Hello Freeriders,

This past Sunday, Jan 8th, was the first Slopestyle of the 2011 ADK Series USASA competition schedule. Although we have had a shortage of snow all over the northeast to start this 2011-2012 ski season, the snow making crews and the Whiteface Park Staff all kicked into overdrive to provide one heck of a slopestyle course. There were two jumps each with two different size take-offs. The distances on the first jump measure 35 ft and 45 ft, and the distances on the 2nd jump measure 30 ft and 40 ft. After the jump line was a wide jump lip with four rail features sitting on top.

As you can see from the picture above: there was a culvert gap to a flat rail (skiers left), the flat rail could also be slid by itself, a cannon rail (center), and a up to down box (skiers right) (also called the "shark fin").

Every athlete did their best to bring their A game on Sunday. The level of skill was incredibly high. In total there were 39 athletes ranging over a total of 10 disciplined age-groups.

Below are a bunch of photos from Jake Sporn Photography:

Keith Shipman

Brian Gardiner

K.C. Brousseau

Gavin Fritz

Arthur Griffin

Jake Wenn

Greg Livingston

Results can be found by going to USASA events, a searching the Adirondack series, and clicking the SS (slopestyle) button on the right.

More photos can be found at: the whiteface facebook

Huge thanks to the Whiteface snowmakers, the Whiteface Park Staff, the USASA ADK Series, and all the volunteers for making this event possible.

January 16th Skier/Boardercross Postponed

The race planned for Monday, January 16th has been postponed until February 22nd due to snow conditions. The Gore/North Creek staff did all they could to provide a course for us but Mother Nature had other plans. The make-up event will be added to the schedule making it a double event day. Our next USASA ADK event will be a Slopestyle at Whiteface Mt.

Looking for Volunteers for Freeride Events

We are looking for volunteers for upcoming events. You can work off the NYSEF work deposit and/or earn lift ticket vouchers for future use. For some of the positions, such as registration assistant or assistant starter at USASA events, it is preferred that we have at least one person who can cover most of the events so re-training isn't necessary every time.

Click the corresponding button next to the day/event you may be available and it will take you to Volunteer Spot, our online organizer for Freeride.

Jan 20-21 Moguls/Dual Moguls at Whiteface

We have plenty of events over the course of the season and I will be posting more soon so keep on checking back.

Thanks!

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.