Words by Jeff Schmuck

Photos by Ilanna Barkusky/MSI

The second stop of The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series kicked off yesterday in beautiful Whistler, BC under cold but brilliant bluebird skies for Men's Slopestyle Qualifiers.

49 competitors spread out across two heats took to the immaculate course in the Nintendo High Level Terrain Park on Blackcomb Mountain for their shot at scoring one of the 12 coveted spots in finals, where the winner will have a chance at securing himself a spot in slopestyle at Winter X Games 17, which kicks off next week in Aspen, Colorado.

In Heat 1, 27 up-and-coming amateur and well-known professional athletes duked it out in an impressive display of trickery, which was highlighted by the antics of Noah Morrison, who's first run (which included a misty 5 off the donkey dick rail and a picture perfect switch double cork 9 japan) earned him the top qualifying spot of the day. Also moving on from Heat 1 was Aaron Blunck, who less than 24 hours after scoring himself a spot in halfpipe at X Games for his first time (thanks to podium finishes at the first stop of The North Face Park and Pipe Open and this past weekend's US Grand Prix) showed he's no slouch on the slopestyle course either with a series of immaculate dub 12's and switch 12's, while TNF PPOS veteran James Campbell took third and the one and only TJ Schiller (competing for his second time since returning from back-to-back knee injuries) nabbed himself the fourth and final necessary placing to move on to finals.

Malcolm MacDougall

In Heat 2, Willie Borm took top honors with a run that included a huge 450 out of the donkey dick rail to right cork 9 to switch double cork 10, while Keaton Carlson's flawless double flatspin 9's helped him land in second. Meanwhile, LJ Strenio returned to the competition scene in fine form following his horrific knee injury this time last year to take third, thanks to a silky smooth dub 10, backside 450 out of the donkey dick rail, switch right 7 and switch left 9 blunt, and Jeaden Schneider-Clark rounded out the top four with one of the dopest switch 10 truck drivers seen in years.

Jeaden Schneider-Clark

In addition to the top four from each heat moving on, the next four highest scores overall (amongst both heats) were also given the nod, with pipe master Walter Wood (who said he wanted to compete in slopestyle purely for the sake of having fun) and the always consistent Kolby Ward moving on from Heat 1, while local wonder kids Brenden Reid and Max Morello slipped in to beast mode to stomp their way into finals via the large and in charge runs they laid down in Heat 2.

Kolby Ward

Results

Heat 1

1) Noah Morrison - 88.8

2) Aaron Blunck - 84.2

3) James Campbell - 83.4

4) TJ Schiller - 82.8

5) Walter Wood - 82.0

6) Kolby Ward - 81.2

cut-off

7) Kirby Sutherland - 72.2

8) Logan Pehota - 70.6

9) Matt Crawford - 68.8

10) Evan McEachran - 66.4

11) Freddy Brideweser - 65.8

12) Kyle Smaine - 64.8

13) Tyson Oland - 64.4

14) Matthew Wilcox - 63.4

15) Michael Granger - 62.4

16) Dylan Bessette - 60.6

17) Zak Mousseau - 60.2

18) Ben Maxwell - 56.8

19) Philippe Dallaire - 55.8

20) Dustin Sittler - 50.8

21) Austin Hunter - 49.4

22) Austin Karker - 49.2

23) Ty Urlich - 45.0

24) Ryan Malone - 44.0

25) Corbin Lefebvre - 27.8

26) Sam Ruttiman - 25.0

27) Henry Hawks - 24.2

Heat 2

1) Willie Borm - 87.6

2) Keaton Carlson - 86.4

3) LJ Strenio - 84.0

4) Jaeden Schneider-Clark - 83.6

5) Brenden Reid - 79.4

6) Max Morello - 77.8

cut-off

7) Mark Hendrickson - 77.2

8) Riley Culver - 75.2

9) Devon Savino - 71.0

10) Colby West - 68.6

11) Andy Partridge - 68.6

12) Jesse Matthews - 66.0

13) Bryce Barker - 64.8

14) Cameron Duncan - 54.2

15) Malcolm MacDougall - 54.2

16) Alex Hackel - 51.0

17) Austin Tatom - 49.4

18) Reid McEachran - 34.2

19) Lucas Vianna - 21.0

20) Ryan Bessette - 19.2

21) Mitchell Wilson - 18.6

22) Carson Kerr - 17.0

Stay tuned for more coverage on the second stop of The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series in Whistler, BC, which continues today with Men's and Women's Slopestyle Finals (which will be broadcasted on CBS Sports on a still to be announced date) and on Thursday with Men's and Women's Halfpipe Semi-Finals and Finals, which you can check out a live webcast of right here on Newschoolers beginning at 12:30pm PST. For more information on The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series, be sure to check out www.thenorthfaceppos.com.