On the men’s side of things, once again we were treated to an absolutely spectacular show. We saw some remarkable performances, and some all-time spills, as well.

The snow in the top portion of the course looked fantastic, on account of wind loading. The conditions down below were a bit more difficult, making the array of awesome aerial antics and subsequent stomped landings that much more impressive. The guys certainly weren’t holding back—a berth on the Freeride World Tour was the goal for most of ‘em, after all.

Some of the standout notes from day 2 were as follows:

“Conor Macdonald DAMN!!!!!! Massive airs. Such a bummer he butt-checked.”

“Martin Lentz. HUGE AIR. 360. Boom. Fast up top. Fist pumping. He just locked up the win, for sure.”

Sure enough, Lentz would earn a cumulative 68.67, good enough for the Wrangle crown. Lentz has been a formidable competitor on the junior and FWQ circuit; his win almost certainly secures him a spot on the World Tour in 2016.

“The level of the sport is progressing from the bottom up, we have so many kids in these amazing development programs learning how to do it the safe way, the proper way, pick good lines, make good choices, and it’s really paying off,” said Lentz of the junior programs that largely paved his road to success. “[So many of us] come from the juniors, you look at a handful of the top finishers after day 1, and we’re all kids that skied in a junior comp last year. That’s where it’s really coming up from and I’m stoked to be a part of it.”

Lentz noted that his performance at Wrangle the Chute was dedicated to the late Bryce Astle.

I asked Lentz about the onset of nerves that inevitably goes hand-in-hand with dropping in as the very last competitor of the day.

“You’re trying to sit up there and just tell yourself that you’re going skiing for fun, and just ski like you normally would,” he explained. “It’s hard to put that in your head sometimes, especially when you’re looking down something like [Truth and Dare], but yeah, it is just another comp run… ski fast, ski aggressive, ski with some energy and try to have as much fun as possible.”

Lentz was complimentary of the venue, and the ski resort, as well.

“This is my first time [at KHMR], I’ve driven through this area a bunch, and you kind of look up there and you can’t tell how big the peaks are, and then you get off the gondola and it’s just four massive cirques with the sickest lines everywhere, and it’s all inbounds. I wish we had more time to just explore this place.”

“This event is fantastic for Kicking Horse, we know how amazing our terrain is and over the years, Wrangle has tested athletes with nothing but great feedback,” said Andy Brown, Media & Marketing Coordinator for KHMR. “Now that Wrangle is a 4-Star FWQ/IFSA sanctioned event we are on the map with athletes that travel on the Tour. Wrangle has had an anti-comp vibe to it, where competitors were partaking because they wanted to, and not because they felt they must. It’s the love of the sport that pushed them to lay it all out on the line, and the mountain culture that brought them back year after year. We don’t want that vibe to ever leave the event. The stakes may be higher with its new status but our goal is to maintain the laid back and fun-loving vibe Wrangle the Chute is know for.”

As I took my second shot of Fireball from a shot-ski dubbed Shotnik (for its incorporation of NASA parts and thereby its relation to the Russian craft Sputnik), up on CPR Ridge amid the contest, there was certainly nothing to suggest the laid back vibe had been tarnished.

“You get off the gondola and it’s just four massive cirques with the sickest lines everywhere, and it’s all inbounds.”

Meantime, balloon animals were being crafted, snowballs continued to fly and “Canadian tuxedos” were being paraded. The hoots and hollers reached a high-point when local Patroller Alex Geisbrecht dropped in for his run. And if you read the note above regarding Geisbrecht’s run, you’ll understand the raucous cheering quickly turned to a loud, collective sigh.

The good-times kept rolling through the evening, too, as the highly revered DJ Skratch Bastid busted out the turntables at Whitetooth Grill (KHMR base lodge), inspiring a 2-legit-2-quit dancefest. Athletes and the public alike enjoyed the affair, and the booty shaking was only interrupted by mandatory jäger bombs, of which I enjoyed (sort of) at least seven. The party moved later to downtown Golden, to the Rockwater Bar and Grill, where the jäger bombs continued. And thus, my plans to enjoy some skiing with a handful of the competitors on the following morning (well, later that morning) went out the window.

In closing: Wrangle was an absolute blast. Big thanks goes out to the judging crew, and the mountain safety ops. for keeping things in check. Thanks also to the event organizers at KHMR, Helly Hansen, and of course, the athletes for putting on a show. The level of riding displayed at this 4-Star FWQ event was absolutely top-notch, and we should all be excited about the future of Wrangle, as well as that of FWQ and junior events across North America and beyond.

Podium: 2015 Wrangle the Chute

Men:

1. Martin Lentz
2. Trace Cooke
3. Max Durtschi

View full results.

Women:

1. Kylie Sivell
2. Lauren Cameron
3. Hadley Hammer

View full results.

Related: Hardcore skiers, get yer’ butt up to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort

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