Amidst a banner year, Crested Butte delivered one of the most action-packed series of competitions over the last four days. The Big Hourglass venue was used for the finals of the 4-star FWQ event for just the 5th time in the storied 23-year history of the “Extremes” (as it’s been called around here). Local heroes sprinkled the various podiums with strong showings on their home mountain with hopes of earning a spot to the Freeride World Tour. The live feed is still up right now and you can watch it here.
Above Photo: The Ski Men’s Podium: Kyle Taylor 1st, Tom Runcie 2nd, George Rodney 3rd, Rob Dickinson 4th, Daniel McFadden 5th. Photo Mark Epstein / MSI
Left to right: Kaytlin Hughes (3rd), Pip Hunt (2nd), Sydney Dickinson (1st). Photo Will Dujardin
Sydney Dickinson, who you can find selling the wares at the Alpineer or slanging paint with the Precise Painting Freeride Team, topped the women’s ski podium with former Gunnison valley residents Pip Hunt in 2nd and Kaytlin Hughes in 3rd. Local bartender and perennial “Best Snowboarder” in the Crested Butte News, Mary Boddington, won the snowboarding division. These women showed their technical prowess by greasing the Dead End/Body Bag/Staircase venue and then taking it to the Big Hourglass venue. Big props to locals Alex Riedman and Kele Thorsen who finished in 4th and 5th, respectively, in the women’s ski division. Alex skied a super technical line in Dead End chutes tick-tacking her way off of pillows while Kele took one of the strongest female airs of the competition to her feet on the skier’s right side of Dead End after winning the 2-star competition the day before.
On the men’s side of things, the Precise Painting Freeride Team was out in force. Rob Dickinson, Tom Runcie, Jack Weise, Mark Mikos, Will Dujardin, and Evans brothers Randy and Matt all looked forward to skiing the Dead End/Body Bag/Staircase venue for the first time in 3 years. While Will, Jack, and Mark took unfortunate falls, Rob and Tom found themselves in the top ten while Matt and Randy skied themselves in 3rd and 1st, respectively, going into the finals. Randy threw a signature backflip off of the cheeseburger in Dead End to take the lead over fellow Bridger Brigade member, Kyle Taylor, whose impressive triple pillow feature would make the Salomon Freeski TV athletes jealous and put him in 2nd.
Tom Runcie capping his run off with a strong 25-footer. Photo: Mark Epstein / MSI
Will Dujardin sending on Day 1. Photo: Mark Epstein
Moving into the finals, it was no surprise that Rob Dickinson and Tom Runcie would have a couple of the best runs of the day down Big Hourglass. Rob put himself in the lead with impressive pillow skiing capped off by a strong 20 foot air. He was then ousted by his close friend, Tom Runcie. The long time local and Dartmouth grad had his eyes on the prize with the top scoring run of the day by almost 3 points. His run down the looker’s right side of the venue is what dreams are made of. Runcie’s 89-point run withstood the efforts of young gun George Rodney, who sent the looker’s right side of the venue for 70 feet, his backslap keeping him from winning the day. While George would eventually take 3rd and the Sick Bird award, Rodney and and Runcie could only be outdone by Montana man Kyle Taylor, his cumulative score putting him on top of the podium after he skied an impressive pillow line through the gnar of Bermuda Triangle. Local boys Matt and Randy Evans, now living in Montana, unfortunately crashed in their final runs, with young Matt scaring the crap out of everyone when he found a rock outcropping 10 feet into his 50-foot air and the older brother Randy getting lost and losing a ski around a tree. We have to give a couple more shout outs, too. One to local steezeball Dave Sugnet, who was little too forward on his massive 3 in the Bermuda Triangle, and another to Connery Lundin’s huge backflip in a similar spot that he just over-rotated into the back seat, but was good enough for 7th.
Abe Greenspan sending for the Sick Bird. Photo: Mark Epstein / MSI
The snowboard men were no slouches either, and with no local representation in the finals, Tahoe natives were able to dominate Big Hourglass. Jonathan Penfield won the day, withstanding the attack from Abe Greenspan and Vincent Remmel who rode sick lines in the Bermuda Triangle. Abe Greenspan would win the snowboarder’s Sick Bird award while Remmel finished in 3rd.
Rob Dickinson, pillow smasher. Photo: Eben Wight / MSI
The action wasn’t over yet as the Junior Freeride Tour kicked off the following day on the Headwall, which had been used for the 2-star event on Thursday and the IFSA Regional event a couple weeks ago. A few inches of wind smudge had healed the venue since it had been destroyed by Tanner Cabana and Kele Throsen, who had won the skier men and women divisions in the 2-star event. The Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team was there defending it’s home turf with pride amidst strong regional and national competition. Brittany Barefield continued her hot streak with another win since the Aspen Highlands regional last weekend and the Crested Butte regional before that. According to judge Carrie Jo Hicks, Brittany skied Angle Gully “better than the women on Thursday” greasing through the rental shop exit. Brittany had 4 points over Erika Klenk in 2nd place, and CBMST teammate and friend Josie Byron was close behind in 3rd place. A young Western State Colorado University student, 17 year-old Miranda Holson, took 4th.
Crested Butte ladies on top of the JFT podium. Photo: Will Dujardin
The highlight of the day belonged to Bill Klein. The CBMST member and Gunnison senior flew into Box Rock with speed and floated a huge right-side 3 to a clean stomp to take the win. Erik Hilb of Vail took 2nd place by crushing Angle Gully and getting a bonus feature off the bottom of the handrail. Christian Kinnison came over from Salt Lake City, Utah to take 3rd place. The “Free Mountain Award”, a junior version of the Sick Bird that also embodies sportsmanship on and off the hill, was given to Seamus Flanagan for hitting the most features and 3-ing Box Rock, but a couple control issues kept him off the podium. CBMST rounded out the top ten with Patrick Curvin in 8th and Oz Scott in 9th. The snowboarders were also there; the men’s side had trouble keeping their runs clean, but Phil Hansen of Centennial, CO took the victory while the strongest run of the day went to Amber Nelson of Grand Targhee, WY, who won the women’s side with a 68. There were a handful of males in the 12-14 category, there Cedar Palmer bested locals Ian Eldridge and Turner Petersen who finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
CBMST’s Bill Klein on top of a stacked JFT podium. Photo: Will Dujardin
Overall, the last 4 days of competition have been one for the ages in Crested Butte. Anytime the Big Hourglass goes down, you’ll remember it, but that was one piece to the puzzle on a crazy weekend. Crested Butte is at 216″ for the season and we still have just over 8 weeks left to this glorious year (more action later this week, too). The Crested Butte Ski Patrol left Dead End Chutes and Body Bag closed until the competition, much to the chagrin of locals but it made for a ridiculous day 1 of the event (and now it’s open!). A huge thanks goes out to all the behind the scenes people at MSI and CBMR for running a great series of events. From the 2-star on Thursday, the 4-star on Friday and Saturday, DJ Logic throwing down Saturday night, to the JFT on Sunday, a great time was had by all. We can’t wait for the circus to come back to town next year.
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