The East Coast has been officially invaded, quartered and conquered by freeskiing. Today at the second annual Dumont Cup, a blitzkrieg of trickery was on hand to wow the giant crowd. An amazing display of freeskiing surely made some ladies faint and groms want to grow up to be freeskiing icons like that of who was on hand today. And to top that off, Simon and friends threw a BBQ for all the competition goers. Free lunch is something of the past, brought back to life here by Dumont. And when all the dust settled, Alex Schlopy was the man of the day, taking home the big win. Joss Christensen took silver for the second straight year at the Dumont Cup and last year's winner Tom Wallisch took home the bronze. Mother Nature blessed Sunday River with warmth, plentiful sunshine and minimal wind, all key ingredients that helped add to a wonderful day out on the slopes. With the big jump open and the camera shutters clicking, the 40 semi-finalists duked it out, with two runs in which to impress the judging staff and move on to this afternoon's finals. The course was hard and fast and run were laid down, with Alex Schlopy taking the top qualifying spot. Other mover on-ers included LJ Strenio, Ben Moxham, youngster Nick Goepper, Tim McChesney, Karl Fostvedt, Parker White, Joe Schuster, Samuel Lagrange, and Maks Gorham.
In all, 11 ams moved on to take on the seven pre-qualified finalists, including last year's podium (Mike Riddle, Joss Christensen, Tom Wallisch) and the likes of Peter Olenick, Justin Dorey, Jossi Wells and Gus Kenworthy. Simon decided not to compete this year, instead opting to make sure everything was picture perfect at his namesake event and keep the crowd stoked with frequent product giveaways. Alex Schlopestyle topped the field with his unnatural 900 to switch double-wobbling 1440 to perfection. Joss Christensen kick started the crowd with his unnatural 900 to switch double 1080. And Tom Wallisch utilized his switch right 900 to double corking 1260 to grab yet another podium this year. In fact, doubles were abound as 4th place Nick Goepper bombed double 1260s on the bottom jump and Gus Kenworthy threw switch double 1080s and double flatspin 720s, putting him in the 5th place. Pipe master Justin Dorey tried his hand at slopestyle, and his switch right 900s were a thing of beauty as he slid into 6th place. Ams McChesney, Gorhman and Fostvedt took the next spots (7th, 8th, 9th) and Parker White rounded out the top 10.
Scary moment of the day goes to Brian Kish, whose double 1260s were gigantic, and on his 3rd run, he took it to the side (and bottom) of the jump, crashing in spectacular manner. Kish got up on his own and will hopefully sustain no serious injury and will be back on his shred sticks in no time. Other scary moment of the day goes to the crowd of kids as Simon Dumont tossed out Empire Gloves, Oakley eyewear and apparel and NIke apparel. Kids were seen not just wrestling, but actually fighting for the premium goods. At the end of the contest, Simon held a contest between lucky crowd goers: The first to run and get fully wet in the pond by the lift base station would win a new pair of 2010-11 Salomon 2012 rockered park skis. One lucky person, dubbed "wet guy" won and is happily on his way home with a new pair of whips. Again, with great weather, great event planning, a great course, and great riding, the 2nd annual Dumont Cup went off without a hitch, showing off New England's goods to the rest of the world. See you next year.
