Come 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9, bar room televisions and living room livestreams alike across Summit County will be keeping a close eye on the action half a world away when three young men who’ve called Silverthorne home compete as the top three American slopestyle snowboarders at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

It wasn’t until his final run at the final U.S. Olympic qualifying event of the 2018 cycle, but — with his score of 87.55 to secure an enthralling victory at Saturday’s U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain, California — West Bloomfield, Michigan, native and Silverthorne resident Kyle Mack officially clinched a spot at next month’s South Korean games.

Mack is the third American snowboarder to secure placement on the three-to-four-man team, following fellow Silverthorne residents Chris Corning and Red Gerard, who each respectively earned their trips to Pyeongchang at the two previous Olympic qualifiers at Dew Tour in Breckenridge last month and at the U.S. Grand Prix at Aspen Snowmass last weekend.

The 20-year-old Mack’s victory on Saturday was punctuated by a hug with Gerard, who threw down a run of 79.68 on the final run of the competition to take second place and join Mack and third-place finisher Brock Crouch (79.30) of Mammoth Mountain on the podium.

Corning did not compete in this week’s Mammoth Mountain slopestyle event in the wake of a lingering lower back and hip injury suffered at a previous Olympic qualifer last month at Copper Mountain Resort. This same Summit County trio did, however, sweep the podium two months ago at a World Cup event in Milan, Italy.

Mack, who is the first snowboarder to land a triple cork Japan in competition, bounced back from a poor performance and score of 22.13 on his first run to earn an 80.63 on his second run and ease the pressure heading into his final run. On that final trip down the course, Mack landed a triple cork 1440 to bump up his best score to 87.55 and put the exclamation point on the Olympic qualification.

Afterward, Mack sported a yellow North Face jacket with an American flag across the back while hugging Gerard, his mother and calling his father via cellphone before saluting the crowd at the top of the podium.

The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics snowboard slopestyle finals will take place live at Phoenix Snow Park at 6 p.m. mountain time on Feb. 10. The women’s slopestyle finals take place at the same time and location the following day.

Men’s slopestyle and big air snowboarders will get a 10-day break before the inaugural Olympic big air qualifications take place at Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre live on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 5:30 p.m. mountain time. The men’s big air finals are scheduled to take place live at the same location at 6 p.m. mountain time on Friday, Feb. 23.

Langland, Marino qualify

With their second- and third-place finishes respectively at Saturday’s Mammoth Grand Prix, Julia Marino and Hailey Langland officially booked their Olympic trips to head to South Korea with the woman who was at the top of the slopestyle podium Saturday.

Jamie Anderson put a stamp on her Olympic qualification by winning Saturday’s slopestyle event with a score of 84.10 on her first run. That mark was more than nine points better than Marino’s second-place score of 74.86. Langland’s first run score of 61.36 was good enough to get her on the podium and officially clinch her spot to South Korea.

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Olympic hopes both remained and were dashed on Wednesday for snowboard slopestyle and ski halfpipe athletes at a final U.S. Olympic qualifier at Mammoth Mountain where a high volume of American talent is on display.

At this week’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in California, the final spots on the U.S. ski and snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle teams will be determined. With much of the top international snowboarding talent competing at this week’s Olympic-qualifier Laax Open World Cup event in Switzerland, 59 Americans comprise the 67 total entrants to the men’s and women’s snowboard slopestyle and halfpipe competitions.

On Wednesday, fresh off of clinching his Olympic berth at Snowmass last week, Silverthorne’s Red Gerard easily qualified in first place in the snowboard slopestyle competition, which featured 18 Americans of 22 competitors.

Gerard’s second run of 94.75 was more than six points better than second place qualifier Ryan Stassel’s 88.00 and third-place qualifier Eric Beauchemin (86.75).

Kyle Mack, 20, of West Bloomfield, Michigan — who resides in Silverthorne in the winter — kept his Olympic hopes alive by qualifying in fourth place on the strength of a second run that earned an 84.00. Americans comprised five of the other six competitors who qualified for Saturday afternoon’s final, including Charles Guldemond (83.50), Brock Crouch (83.00), Lukas Kaye (82.00), Lyon Farrell (80.50) and Chandler Hunt (68.75).

Along with fellow Silverthorne snowboarder Chris Corning — who elected not to compete in this week’s competition — Gerard is already qualified for the U.S. snowboard slopestyle and big air team for next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. With 2,000 qualifying points apiece after four of five qualifying events, Gerard and Corning are the only two snowboarders to clinch berths thus far. Hunt and Stassel each entered this week with 1,400 qualifying points, though Stassel still needs the minimum criteria of a podium finish this Saturday to be eligible for the team.

Judd Henkes was fifth in qualifying with 1,100 points heading into Mammoth, but he failed to qualify for the Saturday final and is still without a podium finish. That opens the door for the hopes of both Mack and Crouch, who entered this week’s Mammoth event in sixth and seventh places respectively with 1,000 and 950 qualifying points. Mack also has in his back pocket a previous podium finish. Summit County snowboarder Dylan Thomas failed to qualify for Saturday’s final after entering the competition in 10th place with 800 points and a podium finish last year at Mammoth.

With only one automatic spot up for grabs on Saturday, expect the snowboarders currently residing in the top seven qualifying spots — Hunt, Stassel, Mack and Crouch — to push for the podium, though landing there is more crucial for Stassel and Crouch. A fourth Olympic spot may be determined next week at the discretion of the coaching staff.

