Following the Grand Prix at Copper, it was decided that the next Grand Prix would be held back in Breckenridge instead of Tahoe like it was originally planned. I had already booked my ticket to Tahoe before this decision was made, and decided to still go.  After a much-needed Christmas break spent with family and friends, I flew down to Tahoe to ski Boreal one day and hang out with some friends before heading back to Colorado. 

For the first day of practice we were met with high winds, and had a hard time clearing the jumps. Luckily the next day was much better for everyone, and we were able to finally hit the jumps.

Unfortunately the day of our contest was met with a combination of wind and enough snow to make clearing the jumps a difficult task. In my first run I screwed up on my first jump and wasn’t able to continue my run. During the second runs very few people were able to actually land a run or even clear the second and last jump. In my second run I toned down all my jump tricks and just tried to put something to my feet and clear the jumps.  I wasn’t able to do any big tricks and even landed a bit short on the second jump and had an unfortunate meeting between my knee and my lip. 

After that a run I was so happy just to be able to walk away safely. Luckily for the afternoon heats the weather cleared up a little bit.  For the rest of the week there was a combination of high winds and snow for the rest of the contest. When it came time for slopestyle finals to happen the weather was still so bad that they ended up not running the contest, and went with the qualifier runs to decide on the finals results.

When the contest was all said and done I ended up getting 46th place. This contest definitely didn’t go my way, but luckily I placed well enough in the previous Olympic Qualifiers to secure my spot in the final two Grand Prix’s taking place in Park City, Utah next week. Till then I hope everyone has a great weekend, Go Hawks!

-Noah