Canadian Freeski Open at Red

words and photos by Jason Mousseau

The Canadian Freeski Open is a competition that's been running for the past 7 years at three different locations including Kimberly, Fernie and Red. The competition showcases those who excel at freeriding and is open to anyone willing to go against the best in their age category. The format is pretty simple; each athlete gets one run in which they are judged on five various categories; line, control, fluidity, technique and aggressiveness. To achieve the maximum number of points, the competitor must choose a difficult line while displaying the control and style of a good technical skier and ensure they move down the mountain with a goal and tons of energy. The winner is decided by a panel of qualified judges who include Jeff Holden, Jimmy Jack and Gabriel Gaudet.

Athletes had to show up Friday with their coaches and/or parents in order to register, and the course was open to all until noon that day. Later on there was a mandatory meeting at 7pm where the competitors were briefed on the basics of the competition.

Head judge Jeff Holden explained the schedule for the weekend, and went over the format for the comp along with how athletes will be judged and scored. He insisted that even though this was a competition, that everyone should do their best to keep the vibe high and do what it takes to get everyone stoked on the fact that they are doing what they love, skiing.

Once that was out of the way, Jeff went over the course and how it would change as the weekend progressed. Day one was the qualifier, where the skier's right was considered out of bounds and entering it would result in a DQ. The second day the whole run was opened, and everything was fair game including a very difficult cliff face and other technical features. That wrapped up the meeting and the juniors were sent home with excitement in their eyes for the what would end up being a great weekend.

Saturday morning everyone had to be at the hill bright and early for a mandatory inspection run which took place between 7:00 and 7:30. The mountain got about 10 cms overnight, so everyone was greeted with great snow condition, albeit poor visibility. Unfortunately, the fog did not lift and the judges had to spread themselves throughout the course and each run was split into three individually judged sections, where the average was taken in order to get the athletes score.

The rest of the day went smoothly with no injuries, other than the main chairlift which stopped working with a handful of athletes remaining, but event coordinators were quickly able to get them towed to the top in order for them to finish their runs. After a long day of skiing, everyone met in the lodge for a recap of the day including scores and a quick overview of what will come on Sunday.

Sunday morning the qualified athletes headed towards the hill at 7 am and were greeted with one of the most spectacular views they have seen, which immediately got everyone stoked on the day to come.

The competition started on time at 9 am and was split up into six different categories, according to age and gender in order to ensure an equal playing field for everyone. The starting gate was just below the main chair and was host to a sound system pumping out beats all day, accompanied with a great MC and the legendary Captain Jack as a starter.

The kids were killing it all day, and offered some great runs for the spectators as some chose extremely technical lines while others threw spins and grabs into their runs for extra style points. Unfortunately the fog crept up during the day, and at about 1 pm or so the judges had to split up the course into three sections again. The older males were faced with low light and gnarlier snow conditions, but this is what a freeskiing competition is all about, and they attacked the course aggressively in search of that first place spot.

About to hit the first cliff band

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Second place finisher Alex Berg stoked on the beautiful weather

1st- Colston Beaston

2nd- Alex Berg

3rd- Travis Steeger

1st- Alex George

2nd- Brittani Ballantyne

3rd- Francesca Pavvilard'cain

1st- Brodie Evans

2nd- Duncan Adams

3rd- Noah Maisonet

1st- Annalise Manley

2nd- Hailey Loeffler

3rd- Karly Sansom

1st- Garret Capel

2nd- Mitch Gilman

3rd- Zeb Dueck

1st- Robyn Sansom

2nd- Sally Staner

3rd- Kimberly Best

Senior Male Podium

1st- Dane Tudor

2nd- Luke Nelson

3rd- Mathieur Gagnon Theriault

Senior Female Podium

1st- Krystal Wright

2nd- Karolina Ekman

3rd- Crystal-Rose Lee