Skiing Blog

Hi everyone,

Sadly, this will be my final blog post for the year. I was surprised, because I thought that for the last few weeks I owuldn’t have anything skiing related to talk about, but boy was I wrong. So last week, I talked about how our sport is progressing, and people are now doing triple flips in the park. Well, the JOI event is over, with Elias Ambuhl in first with a flawless triple cork 1440. Progression is great for our sport, but sometimes I wonder how much we can progressbefore we have to stop, are we progressing to fast at once? Some skiers say that we should stop here, and focus on kepping all of the trick stylish, while others are into bigger spins and flips. I don’t know exactly where I stand on this, mabye somewhere in the center of the two.

Anyways, the last event of the year is happening as I speak at Timberline Resort. That’s right folks, the fifth annual West Coast Session is on! Basically, the event isn’t a contest, but exactly what the name says: a session. The event invites the best skiers from around the world to come and ski for a week, and have tons of fun. There are always ski film crews there trying to capture some extra shots for ski movies, and it looks like a really fun place to be right now, because all of our snow is melted. I recently watched the video from day one of the session, which was in the main park. Either today or tommorow, the skiers will all head over to the main jump, which is usually gigantic. This is when the boys get to bussiness. Not only do the skiers throw new tricks, but they do old tricks with a new style to it. This is a great event to push the sprot in different directions, which we all need.

Last year's sunset shoot at West Coast Sessions

Alright guys, it’s been great keeping you updated in the world of skiing, and who knows, I might even decide to keep blogging here eventually. But for now, I need a little break.

-Mickey M

Hi again everybody,

If you haven’t been watching any of the latest skiing news, you have missed out this past week. One day this week after school, I sat down at my computer to see if there was anything new that had happened, and when the words came up I was in for a huge surprise. This week has probably seen more progression of freestyle skiing than ever before.  A few days ago, Bobby Brown preformed the first ever triple cork on skis! This is a HUGE step forward for the sport. Some of the other skiers at the JOI competition in Sweden heard about this, and decided they wanted to do some triples of their own. Russ Henshaw did the second ever triple cork 1 day after Bobby, and McRae Williams from Utah did the second ever switch triple rodeo.(Sammy Carlson did one over the summer). Gus Kenworthy did the first ever triple flatspin and Jon Olsson also attempted one, but didn’t land it.

After hearing all of this news, I was almost overwhelmed by the number of triple flips that happened. It may not seem like much to the average reader, but 4 triple flips all happening in one week is ridiculous!  I expected big things to happen at the Jon Olsson Invitational, but nothing of this proportion.

The jump that the guys were doing triples on

 I’m now at home trying to recover from the blistering sunburn I recieved on the last day of skiing, (Skiing without a shirt on isn’t the best idea) but being able to watch these guys progress the sport more and more every day makes sitting at my computer much more enjoyable. I have a feeling that there might be more triples coming soon, and I will write about it next time.

-Mickey M

Hi again everyone,

Today was unfortunately the last day of skiing at Park City Mountain Resort.  I know, it’s really sad but all of the snow is pretty much melted, and there is nothing we can do about it. Me and my brother got up early and drove to the resort right when it opened to enjoy the last day of skiing as best as we could. To say the least, it was an amazing last day to end a great season of skiing. Everyone there was just having fun, and going off the jumps side by side.

At the end of the day, all of the skiers waited at the top of the terrain park for the last chair to come up, and for the lift to stop. The mountain resort was now closed for the season. Then,  in a massive crowd of skiers in costumes, we all skied down at once in a crazy train on the jumps. It was actually really terrifying, becasue you know that if you fall, there are tons of people right behind you that could very well land right on you. Immediately after the mega train, we all stopped at the bottom to assess the crowd. There were well over 100 people in the train, if not 200.  All in all, the last day was a blast, and although I wish we had more time to ski, it was the best closing day you could ask for.

Over the break, my family ended up traveling to Phoenix, Arizona. It was really fun, and the hotel we stayed at was really cool. Our room was right next to the pool, and there was a 5 story tall water slide! We stayed at the pool all day mostly, and I got a pretty bad sunburn, but it was worth the trip.

Make sure you keep checking back to my blog, because even though ski season is over, I will always think of exciting things to talk about.

-Mickey M

Hey guys, I know its been a while since I wrote a blog post, but the last week has been pretty busy for me.

