Crested Butte Mountain Resort hosted the first regional competition of the 2014 season in the IFSA Central Region this past weekend. Freeride teams from around Colorado and New Mexico travelled to Crested Butte to take on the famed steeps and take advantage of a well-timed storm that brought almost 30″ just before competitors arrived. The CBMST was ready to take on everyone and delivered with podiums in almost every age class highlighted by Brittany Barefield and Josie Byron taking 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the 15-18 Women out of a total 25 Crested Butte and Gunnison junior athletes participating across all categories.
Photos: Lydia Stern Media unless noted
Above Photo: Josie Byron finding a fresh pocket on Headwall
Brittany Barefield hit Box Rock in the finals on Headwall to secure the win.
Hawks Nest played the venue on Day 1, Saturday, and the U12 division started up the action with solid skiing, hitting airs that would make most adults jealous or cringe depending on your opinion of gravity. Local groms Carson Hildebrandt and Gus Bullock led the twelve-deep U12 boys while Avery Bernholtz stayed on her feet to qualify her for Headwall. Turner Peterson of Crested Butte turned in a strong 5th to move on to the next day in the 12-14 Boys category.
In the older age divisions, the CBMST had 6 out 9 men move on to finals, led by sophomore Patrick Curvin and senior Solon Gray, in his first competition, who were in 5th and 6th, respectively. Lane Griffin was close behind and Oz Scott, Peter Landry, and telemarker Conrad Truettner also made the cut while Asher Coady, Matthew Harper-Johnston, and Bill Klein took unfortunate falls in the powder. CBMST veteran junior Brittany Barefield took a small lead over a regional friend and rival, Emma Patterson of Taos, with her Crested Butte teammate Josie Byron close behind in 3rd just 2 points away.
Oz Scott sent the diving board out of Angle Gully in the finals.
The next day in Headwall, Josie would make moves with the strongest run in the women’s field through the “little Banana chute” or “Pankey’s pocket” depending on your vocabulary and over Box Rock to overtake Patterson. Brittany Barefield skied a similar line to Josie to hold on to the lead with just 1/3rd of a point separating them in their final run. Patrick Curvin would lead CBMST on the men’s side earning 4th with a strong air off Box Rock while Oz Scott skied the 2nd best run in the finals with a big sender off the diving board in Angle Gully to move from 12th to 5th. Lane Griffin kept it close in 6th place and Peter Landry kept the CBMST dominant in the top 10 with his creative triple off the handrail to earn 8th. Big shoutouts go to Pierce McCrerey of Team Summit for taking the win with the best runs on both days while Erik Hilb and Kevin Nichols of Vail took 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Head judge Carrie Hicks said, “They made Angle Gully look like a groomer.”
The 15-18 Men’s Division Podium: 1) Pierce McCrerey 2) Erik Hilb 3) Kevin Nichols 4) Patrick Curvin 5) Oz Scott Photo: WIll Dujardin
The younger kids skied the Headwall admirably as well. Carson Hildebrandt and Gus Bullock stayed in 1st and 2nd in the U12 while Charlie Cox skied the best run in the age class moving from 9th to 4th. Turner Peterson was stoked to move to 2nd place from 5th in the 12-14 Boys and Avery Bernholtz skied her way into 1st place in the U12 girls division. Dagan Schwartz represented Crested Butte’s only snowboarder in the finals winning the U12 division after Mabel Howard fell on day 1 in the girls 12-14 division.
Next up is the 2nd stop of the Central Region “Freeride the Divide” series at Aspen Highlands this coming weekend, February 8th. It will be a one day event held on Highlands Bowl and the CBMST will be sending 8 athletes in the 15-18 division and 4 athletes in the U12 division. Brittany Barefield will be looking to continue her regional dominance while young guns Brooks Hudson and Kye Matlock will be looking to make up for their untimely falls on Hawks Nest. Oz Scott, Patrick Curvin, and the rest of the young man-children will be looking to improve on their scores as they build regional points that count towards their overall IFSA rankings. We look forward to watching all the athletes progress as they try to qualify for the IFSA North American finals which will be held at Snowbird, Utah in April.
Final Results, right click to download.
A BIG thanks goes out to the Crested Butte Ski Patrol, Crested Butte events crew, the CBMST coaching staff, volunteers, and all the attending freeride programs, athletes, families, and coaches for making this event happen. There are two more freeride events coming up at CBMR, the Subaru Freeride Series and JFT, February 12-16, and the IFSA National Series, March 6-9. Don’t miss out on your chance to spectate this awesome sport and watch these kids ski like adults on one of the best resorts in the country. We’ll be there!
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