Ladies snowboard slopestyle

American women comprised 11 of the 12 entrants into this week’s snowboard slopestyle event, and led by Jamie Anderson’s 93.50, the U.S. qualified into all eight spots for Saturday’s final.

With 2,000 Olympic qualifying points, Anderson is the only officially qualified snowboarder heading into Friday’s Mammoth final, and the woman that took second place on Wednesday with a run of 88.00, Julia Marino, is also in second overall with 1,600 qualifying points.

At 1,600 points and with one previous podium finish, Marino is deadlocked with Hailey Langland in second place, and Langland qualified for Saturday’s final with a fourth place score of 70.25 on Wednesday. That was behind third place finisher Nora Healey’s 71.25 score, though Healey is not in Olympic contention.

The other three snowboarders who have a chance of qualifying to go to Pyeongchang are Jessika Jenson (1,600 points, no podium), Ty Walker (1,300 points, no podium) and Haille Soderholm (920 points, no podium). All three qualified in spots five (Walker), six (Jenson) and seven (Soderholm) on Wednesday to keep their Olympic hopes alive.

With two automatic berths and potentially one more objective spot out there for the taking between five contenders who will also be snowboarding on Saturday, how exactly the final results shakedown will provide Olympic clarity.

Walker and Soderholm are each still mathematically in contention, but both can’t make it objectively, as each individual needs to win on Saturday to have a shot.

Ski halfpipe

This week’s Mammoth event is also the final qualifier for men’s and women’s ski halfpipe athletes, and on Wednesday, American men booked all 10 spots to Friday’s final while American women qualified in the top five slots.

Four of the five American men who still have a chance to land on the Olympic team qualified on Wednesday for Friday’s final, led by first-place qualifier Gus Kenworthy of Telluride (94.60), second-place qualifier Aaron Blunck of Crested Butte (94.00) and third-place Torin Yater-Wallace of Basalt (93.00).

Heading into Wednesday’s Mammoth qualifying round, Taylor Seaton of Avon ranked in sixth in Olympic qualifying with 92 points and one podium finish. But he just missed keeping those Olympic dreams alive on Wednesday as he was the first competitor outside of the cutoff line, finishing in 11th place with a score of 77.00.

Also qualifying for Friday’s Mammoth final were already-Olympic qualified David Wise (92.60), Olympic contender Alex Ferreira of Aspen (88.20) and Americans who are not in contention for Pyeongchang qualification Birk Irving (87.00), Kyle Smaine (80.20), Hunter Hess (78.20), Jaxin Hoerter (77.60) and Jake Mageau (77.40).

What has been perhaps the U.S. freeski team’s tightest competition will near resolution on Friday as Ferreira (180 points) sits in second place in Olympic qualifying behind the already-qualified Wise (200 points) and already has the required two podium finishes. Yater-Wallace sits in third place with 150 points and needs a podium finish at Mammoth on Friday to meet the minimum objective criteria.

Blunck (140 points) is in the best position of the remaining skiers to move up to become one of the three automatic qualifying spots, as with two podiums already he just needs to finish Friday in the top three in Olympic qualifying points. Like Yater-Wallace, Kenworthy (116 points) needs a podium, and perhaps more than that, to automatically qualify. However it shakes out, the U.S. ski team may also pick a fourth Olympian as a discretionary selection next week.

Ferreira has a good chance to get one of those two spots, as there are quite a few scenarios which would qualify him for the team. A top-two finish would do it for sure, but he could also finish lower and get some help.

In Wednesday’s ladies ski halfpipe qualifier, already-Olympic qualified Maddie Bowman earned the top score of 91.80. It’s a battle between Devin Logan (130 Olympic qualifying points), Brita Sigourney (130), Annalisa Drew (95) and Carly Margulies (72) to join Bowman in South Korea and each of those four contenders qualified in the top five for Friday’s Mammoth final. On Wednesday, Sigourney earned the second-highest qualifying score (91.00), Logan (86.00), Margulies (84.60) and Drew (83.40). Both Logan and Sigourney already have strong cases, but they can book their Olympic trips to South Korea with a podium finish on Friday. As for Drew and Margulies, whether or not the U.S. ski team uses a discretionary spot for one of them could hinge on how they perform on Friday.

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Dillon resident Paul Hoagland enjoys a little sonic slice of Summit County half a world away while nestled inside the cockpit of his 4-ton PistenBully 400 winch cat snow-groomer in Jeongseon, South Korea.

Each morning he rises at 6 a.m. Korea Time — 2 p.m. Mountain Time — to join an international team of 10 winch cat operators from the U.S., South Africa and New Zealand to punch the clock on another day of creating what will become the race course at South Korea’s Jeongseon Alpine Centre for next month’s Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

And before Hoagland leaves his lodge around dawn each morning to make the 20-minute drive to work in Jeongseon, he makes sure he’s downloaded the latest audiobook chapters onto his phone via his Summit County Library card.

Books like the J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad” have helped Hoagland to pass the time on his 7 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. workdays while he grooms a portion of ski slope cut into the 5,120-foot Gariwangsan Mountain. It’s a foreign wilderness of warmer temperatures and different snow that reminds Hoagland of the Great Smoky Mountains.

