On the Road to Red - 2012 Freeskiing Championships Day 1

Today was the start of the 11th annual North Face Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships at Red Mountain,  BC. The temperatures were low but the stoke was high as the 20 women and 54 men from all over made there way down the qualifiers venue on Links Line. The visibility was great and the fresh snow on top of the low snow pack definitely helped with conditions. Although the amount of obstacles on the course most of the athletes stayed on there fee,t making today very entertaining.

On the women's side notable mentions go to Julie Thomas for her fast and fluent skiing down the hill and Chandrima Lavoie sending the top air bigger than any other girl.

On the mens side, as usual Luke Nelson  showed his strengths with a fast and aggressive line. Alex Wall skied very well sticking his first few cliffs and throwing a floaty 360 at the bottom. Another mentionable was Cody Erwin, who didn't score very well with the judges but had one of the top runs of the day wit a 360 off the top cliff, airing off everything below and finishing with a back flip at the bottom. The highlight of the day was the late arrival of "Crazy George" Ezard, who showed up just as the last guy had dropped, he had flipped his truck on route from Ontario, managed to have it flipped right side over, and continued on destined to not miss the event. It was also his first run of the year with only a chairlift ride inspection!!!

Tomorrow is semi finals on Mount Roberts, which has a smaller venue than normal with the low snowpack, so we'll see what the skiers can pull off.

Senior Females Results Day 1

Senior Mens Day 1 Results