The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Josie Byron, Brittany Barefield place third
The Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) freeride squad headed to Snowbird, Utah last Wednesday for the Junior Freeskiing Tour (JFT) World Championships April 8-10, the final stop on the JFT.
Eleven CBMST skiers—Peter and David Bright, Josie Byron, Klara Wohlers, Pete Landry, James Beltz, Nolan Blunck, Oz Scott, Matt Evans, and Brittany and Natalie Barefield—hit the road with coaches Will Dujardin and Woody Lindenmeyr.
The event opened in stormy conditions with a qualifier day on Friday, April 8 on Silver Fox, part of Snowbird’s famous cirque. While everyone skied their game, there were a few checks and some hesitation on line execution. Out of the eight CBMST athletes who were not pre-qualified from prior competition results, six qualified out of the field of nearly 90 contestants.
Day one of competition would be held on the same venue with a few additions in terrain features that had been out of bounds the day before and a slightly higher start. It was still snowing and conditions were getting primed for a good time. The older 15-17 age groups ran first to cut up the powdery venue for the younger 12- to 14-year-olds. Combined between the two age groups and adding the pre-qualified athletes there were more than 100 competitors.
The team had a mixed bag of results that day. Hardest hit were the 12- to 14-year-old boys, where missed lines, hang-ups and crashes plagued Oz, James and Pete.
Nolan had a rough go on the first day of the comp. He charged his air only to find it bombed out where he set it down, resulting in a big backslap. Also lost was Klara Wohlers, one of the two telemark skiers bold enough to step into the ring.
On the advancing side of things Matt Evans (ages 15-17) won the day with his clean carves and stomped airs and the Barefield sisters skied into the finals—again. And then there was our surprise dark horse, Josie Byron. Josie really sparked her turns in textbook technique all the way down the venue and into the finals.
North Baldy was the setting for the final day under trying-to-clear-skies and with 46 inches of new snow blanketing the venue. As expected there was a lot of air under the skis for this one as mind-blowing cliff drops and trickery ran rampant.
Matt Evans was right in the mix, having a blast of a run and took his final air in the Amphitheatre a tad bigger than planned, sending 50 to 60 feet off the final cliff band going for the win. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t quite hang on as the massive air sent him spinning. With our guys out, it was up to the ladies.
Natalie Barefield had a really great run going on and was “snow snaked,” not an uncommon occurrence with the four feet of fresh. Little sister Brittany had had enough of watching all the fun going on in the air and sent great airs all the way to the final cliff band, where she sent a solid 15 feet of it to stomp for the highest score in her field and pushing her from sixth to third place.
Josie continued with her game of many, many perfect turns and not much air, showing everyone that good skiing is rewarded qualifying for the super final in second place.
A super final is a second final run that will add into the final score and placing. This was only awarded to the 15-17 ages and Josie was our lone ripper. She again hammered the venue with turns that were nearing perfection. It landed her in third overall at the World Championships.
Josie was not finished, though. She and her mother, Judy, drove through the night to Copper for USASA Nationals in skier cross where she went on to claim second for her age group.
Complete results and video from the JFT championships are accessed on the Junior Freeskiing Tour Facebook page.