“It’s a lot more mountainous than what I thought it would be,” Hoagland said by phone Friday morning. “They don’t get a lot of natural snow here, so pretty much all of the snow we are working with is man-made. And there’s been good temperatures for making snow this year, unlike in Colorado. It’s a good year to be here, it’s good for the races courses — fairly wet, a good hard surface for the racers.”

It’s this Olympic experience at the age of 54 that the former Wisconsin rancher and current Copper Mountain snow-groomer sought out to achieve about a decade ago. The Broadview, Montana, native (a tiny town of just a few hundred people) was searching for his next career following the 2008 economic crash.

Hoagland’s a lifelong winter sports fan who grew up skiing at little Red Lodge Mountain in southern Montana, 90 miles away from his home. He still vividly remembers watching the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” Olympic hockey game as a 16-year-old.

Fast forward to 2008, a juncture in his life when Hoagland realized he wanted to work at a resort that hosted the Olympics. So he researched what he might be able to do at Whistler Blackomb Ski Resort in Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

But the former farmer soon found out that he was unable to get a working holiday visa to work at the games due to his age.

So Plan B it was.

“To see if I could get in the back door, somehow,” Hoagland said.

Plan B initially became applying to work as a lift operator at Copper Mountain Resort. But when Hoagland interviewed, he was asked about his machine experience. Thanks to his extensive history on the farm, the job screener recommend to Hoagland that he might want to apply for a snowcat operation job.

“And once I got the job as a cat operator, I kept building my skills,” he said.

His goal still the Olympics, Hoagland was in luck as he’d soon be working on the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center downhill training venue at Copper. And after making connections there, Hoagland was invited to be one of the Alpine course builders at the world championships at Beaver Creek in 2015.

Once he proved his snow-manicuring chops there, Hoagland was somewhat content, proud of himself that he had achieved a goal close to the Olympics.

Then this past September, he was contacted by an employee of the U.S. Ski team to let him know there was an opening for a winch cat operator in South Korea for the Olympics.

A month later, he got the gig.

“Winter sports to me was more of a draw than going to a summer games of any kind,” Hoagland said. “I heard a lot of great stories about what a cool vibe it is to be at the Olympics, so to be a part of it and to help build it is amazing.”

Since arriving to South Korea on Dec. 19, it’s been day after day of grooming what Hoagland describes as the deepest overall snowpack he’s ever worked with in his career. He and his nine teammates have been instructed to construct a meter-and-a half of minimum snow depth across the 2,700 feet of vertical gain on the downhill course they are building. It’s one that will have to be tweaked for different men’s, women’s and Paralympic competitions. But whatever the event, it will be fast.

“And they want it super fast,” Hoagland said. “It‘s actually what most receational skiers would call ‘icy.’ And then they like terrain built into the little rolls and enhances to the jumps and takeoffs and landings and that kind of thing.”

Hoagland and three other operators joined six other winch cat groomers who intermittently worked at the site over the previous two years. Providing extra help, Hoagland has been assigned to work on the venue’s downhill training run where the athletes will first ski starting in a couple of weeks.

His wife Karin will join him before the games begin in early February, while his daughter Kirstin will arrive in time for the later portion of the games. When the races are on, though, Hoagland and his team will need to be somewhere on the course watching in case standby cats are needed to groom, say, due to a weather event.

Thirty-seven days out from the beginning of the Alpine skiing portion of the Olympics, on Feb. 11, Hoagland sounded like he and other members of the course-building crew have already thought out where they’ll watch the action.

And it’ll undoubtedly be one of the best seats in the house. As of now, the groomers may set up shop off of the course’s Jump 2 area near the middle of the venue.

“It’s got a pretty steep face that they jump off of,” Hoagland said. “And the landing, it’s a big banked turn they turn into, and then there’s another little jump below a ways. It’s got a couple of big jumps where they can get pretty good air.”

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In between the excitement of finishing second in the Dew Tour ski slopestyle final and fielding questions from reporters, Nick Goepper was able to sneak in a phone call.

After he settled into his seat at the far corner of the press center at One Ski Hill Place, this was a return dial to his father, who had rung Goepper to congratulate the 23-year-old slopestyle veteran on his 92.00 run.

Goepper was the lone American to podium Saturday from a group of seven U.S. freeskiers who all were taking to the four-jump slopestyle course at Breckenridge Ski Resort to improve their standing in the Olympic qualification race.

Goepper took the most sizable step on an early afternoon that quickly went from cloudy to sunny, as several of his American teammates lost their skis and took tumbles on the Dew Tour course. Alex Hall was the next closest American, in fifth place with an 89.66, while Gus Kenworthy was able to string together an 87.66 run to take sixth place. The other four Americans finished in eighth place (Bobby Brown, 77.66), ninth place (Cody Laplante, 64.66), 11th place (Colby Stevenson, 22.33) and 12th place (McRae Williams, 11.00).

Goepper, who is a three-time X Games ski slopestyle gold medalist, said he skied at “98 percent” Saturday. And though he didn’t approach his runs with Olympic selection in mind, the 2014 Sochi slopestyle bronze medalist said reaching the podium does ease the pressure off of him heading into the remaining Olympic qualifiers.

“I was telling myself at the top,” Goepper said, “‘I believe. I can do this.’”

“I couldn’t be happier with second place,” he added, “and the top American finish for this event.”

