Podium and No crashing!!!!! Finally!!!!

Last weekend I competed in the Freeskiing World Tour Championships in Snowbird, Ut. I have been having a really rough and disappointing season so I really wanted to the end the season off on a positive note. I was really bummed about not qualifying for Verbier or even being able to have a judged run on the Freeride World Tour. I was excited to compete in Snowbird though, because it was the comp that I had won last year. I had hurt my knee in Kirkwood, so I was not sure how it would feel competing on hard pack in Snowbird. I wore a brace and my knee felt pretty good, I picked out a pretty mellow line on the day one venue but just really wanted to stay on my feet so I could ski my fun line on the finals venue. I did not score as well as I would have thought, but was only about 4 points out of first and 2 points out of the podium. I was in 8th place. Going into the finals I was so excited to ski my line on North Baldy, but my mindset was little different this year. I just wanted my confidence back and after my first run I had gotten it back. I moved from 8th to 2nd and was so excited for the superfinals to ski my line with more confidence and really charge. I won the superfinals run by 21/2 points, but it was not enough to move into first. I was just psyched because I skied like myself and ended my season with a solid second place finish!!!

if you want to see the top three runs go to http://www.freeskiingworldtour.com/video.html

Snowbird!!! Freeskiing World Tour Championships!!!

This year has been a very different year for me as far as competing goes. I have been participating on two different tours which has made it difficult for me to competitive on either tour for the overall. I have also had some tough luck with crashing, which has been tough on my confidence and my body. I crashed very hard in Kirkwood and have been rehabing my knee since, today was my third day skiing since the crash and I am feeling almost 100%. Last year I placed first here in Snowbird and won my first Freesking World Tour event by ten points. I am not sitting anywhere in the overall standings so I do not have the pressure. I just want to come out and finish my season strong and confidently. I have very similar lines picked out as last year, which I am excited about. I just want to make sure that I make it past tomorrow, so I can ski my fun line on Baldy that won me the competition last year. Tomorrow we compete on Silverfox, the conditions are definitely a little chalky and challenging. I just need to be aware of the landings and that I will accelerate after taking any type of air. I am ready and am feeling confident about my skiing! The event will be live at freeskiingworldtour.com
(the picture on the top is Silverfox and the one on bottom is Baldy.)

Kirkwood California Freeskiing World Tour Stop # 4

After Squaw I was pretty sore from crashing and had to take a few days off. I wanted to be ready for Kirkwood and be confident with my skiing. This has been a really tough year on me mentally and it has started to downward spiral my confidence. When you start to crash a lot it makes it hard to think about anything in the gate except crashing. Squaw was my 5th pretty large crash in a row. I arrived at Kirkwood feeling pretty confident but mentally a little off. I placed second there last year and wanted to just have a strong finish to make me feel confident about my skiing. The first day I I picked a pretty mellow line to just gain back confidence that I can ski and not crash. I did just that but did not feel that great about my run. I was sitting in 6th place going into the finals. Looking at the next days venue I picked out a little more rowdy of a line that I was really passionate about. The next morning I changed my mind and mellowed out my line again. My good friend Janina skied the line that I wanted to ski, I was so stoked for her, but it made me want to ski it on my superfinals run. I was sitting in 5th going into the superfinals so I figured I had nothing to lose. I went for the line, but as I was skiing into the chute I had a bad feeling. I needed more speed for where I wanted to ski and next thing I knew I was coming up short on the air and landing on some rocks and cartwheeling down the venue. I felt no pain at the moment, but as I started to hike up to get my ski I knew I had tweaked my knees pretty good. ( I think I have a slight tear in my MCL.) I ended up 5th, my friend Janina won and also won the coveted sickbird with the line I was so passionate about, I am so stoked for her, but wish my confidence would have been better to ski the line. The good news is I still ended up 5th out of 30 girls. I think I just need a little break from competing for a little while, I know I can ski but have had a tough year. I hope my knee will heal, so I can try to go defend my title in Snowbird next weekend.

Squaw Valley No Tram Face!!!!

I woke up really early to go scope lines on the Tram Face, I was really excited about my line it was more of a technical ski line not as many airs. I felt confident about my line because I just wanted to have a solid run to get my confidence back. It was a beautiful day and people were filing in to watch the comp, I felt like I was at a football game with people tailgating. It was so awesome to see that many people out to watch our sport. Right before they were going to send the first forerunner about a one foot crown broke sending an avalanche over the venue. This was not why Tram Face was canceled but had something to do with it and how the snow conditions would progress. So this left us to ski two runs on Silverado, which was a very short venue and not as much technical skiing. I picked a line that had two good features in it starting with a 25 foot air at the top. I landed the top air with no problems and was so excited! I then went into my technical waterfall line at the bottom and underestimated the landing. It was so flat that I just planted strait into the snow. I was super bummed, because I had a great line going. I tried to not be to bummed because I had one more chance to redeem myself. I also had nothing to lose, because to qualify for Verbier I needed to get 1st or 2nd. I figured my top air was money because it had been so smooth on the first run. I picked out a very technical steep air at the bottom that I was really excited about. I felt very confident about my line choice and new if I stuck this I would be very high in the placings. I went into my top air and as I was flying through the air I saw that my landing area was a huge bomb hole. I landed super hard bringing my knees to my face and knocking my goggles off my helmut. This was one of the hardest crashes of the year and I was not able to finish my run. I was so bummed, because if I just would have been a foot to the left I would not have hit the bomb hole. I could not believe that I had crashed again. This year has been really tough on me because I feel that I am skiing really well, but have just had some bad luck with line choices and not being able to stay on my feet. Last year I had one of the best years of my career and this year I am having one of the worsts, but I am also upping my skiing ability so hopefully soon it will pay off. Headed to Kirkwood for the Freeskiing World Tour.