The Morning report

MMSST racers compete in Canada and at home

The Mammoth Mountain Open WR FIS series was scheduled to be four days of racing, Dec. 10-13, with two slalom and two giant slalom races for both men and women. Mother Nature had a different idea. On Thursday, Dec. 10, athletes woke up to weather so stormy that the women were the only ones to get in a race with Mammoth Ski Team’s Maia Bickert taking 23rd; Katherine Brown, 24th; and Sydney Snelbaker, 52nd. Friday, the men were scheduled to have their first race, but the race was called for safety reasons.

The storm moved out and on Saturday the 193 racers from over 15 foreign countries and the U.S. were all able to race. The men went first with back-to-back runs. It was tough competition for the Mammoth men, with the top finisher being Cody Underkoffler in 35th. The ladies ran their two runs next on much softer snow. However, all four Mammoth team members finished, with Bickert, who just recently joined the team, placing fourth. Brown was 21st; Snelbaker 30th; and Elisabeth Heit, who had a DNF on Thursday, came in 42nd.

Sunday, Mother Nature played her weather trickery again, but this time, even with heavy snow moving in and high winds, the men’s course held up so well that a simple redress was all that was needed and the men were off and running for their second run. The top MMSST finish went to Sean Murphy in 46th. Unfortunately, Underkoffler was unable to compete due to illness. Other Mammoth athletes who competed in the series were: Jackson Rich, Max Ziontz, Perry Moyer, Austin Gumins, Ryan Foulke, Duncan Reid, Trevor Buongiorno, Lachlan Anderson, Jimmy Wehsener and Kevin Wolfe.

The women too fought wind, freezing temperatures, pelting snow and near whiteout conditions. Bickert was again the top Mammoth lady with a 12th place result, followed by Brown in 21st; Snelbaker in 45th; and Heit in 49th.

While their teammates were racing at home, four other Mammoth Ski Team members spent the week racing in Canada. On Dec. 7-11 Alex Colby, Scotty Lebel and Keith Moffat were at Lake Louise for two Nor Am downhill races. During the two training runs Colby was 46, 45; Lebel 62, 60; and Moffat 75, 34.  However, the athletes had to wait it out as first race on Dec. 9 race was cancelled due to heavy snow. The weather cleared enough for two downhills to be held, with Moffat finishing 20th and 24th; and Lebel 65th and 58th. Unfortunately, Colby suffered a crash in the first race and was unable to compete the next day. On Dec. 12 the venue moved to Panorama Mountain Resort, BC, where Moffat was 27th in the Super G and 24th in the Alpine Combined.  On the women’s side, the following day Scotty’s sister Maureen Lebel took an impressive seventh place for the Women’s Nor-Am Cup Super G and 13th for the Alpine Combined.

Dew Tour at Breckenridge, Rev Tour at Copper Mtn, USASA at home

The winter portion of the Dew Tour returned to Breckenridge, Colorado for the eighth year in a row. The 2015 edition of the tour got underway on Wednesday, Dec. 9 with preliminary rounds of competition in women’s snowboard superpipe and slopestyle.

It snowed throughout the night Friday and the flakes continued to fall on the women as they competed in the first major competition of the year. Conditions were challenging, with flat light, a choppy flat bottom and a very slow halfpipe overall. The podium spots went to those that could best handle the adversity.

Mammoth Snowboard Team’s fifteen-year-old Chloe Kim was the top finisher for the women in second, with another Mammothite, Olympic champion Kelly Clark finished in third.

Liu Jiayu of China topped the field with a run that featured amplitude and technicality.

Another member of the Mammoth Snowboard Team, who is also part of the U.S. rookie halfpipe team, Maddie Mastro struggled most with the conditions, but dropped in switch to a nice Haakon flip before losing speed throughout the rest of her run. Fifteen-year old Mastro finished sixth.

In the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle event, Mammoth’s Brandon Davis was 20th in the Semi final and local rider Greg Bretz was 22nd in the Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe. In the Women’s Ski Superpipe Semifinal results, Mammoth Mountain Freeski Team’s Abigale Hansen was 11th, which kept her out of the finals. Instead Hansen headed over to the first stop of the U.S. Revolution Tour at Copper Mountain, Colo. where she won both Women’s Freeski Halfpipe events.

The Rev tour featured back-to-back halfpipe competitions under mostly sunny Colorado skies, although winds with gusts up to 28 mph picked up on the first day in the afternoon, making conditions tricky for competitors in the final. Mammoth Mountain Snowboard Team members who are used to windy conditions, made some strong finishes , with Joshua Bowman 9, 9; Judd Henkes 12, 40; Denver Orr 43, 29.

Seventeen-year-old Hansen from June Lake dominated the freeski portion of the tour on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 10-11, winning both of the Ladies Freeski Halfpipe events. In addition to Hansen’s wins, MMSST’s Carly Margulies finished third on Thursday and ninth on Friday and Sierra Bowman was 15th and seventh.

The Mammoth Freeski Team also showed well in the men’s competition in the final on both days. Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon, who lives in Hong Kong, but trains with the team on a part time basis, was third. Mammoth local Cameron Brodrick, who is also a member of the strong U.S. rookie halfpipe team and winner of the USASA national title in 2015, was 18th; Sam Ward 37th; Aaron Durlester 38th on Thursday, then 17-year-old Broderick, moved up to take an impressive sixth place on Friday, with Glavatsky-Yeadon slipping to 13th.

The Revolution Tour, focused towards riders 13-19 years old, is designed to serve as a stepping-stone for amateur athletes making the transition from competing at the grassroots level to the elite level in halfpipe, slopestyle, snowboardcross and big air. Next up for the Rev Tour is the Mammoth Mountain stop Jan. 26-31, where the next generation of elite freeskiers and snowboarders will compete in slopestyle, halfpipe and big air.

Meanwhile at home a number of Mammoth Freeski and Snowboard Team members were taking part in their first USASA event of the season under very adverse conditions.

Top three finishers in each division were: SNB Girls 9 and under, Sonora Alba, first; SNB Girls (10-13) Tessa Maud, first; Kinsley White, second; Zeia Rose, third; SNB Girls 14 and over Indira Shinn Rees, first; Taney Anne Doll, second; Skier Girls 9 and under Kathryn Gray, first; Skier Girls (10-13) Lauren Drexel, first; Lizetta Dardenne, second; and Emma Dardenne, third.

Skier Boys 9 and under Campbell Burrows, first; David Gray, second; Skier Boys (10-13) Andrew Nachman, first; Sean Walker, second; Jared Nachman, third; Skier Boys 14 and over Aaron Durlester, fresh off of the Rev Tour in Copper Mountain, was first; Sam Avruch, second; Nico Segura, third; Snowboard Boys (10-13) Dusty Hendrickson, first; Kolman Lecroy, second; Charles Gray, third; SNB Men 14 and over Ocean Roberts, first; Cody Beavers, second; Julian Harvey, third; SNB Men open Matt Romanowitz, first; Hugh Marsden, second; Aden Robert, third; and Ski Men open Cole Lyon, first.

The next Unbound USASA events on the schedule are two slalom races on December 27, followed by two GS races the following day.