The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Returns to Freeskiing World Tour
Crested Butte Mountain Resort snowcat driver Caleb Mullen carried his momentum from a third-place finish at the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Championships in Crested Butte two weeks ago into the Colorado Freeride Championships at Snowmass, skiing to a second-place finish and leaving with $900 cash.
With some cash in his pocket from the Crested Butte event, a couple days off, a free place to stay and free lift tickets, Mullen decided it would be a good opportunity to check out Snowmass for the first time and maybe even come away with some more money.
“I went partially because I did well in Crested Butte and had a little extra cash,” says Mullen. “It all kind of clicked together.”
The event opened in the Hanging Valley area of Snowmass ski area on Friday, February 26. The hanging Valley is a steep, rocky pitch, relatively short in length that Mullen compares to the Edge here in Crested Butte.
Competitors were treated to powder conditions and Mullen opted to hit a double drop on his run, finishing the day in fourth place.
The event then moved to the Burnside Cliffs for the finals on Saturday, February 27. The Burnside Cliffs had seen both its’ share of snow and sun making for some crusty conditions. Still, Mullen took it all in stride.
“It was breakable crust but there was powder underneath,” says Mullen.
With lines similar to Crested Butte’s High Life area up for grabs, Mullen decided to link two pillow lines together joining them with a gap jump from one line to the other.
The move pushed Mullen from fourth place into second place overall for the $900 payday.
He will now return to the Freeskiing World Tour and is headed to Kirkwood to compete in the North American Freeskiing Championships March 3-7.
“I’m keeping the ball rolling,” says Mullen.