Goepper, who qualified in first place prior to Saturday’s final, was runner-up to happy-go-lucky 26-year-old veteran Henrik Harlaut of Sweden.

Harlaut brought his customary free spirit and dance moves to the Dew Tour slopestyle course, the features of which he described as “super, duper, ultra awesome.” Harlaut commended Breckridge and the Dew Tour for building the four-jump course, as he said the layout with rails in between jumps broke up the course well and provided athletes with a chance to catch their breath between big moments.

“These days it is crazy,” Harlaut said. “Every single (course) feature is so hard and technical to do, you have to be so, so focused on every feature and every thing you do during the run. So, like, with the first feature I come (skiing) in and I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s do this. This one is hard. Let’s get it, landed! Yes!’ And then, ‘Here’s another one. Yes! Another one. Yes! Yes! Go on! Go on! Keep it going!’ It just builds up the hype, adrenaline and stoked-ness in my brain.”

Women’s Ski Slopestyle

On an afternoon when not a single American woman finished on the podium, it was Norwegian freeskier Johanne Killi who won the Dew Tour’s women’s ski slopestyle championship Saturday afternoon.

The 20-year-old two-time Winter X Games slopestyle bronze medalist Killi took the title via a run that included a back swap continuing 270, a switch on 450 out, a right 540 Japan, a switch right 540 double Japan, a slide to switch, a switch on front swap to switch, a switch left 5 Japan and a left 9 tail.

The 90.00 run was so clean that it was the only run of the competition that earned a score in the 90s.

And in the press center afterward, she echoed her fellow slopestyle champion Harlaut about what made this year’s Dew Tour course special.

“I love having a course with four jumps,” she said, “because, if you’re a professional freeskier, I think you should be able to ski every direction. This type of format really showcases what we’re capable of and I’m happy to be a part of this kind of progression in the sport.”

Tess Ledeux of France (89.00) finished just a point behind Killi for second place while Sarah Hoefflin of Switzerland scored a 84.00 on her final run to clinch third place.

Two days after her 19th birthday, American Maggie Voisin had the highest score of any U.S. team members on the day, taking fourth place with an 83.00. Her fellow Americans Darian Stevens (72.33) and Devin Logan (39.33) finished in seventh and eighth places respectively.

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Standing amid the crowd beneath the Dew Tour Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle podium, U.S. snowboarder Dylan Thomas let out a cheer like any other fan. It was for his close friend and daily riding buddy Chris Corning.

Battling a lingering lower back and hip injury, Corning gingerly ambled up to the podium to accept his second place award for his 95.00 run at the Dew Tour final on Saturday. It’s a performance that officially booked the 18-year-old from Silverthorne a ticket to compete in big air and slopestyle snowboarding at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in two months.

And it also was a performance that wrapped a wild week for Corning, Thomas and the rest of the Summit County snowboarding scene.

Just like Corning, Thomas also injured his back on a landing at the U.S. Grand Prix Big Air Olympic qualifier at Copper Mountain Resort last week. But unlike Corning, Thomas wasn’t able to compete at the Dew Tour this week, dropping out due to his lingering back injury.

Thomas, who met a 12-year-old Corning at a Woodward at Copper Mountain camp six years ago, was in awe of his friend Saturday, a pal who has consistently provided one awe-inspiring moment after another through the years.

“For him to push through it,” Thomas said, “holy crap. And not only to land a run, but to land a 95-point run — dude, insane. Just a testament to how tough that kid is. He puts in the work when no one is watching, in the gym and all that. Best snowboarder around, for sure.”

With his second place showings at Copper last week and at the Dew Tour at Breckenridge Ski Resort on Saturday — behind first place finisher Max Parrot of Canada (97.00) — Corning leads a pack of Summit County snowboarders attempting to qualify for Pyeongchang.

Thomas’ hopes for the 2018 Olympics do remain, as he secured a podium last season at February’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain to boost his standing.

Then there is 17-year-old Red Gerard, Corning’s fellow snowboarder from Silverthorne. Gerard remains in ideal position to qualify as he won that event at Mammoth last February and finished in fourth place with a score of 91.00 at the Dew Tour on Saturday.

“We definitely have butted heads before for sure, but as we’ve become on the team we’ve gotten a lot closer,” Corning said of Gerard. “So it’s been a cool experience to watch that and become good friends with a kid I always wanted to ride with.”

The three-person U.S. slopestyle and big air team will de determined through two more selection events: the Aspen Grand Prix from Jan. 10-13 and the return to the Mammoth Grand Prix from Jan. 17-20, a year after the first qualifier event.

But it was Corning who stole the show for the Americans at Breckenridge on Saturday. It came after a week between the two Olympic qualifiers during which Corning’s father Brook said the contusion in his son’s lower back remained “stiff as a board.”

So Corning took two days off with no riding and no practice between Dew Tour prelims and finals. This week’s practice only amounted to a couple of hours on the slopes.

When not on his board, was Corning even able to walk?

“Not really,” his father said. “He spent a lot of time in the (recovery) pools and stuff, to my understanding.”

Corning also took some anti-inflammatories during the week, though he didn’t even pop an Advil before Saturday’s event to combat what he described as a “spearing pain” on his hip each time he landed. And in the coming days and weeks, Corning will put his trust in Silverthorne physical therapists at Howard Head, who put Corning’s foot “back to normal” twice before.

