During two days of qualifiers, judges whittled 91 skiers down to 27 to compete in Wednesday's upcoming High Sierra Heliskiing US Freeskiing Nationals at Snowbird, Utah. It wasn't easy.

After the first day of qualifiers on Silver Fox, 56 skiers moved into round two. As they stood at the top of the mountain ridge by Tower Three, one after the other, each competitor listened to the countdown, "...three, two, one — skier on course..." before they dropped into a technical section of rocks.

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Breckenridge, Colorado's Jenna Funston led the women ahead of 2nd-place Stephanie Sugars from Berthoud Pass, Colorado, the leader after round one. Susan Medville, of Crested Butte, Colorado, qualified 3rd. Snowbird's own Dawn Cardinal, competing on telemark skis, was 4th after finishing 2nd in the first round. Jackson Hole's Kristina Olson, who just managed to make the cutoff, followed in 3rd place, by .6 of a point.

In the men's qualifiers, Daisuke Sasaki from Teine Highland, Japan, was 1st with a rocket-fast run down Tower Three, stealing the lead from his friend Takeshi Kodama, who led the quals after Sunday's run. Ryan Connelly from Big White, British Columbia, Canada, followed Sasaki. Eric Schmitz from Park City, Utah, was 3rd.

From the start to the finish, it was a free-for-all. Skiers could go wherever they wanted, and each individual skier's line could be as easy or as difficult as he/she wanted to make it. Each competition this week will move to more difficult terrain. Tower Three is positioned just a bit down the northern ridge of Snowbird's 11,000-foot Hidden Peak. A top section of cookie-like rocks and small jumps provided skiers many opportunities to piece together an interesting line for the judges and the small, enthusiastic crowd below.

From there, most skiers cut right or left to bigger rocks on either side of the face for more air, working the terrain and having a blast on their way down the hill. Others just went for speed after the top section. A patch of small pine tress at the bottom of the slope looked more like gates at times as those competitors who stuck to the middle of the venue threaded their way through toward the finish area.

Five judges evaluate competitors in five categories: line choice, control, fluidity, technique, and aggression. There are 10 possible points in each category to a max of 50 points possible per run.

The five women and 22 men who qualified will move into the World Tour event that begins on Wednesday. They will then compete for the US Freeskiing title along with 45 additional prequalified athletes, including Snowbird's own Linda Peterson, overall winner of last year's freeskiing World Tour, and Snowbird's Gordy Peifer, winner here last year.

Skiers have a rest day on Tuesday before the World Tour kicks in with semi-finals on Wednesday.

— Michelle Quigley Pearson, MountainZone.com Staff