Oh what a snowy day here at the Aspen/Snowmass Open at Buttermilk, CO. After the Superpipe competitors were done, the slopestyle guys who traveled from all over the globe came to strut their stuff on a nearly-identical X Games course. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to dump some of that fluffy white stuff throughout the day, making visibility and speed luxuries of yesteryear. And with roughly 150 competitors in 5 heats, the judges, starters and park crew had their work cut out for them.
Heat 1: That you would expect from names like Strenio and Gagnier, taking the top two qualifying spots. Heat 1 might have had the worst speed of the day, with very few cleanly landed runs. Strenio was flipping all over the place while Vinny did grabbing that would make his older brother proud.
Heat 1 Qualifiers:
1) LJ Strenio
2) Vincent Gagnier
3) Hans Wiener
4) Khai Krepela
5) Alex Dutcher
6) COdy Ling
7) Chace Crane
Heat 2: Rumor has it that young Sandy Boville did a Kangaroo flip, and that would explain a lot of why he took the top qualifying spot. Luke Nutting, Jeff Kiesel and Anders Backe all stomped clean and solid runs, keeping them in the know. James Woods has parlayed his skills from Dry Slope in England quite well, taking the 4th spot. Alex Schlopy took a spill on his first run, but hey, he’s in and that’s all that matters.
Heat 2 Qualifiers:
1) Sandy Boville
2) jeff Kiesel
3) Luke Butting
4) James Woods
5) Anders Backe
6) Alex Schlopy
7) Brian Kish
Heat 3: McRae Williams continues his McSlopestyle train, coming off the Dews to this, no surprise here. Scandinavia was well represented with Kim Boberg, Elvis Harsheim and Lasse Nyhaugen (Maybe?) taking the next spots. Watch out for the scanner takeover. Kim says he has big things in his sleeve, but Dew Tour’s Elvis Harsheim can’t be counted out.
Heat 3 Qualifiers:
1) McRae Williams
2) Kim Boberg
3) Elvis Harsheim
4) Lasse Nyhaugen
5) Brian Locke
6) Laurent DeMartin
7) Aidan Sheahan
Heat 4: Not content with his 1st place finish in pipe yesterday, Kenny G goes out and qualifiers first, in the snowy blizzard. Super Karl who wasn’t as content with his pipe placing yesterday, dropped some knowledge on the field today. Heat 4 and 5 had pretty awesome weather, so give these guys credit for even throwing down. Tomorrow is a new day and let’s look for Gus to go back-to-back.
Heat 4 Qualifiers:
1) Gus Kenworthy
2) Karl Fostvedt
3) Erik Hughes
4) Leo Zoberski
5) Lars Haakon Hafsal
6) Nicky Keefer
7) Camerson Snyder
Heat 5: The big story is Tim McChesney, who qualified 2nd today. There isn’t actually a story, but Tim must be stoked to make tomorrow’s semi-finals. Tae Wescott, gotta give a shout out to the only asian in the field qualifying for tomorrow’s happenings. Ben Moxham no doubt used his flowing red locks to slide into that last spot in heat 5.
Heat 5 Qualifiers:
1) Will Berman
2) Tim McChesney
3) Mack Jones
4) Sam Ferguson
5) Tae Wescott
6) Cullen Moran
7) Ben Moxham
As with Superpipe there was a last chance qualifier, the next best top 5 scores will make it into tomorrow’s big show. We’ll be hoping that the weather gets better and better for tomorrow’s men’s and women’s finals. Only Mother Nature and the Weatherman on Channel 9 news will know tomorrow’s fate at the Aspen/Snowmass Open. Stay tuned.
