Words & photos by Rocky Maloney

The second stop of The North Face Park & Pipe Open has come to Waterville Valley, New Hampshire and is set to showcase some of the brightest up and coming talent in freeskiing. The weather during Thursday's practice was beautiful, with sunny skies and spring-like temperatures, but just as yesterday's slopestyle qualifiers began things took a bit of a turn for the worst as a slight drizzle and dark clouds greeted the 60 athletes set to drop into the Exhibition Terrain Park.

Lyman Currier

The first heat of three consisted of 19 skiers with the top nine from each moving on to semi-finals. Highlights included a solid first run from Erik Hughes that consisted of a left 900 into a switch left 900, who then attempted to step it up with a dub cork 1260 on his second run, but couldn't hold it together, eventually ending up in fourth place.

Erik Hughes

Clayton Vila grew up skiing here at Waterville Valley and showed his comfort level throughout the course by putting it all together on his second run with a 450 onto the down box followed by a switch left 720 into a switch right 1080, which saw him take third place with a score of 85.50.

Clayton Vila

Dale Talkington also put together two killer runs to end up in second place, although his first run, which included a switch lip 270 on to 270 out into a right 900 followed by a switch left 1080, managed to score better than his second, where he threw down a switch left dub 900.

Dale Talkington

And taking the top spot in Heat 1 was James Campbell, who started his run off with a 270 on 270 out of the top feature, into a switch left 540, and put an exclamation point on his run with one of the most stylish dub corks of the day with a forward left dub cork 1080 high mute on the second jump.

James Campbell

In Heat 2, Scott Nelson claimed the fifth place position with a switch left 720 into a switch right 900, while Colin Sirois took fourth with a big left 900 over the last table into a uphill 270 out of the flat rail and finished things off with a lip slide on the down rail stair set.

Colin Sirois

Taking third was Ben Smith, who put together a left 900 into a switch left 900 followed by switch-up to 270 out of the flat rail into a lip on 270 out of the stair set.

Ben Smith

In second was Evan Schwartz, who couldn't land his first run but turned things around on his second by stomping a right 540 into a switch left 900 to earn a score of 85.50.

Evan Schwartz

And fresh off his win at last weekend's Aspen Open, Tim McChesney came to New Hampshire $5,000 richer and with confidence oozing out his ears to take the top spot in Heat 2. Kicking things off with a 270 onto the top rail into a stylish right side rodeo 900 mute capped off by a switch left 1080 on the last jump, Cheddar finished with a 93.50, which was the second highest scored of the day.

Tim McChesney

In Heat 3 Frank GP out of Quebec put together a 270 onto the first feature into a right 540, and kept it super stylish throughout the entire course with a switch left 900 on the second jump, which earned him a score on 82.25 and the third place spot.

Frank GP

Jamieson Irvine linked together a left 900 into a switch right 1080 over the jumps for a score of 90.75 and second place, while Alex Beaulieu made it a Canadian sweep of the top three by laying claim to the highest score of the day. Starting with a 270 onto the first feature into a switch right 720 to switch left 1080, Beaulieu then slayed the bottom rails with a switch 270 on 450 out of the flat bar into a switch 270 onto the stair set to take top honors in the third and final heat.

Jamieson Irvine

Alex Beaulieu

Once the competition was all said and done for the day, MSI provided fun and food for the competitors at the Waterville Recreation Center via a couple of intense games of dodgeball and some delicious pizza. Thanks for the good times MSI!

LJ loves dodgeball.

Stay tuned to Newschoolers for more coverage on the second stop of The North Face Park & Pipe Open, which continues today with Men's and Women's Slopestyle Semi-Finals and Finals.

Results

Heat 1

1) James Campbell - 92.25

2) Dale Talkington - 89.25

3) Clayton Vila - 85.50

4) Erik Hughes - 85.25

5) Colin Vaykovich - 84.25

6) Tyler Mega - 82.75

7) Lyman Currier - 78.25

8) Lucas Evans - 76.25

9) Jaeden Schneider-Clark - 75.75

cut-off

10) Brad Bulzan - 73.75

11) Alex Gorham - 71.50

12) Michael Brush - 70.75

13) Rob Heule - 65.25

14) Luke Hagearty - 60.75

15) Leif Botzojorns - 60.75

16) Jeremie Veilleux - 56.50

17) Travis Ford - 41.00

18) Yan Bussieres - 40.50

19) Freddy Brideweser - 30.50

Heat 2

1) Tim McChesney - 93.50

2) Evan Schwartz - 85.50

3) Ben Smith - 84.25

4) Colin Sirois - 80.25

5) Scott Nelson - 79.00

6) Justin Perry - 78.75

7) Sam Parker - 77.25

8) John Brown - 76.00

9) Brendan Wall - 74.00

cut-off

10) Tony Tagariello - 70.50

11) Cole Derrick - 69.75

12) Alex Mochan - 64.75

13) Sawyer Sellingham - 62.50

14) Keaton Carlson - 56.25

15) Jake Muller - 47.25

16) Tim Ryan - 31.00

17) Michael Cappola - 29.25

18) Will Hibbs - 26.00

Heat 3

1) Alex Beaulieu - 93.75

2) Jamieson Irvine - 90.75

3) Frank GP - 83.35

4) Kyle Keating - 79.75

5) Brian Kish - 78.25

6) Brent Whipple - 77.25

7) Ted Porter - 74.00

8) Chase Mohrman - 71.25

9) Dan Jones - 69.00

cut-off

10) Joshua Messier - 66.00

11) Tyler Thistle - 65.50

12) Jared Karon - 64.00

13) Quinn Waddell - 63.75

14) Sam McGowan - 57.25

15) Henry Savage - 54.50

16) Dan Hibbs - 52.00

17) Alec Carigan - 51.50

18) Cristian Santini - 26.50