Corning’s father said due to the injury his son’s run was scaled back a little bit from what he was planning. But he gutted it out, landing a soaring back triple 14 on the course’s final jump to sew up that 95.00.

Brook attributes his son’s steely nature to the fact that he’s always been an underdog.

“He never got all the glory or anything,” Corning’s father said. “He’s worked super hard for everything he’s got. And I think that’s what makes him be able to land these really tough runs when the pressure is on. Just because he is a fighter.”

And who did Corning get that from?

“My parents, for sure,” Corning said. “They’ve fought all through life. So it’s just kind of trying to be like them.”

Just a month ago Corning etched a representation of his fighter’s spirit permanently when he visited the home of a good friend — a Summit County local and tattoo artist known as Jake. The ink is of a Roman solider.

“That is pretty much fighting through life,” Corning said of the tattoo. “And then there is an angel above it.”

Corning spent nine hours in the chair for Jake to complete the tattoo, a pain he said was much easier than what he’s going through with his lower back now.

Despite the pain, Corning said he will compete at the final two Olympic qualifiers after some holiday rest. When he does return, and when he gets to Pyeongchang, he will display the snowboard strength and aerial awareness that still impresses Thomas each time they strap in.

“It doesn’t matter where he is in the air, he always knows exactly where he is and exactly what he needs to do to get himself to his feet every single time,” Thomas said. “I wish I had half of it, because it’s just — he always knows where is. And when he is in the middle of a flip he can get out of a trick and land it. It’s remarkable what the kid can do.

“It’s absolutely insane.”

Anderson headed to Pyeongchang

Bright and early Saturday morning, the final eight competitors in the Dew Tour Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle battled flat light and difficulty seeing the definition of the snow before Canadian Spencer O’Brien took the title.

O’Brien pieced together a 95.00 on her second run to jump American Jamie Anderson of South Lake Tahoe, who scored a 93.33 on her first run.

But all was certainly not lost for Anderson on the day, as the second place finish officially qualified her for the Olympics.

American Hailey Langland took the early lead after she posted a 90 on her first run before the 10-time Dew Tour champion Anderson topped her on the strength of a smooth run that closed with a perfect frontside 720 grabbing mute. The second place finish returns the 2014 Sochi slopestyle gold medalist Anderson to her second consecutive Olympic games, this time at the age of 27.

“Whereas these other events that happen every year — you can redeem yourself — with the Olympics you may, if you’re lucky, only get to go to a couple in your whole career,” Anderson said. “So I think that is what inspires people to work harder.”

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A week after she took first place at the U.S. Olympic qualifier at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain Resort, 17-year-old Chloe Kim became the first U.S. snowboarder to qualify for the Olympics via another win at Friday’s Dew Tour.

Kim pieced together a 93.00 on her first run to take the ladies superpipe title on the strength of consecutive 1080s, a back-to-back move that distinguishes the Pyeongchang gold medal favorite from any other female snowboarder in the world.

“It’s like a dream almost and I’m trying to wake up,” Kim said of clinching the Olympic berth. “I think today, when I get home, it’s going to sink in and I’m probably going to cry.”

Last week at the Copper Mountain Olympic qualifier an American trio swept the podium, a team accomplishment that was repeated on Friday, though with a slightly different combination.

Kim and second place finisher Kelly Clark (90.00), were a part of the trio again while Arielle Gold (87.00) edged out last week’s second place finisher Maddie Mastro (84.33) to make the Dew Tour podium.

The Olympic veteran Clark managed to put together the 90.00 run on her final turn after she had a scary injury on her second run, slamming the bottom of her board into the halfpipe lip.

Though she had a bandage over a bloody nose, once Clark was cleared by medics, she didn’t hesitate to return to the top of the pipe and give it her all.

“I looked at my coach,” Clark said, “and the first thing he said to me was, ‘Are you going to step on the gas?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

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On the precipice of the biggest moment of his young snowboarding career, 19-year-old Jake Pates of Eagle only needed to tell his father Chris two words for dad to know the big moment they’d been working toward was one trip back up the halfpipe away.

“It’s on,” Jake Pates told his father at the bottom of the Dew Tour superpipe after his second run.

“I got it.”

What Pates was referring to was confidence in himself to land a trick he’d only landed three times before and never in competition: A Back Double 12 with a tail grab.

By executing it on his third and final run at Friday’s Dew Tour Men’s Snowboard Superpipe final, the I-70 corridor local Pates took the Dew Tour championship with a score of 97.33.

“It’s crazy,” Pates said of what the day meant to him and his family. “I’ve, like, spent my whole life snowboarding and been so lucky to be able to have this life. My parents and my family have been able to facilitate that forever. It’s super crazy for me. Yeah, it just blows my mind, honestly.”

In the lead up to this week’s Dew Tour, Pates essentially had the trick in his bag, waiting to pull it out at the Dew Tour and U.S. Olympic qualifier at Breckenridge Ski Resort. After Chris Pates saw his son score an 80 on his first run without the new trick, he knew if and when he landed it, an appearance on the podium was a strong possibility.

Back at the top of the superpipe, Pates was the second to last snowboarder to drop in. When he did, he trailed third place Ben Ferguson of the U.S. (89.00 on his second run), second place Ayumu Hirano of Japan (91.00) and first place Scotty James of Australia (95.00).

