MyWestworld

The Kootenays: Shred at Red

Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Dave Quinn in Living, teaser

OLYMPIC UPDATE

Red Mountain’s Canadian Freeskiing Championships, Rossland

Helmet?  Check.

Goggles clear, avalanche gear secure?  Check.

Red Mountain's Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships: The skier’s sole mission is to ski gnarly, cliff-riddled, hellish steep terrain normally reserved for mountain goats and birds – and not only survive but make it look good.

Run burned into memory? Drop in, carve hard right, drop speed for five-metre cliff, recover from choppy landing, head left, drop snow pillow-line next to broken tree, pick up speed for next hit, avoid thick trees below, head right again to fat cliff. Stomp landing you can’t see from above. Shred to bottom of run.  Ok.

Heart pounding. Ski tips hang over an airy drop-in, and the entire world drops away from this ridge-top perch to a vertiginous world of white. 3-2-1… Dropping!

This is what freeskiers and spectators alike expected at the 9th annual Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships at Rossland’s Red Mountain Resort this last weekend: January 23 to 24, when the skier’s sole mission was to ski gnarly, cliff-riddled, hellish steep terrain normally reserved for mountain goats and birds – and not only survive but make it look good.

While you’re there, ski a line and raise a glass to Captain Jack Carey, a Red Mountain local and long-time director of the Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships.

A panel of judges evaluated each skier, tallying scores based on style, flow, difficulty of line and any tricks they managed to squeeze into their extreme ski lines.

Sound like fun?  Head to Red Mountain February 21 to 23 to watch dozens of elite athletes from around the world, plus local favourites Alex Berg, Colston Villanueva-Beatson and Fernie’s Luke Nelson, fresh off a January 12th third-place finish at the Subaru Canadian Freeskiing Championships in Revelstoke, compete for $10,000 in total prizes.

While you’re there, ski a line and raise a glass to Captain Jack Carey, a Red Mountain local and long-time director of the Canadian Open Freeskiing Championship, who died this past year. Jack was one of the characters who make Kootenay Ski towns what they are.

Photos: Courtesy Red Mountain

Tags: 2010 Olympics and Paralymic Games, Canadian Freestyle Skiing Championships, Red Mountain, Revelstoke, The Kootenays