Well, in Park City, this week is SPRING BREAK! I am extremely excited to ski with all of my friends and have lots of fun. Also, last night my parents surprised us and told us that we are all going to Arizona for a few days. They showed us the hotel that we are going to stay in, and it is amazing. They have a 5 story tall waterslide, and a really cool pool outside. I love skiing and the snow, but I still can’t wait to get out in the sun and just relax by the pool.

Arizona is going to be awesome, but another factor of spring break that makes it even better is that we don’t have any homework! I can’t explain how good it feels to not have any worries about school for a whole week. Even better, it’s at the start of a new quarter, so my parents aren’t trying to make me get my grades up either.

Of course, this is the Skiing Blog, and I feel the need to talk about skiing in every blog, so here is the latest skiing news. Unfortunately, the Nine Knights competition I talked about previously was cancelled due to the lack of snow in the area. This was a bummer for everyone, because the event was supposed to progress the sport, as a new trick is usually done every year. But, we can’t control the weather, so we will look forward to the event next year. However, at the girls competition, Nine Queens, the first ever switch 1080   was done by a girl. This means that she started backwards, spun 3 times around, and landed backwards again. This was a big step forward for girls skiing, and everyone was going crazy when it happened.

Ok, the last piece of new that I have is short, but a VERY big deal. After months of decisions and meetings, the Olympic Committee finally accepted halfpipe skiing into the Sochi winter olympics! I don’t ski much halfpipe, but for the people out there that do, this is huge progress! The only thing left for the committee to decicde is wether or not to accept slopestyle skiing. Let’s kepp our fingers crossed!

-Mickey M

Hi again guys,

This is a very important week for all of us skiers, because Friday, April 1st,  is GAPER DAY! For all of you who don’t know what a gaper or gaper day is, you have come to the right place. A gaper is a tourist who is skiing or snowboarding and looks like they have no idea what they are doing. They are easily spotted by the gap between their goggles and their helmet. They also wear brightly colored one-piece suits, and have poles that are way too long for them. They make wide turns across the ski hill, and are extremely obnoxious to the local skiers. We have to put up with them and deal with their weird customs and behavior. So, gaper day is the one day every year that all of the locals get together and make fun of all of the gapers on the mountain.

We all dress up in the one piece suits and widen the gap between our goggles and our helmet on purpose. We then go up to the ski hill and ski around the real gapers for fun. Then comes the best part: messing with the gapers. The first game we play is “scare the gaper” this is where you ski up fast behind one of the gapers, and right when you get next to them , you scream really loudly. The reaction that they have is usually hilarious, so it is pretty fun. Another game we play with the gapers is called “follow the gaper” this is a game where you follow closely behind the targeted gaper, and stay right in their ski tracks. This one is fun because it doesn’t make people as mad, but it is still extremely funny.

Gaper Day Enthusiasts

So, if you can’t tell, gaper day is like an unspoken holiday for us skiers. We all have fun and get the gapers back for the pain they give us during the ski season. So on April 1st, everyone better be there for Gaper Day!

-Mickey M

If you have been reading my posts, you might remember that a few weeks ago I said that the competition season was winding down. At that time, I thought it was, and all the major competitions had ended. But I forgot one very important competition: The European X-Games! Last year was the first year I remember hearing about the event, but it is getting bigger and bigger every year. Basically, it is what it sounds like.   The X-Games but in Tignes, France instead of Colorado. I think this is a great event, because there are more and more up and coming skiers from Europe. This is a good event for Europe to show how they ski compared to all of the other countries. After the skiers all took their runs in the incredible blizzard, the top 3 skiers of the day were announced. Coming in third was James Woods with 89.66. Second place went to our friend from Norway, Andreas Hatveit. The man who took the gold back to Canada was JF Houle. The weather wasn’t ideal, but all of the people had great runs.

Another thing to note is that Phil Casabon got 5th place with a 180, switch 900, and forward 900. This is a great run, but not as technical as some of the other competitiors. The reason he got such a good score was because of his unique and original style of skiing. He isn’t like any of the other pros in the competitions, he tries to be creative and make runs that others wouldn’t see. This is a step in the right direction for freestyle skiing, because it was not just a competition of who could throw the biggest spin.

I know that the snow is starting to melt, and now the competitions are really starting to slow down for the season, but I know that there are a few more biggies coming up, so make sure you keep coming back!

