Blunck takes skier halfpipe national title at Copper

Headed to Whistler to close out season

Fifteen-year-old halfpipe skier Aaron Blunck continues to take his skiing to another level, racking up a national title last week in Copper. After one of his busiest seasons of training and competing, Blunck has posted a number of personal bests and finally stepped up to the top of the podium at the USASA National Championships at Copper Mountain.
Blunck began the season last summer with a variety of on and off snow training sessions. He hit the snow in November and then headed across the pond to partake in the Winter Junior Olympic Games in Austria in January. Matched up against his 14-15 year old peers from around the world, Blunck took the bronze medal. He returned to the states for continued training and competing. He made his way through a tough segment of the season before regaining his momentum with a fourth place finish at the US Open in Aspen, his highest finish ever at the competition.
Blunck carried the momentum from Aspen into the US Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain where he placed 14th among the world’s best halfpipe skiers.
He followed that up five days later winning his J2 age group and placing second overall at the USSA Junior Nationals in Steamboat.
Blunck took a quick break from competing but then returned to ski in the USASA Nationals in Copper for a shot at the title. Blunck finished second the past three years at Copper so he was determined more than ever to take the title this time around.
“I wanted to win, I was tired of getting second,” says Blunck.
Though he admits he wasn’t quite sure if the title was within his reach.
“USASA Nationals was a true test for me,” says Blunck. “I hadn’t competed in awhile and I wondered if I was ready.”
Despite some mishaps in practice runs Blunck was feeling good the day of the competition. He then proceeded to pull out a binding on one of his runs forcing him to switch skis during the competition.
After one run on his slopestyle skis, he was able to step back into his halfpipe skis just before dropping in and had two good runs to qualify for finals in third place.
While the athletes mingled and talked about their finals run, Blunck held his cards close.
“Everyone was talking, wondering if anyone was going to throw a double flair (double backflip),” says Blunck. “It was in my mind but I wasn’t telling anyone.”
Going in reverse order, Blunck set the tone for the first and second place skiers after him when he dropped in and threw the double flair during his run. His competition tried to do the same but failed and Blunck took the title and a check for $1,000.
“It was probably my second best run of the season,” says Blunck. “It felt really good to win, finally.”
Blunck will close out the season of competition in Canada this week at the prestigious Whistler Ski Invitational. Once again, he will find himself skiing against some of the top halfpipe skiers in the world.
“It’s another pro event ranked up there with the US Grand Prix,” says Blunck.
In addition, he’s thrown his hat into the ring of the slopestyle event.
“I’ve been having pretty good results in slopestyle, better than I ever have before,” says Blunck.
He’s going into the competition no holds barred looking to reach the finals and crack the top 10.
“I’m feeling really good for this event,” says Blunck. “It’s the last comp of the season and I want to go for broke and not hold back at all.”