Featured Image: Scott Crady
The Vasquez Ridge Territory of Winter Park Resort set the stage for the second and final day of the Red Bull Cascade on Saturday, April 22 as the men’s second round and men’s/women’s final when underway. Passion project of Colorado local Bobby Brown, the Red Bull Cascade was launched with the goal of crowning the most well-rounded male and female skiers as they take their turn through a two-mile-long course sprinkled with rails, park jumps, natural side hits, tree sections and big mountain skiing throughout.
Speed was an issue in the morning as practice began. After waking up to Mother Nature delivering a foot of fresh snow, the park crew had their work cut out for them, tending to the lips of each feature and moving fresh snow around in an effort to speed up the course. After the necessary maintenance, a few slow-moving practice laps to pack in the runs, and a little help from the ski techs at Boone Mountain Sports, the riders were able to dial in their speed for the final day of competition.
We began the men’s second round with a tightly contested matchup between Hunter Hess and Blake Wilson. Hess put down a clean run to move into finals posting a 46, narrowly beating out Wilson’s 44 in the closest head-to-head matchup of the second round. Wilson did not fail to please the crowd as he sent a massive laid-out double-backflip that garnered a handful of “yews!” from spectators.
The next pairing to drop was hometown boy Birk Irving, followed by Mac Forehand. Irving took the course first but failed to land a clean run, falling on the final feature. Forehand, who’s been on a tear of late, continued his momentum from the first round as he posted the highest second-round score with a 47.5.
The last riders to take the Cascade course in the men’s second round were Alex Hall and Konnor Ralph. After another tightly contested matchup, Hall made it through to the final scoring a 46.5, besting Ralph’s 43. Hall joined Hunter Hess and Mac Forehand in the final round and a battle for podium placement.
Men’s Round Two:
Hunter Hess v Blake Wilson
Birk Irving v Mac Forehand
Alex Hall v Konnor Ralph
Men’s Round Two Results:
Hunter Hess: 46
Blake Wilson: 44
Birk Irving: 35.5
Mac Forehand: 47.5
Alex Hall: 46.5
Konnor Ralph: 43
Women’s Final:
Grace Henderson and Caroline Claire were the two riders going head-to-head in the women’s final. Each of the girls had three runs to post their best score out of 50. Hendersen put down a 48.5 on her final run and came out on top, besting Claire’s high score of 43.5.
Grace Henderson v Caroline Claire
Run 1 – Run 2 – Run 3
Grace Henderson: 44.5 – 45.5 – 48.5
Caroline Claire: 42 – 43 – 43.5
Men’s Final:
Alex Hall, Mac Forehand, and Hunter Hess duked it out in a tightly contested three-way battle for the podium in the final round of the men’s competition. Each skier had two runs to post their highest single score. Hall topped the podium with a score of 48, followed by Forehand’s 47, and Hess’s 46.5.
Alex Hall v Mac Forehand v Hunter Hess
Run 1 – Run 2
Alex Hall: 48 – 48
Mac Forehand: 47 – 35
Hunter Hess: 46 – 46.5
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