Okemo, and Mt Snow slopestyle competitions

This past weekend a total of 5 NYSEF freestyle athletes traveled to Vermont to compete in slopestyle. The team divided and conquered! Two athletes (Brian, and Gavin) went to Okemo for the first stop of the East Free Tour, and the other three athletes (Taylor, Max, and John) went to Mt Snow for a USASA Southern Vermont Series Slopestyle.

Both locations had scheduled slopestyle competitions on both Saturday and Sunday. However, with the forecast for Saturday calling for lots of rain, fog, and wind Mt Snow decided to cancel their Saturday slopestyle and only run the one slopestyle on Sunday; Okemo made the decision to run both slopestyle competitions on Sunday. Although the weather was not cooperating with us, many of the athletes were resilient and skied their best despite the poor conditions.

Ross Perot (the Northwood coach, not the politician) was at Mt Snow. Below are a few photos as well as what he had to say about the competition:

"Despite having our Saturday competition cancelled and facing unfavorable conditions on Sunday, the NYSEF/Northwood freestylers had a strong showing at the USASA Slopestyle at Carinthia Parks, Mt. Snow, VT.  Taylor Bond (class of 15') placed 1st in the men's 16-18 group.  Max Finn (14') had strong runs but skidded out on his landings. John Owen (14') suffered a minor injury to his shoulder in training, but will be back in competition next weekend."

-RP

Here is Taylor spinning and making sure to lock in his tail grab

Taylor is skiing backwards over a log jib and making it look easy

I (JP) was at Okemo with Gavin and Brian. Both athletes really impressed me with their endurance during both competitions as well as with the execution of all their tricks. Gavin and Brian were two of the youngest athletes in the competition; they are freshmen in high school competing against mostly seniors. However, Gavin and Brian were not intimidated by their competition. "I just want to have fun and land some clean runs today," said Gavin. As it turned out, they both landed clean runs in both the 1st and 2nd competition. The results from both slopestyle competitions were as follows:
1st competition > Brian - 20th, and Gavin - 24th
2nd competition > Brian - 3rd, and Gavin - 22nd

In the second slopestyle competition Brian landed his first switch 1080 ever!

And he got third!

Brian (left) and Gavin (right) had, "one of their best weekends ever!"

Lastly, I want to say a quick but HUGE thank you to Debbie, Jane, and Vinnie for all of their support this past weekend!

Until next time, keep it classy.

- JP