Freestyle World Cup Deer Valley 1/10-1/12

[Philpug]

We just had a chance to spend some time talking with Jonny Moseley about the envent and how the sport has evolved since he competed.Jonny was saying that the speed through the bumps is about the same as when he competed but it is the speed that the enter the jumps is much faster and that is allowing the the bigger jumps with the higher degree of difficulty, it is the difference of todays competitors (on the men's side) being able to do triple corks verses just the doubles that he perfected when he competed.

 

[Tricia]

The USA Women looked strong coming out of Qualifiers

 

[Michael Ando]

Great to see a picture of the aerials practice. Lydia Lassila lives in the same small coastal town as me a long way from any snow. Hers is an inspirational story and everyone here is hoping she does really well in Deer Valley , where she won last year , and at the Olympics later this year.
Cheers Mike

 

[Started at 53]

@Tricia

We will be there March 7-13

Glad it’s looking good

 

[4ster]

Keep an eye out for my girl Danielle Scott in the women's aerials.

 

[Philpug]

@Tricia

We will be there March 7-13

Glad it’s looking good

You will have to come over for some of The Gathering events. There is a party at Brewvie's on the 8th.

 

[blackke17]

We checked out the events last year. It's amazing how steep and gnarly those bump runs are!!! try launching off a jumbo kicker on top of double black full of bumps - mad respect for those skiers - good coverage guys

 

[Tricia]

Keep an eye out for my girl Danielle Scott in the women's aerials.

She is on the AUS team Bib 8 and taking her run in 30th position.

 

[Mendieta]

You have to Pugski up those skis! Stickers for everyone!

Plug the pug!

 

[Philpug]

Today was crazy at the aerial jump. We expected it going in because as the day went on, the snow got faster and harder and chunkier and and and ... We saw some issues with the soft landings where skiers were landing and just sinking in and the conditions catapulted more than one skier into a summersault. As I said the landing area was real soft but as soon as the skiers landed, they immediately skied into some heavy bullet proof mank that also claimed a few skiers with even one being removed on a stretcher. Speaking of stretchers, one US skier actually flew off the side of the far skiers right jump into a crowd of EMT's, fortunately no one was seriously hurt. Event will be broadcasted tomorrow so I will not be posting spoilers.

I would like to thank Deer Valley and the way they hosted the event, everything from the ease of getting credentials and the access to the fantastic food. We look forward to returning next year when they will be hosting the World Championships.

 

[Tricia]

We saw some pretty big crashes, none of which rivaled the crash that home town favorite USA Aerialist Zachary Surdell had some strange thing happen as he was going up the jump, when he went off the side, into some course workers to the skier's right. I'm not sure what happened but it was insane to watch, and incredibly quiet while he was being attended by medics.
Sending good vibes to him.

From post 4 Day three.
Found this cool video of Zachary Surdell when he was 13 in Michigan.

 

[crgildart]

I caught the broadcast of the moguls last night. WOW! Some great skiing happening there..

 

[Tricia]

I caught the broadcast of the moguls last night. WOW! Some great skiing happening there..

It is really cool to be standing right beside the course.
Phil took several videos in slo-mo from this vantage point.

 

[Tricia]

News from Desert News
US Ski Team Skiers have fruitful and frustrating time at Deer Valley
Snip #1
Kiley McKinnen
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” said the 22-year-old aerial skier after mathematically clinching her spot on the U.S. Olympic team with an eighth-place finish. “I didn’t get the results I was hoping for, but to make the Olympic team…Words can’t even describe how it feels.”
Snip #2
Ashley Caldwell
“This is a tough sport,” she said. “I’m trying to get the most reward that I can because I’m physically competent enough and technically good enough to go out and do tricks that the guys do. That build up is tough. I’m going to take crashes. I wish that I look less crashes, and I wish I landed and won more events. But I’d rather be pushing myself every time.”

Snip#3
Zachary Surdell
U.S. skier Zachary Surdell, 20, was competing in his first World Cup when he skied off the largest kicker on the mountainside, hit his head on the jump and flew into a crowd of coaches and medical personnel standing adjacent to the kicker. U.S. officials said he had a concussion, but was alert as medical personnel took him off the mountain in a sled.

 

[Bolder]

I love watching the moguls. I have no idea how they can control their speed while blasting through the zipperline. However...am I alone in thinking the event would be more interesting to viewers if the moguls were natural instead of artificially groomed? I feel as if the competitors' skills and athleticism are lost on most viewers. Can you imagine if each stop on the tour featured a different slope? Surely you could cut in a jump or two.

I'm indifferent as to the jumping, as I am to "slopestyle" and most other Red Bull "sports."

/grump

 

[Philpug]

I love watching the moguls. I have no idea how they can control their speed while blasting through the zipperline. However...am I alone in thinking the event would be more interesting to viewers if the moguls were natural instead of artificially groomed? I feel as if the competitors' skills and athleticism are lost on most viewers. Can you imagine if each stop on the tour featured a different slope? Surely you could cut in a jump or two.

I'm indifferent as to the jumping, as I am to "slopestyle" and most other Red Bull "sports."

/grump

The discussion of "natural" moguls has come up repeatedly. In talking to many "legends" who competed in the sport the addition of speed as a scoring factory was it all changed. Personally, I would liek to also see ballet make a come back. I think the minds of soem of these younger freeride skiers could add a multitude of new tricks that the original competitors could never have dreamed of.

 

[Bolder]

The discussion of "natural" moguls has come up repeatedly. In talking to many "legends" who competed in the sport the addition of speed as a scoring factory was it all changed. Personally, I would liek to also see ballet make a come back. I think the minds of soem of these younger freeride skiers could add a multitude of new tricks that the original competitors could never have dreamed of.

I figured it had. As for speed you could make it relative; award bonus points based on speed relative to benchmark. I liked ski ballet, certainly think it makes a lot more sense the having metal rails in slopestyle. Who had that brilliant idea? Dunno, I only pay attention to "traditional" freestyle in Olympic years, and then just barely. The only professional skiing that interests me are the alpine disciplines and the freeride big mountain tour. Now THAT is some hardcore stuff, and unpredictable, too...

 

[DaveM]

Tricia, thank you for posting this. I had no idea what the TV broadcast schedule was for this. Well, I better look it up before the Olympics. Have you & PhilPug seen the IMAX film about the Nagano winter Olympics? I saw it at Boston's Museum of Science, probably back in 2001 or so (wow, time flies...), and still remember seeing the "aerials" on the huge screen..."WOW!".

 

[Karen_skier2.0]

We saw some pretty big crashes, none of which rivaled the crash that home town favorite USA Aerialist Zachary Surdell had some strange thing happen as he was going up the jump, when he went off the side, into some course workers to the skier's right. I'm not sure what happened but it was insane to watch, and incredibly quiet while he was being attended by medics.
Sending good vibes to him.

From Zach's instagram:
So last night I qualified for finals in 9th. It was looking to be a pretty sweet night then in finals training I caught an edge and swatted into the jump and flew about 15 feet in the air to my back. But waiting to hear on some results and see how things play out.

Later, he commented that he's travelling to Lake Placid to watch only.

 

[Tricia]

@Karen_skier2.0 Thanks for sharing that information