown down. Unfortunately AJ Burton couldn’t hold onto his various 1080s, and Colby Albino couldn’t keep a clean run, which knocked them down in the rankings. Sean Logan, who made everything look effortless, styled his way into a 5th place position. Waterville-protege-turned-Breckenridge-resident, Mike Clarke’s switch 540, cork 900 tail and switch right-side 720 were enough to compliment his rails to stick him in 2nd place. But in the end, Obermeyer’s Henrik Lampert came out on top, with a score significantly higher than the rest. His cork 900 to switch right-side 720 to switch left-side 720 couldn’t be topped by any amount of spinning from other competitors.
And after a long day of incredible skiing, warm weather and a lot of BBQ, we bring the 2007 Big Bear Freeskiing Open to a close. Such an event cannot be run so smoothly without the tireless work of Revolution’s Production, and the staff here at Bear Mountain. This was quite the weekend of skiing, hopefully we will see you next year, here in Southern California.
Men’s Results:
1) Henrik Lampert
2) Michael Clarke
3) Tyler Peterson
4) McRae Williams
5) Sean Logan
6) Jos Christensen
7) Dylan Akerley
8) Ian Cosco
9) Luke Nutting
10) Colby Albino
Women’s Results:
1) Ashley Battersby
2) Natalie Sirianni
3) Keri Herman
4) Katie Jane Souza
5) Tamara Loudy
