Snowboarders Sheidow and Vandenbroek Win Colorado Freeride Championships at Snowmass
2011 Colorado Freeride Championships Burn Side Cliffs Snowmass Photo: Mike Hardaker
The weather was nasty for the mens qualifier which turned out the be the finals, complete with intense winds and blinding snow. The Colorado Freeride Championships event staff decided to run the contest in the less then ideal conditions as it would be to tough for the organizers to try and get all the men and women completed in a one run super final on Sunday.
Two snowboarders in the competition were asked to re-do their runs as the judges simply couldn’t see them on course? Each rider went back up and unfortunately were not able to recapture the magic of their first runs. I wonder how much of the runs the judges actually saw? No offense meant to the judges but we sat and tried to watch all the men come down the course, and couldn’t see a thing. Even with the telephoto lens on my camera I could only pickup the riders at the very bottom of their runs, way after all the cliffs and terrain features. The judges are professionals with backgrounds in big mountain events and surely had an eye on what was going on, when they could see the course….
I thought it was unique that the judges for the competition were perched inside a restaurant near the base of the venue staying warm, as the riders waited out in the intense storm. Some waited upto 4 hours without so much as a tent or yurt to block them from elements. A few crafty people went as far as to dig a snow pit to sit in without having to be blasted by the wind as they waited to take their runs.
Aspen / Snowmass did a great job in putting on the Colorado Freeride Championships event. I along with all the riders from Colorado and beyond look forward to coming back next year and riding and staying in the area. Aspen area has some of the best snow the state of Colorado has to offer, much less crowds then I-70 resorts and a real laid back feel. Sure there are men and women wearing coats made of dead animals flaunting around town, but it would be hard not to find that at any other destination resort across the country if not the world.