This past weekend saw the Red Freeski Academy compete at the Junior Freeski Competition held at Fernie Alpine Resort.  Fernie, like the rest of BC has been trapped in a drought for nearly a month now and the conditions showed it.  Although there is a bomber base and there was a bit of new snow recently, conditons were skied out and extremely icy.

  Day one qualifiers took place on the popular Big Bang.  Red Freerider Simon Hillis skied himself into a 5th place qualifier in the 7-11 boys category while Freeski Academy memeber Sally Steeves took edged out into 1st place by a point and a half.  Freeski Academy member Deremie Bell shredded himself into a 9th place qulifier in the 12-15 boys. the largest category holding a whopping 53 skiers.  A costly fall kept Jay Maloney from qualifiying and questionable judging kept George Hogarth back despite having a smoking hot run.  Other highlights included strong runs by Parkin Costin (7-11 boys) and Garret Capel (12-15 boys) and Caleb Brown (16-18 boys) sending the super stepdown for a huge 50 foot plus gap jump.

  Day 2 took the skiers to Concussion in the Curry Chutes.  As competitors and coaches pounded out inspection runs the slope became even more icy, creating tough conditions for competitors.  Speedy Simon Hillis skied fast and hard and moved up to finish 3rd place int he 7-11 boys, while Sally Steeves defended her Fernie title under tough competiton  including a big 360 from Karly Samson.  Deremie Bell hoping to move into a top 5 finish had two falls, but sent some huge airs to finish 20th.

  All in all a great comp, one of the most punctual and well organised junior events to date.  Next Freeski comp for the Academy is the North American finals at Crystal Mountain Washington at the beginning of April.