On the heels of other exciting runs, such as the soaring amplitude of Hirano, at the bottom of the halfpipe, Pates’ sister Charlie Sue had a feeling her brother was vibing the right way to score big and take his first big step toward his goal of the Olympics.

“He’s a huge mentor to me, just because he is so positive,” Charlie Sue said. “His mental attitude, how he is with everyone else. He gets extremely pumped up when his friends land their runs. So I think Ayumu Hirano landing his awesome run, I think it really encouraged Jake.”

When he dropped in, Pates actually went through an audio blunder of sorts. Unable to get his earbuds to change a song, he’d have to listen to Kodak Black while he traversed the pipe, whether he wanted to or not.

“But it switched to a good one,” Pates said, “so I was pretty stoked.”

As his son descended the halfpipe, Chris was able to see Jake take off and seamlessly run through his first four hits. Once Jake landed a Front 9 smooth and high on the halfpipe wall, Chris immediately turned his head to the Dew Tour screen to witness what he knew was coming: the Back Double 12.

“I couldn’t see, because I’m short,” dad said with a laugh. “But when he landed that, it was crazy.”

“I love you,” Pates said to his father after he landed the run.

“I love you too buddy,” dad responded, “I’m proud of you.”

Pates’ family and friends were raucous after the run, knowing he’d likely done enough to podium. So while waiting for the judge’s score, Chris asked his sister and Jake’s Aunt Ellen to fill up Jake’s Rockstar bottle with water in the event the Rockstar athlete needed to rep the sponsor on the podium.

When Pates was awarded a 97.33, it finally hit Charlie Sue what that run meant for her brother.

“I knew he was going to be up there, but I didn’t even know what to say when he got that score,” she said. “He earned every bit of it. He’s amazing.”

Dad also passed his phone over to Jake so Pates could talk to his brother back in Boulder, who was streaming Jake’s final run in between studying for finals.

“He literally called me afterwards and he was bawling his eyes out,” Pates said.

Chris and Charlie Sue attributed Pates’ phenomenal run to win the Dew Tour title on Friday to his mental strength and focus on having fun while out on the halfpipe. For father and son entering the day, the goal wasn’t a podium. Rather, it was to land runs. And whatever that meant in terms of scores, so be it.

A lifelong snowboarder after his mother Amy taught him to shred — that is, back during a time when Chris was sidelined with a broken neck —Pates preaches a “feel good” approach to his craft. As long as he’s keeping positive heading into competitions, he figures everything will turn out alright.

“I just thought it’d be cool if I landed that trick last hit,” Pates said. “I think it definitely comes down to wanting to have a level of fun out there. And I knew that if I landed that trick then, like, it would have just felt really awesome.”

As for the Olympics, Pates is a monumental step closer with the first place finish. For Team USA halfpipe snowboarders, three spots on the Olympic team will be given to the athletes who meet the objective criteria, which is a podium finish at a qualifying event, such as last week’s Grand Prix at Copper and this week’s Dew Tour. Other qualifying events are Jan. 10-12 in Snowmass and Jan. 17-19 in Mammoth, California. A fourth Olympic team spot will likely — but not definitely — be given to a competitor of the coaches’ choosing: It’s totally subjective.

And for the objective spots, if more than three athletes have podium finishes, then the team will defer to the World Cup scoring system, which will give the American athlete with the best result 1000 points, the American with the second best result 800 points, the third best 600 points and so on. Those with the most points make the team.

Pates’ first place Friday was massive for him, as he not only got on the podium but he took the top spot. Fellow American Ben Ferguson of Bend, Oregon also podiumed, putting together a run of 92.00 immediately after Pates’ final run to finish behind the 96.00 of Scotty James of Australia. Combined with his second place finish at the Olympic qualifier at Copper Mountain Resort last week, Ferguson is in ideal position to qualify.

“It’s always been in the back of my mind,” Pates said of the Olympics, “but I never really thought that like — I don’t know — it’s definitely been a goal, but I don’t know if it’s been that realistic to me. But I was just trying to better myself, kind of. And I think the more I better myself, I kind of just surprise myself.”

The post ‘It’s on. I got it’: A behind the scenes look at Jake Pates of Eagle’s stunning Dew Tour snowboard halfpipe championship appeared first on Park Record.

On a day when five skiers tallied scores in the 90s, it was Alex Ferreira of Aspen who took the Dew Tour men’s ski halfpipe title with a scintillating final run that earned him a score of 94.66 — even if that score was 0.34 points fewer than what fans hoped for.

Ferreira dropped in for the second-to-last run of the Dew Tour’s ski superpipe final Friday morning and subsequently pieced together a right side double cork 1260 and a big switch 720 to jump ahead of Aaron Blunck’s 93.33 for the win.

Ferreira put together an exhibition in amplitude on that third run, as he floated through the run, achieving hangtime on his halfpipe hits that drew gasps from the assembled crowd. Part of that assembled crowd made the 140-mile drive from Aspen to Breckenridge Ski Resort to cheer on Ferreira. And once he completed that fateful third run, Ferreira lifted his left arm and motioned to the crowd for applause, knowing what he’d just achieved.

“I’ve been working on that run since two years ago,” Ferreira said. “I just wanted to land the run. I didn’t care about the results. To be able to do that — hands down, best day of my life. It was my best halfpipe run ever.”

