Happy Holidays Freeriders!

It's almost 2012 and with a bunch of scheduled events upcoming it's time for an update. Snowfall has been marginal at best and the temps have not been ideal for continuous snowmaking but the mountain staff has been doing all they can to make the best of it. The snowmaking crews here especially deserve a big thank you for keeping the hill white when most are mainly brown. We are doing better than most mountains out there!

The USASA series had it's first event - the Deck the Halls rail jam - last Friday and the setup provided by the Park Crew was great! Congrats to snowboarders Dale Mortensen & Bekah Ashley and NYSEF skiers Nick Edwards & Coach Cari Verner for winning their divisions and earning the invite to the USASA Rail exhibition at X-Games 16 in Aspen this January. Hopefully they will be able to make it out to represent the ADK's!

The first scheduled USASA slopestyle event is coming up next Sunday Jan 8th. The plan is to get some more snow made in the park over the next several days so we can get some jumps built in time. The final decision will be announced on the www.usasa.org "Adirondack" region page by Wednesday Jan 4th so keep an eye on it. Also, the first SX/BX planned for the North Creek Ski Bowl, January 16th, is still on as snow is being made there in order to get the course built.

The Empire State Games comes back again this year with the addition of slopestyle to the now traditional skier and boarder cross event. Membership in one of the three USASA NY series is all that's required to sign up along with meeting the age class criteria. Classes include ladies' and men's, ski & snowboard 13-15, 16-18, and open class. Contact me for more info mikek@nysef.org .

Lastly, be sure to tune in to NBC at 5pm New Year's Eve to catch the World Cup Snowboardcross from Telluride, CO. Our own Derek DiCastro got his first start on the tour at this event a couple weeks back. Although he did not make it through qualifying he did get to wear the GoPro follow camera during all the heats so hopefully his footage will be included in the show.

Deck The Rails

Hey everyone,

This is a reminder that there is a USASA Rail Jam this Friday, Dec. 23. This is a USASA event, however if it your first time ever competing at a USASA event then you do not have to be a USASA member.

- Registration starts at 2:00 pm in the NYSEF building at Whiteface Mt.

- Practice will start at 3:00 pm.

- Cost is $20

I hope to see everyone at Whiteface!

***The winner of the Open Class qualifies to compete at a USASA exhibition rail jam in Aspen, CO under the lights during Winter X-Games 16***

***All other competitors will have the chance to qualify for rail jam in their respective age group at USASA Nationals at Copper Mt. CO in April (must be a USASA member to receive national points)***

Photos from the Dec 11th Rail Jam

Here are a bunch of the competitors getting after it. There were 51 athletes at this event in total spread over 3 age groups: grom, teen, and adult.

K.C. Breusseau is testing his skills on whiteface's new soccer goal cross bar rail. This awesome new rail made it's debut at the Dec 11th Rail Jam. Thank you to James Kelly, the shop staff, and the park staff for designing and building this awesome new addition to the Whiteface rail inventory!

Brian Gardiner is on his way to a 1st place finish for the 12 and under age group. He appears to be winding up for a steezy front 270 off of Whiteface's new Cross Bar rail.

Anthony Russo is sliding the C box like a boss! He finished the day in 2nd for the 12 and under age group.

All of these photos are courtesy of Bradi Reiley at Whiteface, and more of her photos can be seen on flickr or facebook.

1st Whiteface Rail Jam of the Year

Sunday Dec 11th.

Whiteface mt was host to one of the best Rail Jams that I have EVER been to in NY State!

There were two lanes with three features each. One lane comprised of rails and the other of boxes. The riders right lane went: 10ft flat box, to 16 ft bank box, to 15ft c box (left curving c). The riders left lane went: tall, 15 ft long, round rail set up urban on a slight down pitch, to the 10 ft red rail set up urban on a down pitch, to a 10ft double barrel, down flat rail.

This rail jam was filled with upwards of 50 athletes spanning 3 age groups each with men and women ski and men and women snowboard. To my knowledge the number of athletes competing Sunday was greater then that of any other rail jam event at Whiteface ever! The level of competition was higher too! Skiers and boarders came from all over the state to compete for a share of the shwag from the Whiteface sponsors.

NYSEF Freestyle was represented exceptionally well at the award ceremony. 1st place for 12 and under skier boys was was: Brian Gardiner, a NYSEF athlete from Connecticut. 1st place for 13 - 17 skier boys was Northwood student: Jason Castle. and 1st place for 18 and over skier men was a NYSEF alum: Nick Edwards.
Other notable NYSEF performances came from Camden and Kaylen Reiley in the 12 and under division, Art Griffin, Mason Kozak, and Gavin Fritz in the 13 - 17 division.

"Lost the rail jam... idc. it was the best. i did awesome seeing as though my age group was from 13 to 17" - Gavin Fritz

Overall fun was had by all, and the Whiteface Park Staff did an absolutely phenomenal job putting together this awesome rail jam! They really raised the bar! Everybody that I talked to after the jam mentioned that they are really excited for the next event.


-JP

P.S.
I'm hoping that I will be able to wrangle up some pictures from the rail jam to post here on the blog in the very near future.