Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships Taos New Mexico

After the usual chaos of getting packed, classes covered, homework done, and tying four million loose ends together, 19 students and three coaches met at 5:45 A.M. Wednesday morning and we hit the road for Taos.

"That there is the best frozen cheeseburger I carry in the store"

Spring is in the air and roads were clear. After a few caffeine and junk food stops, we made it to the Sand Dunes, because our craving for a backcountry experience where you can ski down and hike back up without having to put skins on had gotten the best of us again. We loaded up our skis and boots on packs and began the trek up the tallest dune.

Thorn Warner and Adam Hobby on the summit ridge

Luke Lubchenko, anticipating some sweet sand freshies.

Brooke Lederer, one step at a time on the final ascent.

The sand was warmer this year and a bit slower, but that didn’t stop people from getting gnarly. We lapped a couple of runs of the top dune, skiing and then “skinning” back up without skins and then traversed over to a couple other steep sections on the way down.

Juan Pable Alcocer gets his first taste of San Luis Valley Sand. So good when it hits the lips.

Meghan Detering lets 'er rip.

Hayen Kennedy... Sand People genes run deep in his blood.

Liza Cochran contemplates the zen beauty of it all on the skin track back up.

Adam Hobby stretches it out on the slip face of the tallest dune.

Brooke Lederer, already putting her game face on for Taos.

Walking the earth...

Dillon Smith kickin' up some sand rooster tail.

We rolled into Taos around 5:30, checked into the Super 8, and the competitors headed up to the competitors meeting and registration up at the mountain. We rolled into the meeting at 6:30, in perfect timing to jump in the food line, and registration line just as the meeting was beginning.

Prelims this year would be held on Kachina Peak rather than the West Basin.

Lots of warnings in the safety briefing of firm conditions. The word from Jake and Amon, who had skied today, was that conditions were super hard and challenging. Taos hadn’t seen snow for a couple of weeks, and warm weather had taken their 120 inch base down to 75.

Liza Cochran stops after phase one of the hike up to Kachina Peak, about a 1 and 1/2 mile hike, not unlike Highlands Bowl.

Kelsey Bohanon's first big mountain comp... the monster hike, hard conditions, and intimidating venue seemed to spawn thoughts of "what the hell have I got my self into..." which were followed by wide eyed excitement after wreaking havoc on the women's Alpine field and moving into the semi finals in first place.

Luke Lubchenko enjoys the bluebird morning hike up to the summit of Kachina.

A south facing grassy traverse with the competition venue in the background.

The final ascent up to the starting zone on top of Kachina peak is reminiscent of Highlands Bowl.

Kelsey Lewis enjoys the by she earned with a 4th place finish last year as she gets to enjoy the spring conditions and chill in the finish during the prelims on day one.

Wind-scoured, bullet proof conditions make for some additional butterflies during the prelims. Brooke and Kelsey's decision to ski fast and clean lines sat well with the judges.

Brooke celebrates a solid, stand-up run, which would advance her to the semi finals in 2nd place.

Kelsey Bohanon moves with the wind in her first big mountain comp ever.

Deserving smiles in the finish seem to forshadow her advancement to the semi-finals in first place. CRMS Telemark women wrecked havoc on the alpine field today.

Noah Johns charges some monster air on the upper part of the course which gets the crowd fired up. Unfortunately the snow gave way under him on his landing, resulting in a head over heals tumble, which prevented him from advancing to the finals.

Luke Lubchenko, fresh from a 6th place finish in the men's division in Alpine Meadows California, on his way to a clean finish that would advance him to the semifinals.

The crowd goes wild as Sam Stevens shows Taos what clean Telemark skiing looks like.

Unfortunately Sam took a monster beater in the finish zone, preventing him from moving beyond the prelims, but we got it on camera, which makes it well worth the pain. Sam's skiing, in his final competition of his senior year, was a tribute to his movement and comitment over the last 4 years.

Nick Malik finishes a beautiful run. He took off out of the start like a bandit, laying down beautiful, monster GS turns. Nick's skiing has taken quantum leaps this year as a result of his relentless and passionate pursuit of snow and the Telemark turn.

Alumni Jake Sakson charges the bottom of the venue. Jake had a couple of unlucky crashes up high, but he was in good spirits at the bottom with a "that's the way it goes some times" attitude.

Hayden Kennedy: "The Peoles Run"
Above: Hayden launches into the stratosphere on the upper part of the venue.
The Judges were hard on Hayden's run, most likely because of the fact that he blew through the finish zone and out onto the public run, but Hayden skied the run of the day by threading the needle through a rock band that looked un-skiable from the finish zone. People were out of their seats and cheering and sputtering spittle encrusted statements about the fact that he was on Telemark skis.
Below: Hayden skis the unskiable.