Some in the crowd even began to chant, “Ninety-five! Ninety-five!” after Ferreira’s run, a nod to the judges to award the 5-foot-8, 143-pound 23-year-old with at least a 95.00.

They listened, kind of, as Ferreira’s 94.66 was good enough for first place, holding off Sochi halfpipe gold medalist and fellow American and favorite David Wise, who had trouble with his bindings and ended the day in 10th place.

As Ferreira, Wise and their fellow Americans such as Torin Yater-Wallace of Basalt (fourth place, 91.33) jockey for Olympic qualifying position, Ferreira knows just how tough this Pyeongchang qualifying season is right now. Wise remains in ideal position after he took first place in the ski halfpipe Olympic qualifier at Copper Mountain Resort last weekend.

“Sometimes I almost think it would be harder to make the Olympic team than do well in the Olympics,” Ferreira said. “It’s not easy stuff.”

Blunck’s 93.33 was good enough for second while Kevin Rolland of France took third place with a 92.00.

Canada’s Sharpe wins ladies ski halfpipe

Though Americans comprised five of the eight slots in Friday’s women’s ski superpipe final, the top two spots Friday went to Cassie Sharpe of Canada (93.66) and Marie Martinod of France (92.00) while American Maddie Bowman of South Lake Tahoe took third place (90.33).

The trio of Brita Sigourney of Carmel, California (sixth place, 73.00), Carly Margulies of Mammoth Lakes (seventh place, 40.00) and Annalisa Drew of Andover, Mass. (eighth place, 23.00) all struggled on Friday while Sabrina Cakmali of Germany took fifth place with a score of 82.00.

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On Day 2 at the Dew Tour when veteran Olympian Shaun White failed to qualify due to a fall on the superpipe, it was the brothers Ferguson that bookended an American top three in the men’s snowboard superpipe qualifiers.

A week after he finished in second at the Olympic qualifier at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain Resort, Ben Ferguson registered an 83.33 on the Dew Tour superpipe Thursday morning to qualify in first place. That mark was exactly five points better than his younger brother Gabe, who, after failing to podium at Copper last week, qualified in third on Thursday with a score of 78.33.

Sandwiched between the brothers was American Jake Pates of Eagle, who put up the only other score in the 80s on the day, a 81.66.

White effectively lost his qualification for the final when he failed to land his customary closing double McTwist. Ben Ferguson took the first place qualifying position on the strength of a run that included a giant air to a fakie, a switch 1080 double cork, a double crippler, a backside 360, a switch McTwist and a switch double backflip to forward, also known as a double B-roll.

A trio of international stars will look to go bigger during today’s men’s snowboard superpipe finals, scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. start, as Scotty James of Australia (76.33), Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland (73.66) and Ayumu Hirano of Japan qualified in spots four through six, respectively. Hirano is fresh off his win ahead of Ben Ferguon and White at the Copper U.S. Grand Prix, one where James struggled in the final round after qualifying in first place.

Another trio of Americans followed that international group: Greg Bretz (seventh place, 72.00), Chase Josey (eighth place, 65.00) and Danny Davis (63.33). Ryan Wachendorfer (50.00) was the 12th and final snowboarder of 23 who started the day to qualify for Friday’s final, while Markus Malin (60.00) of Finland and Jan Scherrer of Switzerland (53.33) also qualified.

Those seven Americans will vie for a critical podium spot Saturday as the 2017 Winter Dew Tour is a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Olympic qualifying event for men’s snowboard halfpipe as well as each of the other men’s and women’s halfpipe and slopestyle snowboarding and skiing competitions taking place this week.

Ladies snowboard superpipe

Just five days after the same trio swept the Olympic qualifying podium at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Americans Chloe Kim, Maddie Mastro and Kelly Clark once again went 1-2-3 at Thursday’s Dew Tour ladies snowboard superpipe qualifiers.

During Thursday’s qualifier, the favorite Kim posted a score nearly as high as her Grand Prix championship run of 93.75, as her 93.33 led the group of eight qualifiers who will take part in the final at 2:15 p.m. today.

Mastro posted a 91.66 on the halfpipe Thursday to best her second place score from Saturday’s Grand Prix final at Copper. But it was Clark who may have had the greatest improvement from the Saturday final at Copper to Thursday qualifier in Breckenridge, as the veteran and three-time Olympic halfpipe medalist Clark tallied an 89.00 — more than five points better than her 83.75 at Copper on Saturday.

American Elena Hight will look to push her teammates and break into a podium spot after she qualified in fourth with an 88.33 on Thursday. Today’s final will be especially important for the Hawaii-native Hight as she took an eighth place finish at the Grand Prix Olympic qualifier at Copper last week.

Arielle Gold (seventh place, 85.66) and Hannah Teter (eighth place, 85.00) were the only other American women to qualify for today’s final while Mirabelle Thovex of France (fifth place, 87.00) and Queralt Castellet of Spain (sixth place, 86.00) also qualified.

Men’s ski slopestyle

American Nick Goepper was the only competitor of 23 skiers who was awarded a score in the 90s during Thursday’s ski slopestyle qualifier. His 90.33 led the six Americans who will comprise half of the participants in Saturday’s men’s ski slopestyle final, which is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.

