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February 5, 2019

Local Freeride Athletes Ride Home Field Advantage to Podium Domination

Kye Matlock in 1st, Jon Clay Patterson in 2nd, Holden Bradford in 3rd, Seve Petersen in 4th, Marko Alling in 5th on the 15-18 Ski Male Podium.

Crested Butte Mountain Resort played host to an IFSA junior regional freeride competition on Saturday under a mix of cloudy skies and flat light. The classic Colorado chalky hard pack snow that we all know and love so well here in the Elk Mountains was ripping and skiers ranging from 12-18 showcased their skills on the Hawks Nest venue off the North Face Lift.

The junior athletes were ready to charge; home field advantage certainly seemed to be a factor as local shredders took the top spots in almost all four divisions. Hawks Nest has seen decent snow this year and athletes used as many features as they could to build strong line scores and separate themselves from the field.

Zoe Hanna in 3rd for the 12-14 Ski Females.

Zoe Hanna in 3rd for the 12-14 Ski Females.

In the 12-14 girls division, CBMST athlete Zoe Hanna was able to flash a line through the rocks at the top of the venue with a couple airs. It was good for 3rd place out of the 7 girls in the division. Her teammate, Aiya Schwartz, unfortunately went down on the first air after coming in hot from the start for 6th.

Over on the 12-14 boys’ side, the local kids took 6 of the top 10 spots out of 22 athletes. Tor Hudson staved off a CBMST takeover on the podium, going biggest in the bottom section of the venue looker’s left of Slipper, earning 1st place. CBMST athletes Cooper Wight finished .3 behind Tor for 2nd, Rowan Featherman greased the venue in 3rd, while Marin Gardner and Eli Nolan finished in 4th and 5th, respectively, in their first competition at home in the 12-14 age category. Rowen Downum, also new to the 12-14 category finished in 10th with CBMST teammates Owen Duffy, Navin Federico, and Ty Pulliam close behind in 11th, 12th, and 14th, respectively. A big shout out goes out to Ethan Kaufman finishing in 17th and Trey Smolen in 20th for competing in their first competitions ever.

Tor Hudson in 1st, Cooper Wight in 2nd, Rowan Featherman in 3rd, Marin Gardner in 4th, Eli Nolan in 5th on 12-14 Ski Male podium.

Tor Hudson in 1st, Cooper Wight in 2nd, Rowan Featherman in 3rd, Marin Gardner in 4th, Eli Nolan in 5th on 12-14 Ski Male podium.

Five CBMST athletes represented the local contingent in the 15-18 ski female category with 4 other girls from Telluride. Darby Hamilton was going full send but washed out her landing to finish 8th while Chloe Schrammel put down a strong run for her first competition ever to finish in 6th. The top 3 girls put a sizeable 3.5 point gap between them and their closest competitors, showing their ability to arc big turns and hit sizeable features while making the feature-laden Hawks Nest look like a groomer. Avery Bernholtz took 3rd with a 31.533 while CBMST newcomer, Austin Obourn, edged her out by a tenth of a point for 2nd. Ella Haverkampf, hot off her 3rd place in Snowbird a couple weeks ago, placed 1st with a 32-point effort.

Ella Haverkampf in 1st, Austin Obourn in 2nd, and Avery Bernholtz in 3rd on the 12-14 ski female podium.

Ella Haverkampf in 1st, Austin Obourn in 2nd, and Avery Bernholtz in 3rd on the 12-14 ski female podium.

Over in the 15-18 ski male division, 10 CBMST athletes threw down in a smaller- than-usual division of 18 athletes from around Colorado. Things just didn’t seem fair when CBMST athletes took the top 8 positions, but knowledge of the venue and confidence on hard pack led to the local athletes standing out from the rest of the field. Kye Matlock and Jon Clay Patterson led the way with big 360s off of their second feature in the venue and large, clean airs at the bottom; Kye ended up taking 1st with a 35.533 and JC just .166 behind in 2nd. Holden Bradford, who led the boys in Snowbird with a 3rd place, had the biggest bottom air of the day after lacing turns down the venue for another 3rd with 35.4. Seve Petersen and Marko Alling rounded out the top 5 with a 34.9 and a 33.933, respectively, in 4th and 5th. The CBMST domination wasn’t finished though with Owen Berv .1 point behind Marko in 6th and Gus Bullock just another .1 behind Owen in 7th. Nate Ball put down one of his best competitive runs to date in his first year in the 15-18 division with a 33.4 for 8th place. Luke Shull had a strong run going for him but put a hip to the snow getting to his last feature for 14th while Trent Pulliam put the pedal down but couldn’t hold on to the high speed on Hawks Nest finishing in 17th. Local independent shredder Brooks Hudson didn’t want his younger brother Tor to have all the fun; he was putting down a potential top-3 run with some big airs and lightning fluidity when he had to hold on to his control off a small 360 into the finish corral. He was docked some points in the process to finish in 13th.

Kye Matlock in 1st, Jon Clay Patterson in 2nd, Holden Bradford in 3rd, Seve Petersen in 4th, Marko Alling in 5th on the 15-18 Ski Male Podium.

Kye Matlock in 1st, Jon Clay Patterson in 2nd, Holden Bradford in 3rd, Seve Petersen in 4th, Marko Alling in 5th on the 15-18 Ski Male Podium.

Local athletes are looking forward continuing the success through a busy February and March. The majority of the team is heading down to Taos, NM for Regional and National events this week, then some are headed to Crystal, WA and Grand Targhee, WY at the end February. March will have the home National at CBMR over March 8-10 then some Regionals at Breckenridge and Vail with hopes to qualify for the North American IFSA Junior Freeride Championships in mid-April. A big thanks goes out to the CBMR events crew and professional Ski Patrol for continuing to put on quality events!



About the Author

2. Will Dujardin
Will Dujardin is our content editor at West Elk Project. He competes in big mountain competitions and coaches the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team. Skiing is his life and he likes to mix it with other fun things like DH mountain biking and traveling.




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