2014 Summer Ramp Camps

   I know that if barely feels like spring out there, but summer is right around the corner and will be here before we know it. Those of you who love to jump, and never want to put your ski equipment into storage, will only have to wait until June 30th before you can ski and jump in Lake Placid again. That is the date of the first scheduled day session of the NYSEF-Freeride: 2014 Summer Pool Training.

   This summer NYSEF will be offering 2, 4-day-4-night, overnight camps, and 36 day sessions throughout July and August. Sign-ups for these opportunities have already begun, and are starting to fill up. If you would like to request more information, or reserve you space please call (518-946-7001), or email (admin@nysef.org). 

Below are the images of our summer brochure, or you can click here for the pdf file.

NYSEF Athletes Headed to Nationals

The time has come for NYSEF Freeriders to begin heading west this weekend for the 25th annual USASA National Championships being held once again at Copper Mountain Resort, CO.  The snowboarders will be first on course this coming week followed by the skiers starting with their practice day on April 5th.  I'm sure we'll have plenty of early course reports form Slopestyle, Cross, & Railjam, including pictures, to post starting Saturday evening, so check back here and on our Facebook pages for more updates.  In the meantime, make sure you congratulate the following athletes if you happen to see them.  Our best, representing the Adirondacks, are:

Anthony Russo

Josh Boise

Bryant Ward

James Ward, Jr.

Audrey Higgins-Lopez (last year's SX national champion)

Avery Higgins-Lopez

Alex Higgins-Lopez

Madeline Prichard

Jake Prichard

Ruby Ladue

Jake Roney

Brian Gardiner

Gavin Fritz

Erik Sparkowski

Matthew Byrne

Taylor Bond(NWS)

Max Finn(NWS)
J. Sloan Ruhl(Gore)
Alexander Ruhl(Gore)
Ryan Ruhl(Gore)
Cooper Rose(Gore)

NYSEF Athletes Compete At USSA Easternfreestyle EQS Championships

                           

This past weekend, March 14th, 15th, and 16th, eight NYSEF athletes traveled to Holiday Valley, NY for this years USSA EQS Championships. When all was said and done we came away with a ton of hardware!! The NYSEF team battled variable conditions, and the way we powered through shows that we train at the toughest mountain in the East. There were death cookies the size of smart cars in the Aerial and Mogul landings, and our athletes skied through them like butter!

In the Young Gun category, Max Oechsner showed an impressive first appearance at the EQS Championships with a 13th place finish in moguls and a 7th place finish in aerials. Brooke DeWeese also had a phenomenal showing at championships with a 4th place finish in moguls, a 9th place finish in aerials, and a 5th place finish in slopestyle. Finishing up our talented Young Gun athletes, Kaylen Reiley finished 12th place in moguls, 1st place in aerials, and 5th place in slopestyle.

NYSEF also had a talented cohort of Junior athletes showing at EQS championships. Jake Roney skied solidly in tough conditions with a 43rd place finish in slopestyle, a 31st place finish in moguls, and 37th place finish in aerials. Jack DeWeese also had a great weekend with a 21st place finish in slopestyle, 49th place finish in moguls, and a 20th place finish in aerials. Camden Reiley represented NYSEF well in his first championships as a junior skier, with a 32nd place finish in slopestyle, a 53rd place finish in moguls, and a 23rd place finish in aerials.

NYSEF boasted some impressive overall finishers in Brian Gardiner and Brett Deweese's performances. Brian finished 1st in slopestyle, 2nd in aerials, and 3rd in moguls to round out his B career with a first place overall trophy. Brett also earned some serious hardware with her 16th place finish in slopestyle, 10th place finish in moguls, and first place finish in aerials to win her a 5th place overall finish for the weekend.

Whether our athletes earn medals or simply earn their lunches for the day, Nick, JP, Keith, and I are immensely proud of all the growth and progress everyone has made over the course of this season. We have a rowdy, hardworking, and talented bunch of kids, and all of these qualities were on full display this weekend at USSA EQS Championships.

