Juniors rip it up in Rocky Mountain Freeride Series
Regional championships set for March 26
On Thursday and Friday (March 3 and 4) Taos Ski Valley and the Taos Winter Sports Team (TWST) hosted hundreds of athletes for another installment in the Rocky Mountain Freeride Series (RMFS).
The event provides organized competitions for junior skiers and snowboarders; in this one, however, there was only one snowboarder, Laken Pitcher of the Continental Divide Freeride team.
West Basin was roped off from the general public as it was reserved for young shredders representing Taos, Monarch, Vail, Telluride, Crested Butte and Team Summit, which is a collective of four ski resorts in Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Keystone Resort. Down below, a clapping crowd cheered on the alpine athletes while a cohort of judges underneath a canopy set further back were on the lookout, checking out the quality of each skier’s run.
For the Junior Freeride each skier is judged based on five distinct categories: Line of choice down the course, which is graded on qualities such as steepness, exposure, air, snow and course conditions; control graded by whether or not a skier maintains stability throughout the whole run; fluidity or continuity in one’s transitions; technique, determined by a skier’s turn, and style quality; and style and energy, which focus on freestyle execution of maneuvers.
Or, as put by TWST coach Reed Pieper, “We try to find the most creative and fun way to ski the face of a mountain, finding the most interesting line through the rocks and trees.”
Friday presented an azure bluebird day, with mounds of untracked powder on top of rock faces for the competitors — paradise compared to the previous day.
“Yesterday was just a different ballgame,” said Jeremy Loeder, another coach for TWST. “The visibility was absolutely brutal. The conditions were variable, there was some powder and some windscoured stuff, but our kids did really well. And there was quite a lot of crashing happening yesterday.”
A handful of individuals, garbed in plain hoodies known simply as “ninjas,” were on standby at the top of West Basin waiting for any mishaps. The ninjas are also on the mountain to pick up lost equipment. They have to be very skilled skiers because the lost gear can end up in locations where it can be challenging to retrieve. One of those ninjas is Tucker VanOrmer, who years ago was a TWST athlete and eventually became a coach for the racing team. Now VanOrmer is the head of the snow cat crew and bike park builder at Angel Fire.
The ski patrollers handle the more involved and elaborate rescue missions. The ninjas help keep the flow of the competition going for when skiers take on more air than they can handle.
Gear had to be rescued every now and then but no one suffered any injuries or had to be sledded down to the base.
At the top of West Basin, the TWST coaches talked the tactics of the day to their athletes. The sun was out in full force and baking some of the powder. The athletes were advised to hold back a little on their speed and told they didn’t need as much to really get some air time. Meanwhile Team Summit argued about the right mindset to have: Is it better to expect to win and be disappointed or to expect to do your best and see what comes? Eventually a Team Summit kid offered a different perspective — “If you have fun you’re gonna stomp,” they said.
Whatever mindset Team Summit came upon, collectively it worked out well for them as they earned the most overall wins from each age group and the most podium finishes.
Quentin Rebholtz, another TWST skier, had the privilege of getting the final run of the day. Rebholtz ripped it down Stauffenberg cleanly and precisely, clearing two big airs with gusto. Toward the bottom of the course, he lined up one big finale to close it out.
His run, as described by Junior Freeride emcee Jeff “Mugzy” Mugleston: “Representing Taos Winter Sports Team, launching the top feature in Stauffenberg. Putting together a number of features at the top, riding it with flow. Looking at Das Boot, sticking that landing. Yes he’s on his feet. He’s coming in hot, using those reflexes. Lining it up.”
At this point someone from the crowd blurted out “Three!” as in 360, which is what Rebholtz intended to hit. He made the rotations but couldn’t stick that landing, resulting in a proper yardsale.
Consumed in a cloud of powder, Rebholtz quickly bounced back and skied down to the finish line. He could have been in the running for a podium finish, but a total wipeout negated the rest of his run with a no-score.
The final treachery of the day was not a double black diamond but a wooden black podium the athletes had to step onto to receive their awards. The head judge of the Junior Freeride, Jon Dean, issued a warning during the awards reception.
“I was told by management that in ski boots and snow these podiums are a little slippery,” Dean said. “So be careful. Please, we don’t need any injuries on the podium. We went all day without one.”
Even with the warning you could see the slightest of slipping and sliding, but the athletes were agile enough to avoid any falls.
Lauren Mueller of Taos received the local team’s lone first place finish of the day, with a score of 27.8
in the female 12-14 ski age group. In total, Taos earned five podium finishes on Friday.
Coach Loeder recapped the team’s performance after the comp.
“Amazing weather, amazing snow,” he said. “Most of our kids stayed on their feet. Quite a few podiums, as you just saw. I think like another two or three Ws, which is always fun to show up on your home resort. Most of our kids stayed on their feet today, which is always the goal. You never really want to see kids crashing, unless they are pushing the boundaries a little bit, but, yeah, super fun comps. Glad we got through yesterday and we ran through like 80 kids in four hours today, which is crazy.”
Taos will get to host the Rocky Mountain Freeride Series Regional Championships on Sunday (March 26) for top RMFS athletes who do not earn a spot in the North American Junior Championships (NORAMS).