This past weekend was a busy one, as many athlete’s descended upon the Whistler area for the final contest of the year. For those who don’t know, Whistler hosts a huge festival called the World Skiing and Snowboarding Festival or WSSF. Every year this festival highlights our sports with many different events such as big air, slopestyle, filming, concerts, and other forms of art. This was my second year participating in the festival, and had a very memorable time competing and participating in some events.

I arrived in Whistler last Wednesday after a fun drive up with my buddy Robby from Portland, while picking up some friends along the way in Seattle. After being on the road for awhile, and having an entertaining time getting across the border, and picking up a couple more people in Vancouver, we finally arrived in Whistler. After checking in and hanging out a bit I decided to go out to check out Intersection which was an edit contest that was apart of the festival. So many awesome videos came out, and I'm also happy I was able to see some buddies there. Thanks again Essex for getting me a ticket, you're a boss!

The next day was our first practice on the slopestyle course. This years slope course was a typical course with 3 different rail features, and leading into 3 jump features. The first day of practice we kept everything a bit more mellow due to the high amount of clouds that came our way.  The following day was much better though. We got to practice for a couple of hours in the sun before the qualifiers began. After a nice sunny morning of practice we kept it mellow till big air practice that night.

Normally I only get to participate in slopestyle contests throughout the year, but thankfully I was able to get a spot in the big air contest as well this year. The jump we had for this years contest was amazing, and I had a blast skiing it for our Friday night practice. When Saturday night rolled around for our contest we had great speed, and were able to do all the tricks we wanted. Since I never get to do big air contests that much, I just wanted to have fun and try a new trick. Thankfully I was able to try and land my first ever Rodeo 1260. Even though I didn’t make it into finals I’m still so happy to of landed a new trick. It’s hard to beat that feeling any day, and is the main reason why I ski.

One of the greatest things I've ever happened during the night of the Big Air. Alex Ferreira after his first jump decided to strip down and do a big ol' backflip in his birthday suit. Alex earned himself Legend and Boss status for life by pulling off such an amazing feat! 

The next day we had slopestyle semi’s and finals. This whole week we had been bugged with clouds in the slopestyle course, this day was no exception. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to put a run to my feet. During my first run I under-rotated my switch double, then my ski popped off during my second run on the final jump. Sucks and I never like it when that happens, but that’s what happens when you compete. After semi finals the bad weather rolled in and they had to go off qualifiers for the top scores. Although they still ended up running the girls final. I'm still so happy for my Ontario buddies Evan McEachran and Nikki Blackall for taking the win. Both of them have been slaying hard all season, and easily deserved the win.

After the contest madness was over I headed back to the hotel to just chill a little. That night we had the annual AFP Awards Dinner, and Celebrated Sarah. Always a good time when you’re around so many awesome people. This year was by far the busiest and most amazing year of skiing I’ve ever had. So happy for all the experiences and people who have been there along the way. I ended up finishing the contest season ranked 18th in Slopestyle and 19th overall. Looking forward to some fun spring and summer shred at the moment. Still have a ton of fun shred to do this year, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Till the next post,

-Noah