Day 2:
8-10 inches of snow fall overnight, and Saturday looked like this:
...definate weather day. The competition was bumped to Sunday, and we skied absurd powder lines off the West Basin all morning. Not a soul, other than the CRMS Telemark Team, was out tracking up these lines, and we had fresh tracks on every shot we traversed to. It was a morning that will live long and large in the annals of Telemark Team powder days.

Most of the team packed up and made the trip back to CRMS that afternoon to get back for interim and a handful of people, including those who qualified, stayed for semi-finals and finals on Sunday. We made sure to pay proper tribute to the UFO Highway on the way home.

Brian Butcher, eyes peeled.

Gracyn Overstreet and Noah Johns with make extraterrestrial contact.

Extraplanetary love.

Peyton Heitzman in the zone.

Rift Valley sunset.

Trying to catch a bubble pop on film attempt 392

We met some good folks along the way.

Day 3: The Return of the Telemark Jedi
More pictures and story soon coming to theater near you.

2009 Results : Junior Women : Extreme Freeride Championship at Taos

Finish	Bib	First Name	Last Name	City	ST
1	127	Chysanthe	Demas
2	18	Brooke	Lederer
3	92	Carmen	Fregulia	Graeagle	CA
4	28	Kelsey	Lewis	Basalt	CO

Colorado Freeride Championships

Another new chapter unfolded Friday and Saturday, as the CRMS Telemark Team pursued the Colorado Freeride Championships in Snowmass. This is a big-mountain event with a large cash purse that draws a wide range of professional skiers and talented snowboarders and skiers. It has been attended by the occasional Telemark skiers such as Nick DeVore, Amy Cardemone, and Jake Sakson, who have all respectively held down impressive finishes in the event. This year we decided to enter a significant amount of the team. We were a bit nervous about how well that would be received, but the energy was positive and people were excited to see a strong Telemark showing. This was promising, and we are excited to pursue this further in years to come.

Preliminaries were held Friday on The Wall. The field of skiers was about 110 strong, and blowing snow and socked in conditions slowed the competition down from the beginning.

Brook Lederer was our sole female Telemarker, and as she left the start zone a light pocket of sun broke out on the run. She put together a GREAT, fast, aggressive run, which marked her first big-mountain competition run ever, and even her cartwheeling crash seemed to add to the aggression and hard charging nature of her run.

The first of the men was Peter Madigan, who had also chosen a line through the Hurricane Alley area. He stood up the entire thing, and put together an incredibly solid and clean first big mountain competition line.

Alpine Meadows: A First Installment

At the end of February 2009 Jake Sakson and Luke Lubchenko journeyed to Alpine Meadows California to compete in the Telemark Freeskiing Championships. Below is the first installment of their journey:

A diet of breakfast burritos, gummy worms and Mate, 500 miles of Nevada public education via billboards finally arrived us in Alpine Meadows California. Although I must admit the journey was enjoyable in itself: Hours and hours of music, from Bill Monroe to Immortal Technique sure makes the time fly by. We missed all of the state signs on the way here but we knew we were in Nevada when in trying to find the bathrooms in a gas station we found ourselves overwhelmed by slot machines. The Prius killed it by the way, it sure feels good when it only costs $13.00 to fill up the tank. We stayed at Josh Madson's house, he left as soon as we got there, (I don't think we had built up a smell by then...) but his roommates cooked us dinner. Driving on one straight road all day was fun, but when the road started heading up and turning it sure felt good. I can't say I have been subject to greater hospitality then we experienced upon our arrival. Cookies and crab cakes for dinner and very fluffy beds...

Mate seshing

A little billboard wisdom

Nothing like a little gambling on a bathroom stop!

413 more miles on the same road

Check out the massive wind generators in the background

We skied Alpine Meadows today, and it was a cool resort for sure. Visibility was low and winds high so most of the lifts were not open. Although runs were short we had a good chance to get a feel for the mashed potato type snow typical of the Sierra's. We found a few small airs to hit and practiced some of our landings. I definitely crashed a lot today (Luke can say the same for sure...)but all in all it was a good day. The comp was not as big as we expected, only 40 competitors total but the venue looks really fun and seems bound to be a good time. Luke decided to make the move up and compete men's tomorrow. Because of fresh snow there will be visual inspection only tomorrow which is going to lead to some interesting strategy in order to lay down a solid line as well as ski safely without knowledge of the snow condition. The plan is two runs tommorrow and then Superfinals on Sunday weather permitting. We are currently comfortably situated in a house with about a third of the field. The butterflies can't help but build....The Evan Phelps Telly Hostel

Socked in on day one

Kickoff Meeting

Eating lunch and probably getting a little JT wisdom

A New Chapter Unfolds...

Undaunted by the cancellation of the Sprint Classic in Steamboat Springs, we charted new territory and had an epic day last Saturday that began with breakfast at the Red Rock Diner, then a Big Mountain Training Camp and mock competition, followed by a pizza dinner at Kayo's and topped off with and epic night of dancing to the Infamous String Dusters. The only way to try to capture the day is to break it down...

