This year's IFSA World Tour event at Whistler/Blackcomb was mind-blowing. Though the event has taken place on the cliffed-out, steep slope of Diamond Bowl a few times before, competitors this year pushed the envelope, leaving tracks in areas that had seemed fit only for off-season rock-climbing — a credit not only to their skiing ability, but also to their creativity and determination.
Whistler local Jennifer Ashton maintained her lead from the semi-finals to take the women's title. And even those this is her home mountain, Ashton had never before skied her winning line.
"I've been looking at it for a long time, and I hadn't gone there before, but it just felt right," she said. "The snow was incredible."
Ashton, 2nd place finisher Andrea Binning from Mt. Hotham, Australia, and 3rd place finisher Asia Jenkins from Aspen, Colorado, raised the bar for the women this year. The women went for lines just as difficult as the men. Ashton, during both the semi-finals and finals, would have placed among the top-10 men.
"I knew every inch of that line."
Winner of the men's competition, Philou Troubat, from Les Arcs, France, hadn't been to Whistler/Blackcomb before this week. You'd never know it though as he skied with authority down the extremely rugged terrain. Skiing over numerous cliffs at high speed, he nailed his landings and used the terrain features to ski extremely technical line with fluidity. In addition to skiing a line with a high degree of difficulty, he clocked the fastest run of the day.
"I came three days ago and I checked out Diamond Bowl. I looked at this line, then I just skied it today and it went very well. I had fun," said Troubat, who in the past has competed solely in European comps. We hope to see him attempt to follow up this win at the next World Tour stop in Snowbird, Utah, in two weeks. Atomic, Troubat's ski sponsor, also happens to be a sponsor of this event. No doubt they're partying hard.
Competition among the men was fierce. Local hero Hugo Harrison had been tied for 1st with Troubat going into the finals, but his line proved more difficult when he discovered one of the cliffs had been skied out of snow. "I skied the line, but I know there were two times during my run where could have done better," he said.
Another Whistler local, Leif Zapf-Gilje, captured 3rd. The night before the finals, he told the announcers where he would go so they wouldn't lose sight of him. He was more stoked than I've ever seen anyone about his final run. "I knew every inch of that line," he said.
For the third straight day, Moss Patterson, winner of the qualifiers, wowed the crowd with incredible strength and skill. Patterson's first air was over 60 feet and, as a bonus, he threw a huge backflip. Unfortunately he was unable to land it cleanly. After collecting a released ski, Patterson continued his line, hitting many cliffs and opening a big bag of tricks, including a mute grab and a 360.
At the finals party, the Sickbird award was presented by announcers Oak and Dak to the skier who demonstrated the highest level of enthusiasm for being out there on the mountain. The Sickbird award for this competition went to 9th place finisher Kaj Zackrisson, who came all the way from Rattuik, Sweden, to compete.
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Michelle Quigley Pearson, MountainZone.com Staff
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