The hard packed, boiler plate conditions from day one were a distant memory during the final day of competition for the High Sierra Heliskiing US Freeskiing Nationals in Snowbird, Utah.

click for finals pics

Organizers were forced to take a weather day when a foot-and-a-half of fresh powder snow fell Wednesday, filling in landing zones and raising spirits. The competitors went full bore for face shots and air during the final day of skiing.

Squaw Valley's Jamie Burge, who almost didn't compete, won the women's event.

"I almost didn't come because it's snowing and dumping in Tahoe, and I just wanted to ski and have fun. I came here and skied and had fun and won a contest so -- even better," she said.

At the top of her run, Jamie skied big open turns to a little flute of powder through the trees and got ready for a second jump. "A photographer was standing in the second air that I wanted to go to. He was standing right there, so I couldn't go there. And then my last air, I got my pole stuck in a rock, like fully lost my glove and half my pole, so I had to yank my pole out and finally got it. My glove went down the hill, and I just... last air... and that was it."

After going back home to Tahoe to ski the five feet of powder that just fell, Jamie plans to film and travel to Europe before heading to Alaska at the end of the winter.

She won by almost five points, and she was the the only American on the podium. Two Canadians filled out the rest of the women's podium. Aleisha Cline from Sun Peaks, British Columbia, was 2nd, and Kirsty Exner from Red Mountain, British Columbia, was 3rd. Local Alta/Snowbird ripper Linda Petersen finished 4th.

In the men's field, Guerlain Chicherit, 1999 World Extreme Skiing Champion, skied an incredible fast and fluid line to win. Same as with the women's podium, the men's 2nd and 3rd places went to two Canadians. Whistler's Hugo Harrison, last year's overall World Tour champion, finished close behind Guerlain, and Ryan Oakden from Fernie, British Columbia (but he's spending this winter in Whistler), was 3rd.

After three years of coming here to Utah to compete in the US Nationals, Guerlain finally won. It was just a matter of time.

"I wasn't lucky the first year. I crashed, bad landing, and last year I broke my ski, and this year I won the contest. We have a lot of fresh snow, good skiers, good spirits, it's perfect," said Guerlain.

With the power, fluidity and technical skills that only come from skiing in the Alps, Guerlain's prowess is somewhere between that of a cheetah and a mountain goat. But, as he demonstrated in the Canadian event at Whistler two weeks ago, control is the key to skiing.

As judge Michel Beaudry has told competitors before, if they are on a line that they shouldn't be on, the judges will dock them. In Whistler, Guerlain ended up skiing to the top of a 100+ foot cliff — huge exposure — no landing (unless he had a parachute in his pack). He backed away when he realized the danger. Good judgement and possessing knowledge of what is within one's ability, or comfort zone, is as much a part of being a strong skier as anything else.

Upon accepting his award here at Snowbird this week, Guerlain shared his thoughts with the crowd. "The most important thing is not the results, but it is a pleasure for me to ski safe and in control."

The winner in a freeskiing competition is the athlete who proves to be the best all-around skier. Over two days of competition, the conditions could not have been more opposite -- icy hardpack versus plush powder. Guerlain (as well as other competitors who are amazing skiers but didn't happen to make the podium) demonstrated their abilities to kill both.

"The first run we had very bad conditions: no snow, bad weather, very cold. I had a very bad feeling for skiing the face. It was very bad for me. For the win today, I had only one solution: ski fast, ski fluidly, and I did it. A lot of guys ski very fast, always in control, the level is better. It's good," said Guerlain.

Guerlain usually attends these competitions with his best friend, Sebastian Michaud. But Seb blew out his knee last year and stayed home, waiting before he returns to competitions. But Guerlain is planning to celebrate his win with his buddies in France when he gets home.

"I have prize money, I can by beer for my friends, it's perfect," he said.

The awards party went off with music by Fistfull, Kung Pao and DJ Free. Freeskiiers skied hard and partied harder. The Sickbird award went to Moss Patterson who threw a front flip off the bottom cliff band. Moss thought the jump take off had a lip that would lift him up for the trick, but instead it sloped down, catapulting him down like a lawn dart. But he tucked it fast and landed it. [See photos of Moss from the Cordillera Blanca Ski Expedition we followed last summer.]

Next North American stop: the World Tour finals will hit Alaska in March.

— Michelle Quigley Pearson, MountainZone.com Staff