Doglotion.com - Freeskiing Community - Red Resort

Red Mountain Junior Freeskiing Comp

J Dogg — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 23:16:41 -0500

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Fifty-nine Junior competitors this week (Jan 8th, 2007) completed the first leg of the 2007 Canadian Open Freeskiing Championship presented by Ledcor in harsh weather conditions.

High winds and snow didn’t curb the enthusiasm of this new generation of Freeskiing athletes. The skiers charged in steeps on Red Mountain Resort’s Link’s Line run with excellent snow conditions. The tunes were cranking, the spirits were high and the skiing was spectacular.

The top qualifiers had two competition runs and the scores from both runs were added to determine the final score.

Female 12-14 Age Category:

1st Kerry-Anne Hamilton Whistler, BC 39.00

2nd Brittany Stefaroi Canmore, AB 33.00

3rd Meghan Gunning Calgary, CB 32.67

Female 15-18 Age Category:

1st Erin Kerr Whistler, BC 38.33

2nd Tamara Stefaroi Canmore, AB 37.00

3rd Kara Fitzgerald Sagle, ID 36.00

Male 12-14 Age Category:

1st Brodie Evans Rossland, BC 51.00

2nd Todd Loukras Rossland, BC 47.33

3rd Keegan Capel Banff, AB 45.00

Male 15-18 Age Category:

1st Phil Hudec Vancouver, BC 58.00

2nd Dane Tudor-Olds Rossland, BC 57.67

3rd North Parker Sumner, WA 57.33

The Open competition for Seniors nineteen years and older kicks off this Thursday January 11th on Link’s Line followed by the semi-finals Friday and finals on Saturday on Mount Roberts.

For registration forms and more event information, please visit www.canadianfreeskiing.com or phone Red Mountain Resort at (800) 663-0105.

Canadian Freeskiing Open Championships - Ledcor Sponsorship

J Dogg — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 22:40:00 -0500

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It's almost that time of year - many shredders' favourite Freeskiing comp will kick off the competition season in a few weeks time. Here's the release & details about the Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships and the new sponsor...

Ledcor Group of Companies is partnering with Red Mountain Resort to present the Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships, Canada’s biggest and longest running Big Mountain competition. From January 6-14th over 100 of the world’s best freeskiiers will test their mettle on one of the toughest venues on the freeskiing circuit, Mt. Roberts, battling for a $10,000 cash purse.

A global construction company, Ledcor is presently working in the community of Rossland at Red’s condominium project “Slalom Creek”. As a general principle, Ledcor supports the community by providing local opportunities through employment and supplier contracts. James Sharko, Vice President of the Ledcor Kelowna Building Division says “We are very pleased to be sponsoring the ski event as part of the Ledcor culture in supporting the communities we operate in.”

From erecting a community centre in an isolated northern BC town to making a much needed donation to a local food bank or building a specialized playground for a children’s hospice, Ledcor displays a wide range of community support through various donations and sponsorships. In addition, Ledcor has been a strong supporter of the United Way, last year achieving the “Decade of Excellence” Award. “We are ecstatic to have Ledcor as Presenting Sponsor for this world-class event”, states Erik Kalacis, Red Mountain Resort’s Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. “Not only will Ledcor help elevate the production values of the event, their support marks the first major step in evolving the Canadian Open Freeskiing Championship into a major multi-discipline competition. It is our intention to add other freeskiing disciplines to this competition in the future.”

The format of the competition will follow the International Free Skiers Association’s (IFSA) Big Mountain Freeskiing guidelines. Participating athletes will be judged on line choice, fluidity, technique, aggression and control. The IFSA recognizes the Canadian Open Freeskiing Championship as “a pinnacle in North American competitive freeskiing”. Top finishers at Red will be eligible for the IFSA World Tour Pre-Qualified List.

Jeff Holden, head judge of the competition last year, returns to lead his team of judges for another year. Captain Jack Carey returns as Chief of Competition. Registration for the Open event is limited to skiers 19 years and older. On January 11th contestants will begin qualifications on Red’s most difficult in-bounds run, Link’s Line, to secure one of the 50 sought-after semifinal slots. Finalists will compete the following two days on the technical Mount Roberts, visible to spectators from Red’s Granite Mountain.

