Words & photos by Jon Lang

The Visa US Grand Prix was once again stoked for another stunning California day in Mammoth’s Unbound Park for Men’s and Women’s Slopestyle Qualifiers yesterday. The hard working Mammoth park crew really out did themselves for the event, building a stunning course to match the great weather and talented field of skiers. The course offered smooth rail features at the top followed by four immaculate jumps, giving the skiers seven features to impress the judges. The competitors were all pretty stoked on the course and it definitely showed in their runs.

Ian 'Chug' Cosco, Nicky Keefer and Beau-James Wells

“The course is great, it’s running fast. We’ve got blue skies, sunshine, no wind, everyone’s having fun and skiing well; it’s going to be a good day!” says Nick Goepper, who is by far the young gun of the year, giving every top skier a run for their money and is currently ranked first in the AFP Men's Slopestyle World Rankings. Another consistently impressive youngster, Torin Yater-Wallace, jumped into the slopestyle game yesterday and showed that he is by no means just a pipe skier by qualifying third ahead of Goepper and just behind Tom Wallisch. But in the end, the top spot went to another up-and-comer, Alex Bellemare, who is continuing to roll out an impressive season during his first go around on the professional competition circuit.

Tom Wallisch

Men’s Slopestyle Qualifiers Results

1) Alex Bellemare

2) Tom Wallisch

3) Torin Yater-Wallace

4) Nick Goepper

5) Chris Laker

6) James Woods

7) Russ Henshaw

8) Bobby Brown

9) Joss Christensen

10) Charles Gagnier

11) Gus Kenworthy

12) Fridtjof Semb Fredricsson

cut-off

13) Noah Morrison

14) Joe Schuster

15) Ole Christian Mustad

16) Willie Borm

17) Soushi Utagawa

18) Colby West

19) Kalle Leinonen

20) Zach Pham

21) Yu Yoneya

22) Nick Keefer

23) Andy Partridge

24) Brendan Wall

25) James Cambell

26) Carson Lehouillier

27) Chase Mohrman

28) Lyman Currier

29) Colby Stevenson

30) AJ Kemppainen

31) Thomas Pool

32) Justin Mayers

33) Bryce Barker

34) Takumi Toyama

35) Matias Munoz

36) Joey van der Meer

37) Tim Ryan

38) Daniel Arnold

39) Devon Savino

40) Kory Kirby

41) Andrew Matthew

42) Tom Waddell

43) Alexi Godbout

44) Quinn Waddell

45) Jimmy Greenleaf

46) Grover Cameron

47) Erik Hughes

48) Ian Cosco

49) Henry Hawks

50) Evan McEachran

51) Courtney Osborn

52) Michael Hibbs

53) Cody Cirillo

54) Max Peters

55) Vincent Gagnier

56) Carlson Keaton

57) Ryan Johnson

58) Natsuki Endou

59) Yukon de Leeuw

60) Alex Brown

61) Billy Waller

62) Jaeden Schneider-Clark

63) PK Hunder

64) Masato Hirase

65) Raleigh White

66) Hans-Jakob Brandt Olson


67) Kohki Maebori

68) John Bodeau

69) Griffin Rasmussen

70) Scott Nelson

71) Beau-James Wells

72) Aleksi Patja

73) Max Novotny

74) Tyler Meg

75) Jeffrey Conway

76) Michael King

77) Scott Damon

78) Tristen Houston

79) Charlie Leveroni

On the ladies' side of things, the women of freeskiing sure stepped their game up on the big features Mammoth prepared, with Devin Logan taking the top spot followed by Kaya Turski in second and Emilia Wint in third, all of whom threw down killer runs. Their offerings were so impressive that I overheard a few ex-competitors saying something along the lines of, “Dude, I don’t think I could actually make finals in the women’s heat” Keep killing it ladies, and good luck in today's finals!

Women’s Slopestyle Qualifiers Results

1) Devin Logan

2) Kaya Turski

3) Emilia Wint

4) Yuki Tsubota

5) Anna Segal

6) Dara Howell

7) Darian Stevens

8) Katie Summerhayes

9) Chiho Takao

10) Jessica Breda

11) Julia Marino

12) Hitomi Satoo

cut-off

13) Dominique Ohaco

14) Ami Ohkubo

15) Catherine Warchal

16) Victoria Hamilton

Stay tuned for more updates on the Visa US Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain, California, including a live broadcast of Men's and Women's Ski Slopestyle Finals, which you watch watch right here on Newschoolers today at 1pm PST/4pm EST.