Blunck knocking on the Dew Tour door

Spins first 1280 in competition

It’s just a matter of time before you may catch homegrown skier Aaron Blunck during a television broadcast of the Dew Tour and perhaps, dare to dream, in the X Games some point in the next couple of years.
Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) freeride head coach Woody Lindenmyer took Blunck, Matt Evans and Sean Johnson to the Gatorade Freeflow tour stop in Vail this past weekend for a slopestyle and halfpipe event.
The Freeflow tour is a qualifier for the Dew Tour, which is where the X Games athletes compete before and after the premier event.
Win one stop of the Freeflow Tour and an athlete automatically qualifies for the Gatorade Free Flow Tour Finals held in conjunction with the Winter Dew Tour’s Toyota Championship, February 10-13, 2011 at Snowbasin Resort in Utah. The winners there automatically earn a spot to compete against the pros in the first stop of the 2011-12 Winter Dew Tour.
The local contingent of athletes managed to get some time in on their home pipe before the competition but Lindenmyer had them as ready as they possibly could be for the big event.
“We’ve had a little bit of training but we’re definitely behind the other teams,” says Lindenmyer, “but, we’ve been making it count.”
The weekend opened with the slopestyle event attracting more than 60 amateur skiers vying for a berth to the tour finals.
A lack of training reared its ugly head during the slopestyle event on Saturday as the CBMST athletes struggled with the course design.
“Their runs were good but the lack of training was evident because they weren’t very clean,” says Lindenmyer.
While Johnson was just getting his feet wet at such a big event, both Blunck and Evans ramped up their efforts for the halfpipe the following day.
Evans charged into his first of two qualifying runs, soaring off the wall of the pipe.
“Matt’s first run was the best I’ve ever seen him ski,” says Lindenmyer. “He had excellent amplitude on his first flair. It was really nice to see him click.”
Blunck put down two solid runs and the two athletes qualified for the finals.
It was during the finals that Blunck and Lindenmyer decided it was time for Aaron to step up his game.
“Right before we left for Vail, Aaron stomped a 12 [1280 or three and a half spins] so that was in his bag,” explains Lindenmyer.
Before Aaron’s final run, Lindenmyer convinced him it was time to bust out the 12.
“He was pretty reluctant but I wanted to have him throw that in a competition for the experience,” says Lindenmyer.
Aaron did it and got around but backslapped on the landing. Nevertheless, his run was good enough to step up on the podium with a third-place finish.
“The ice has been broken,” says Lindenmyer.
Aaron will get a second shot at the Freeflow tour finals when he heads to Brighton February 5-6 to compete on the second stop of the tour.
“Aaron’s so close he can taste it,” says Lindenmyer.