Breakfast:
The Red Rock Diner, which is owned by Bob Olenick, was an appropriate place to start the day because of the rich CRMS and skiing legacy. We relaxed and loaded up on carbs for the day...

Steep Skiing Camp:
We headed to Snowmass to simulate a day in the life of competing in a Big Mountain Event. We headed up to the Wall and began with an inspection run. We followed competition protocal so that new folks could get a feel for what it is like to pick out competition lines. We followed this with a competition, where Kayo, Liza, and Joan Sundeen judged Overall, Control, and Continuity. In classic form I somehow screwed up charging the video cameras, so we have no footage to show for the entire day.
The experience proved to be eye opening and productive for new and experienced skiers alike, as it demonstrated and reinforced the challenges of finding and sticking to a line, and getting down extreme terrain in control.

Dinner:
The mock competition was followed up by a leasurely lunch at A Taste Of Philly and then a pizza dinner at Kayo's.

HRSB and The Infamous String Dusters!
The whole team closed down the day by going to The Infamous String Dusters Concert in Glenwood Springs. The Telemark Team staked out some territory in the back of the room by taking over "The Corall", a fenced in elevated seating area.
After the Hell Roaring String Band opened up (and made sure to dedicate Don't Stop Believing to the Telemark Team), the team cleared out the chairs and got ready to get down to the String Dusters.
The String Dusters absolutely tore the house down and the CRMS Telemark Team was with them every step of the way, bumping and grinding in the back of the room. The String Dusters were amped to have such good energy in the room, which was a sold out crowd, and they gave several shout outs to "The Crew in the Corall".
Toward the end of the show the team formed a dance train down the isle and up to the front of the stage, and drove the energy up in the room another notch. The String Dusters responded in kind and put together an unbelievable end of the set and encore. By the end of the night we were all dripping sweat and exstatic. Truly a new chapter had been written in the annals of the CRMS Telemark Team, one that reconfirmed the energy and passion of CRMS students.

Williams!

Noah Johns Stretches it out.

Williams Peak has become our venue for trying out on snow what we have been working on at the pool. For people who are new to air, this is the perfect venue for learning 360's. We build a 3-4 kicker on the road, and make it about 20 feet wide so that people can keep landing in fresh powder.
For more experienced skiers a big ramp up in the meadow allows plenty of room to stretch it out and work on new material.
This year deep snow and bluebird conditions added up to a perfect day.

Gracyn Overstreet after reentry.

Grady Lenkin looking for the landing

Jared Carlson getting the spin on

Thorn Warner, demonstrating how to lead with you head.

Sooooooooooo Extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmeeeeee!

Peyton Heitzman pulling the trigger

A Noah/Hayden double back flip to close out the day.

Cosmic Race

Nick Malik has paved some new ground as being the first CRMS Telemark Team athlete to marry the worlds of backcountry racing with downhill Telemark Events. In addition to competing in the Big Mountain arena, he will also compete in at least two backcountry events, including the Sunlight Cosmic Race and the 24 Hours of Sunlight. The following is an excerpt from his experience in the Cosmic Race last Sunday:

"COSMIC is a ski mountaineering race series that kicked off the tour at Sunlight on the 18th of January.

The race started at the base of Sunlight at the lodge. We skinned up Sun King under the lift to the top of the mountain and skied down the 52 degree "Heathen", which is the steepest ski run in Colorado.

The next lap would lap would follow this same ascent route. As I began my second ascent, my skins were iced up and they were only attached at the tips and tails. About 2/3 of the way up my tail clips fell off and i could not re-attach them. I boot packed the rest of the way to the summit.

The second descent was down Defiance to Lower Defiance. Lower Defiance goes below the base and is not serviced by a lift. From the bottom of the second descent there were 30 switch backs up to the bottom of Defiance where the course went out of bounds traversing 2 miles around the mountain to the summit.

In this backcountry traverse there was a steep bootpack section followed by more skinning to the top for the third and final descent on The Heathen. At the bottom of Lower Defiance my skins still failed to stick to my skis and I had to boot pack up the 30 switchbacks.

I did not continue the race after that point. I was one of four CRMS students competing in the race division and the only one to finish was Rob Devney in the mens race division at just over 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Off-Piste coach Sarah Selling also finished the race course in the womens heavy metal division. Most CRMS students competed in the junior recreational division which is an ascension from the bottom to the top and then another half lap, about half the length of the race course.

I competed in the Mens Heavy Metal division. The Heavy Metal division is new this year, it replaced the telemark division and includes telemark, splitboards, and heavy AT set ups. The race division is for the ultralight dynafit racing set ups."

Park

We spent Monday at the pool working on air and the plan for today was to build backcountry kickers, but we are now two weeks out from the last storm and the firm conditions suggested our time would best be spent in the park.

Luke Lubchenko reaches for some ski.

Noah Johns orbits the Colorado Rail in the Snowmass Park

Hayden Kennedy over table two of three.

Duncan Marsh owns an urban box.