Event Schedule:

Saturday Jan. 6th, 2007 Junior Registration, Mandatory Meeting

Sunday Jan. 7th, 2007 Junior Competition, Ages 11-18, Link’s Line

Wednesday Jan. 10th, 2007 Open Registration, Mandatory Meeting 7pm

Thursday Jan. 11th, 2007 Open Qualifier, Ages 19+ only, Link’s Line

Friday Jan. 12th, 2007 Semi-Finals, Mount Roberts

Saturday Jan. 13th, 2007 Finals, Mount Roberts, Awards Ceremony

Sunday Jan. 14th, 2007 Weather Contingency Day

Back by popular demand, the Junior competition returns to Red for a second year for kids aged 11-18. Held on Link’s Line underneath the Motherlode Chair, youths will participate in a one-day event on January 7th. Skiers from as far away as Utah and Vermont have signed up to test their skills on some of the most challenging terrain in the region, pitting themselves against the newest “up and comers” from the Kootenays.

For registration forms and more event information, please visit www.canadianfreeskiing.com or phone Red Mountain Resort at (800) 663-0105.

Red Mtn Freeskiing Challenge '04

J Dogg — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:19:28 -0400

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Molson Canadian Freeskiing Challenge footie from Red Resort, 2004. Good times.

Red Mountain Results

J Dogg — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0500

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Read the news below. Full story and photos coming soon...

The final day of competition of the Molson Canadian Freeskiing Championship wrapped with athletes finally being able to prove their mettle on Mt. Roberts. Despite visibility issues, the judges gave the thumbs up mid-morning for competitors to move to the favoured location on Roberts.

"We had a field of outstanding competitors," said event director Jack Carey. "All competitors came out like champs. Red Resort put on a great event; Molson put out the money and most importantly, put out the beer. Ski Press and Biglines.com put out the word. But a competition only succeeds when the mountain staff buys into the idea of putting on a great event, and they have in spades this year." Carey also gave head judge Jeff Holden special note for his years of commitment to the sport, from his early days of competition, to his giving back to the sport by encouraging younger athletes to participate.

The entire panel of judges, which also included Dan Slater, last year's winner Pete Velesik, LeeAnn Patterson, and Jimmy Jack, got a rousing round of applause from all the competitors.

Jim Greene, VP of resort operations, said of the event, "Really great lines were skied over the last several days. The sport of freeskiing has a big future ahead of it and all of us here at Red Resort want to see this event continue to grow. 'Captain' Jack Carey has done more for the sport of freeskiing than any other individual out there and we look forward to seeing him, as well as all the rest of you, back here again next year."

"Awesome skiing went on here today,'" said head judge Jeff Holden. "Let's give it up for this impressive field of women who led the way down Roberts today. Their skiing was potent and powerful."

Holden went on to say, "several people really greased their runs but Gabe Gaudet, coming off the top, working his feature, and not hesitating a bit, made his run really stand out." The 'Save of the Day' went to Shane Carmichael, "who's really been improving his game over the last several events he"s entered." Other special mentions went to Kirsty Exner for fluidity, Chad Sayers for 'making it all look so easy," and to Elijah Lee for some tree pruning with his 60 feet of air drop, appropriately dubbed the 'moon drop'."

Moss Paterson, one of last year's judges, was brought up to give out the 'Ill-Eagle' award, Red Resort's version of the World Tour's 'sick bird' award. This award, in the form of a belt buckle, was passed along to Leo 'the Cannonball' Brayman, for his awe-inspiring run.

Proving that BC continues to produce outstanding female competitors, the top five finishers were all from resorts in the province, with Karolina Ekman from Fernie taking first, Jen Ashton from Whistler in second, and Janina Kuzman, also from Fernie, coming in third. Local favourite Kirsty Exner made Red Resort proud by coming in fifth place.

With just a few points separating the top male competitor from the remaining top five, Cliff Bennett of Snowbird, UT, walked away with the top spot and a cheque for $3000. Chad Sayers from Whistler took the second spot and Caleb Mullen from nearby Schweitzer, WA taking third place. In all, a total prize purse of $10,000 was given out.

At the final party, event organizers were already in discussions about how to improve an already great competition, with many athletes vowing to return in 2007.

Molson Canadian Freeskiing Challenge '05

J Dogg — Sun, 23 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0500

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By Chris Mansbridge & Doglotion.com

I got a phone call from my Dad on Sunday, January 9th. "I just got back from skiing at Red Mountain and it was the best day of skiing I've ever had in my life, and I'm seventy!" I threw my gear together and drove off Monday morning to ski the 61cm's they had received and check out the Molson Canadian Red Resort Freeskiing Championships.

