Wednesday, April 4

Red Bull Snow Thrill of Alaska Begins with a Real Bang

freezeonline.com

Well, it happened again. Just when you think that the weather is going to be clear, you wake up in the morning and it's snowing. What the hell? When is Alaska going to cooperate with these damn competitions? Last night it was clear and calm and everyone was stoked to get on the helis and rip up the Chugach Range for the first day of the Red Bull Snow Thrill of Alaska, but when it was all said and done we spent the day eating and watching movies.

Here's the low down on the Red Bull Snow Thrill of Alaska:

Sixteen competitors, countless members of the media, a ton of Red Bull and the MSI crew traveled up to Cordova for the Second Annual Snow Thrill of Alaska, but this one's a little different. This year, Red Bull decided to really try to f**k things up by sending everyone to Cordova in hopes of getting a day or two of competition in on the mountains behind us.

The plan after that is to fly 50 people in a Convair 580 to whereever the weather is holding clear. Probably no more than 30 people will be able to travel because of all of the gear that we travel with. Normally, every person on board must have a beacon, probe, shovel, helmet, harness, locking carabiner, backpack and really fat skis. With this in mind, you can just imagine what kind of ordeal it is to move this crew around.

Heading the lineup is 1999 IFSA World Freeskiing Champion, Guerlin Chicherit (France), in addition to several other athletes from France, Sweden, Canada, and New Zealand. The list of invited athletes includes defending Red Bull Snowthrill champion, Chris Davenport (USA), winner of the 2000 IFSA World Tour, Hugo Harrison (Canada), Kaj Zackrisson, Todd Windle, Phillipe Troubat, Ryan Oakden, Lief Zapf-Gilje, Sverre Lilliquist, Will Burks, Daisuke Sasaki and Stian Hagen. Women attendees include 1998 champion of the World Freeskiing Tour, Wendy Fisher, Anne Catttelin, Jenn Ashton,and Aleisha Cline.

For the first time in freeskiing history, Red Bull Snow Thrill of Alaska presents an innovative new concept where athletes and the event crew will follow the storm. Here's how it works. Each evening, the event staff and athletes, who will be headquartered at Points North Heli Adventures in Cordova, will decide where the competition will take place the following day. Based on weather conditions, the crew will wake up and fly hundreds of miles in a 50-person aircraft, to Girdwood, Cordova, Valdez or Haines for the day's competition.

Once they arrive at the determined location, all will be transported via helicopter to the top of the peak they are looking to blitzkrieg. It is likely these athletes will make a "first descent" on virgin territory.

In addition to gathering the athletes together, the event crew will master the art of setting the stage for the competition at a different location each day. Out of the four skiing havens selected, each promises to force competitors to negotiate 50-degree chutes, 100-foot cliffs, gale force winds and ice-covered rock spires while traveling at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. Athletes will be judged on the following criteria: line choice, fluidity, technique, aggressiveness and control. Stay tuned for more updates. Hopefully they will be a little more exciting the rest of the week. All of you loyal readers will remember what happened to me last year when I came up to AK. I stayed for 18 days and took seven, count 'em, seven runs. I hope that the weather clears and we will be able to get this comp underway.

More pictures and videos are on there way. I have to deal with a really slow internet connection.