words by Julie Weinberger
photos by Felix Rioux & Julie Weinberger

With at least half a foot of new snow on the hill, 18 women took to the US Open slopestyle course on Friday. Though snow fell throughout the day, the women did their best to keep their speed up.

“It was really snowy but you just had to make sure you were keeping your speed between jumps,” Steph Myers said. “We just had to be happy to be out here since it was really easy to get down on the course.”

Meg Olenick

In the semi-finals, it seemed the women were just trying to figure out the speed. The women who tried to spin were crashing, and most of the other riders were straight-airing.

In past years, many of the women have managed to hurt themselves in slopestyle. This year, only one person got seriously hurt, showing that they have really stepped up the level of skiing with their comfort on such features.

Angeli VanLaanen

Even with the slow conditions, the women were still going big and still hitting jump three, even though many were wondering if it would be possible early in the day. A few women decked hard on two, but for the most part, they were doing okay with speed.

Ashley Battersby

Ashley Battersby took home the win, throwing smooth, stylie 5s and 3s, and coming off switch on every rail she hit. Her third hit was one of the biggest of the day. While we all know she is—and many of the other women—are capable of going much bigger, Ashley pointed out that with the speed, doing smooth, smaller tricks were a better option.

Kim Lamarre

Kim Lamarre took second with tech rails: shifty 180-ing off the flat-up box to 270-on, switch-up, switch out on the flat-down gap box to a blindside 270-out on the flat rail to finish things up. Claudia Bouvier rounded out the podium.

Claudia Bouvier

“I don’t know how I did it,” Ashley said. “Most importantly, I didn’t want to get hurt, so I was on the back of my bindings tucking into the jumps.” she said.

left to right: Kim Lamarre (silver), Ashley Battersby (gold), Claudia Bouvier (bronze)

Final Results

1) Ashley Battersby - 76.25
2) Kim Lamarre - 76
3) Claudia Bouvier - 69.75
4) Katrien Aerts - 67.75
5) Angeli VanLaanen - 64.25
6) Keri Herman - 58
7) Megan Olenick - 54.5
8) Shanny Cohen - 52.75
9) Anna Cohen - 48.25
10) Stephanie Myers - 45.25
11) Maiko Hara - 44.75
12) Amy Sheehan - 43.25
13) Kristi Leskinen - 31.75
14) Caja Schoepf - 15.25