Those other five Americans who will look for podium points to qualify for the Olympics include Colby Stevenson, who qualified Thursday in third place (86.33), McRae Williams (fifth place, 84.66), Cody Laplante (eighth place, 83.33), Gus Kenworthy (10th place, 81.00) and Bobby Brown (12th place, 80.50).

Other top international qualifiers Thursday included Canadian Evan McEachran and his second-place score of 88.33, Swede Henrik Harlaut (fourth place, 85.66) and Frenchman Antoine Adelisse (sixth place, 84.33).

Ladies ski slopestyle postponed

Due to inclement winds Thursday afternoon, the qualifying round for women’s ski slopestyle was postponed to today at 1:30 p.m. The format for the event will remain the same, however, as all 21 skiers will get two runs and the top eight scores will move on to Saturday’s final, scheduled for 2:15 p.m.

The schedule change will sandwich the women’s ski slopestyle qualifying event between the men’s snowboard superpipe final (12:30 p.m. start) and the women’s snowboard superpipe final, scheduled to start at 2:15 p.m.

On a loaded day at Breckenridge Ski Resort, today’s other Dew Tour events include the men’s ski superpipe final at 9 a.m., the adaptive men’s and women’s finals at 10 a.m., the women’s ski superpipe finals at 10:45 a.m., and the snowboard and ski streetstyle events at 6 and 7 p.m., respectively.

To view more photos of the Dew Tour coverage, visit SummitDaily.com.

The post Dew Tour Day 2: Brothers Ferguson go 1,3 in snowboard superpipe, Shaun White out appeared first on Park Record.

On a day when seven American men attempted to get ahead on Olympic qualification via a podium finish at the U.S. Grand Prix FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup at Copper Mountain Resort, it was Ben Ferguson of Bend, Oregon, who exited the Woodward superpipe in the best position.

At the first Olympic qualifier of the season, Ferguson was awarded an 89.75 on his second run. It featured a bag of new tricks that the 22-year-old said are completely changed from the past couple of years, namely the switch McTwist and switch double backflip that he ended his runs with. He nailed those after dropping in with a back 1 into the halfpipe, followed by a cab double 10, a double crippler and a back 3, before his new finale.

“I think I just got more consistent (since last year),” Ferguson said. “I put more time in on my snowboard on the halfpipe, and also just going into it to have fun and not putting too much pressure on myself.

“I need to get a couple more banger tricks,” he added, “a couple more spins, a couple bigger tricks. Then I think we’ll be pretty ready to go.”

Ferguson’s 89.75 was the top American score of the day, and it piqued the interest of the other American who finished in second place Saturday, Maddie Mastro of Mammoth Lakes, California.

“One of the things I remember just from today watching was actually Ben Ferguson’s run,” she said. “I was really excited to see him put it down and the creativity. It’s just so different from other riders, so I was stoked.”

Ferguson’s performance was well behind the 95.25 posted by Japan’s Ayumu Hirano on his second run. The 5-foot-4 2014 Sochi Olympic halfpipe silver medalist ran away with the Grand Prix title on that second run, though he also posted a first run of 90.50 that would have been good enough for first place too.

“Ayumu is just like this little, he is so efficient when he rides the halfpipe,” Ferguson said. “You never see him lose any speed. He lands at the top of the wall and he has the big crazy tricks, and he does them with good style as well.”

Ferguson held onto the second place spot despite a riveting final run by Olympic veteran Shaun White, who at 31 has his eyes on qualifying for his fourth Winter Olympics.

The 2006 and 2010 Olympic halfpipe gold medalist strung together a backside air, a front double 14, a cab double 1080, a front stale 5 and a double McTwist 1260 on that third run. It was one he and others in attendance at Copper felt may have warranted a better score.

“I honestly just was using this contest as practice, you know,” White said. “Obviously, I wanted to, I think, post a better score for the Americans. I was putting in my first kind of easier runs to just put in a great score, lock it in and that allowed me to then go for my second and third run a little harder. I’m a little disappointed in my score for the third run. I really thought I was gonna bump up at least doing a 14 and a double 10 and a double 12. I don’t know. I’m a little confused right now, but that’s why we do these events.”

White’s showing came after he crashed in October while training in New Zealand, which forced him to miss a month of training.

Hirano’s countrymate Raibu Katayama secured fourth position with an 84.75 on his final run. That score bumped back four Americans into fifth through eighth place respectively — Danny Davis (83.25), Ben Ferguson’s younger brother Gabe (79.00), Chase Josey (77.25) and Gregory Bretz (72.50). American and 2010 Olympian Louie Vito (33.00) rounded out the finalists in 10th place while Australia’s Scotty James, who topped his competition after qualifiers, finished in ninth (38.75).

As for Olympic qualification, three spots on the U.S. Olympic team will be given to the athletes who meet the objective criteria, which is a podium finish at a qualifying event, such as the Grand Prix at Copper. Other qualifying events are scheduled for the Dew Tour Dec. 14-17 in Breckenridge, Jan. 10-12 in Snowmass and Jan. 17-19 in Mammoth, California. A fourth Olympic team spot will likely — but not definitely — be given to a competitor of the coaches’ choosing.

For the objective spots, if more than three athletes have podium finishes, then the team will defer to the World Cup scoring system, which will give the American athlete with the best result 1,000 points, the American with the second best result 800 points, the third best 600 points and so on. Those with the most points make the team.

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