Author Chris Mansbridge

Jeff Holden's artistic rendition of Mt Roberts.

We arrived at Red early on the 11th to find that the rumors were true: two feet of the driest snow I've ever experienced in the Kootenays. We shredded the next two days on Granite Mountain, seeing no other tracks but our own from the previous run. The town had quieted down since I had lived there four years ago, and it showed on the hill. It was four days since the snow fell and the inbounds looked as though it was some remote backcountry stash. As the day came to an end, we started to see the usual freeskiing competitors start to show up for the evening's meeting.

If you ever get a chance to hear Jeff Holden on a microphone, make sure you're there. Holden did not disappoint. He welcomed his brothers and sisters to the annual reunion and began with describing the difference between a fall and a hipcheck. "A fall is when you bobble, take a tumble, loose your shit and have to hike back uphill to pick up your gear. A hipcheck is a hipcheck, so be on your game when you're landing back down on Mother Nature."

Author Chris Mansbridge

Links Line start gate.

The first day of competition was held on Bernie's Links Line, recently renamed after the passing of a local who only skied this run. Dispite the epic conditions around the mountain, Links Line was pretty beat from all of the precious day's inspection runs. Stephanie Gauvin was in front for the first day, and the mens field had Chris Rubens and Peter Velisek tied for first. There was something wierd about Jay Johnson's run, and it wasn't his one-piece suit. When I looked at his left hand it was covered in a giant ball of duct tape. As it turned out, he crashed in a rock garden the day before leaving for Red and ended up breaking his hand. He couldn't hold a pole so he opted to tape it on for the week.

Jay Johnson

The notorious Gary Kamoze

Those who made it through the first days cut (half the field) got to ski the 1600 foot Center Chute on Mount Roberts. Mount Roberts is a half hour hike off of the Paradise ski lift and consists of steep North facing chutes and spines. The Center Chute was originally skied in 1974 by long-time local Gary Kamoze, who now lives in his own ski-in ski-out accomodation; his own hut hidden deep in the trees on Red Mountain. The boys and girls got fired up for some steep backcountry pow. South Slocan's Pete Then started tossing himself of of the mountains biggest features, stomping a huge fifty footer as his last air.

Chris Rubens skied a styled line with a lot of new school flair, but couldn't keep it on his feet and the lead fell into the hands of Rossland born James Heim. Stephanie Gauvin was more concerned with skiing some fresh pow than scoring a high line score. She slipped to second behind Laura Ogden but redeemed herself by getting more faceshots than the rest of the girl's field combined. In true Holden form, Jeff ended the day with prizes and shoutouts to whoever wrecked themselves throwing down for the judges an spectators alike. Pete Then getting ready to drop in on Roberts. It was the final day of competition and things got downright arctic. Minus twenty celcius in the morning for a high pressure sunny day. There was high pressure in the start gate also, with only a few points separating the top five.

In the end it would be Laura Ogden claiming the women's title ($2000 prize purse), followed Stephanie Gauvin, and Flin Flon's finest female, Susan Bateman. Pete Velisek came back again to first place ($3000 prize purse), followed by Chad Sayers and Gary Hicks tied for second. Gary Hicks also got the ILL-EAGLE award for being the sickest bird aound, stomping a gnarly fifty footer two turns into his run.

Peter Velisek 1st place

Female Podium (Sue, Laura, Stephanie)

Laura Ogden

Crystal Cave entrance

All the competitors were given a free ticket for the next day to shred around and say goodbye to the mountains. Although most of the crew was too hungover from the previous night's party, the ones who got out spent the days relaxing on some groomers, finding some pow stashes in the trees, and exploring the Crystal Cave. The Crystal Cave is an old mine shaft hidden on Red Mountain that is damn near impossible to find. The inside consisits of a dark tunnel with rail tracks for extracting gold. I think it's also a hibernating area for skunks, as it definetly stunk after the Whistler crew left it. There were a lot of sad faces as everyone packed up to return to their jobs and resorts that were being rained on as Red was chalked full of pow.

I stayed a couple of days later to get some leftover powder, until the pineapple express finally came. Its sad to think that it was all over, but it will only be one year 'till it hapens again.

DETAILS

The Molson Canadian Red Resort Freeskiing Championship has been held at Red Mountain, Rossland, BC, Canada since 2002. Red Mountain pretty much rules, and if you haven't been there yet, it's time to check it out.

Visit their website at www.redresort.com for more information on what you've been missing.