-Mickey M

Hi guys,

My last post wasn’t as good as I would have liked, becasue I had to write it while I was on the road to Colorado. My mom let me use her iPad, and I didn’t really know how to use it so it took me a while. The reason I was in Colorado was for a freestyle skiing competition. It was held in Steamboat Springs, and I had a lot of fun. A lot of the kids from our team went, and we had a blast. The ski resort was awesome, and the town was really cool. In the town that was geared for tourists, there was a pool that was put on a hot spring. The pool was really fun, and the whole thing was like a hot tub! We had a day of training for the competition, and then the day of the actual thing came. I was nervous, but in the end, I did alright in the competition. It was a great experience, and I am glad I got to go.

The next thing I want to talk about is the Nine Knights Competition. This competitoin is held annualy by a freeskier named Nico Zacek. It is basically a ridiculously large jump, with 9 of the world’s best and most progressive skiers, all sessioning the jump all week. It is guaranteed that some crazy tricks will be thrown, and the sport of freeskiing will be progressed. The list of riders for the event is: JF Houle, Bobby Brown, Bene Mayr, Tom Wallisch, Russ Henshaw, Paddy Graham, Henrik Harlaut, Laurent Favre, and of course, Nico Zacek. From Monday to Friday, the boys will be sessioning the jump and having mini competitions without public viewing, then on Saturday, the actual competition will be held, and the public will be able to come watch the skiers. I will update the results of the competition next time, and I have a feeling that there will be some crazy news to share.

Alright guys, check back soon for more information on this competition and others, but that’s all I have for today.

-Mickey M

Hey again everyone,

It is now the second week of February and the skiing competition season is starting to wind down. But there are still plenty of smaller competitions and news from last week to update everyone on. First of all, the annual Aspen Open was held last week. The Aspen Open is a competition like the X-Games, but for younger athletes who want to get their name out there. It is always good to see the new people comping into the skiing scene. This year, the ski slopestyle results were:

First- Tim McChesney

Second- Jamieson Irvine

Third- Ole Mustad

^Tim McChesney competing in the Aspen Open

Next on the list, the final stop of the Winter Dew Tour was held right here in Utah. Snowbasin Mountain Resort was busy last Sunday, because everyone was there to watch the finals and who would win the overall title of Dew Champion. The course had a few different rail options at the top, and then led into a big two-jump line. All of the competitors had their eyes on the prize today, and it showed. Let’s just say I am glad I wasn’t one of the judges for this competition. All of the competitors absolutely slayed the course, and the scores were really close. In fact, the top two winners were both from our own town, Park City! The final results from this event are:

First- Alex Schlopy

Second- Joss Christenson

Third-Russ Henshaw

Although he did not make the podium today, the overall champion from all of the stops was Bobby Brown. This was the last major competition of the year, but I will be reporting on the smaller ones also, so stay tuned into my blog for more updates on what is going on in the skiing world.

-Mickey

Hey everyone,f

I know I just made a blog post yesterday, but I have to have 8 posts by Friday!  But that is a good thing, because There is lots of news from last week to share with everyone. In my last post, I talked about all of the craziness that went down at the Winter X-Games. In this post, I will be talking about the most recent competition, the FIS world championships. The contest was hosted here in beautiful Park City, on a newly sculpted terrain park, Kings Crown. Every country that participated had 4 athletes competing. All of the jumps were massive, and the rail line at the top was perfect.

        With a huge list of notoriuos competitors from all over the world, I could tell that this competition was going to be awesome. Sadly, I couldn’t watch the competition live because I had to go to school, but there was plenty of media coverage on the event  so I could find out what happened. The day before the competition, most of the competitors were cut off from the finals, but the top skiers were relieved to be able to compete the next day in the finals.

        On Wednesday, the coldest day of the year, the guys got up early to go and train for the competition. There was a big crowd gathered, and everyone was getting excited to watch all of the athletes, but freezing in the -20 degree weather. The pictures and videos from the event were amazing, all of the guys had great runs, but in the end the results were:

1st- Alex Schlopy

2nd- Sammy Carlson

3rd- Russ Henshaw

4th- Thomas Dolplads

5th- Jacob Wester

Congratulations to all of the people that competed, especially Park City local Alex Schlopy who brings home the gold! Remember to keep checking my blog for the latest information on the skiing world.

-Mickey