Last Thursday, the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team headed down to Taos Ski Valley, NM with 8 athletes, 2 coaches, and a few parents in tow. While they went down there to compete at Regional and National IFSA events, they also found the best snow they had skied in 2 years. No one knows the official total, but something like 3 feet translates into a lot of faceshots in waist to chest-deep powder. After all was said and done, Josie Byron led the team by getting on the podium twice, with a 2nd at the regional and 3rd at the National.
Matt Evans riding pillows during Day 1 of the National. Photo: Julie Shipman
The one-run Regional competition was held Friday in West Basin. This was a great day for the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team. Matt Evans, coming off a 1st place at the Sunlight Regional a week prior, carried his momentum into this event earning another 1st place finish by skiing a fluid line, hitting the biggest airs, and stomping a 3 at the bottom. CBMST rounded out the top 10 in the Men’s 15-18 category with Patrick Curvin and Oz Scott tied in 10th. Lane Griffin was close behind in 15th, and Jack Mollison was good enough for 28th in his first competition ever. In his second competition, Matthew Harper-Johnston took 22nd in the Boys 12-14 category.
Over on the women’s side of the competition, Josie Byron and Brittany Barefield finish 2nd and 3rd during the Regional, respectively, just a week after taking 2nd and 1st at the Sunlight Regional. Looking to build on their Regional successes, Josie and Brittany found themselves in 3rd and 4th place going in to the finals of the National competition, which was held on the extended West Basin venue. Brittany skied strong and aggressively in her run with a nice air towards the bottom, but was bucked by her final air, a booter off a cat track. She fell to 7th while Josie was able to ski her run with a super-technical and smooth top section, which was good enough to hold on to 3rd place and earn another podium.
Josie shredding pow while the sun popped out during her Day 1 National run. Photo: Julie Shipman
On the men’s side of the things in the National event, things did not go as well. Day 1 saw 4 out 5 male CBMST athletes crash. Lane Griffin was the only competitor able to stay on his feet and ski through to the finals. Funnily enough, the top 5 15-18 men from the regional crashed during Day 1 of the National, including Matt Evans. Therefore, Lane was sitting in the back of the pack with nothing to lose and he hit a big top air that Matt Evans hit in his Regional run. While Lane landed the air successfully, he was not able to hold on as the powder snow transitioned to harder mogul snow, and he tomahawked a few times in the soft snow.
Overall, this was an amazing trip to Taos. With the strong finishes from Matt Evans, Josie Byron, and Brittany Barefield, those 3 have all but officially punched their ticket to the invite-only North American IFSA Championships at Revelstoke, BC in early April. Coming up, there is a Regional event here this Saturday (March 2) in Crested Butte, followed by a National the following weekend (that means there will be a junior competition, FestEVOL, and Big Air on Elk all on the same day). There is still time for athletes like Patrick Curvin, Lane Griffin, Oz Scott, and Matthew Harper-Johnston to try and qualify for Revelstoke. Stay tuned!
Visit the IFSA at freeskiers.org for more info. Visit Julie Shipman’s website for more rad photos from the comp.
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