The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
One down, three to go
Last year, local professional ski patroller, window washer and snowboarder Susan Mol took the Nissan Freeride World Tour (FWT) by storm.
It all started for Mol last year in Crested Butte when she won the North Face Masters event in Crested Butte in February 2009. The win qualified her for the FWT event at Squaw Valley on March 6.
Then Mol won in Squaw Valley and thus began her European tour as the win in Squaw Valley gained her a last-minute bid to the third stop of the FWT in Tignes, France March 8-14.
She rode to a second-place finish there and then took third place at the final stop of the tour in Verbier, Switzerland March 20-29.
The consecutive three top-three finishes sealed the overall points series title for Mol on the FWT and earned her an automatic entry into the 2010 FWT.
Mol opened the 2010 FWT tour with a bang, winning the first stop held on the “Pentes de l’Hôtel” face at the Brévent ski area in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc January 30.
The venue was approximately 500 meters long, 1,500 feet, with an array of options from wide-open faces over cliff bands to narrow chutes and everything in between reaching 55 degrees in pitch at the crux.
“It started very mellow and then dropped off, which made route finding very difficult,” says Mol. “Rolling into the wrong cliff band could be a big no-no.”
While fresh snow blanketed the venue prior to the competition, most of it sloughed after the forerunners, leaving an icy layer for athletes to negotiate.
As a result, Mol relied on her tried and true technique for her run.
“I resorted to my billy-goating skills, thanks to many lean snow years in the Butte,” says Mol. “I spent a lot of time on my heel side trying to get some purchase on the ice.”
Most important, Mol stayed on her feet and rode to the first-place finish earning a healthy paycheck—though not nearly as healthy as the men winners—and key points toward the overall tour.
While Mol felt the pressure coming into the first competition as the 2009 tour winner, the win set her up for another run at the title.
“It’s a sweet start,” says Mol. “Makes me want to go for it and win the whole thing again. Two thousand points is a good lead. Weight off my shoulders? No, but it instilled a bit more confidence.”
Mol followed with another win at the Stimorol ENGADINSNOW 2010 in St. Moritz, Switzerland the following week.
She’s now back to the FWT to compete on the second stop held in Fieberbrunn, Austria February 11-18. Following the Austria stop the FWT returns to Squaw Valley for the infamous Tram Face venue February 25 to March 5.
“If things are going well I’ll finish the tour,” says Mol. “If not I’ll go back to work and have a normal life.”