--Mike

EQS Championships at Holiday Valley

Nysef Snowsports Freestyle team takes home hardware at USSA East Championships.

Kaylen Reiley, 1st in Aerials overall - Brian Gardiner, 2nd in Moguls overall

Brett DeWeese, 3rd in moguls for her age group

Championship Season

Congratulations to all our NYSEF Freeriders that qualified to compete in their respective championships!
Mike Lynn & Nick Arnold are at Holiday Valley this weekend for EQS Championships with an awesome group of athletes: Brian Gardiner, Jack, Brooke, & Brett DeWeese, Jake Roney, Camden & Kaylen Reiley, and Max Oechsner.
Meanwhile Justin Perry is at the Carinthia Cup at Mt Snow with Gavin Fritz, Alex Higgins-Lopez, Jake Prichard, and Taylor Bond.
Good luck to everyone and remember to keep it fun!

Sugarbush slopestyle

This past Sunday four NYSEF freeride athletes traveled with me to Sugarbush for an out-of-series USASA slopestyle. These athletes were Alex Higgins-Lopez, Avery Higgins-Lopez, Gavin Fritz, and Jake Prichard. All four were eager to see what the terrain park and the slope course had to offer. After a couple runs the impression was that the jumps were a little small but the rails were epic, and there were a lot of rails! The course consisted of two jumps, then three rails of the riders choice.

After an hour of practice all four athletes had a plan as to what they wanted to land in their competition runs. I was pleased when they all landed at least one of their competition runs. 

Alex's run that counted was a right 3 safety, to a left cork 7 mute, to a 2 on, to a k-fed, to a Britney. 

Jake scored well with a left 5, to a switch right misty 7, to a switch-lip on - front 2 out, to a switch lip - to forward, to a front 2 out. 

Gavin's scoring run was a left 3 mute, to a left misty 5 japan, to a switch lip - to forward, to a 2 on, to a front 2 out. 

And last but not least, Avery's scoring run was a switch left 5 safety, to a right 3 nose grab, to a 2 on, to a 4 out, to a rail slide to forward. 

Alex finished 1st in the skier men 16 - 18 age group. Jake finished 2nd, Gavin 3rd, and Avery 4th in the skier men 13 - 15 age group. 

Overall it was a great day, and everyone wants to go back and shred the Sugarbush Park!

March Looming!

We had another great weekend of competition to start the President's Week Holiday with a Saturday night railjam at Titus and a bluebird Monday at Gore/North Creek Ski Bowl's final Skier/Boardercross of the season.  The action was great in both locations and now with those comps behind us we are into the home stretch of the USASA season.  The final three regional events are upon us, all at Whiteface, as is the month of March!

This Sunday the 23rd is our final ADK Slopestyle and next weekend is a double-header with our makeup for "Deck the Rails" taking place Saturday afternoon, with our final SX/BX on Sunday closing out the regional season.

By now I hope you've all been thinking about your plans for Nationals and have a good idea whether you will be attending.  Regional champions for each of our disciplines will be decided with the completion of each of our final three events.  Based on current results, and by looking up regional rankings online you can get a good idea of whether that invite will come right away or after the national office goes to the points list.  Please take the time to check and then let me know your intentions - or questions - the sooner, the better.  If you're in first place in our region but do not intend to attend Nationals, we have the option to name the second place athlete in their place.  This must take place before invites go out but I can't do that if you don't tell me.  That means that 2nd place might  have to wait until they get invited via National Ranking Points.  That extra time is really valuable in securing cheaper flights, accommodations, etc., so please let me know asap.

Freeride evaluations will be available for pick-up at the NYSEF front desk on Sunday the 23rd so please stop by and pick them up.  If you have any questions or concerns that your coach can't answer, please come find me or shoot me an e-mail and I'll take it from there.

Thanks,
Mike K