Ortega qualifies for North America Freeride Championships
The week before spring break, the Taos Winter Sports Team Freeride traveled to Big Sky, Mont., for an out-of-the-region Junior National competition with three athletes — Corrina Harrower, Quentin Rebholtz and Andre Ortega — who competed in the older category of 15–18 skiers.
Qualifying day was held on Lower Obsidian. Corrina was the first Taos athlete to ski. With a lingering shoulder injury, she chose to ski a fairly mellow line. A quick “sit down” lowered her scores, and she did not qualify for finals. Quentin Rebholtz skied a fluid line with some great airs, but missed one of his main features. Still, this placed him 25th in a large field of 47. Only 22 of the 47 boys made it to finals.
Andre Ortega skied last of the three Taos athletes. Executing his full line and a couple of tricks, “we were a little surprised he only qualified for finals in 20th,” said TWST Freeride coach Andrea Krejci.
The finals were held on the same venue as qualifiers, with the start just a bit higher. A treacherous hike led to a tight and steep starting platform.
Adding a couple of top airs, and fine-tuning Andre Ortega’s line from the day before, both Ortega and Krejci were excited for the final run. With an opportunity to only really move up, Ortega skied loose and went big, impressing not only the audience, but the judges as well.
As the results never get released before awards, the suspense was high during the
award ceremony.
“When Andre was called for 4th place, we all got so excited”, said Harrower.
The score sheet showed he had skied the best run of the day.
“I did not expect that” said a very happy Ortega. “It’s always a bit tricky to compete out-ofregion, with judges we aren’t familiar with and competitors we haven’t seen all year, but I’m so glad they liked my run.”
With two 4th-place finishes on the national tour, and a 6th- and 9th-place finish on the regional tour, Ortega qualifies for the North America Freeride Championships (NORAMs), held in Big Sky April 6–10.