After Robby and I were done being tourists, it was time for us to head down to Silvaplana Switzerland for the final contest of our Eurotrip, the World Cup. After a mellow travel day and even meeting up with a couple of Swedish friends randomly in Zurich, we got to our place and ran into the Van Der Meer's who were staying at the same place. After catching up and grabbing some food together it was time for bed.

The next two days were filled with practice. The conditions were sunny and warm, and the course was prime. This was easily the most amount of practice I’ve ever got at a World Cup, and was definitely one of the most fun slope courses I’ve gotten to hit.  While this course was fun, It definitely took me a bit to figure out the speed and which line to take for the rail section. Thankfully we had those two days, and had a blast figuring everything out.

On our qualifier day we were happily greeted with the same weather that we had during our practice days. I was in the 2nd heat, and so I got to sit back and watch my buddies throw down in the first heat. Thankfully everyone landed there runs, and it was awesome to watch. When it was time for me to do my practice I decided to tone my rails down a bit and just do something smooth for my run instead. Gladly it all paid off and I ended up grabbing 2nd place in my heat and 4th overall for the qualifier.

On finals day, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. We had overcast with extremely flat light the first couple of runs in practice. As the day started to go on, thankfully the weather improved a bit. Since the weather was worse then the previous days I decided to stick with the run I did in Qualifiers. Just to put something clean to my feet before stepping it up. Thank god I was able to put down another run, and it landed me into the 2nd place spot. Honestly didn’t think I had a chance of keeping 2nd place the rest of the contest. So I tried to up my rail section a little bit more. Unfortunately went to slow into a feature and ended up loosing my flow. So while the last few people dropped I was just waiting patiently to see what would happen. Some way somehow I ended up keeping the 2nd place spot and got my first podium finish of the season. Still can’t believe it, and so happy to get back on the podium.

Went out that night with the buddies and had a blast dancing at the after party. No matter where you’re at, it’s always a good time when you’re surrounded with friends. Ended up staying in the area another two nights before making my way down Milan. Flying back to the states tomorrow morning, and I can’t believe this Euro trip is already over. Special thanks to everyone who made this trip so great, Jeff Schmuck and Chelsea Kinnee for inviting Robby and I to hang out, Mark and Sean for letting us crash in Innsbruck, Andi Liebig and his awesome family for showing us around in Germany, Mike Hanley and the Pelican Crew, The Van Der Meer fam for driving us around Silvaplana, Charly Royer for giving us a ride to Vars, Raf for inviting us over to events, and helping us out. Katie Hitchcock for being awesome, and anyone else I might have forgotten. Easily one of the best months of my entire life, with so many amazing people I’ve gotten to hang out with and meet, to the jaw-dropping Alps and the amazing history that I’ve learned. So happy I was able to finish the trip on a high note, and hopefully keep this momentum going the rest of the season.

Till the next post,

-Noah