CBMST Wraps up Freeride Season at IFSA NORAM Champs at Snowbird

After a busy competition season, the IFSA Junior North American Freeride Championships went down at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in Utah last week with U12, 12-14, and 15-18 year old divisions represented in skiing and snowboarding. Between U12 athletes and the comp team, 16 athletes represented the CBMST and the local independent shredder brothers Brooks and Tor Hudson were also in attendance, all battling for the overall titles for the season.

Above photo: Jon Clay Patterson sending on Silver Fox. Photo: Kim Bromley / IFSA

Marin Gardner finishing his his run. Photo: Chris Saito / IFSA

The U12 division kicked the action off on Wednesday under sunny skies on the reliable Silver Fox Venue. Aiya Schwartz represented the CBMST on the girl’s side; she put down a solid run to qualify in 6^th. Marin Gardner led the way for the boys, tying for 6^th while Sam Anderson squeaked in the cut at 17^th. Unfortunately Fraser Birnie went down on his last air, a sizeable hit off the “meatball” feature, while the young Beckett Dickson fell victim to a snow snake after charging out the gate.

Aiya Schwartz shredding pow in her finals run. Photo: Chris Saito / IFSA

The next day, a snowstorm had started that was to drop around 30” on the venue over the next 2 days. While it was supposed to also serve as day 1 for the 12-14 age divisions as well as U12 finals, only the U12 division was able to run between intermittent visibility. That meant whiteout pow and split judging for the young shredders. Aiya Schwartz was able to move up to 4^th place with a smooth run and Sam Anderson kept it on his feet with a nice “meatball” air to move into 12^th overall. Marin Gardner kept his good skiing going with a nice straightline to cap off his run and finish in 7^th place out of 32 of the best U12 freeriders in North America.

The snow kept pounding as the action kicked off for the 12-14 skiers and snowboarders the next day. With visibility coming in and out, the judges had to split again as the athletes got prime conditions on the venue. Tor Hudson put down an impressive run capped off with a large air in the “Mustachio” section of Silver Fox good enough for 16^th. His older brother Brooks might have won the day with his powerful skiing if not for a little backslap on his last air, slotting him into 6^th place. CBMST’s Nate Ball kept up his consistent skiing with the popular big “field goal” air and earned 12^th on the day out of 55. Unfortunately, his teammate Rowan Featherman went down going for a large finishing move pioneered by CBMST alum Oz Scott years ago. On the female side, Ella Haverkampf repeated her run that won her the Snowbird National event a few weeks prior, she went a little bigger and despite a little bobble on the landing was able to take 3^rd place on the day out of 21.

Brooks Hudson took 4th overall in 12-14 Ski Boys. Photo: Alex Hudson

The skies parted and bluebird Silver Fox powder was on the docket for the day 1 of the 15-18 skiers and snowboarders on Saturday. Dagan Schwartz opened up the action with a technical run that put him in 8^th on the day for 15-18 Men Snowboarding while Avery Bernholtz was hungry and bit off a little more than she could chew, going down on a big air over “Mustachio” in the 15-18 Ski Women category.

Carson Hildebrandt and Ella Haverkampf showing off their hard-earned hardware. Photo: Will Dujardin

The 15-18 Ski men on the CBMST delivered a mixed bag of results as the athletes navigated rehashed pow later in the day. Unfortunately, the CBMST frontrunner, Jon Clay Patterson, went down overshooting his landing on his last feature after absolutely annihilating the Silver Fox venue with a big 3 in the “mini AK” zone and a massive send off of “Standard Air”. Holden Bradford was the other CBMST athlete to go down when he was snow-snaked railing a high-speed turn. Turner Petersen found himself in 20^th after nailing a big 3 off of Standard air while Kye Matlock put himself in 15^th after a high-speed run down Silver Fox. Marko Alling and Carson Hildebrandt made greasy runs down North Chute pay off finding themselves in 13^th and 9^th, respectively.

Ella Haverkampf in 2nd for the NORAMs event at Snowbird in 12-14 Ski Girls. Photo: Matt Evans

Despite all the new snow, sun and freezing temperatures locked up the famed North Baldy venue to the point of unsafe conditions on the Finals day, Sunday. Event organizers had to make the painful decision to cancel the day and the run 1 results stood for the 12-14 and 15-18 divisions. Despite the anticlimactic finish, the results determined the hard-fought overall rankings at the end of the season. Ella Haverkampf’s 3^rd place in the event pushed her up to 4^th place on the season in 12-14 Ski Female of 109 athletes. In the 12-14 Ski Male division Brooks Hudson finished in 4^th on the season after his 6^th place, Tor Hudson in 31^st, Rowan Featherman in 32^nd, Nate Ball in 42^nd, and Gus Bullock in 58^th on the year out of 320 athletes. Avery Bernholtz’ crash dropped her down to 11^th overall in her first year in 15-18 Ski Women out of 110 athletes while Dagan Schwartz moved into 6^th place on the season of 40 athletes, a result that probably qualified him for the Freeride Junior World Championships in Austria next season. Carson Hildebrandt’s aforementioned 9^th place capped off an impressive first season in 15-18 Ski Men that landed him in 2^nd overall on the season with last year’s overall champ, Jon Clay Patterson, close by in 7^th. Both will likely get the invite to the FJWC event next year. Marko Alling and Turner Petersen showed consistent skiing all season to get 18^th and 21^st, respectively, while Kye Matlock and Holden Bradford were able to earn 34^th and 59^th, respectively, out of a total of 307 athletes.

Carson Hildebrandt with an impressive 2nd overall in 15-18 Ski Men in his first year in the division. Photo: Matt Evans

This season marked another year of exceptional growth for the CBMST Freeride team with all 12 full-time athletes qualifying for NORAMS at Snowbird and over a total of 35 athletes with IFSA starts on the season. With athletes coming through the Jr. Devo and Devo ranks, stay on the lookout for more podium finishes next year. See you at dry-land training in the fall!