I went to Alaska feeling pretty great about my last competition. I had a pretty good buffer for the overall tour points and I was really excited to ski what I wanted to ski and not worry how I placed. We got up early on Friday to see that it had snowed over a foot and was continuing to snow. Friday became a weather and an amazingly wet powder day and we all enjoyed an awesome powder day at Alyeska. Saturday we awoke again to more snow, but the visibility was not nearly as bad. This day marked the year anniversary of John Nicolettas death. We all loaded the tram and had an amazing memorial service for him and then we hiked up a little ways and all skied some very deep powder in his honor. The competition then started finally, I was so excited to finally ski, I picked out a pretty mellow line which I kind of regretted later because there was so much snow and I could have easily hit some bigger airs. In the end I was judged pretty hard and went into the finals in 7th place.
The next day was Easter Sunday and we woke to clear skies but the weather deteriated pretty quickly so we were on the hurry up and wait schedule. We finally were allowed to go inspect around 330 in the afternoon and they pretty much called the competition for that day. I was so bummed because I really just wanted to ski and be done so I could enjoy Alaska. As we were hiking up for inspection it was hard to see a foot in front of you. As we neared the top all of a sudden the fog and the clouds decipated and you could see the entire venue. We were able to see really well during inspection and I had this hope that we would be able to still compete. I picked a line that I was pretty excited about that had about three airs. I knew I needed a strong line to move up from seventh. They decided to try and run us so we waited for the helicopter. I could not believe that I was going to take a heli to the top of my run. As we loaded the heli I snagged the front seat which was awesome because as we flew to the top I was able to get an amazing view of my line and also the ride of my life. I was pretty pumped up to ski after the fast ride to the top. I ran third and felt that I had a strong aggressive and fun run. I skied what I wanted to ski not what I thought the judges wanted to see. I placed second and was so excited that Rebecca had landed her first win. I also in turn took the overall title. I could not believe that I had landed on the podium in every one of the comps this year! I look forward to going home and skiing some fun peaks in the Tetons.
