The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I dropped in and I was feeling it”
The last two weeks may have been the longest in Aaron Blunck’s life so far. When it finally came to an end on Saturday, January 18, they ended up being the best two weeks of his life.
On his final run of the Olympic qualifying series for halfpipe skiing, Blunck, at 17 years old, put together one of his best runs to date, placed second at the Park City event and qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
“I’m on cloud nine,” says Blunck. “It’s unbelievable. I honestly can’t believe it.”
US Freeskiing Halfpipe Pro Team coach Andy Woods recalls seeing Blunck for the first time two years ago when he was named to the U.S. halfpipe skiing rookie team.
“He definitely stood out a bit,” says Woods. “Everyone felt he had a really high ceiling and he just did things effortlessly.”
In addition to Blunck’s physical talents, Woods and other coaches noticed something else about him that was above and beyond anyone else his age.
“The number one thing he has is competition mentality,” says Woods. “The amount of focus that he has—pure focus, it’s not manufactured. Aaron just had it from the day I met him.”
And while Woods expected Blunck to improve heading into this season, the amount that he brought up his game took Woods by surprise.
In fact, Blunck had a prolific start to the 2013-2014 halfpipe skiing season, a season that was slated to determine who would qualify for the Olympic games.
“I think he took off a little more than anyone thought he would,” says Woods. “And for him to exceed all of our expectations was very impressive.”
The Olympic qualifying process was pretty straightforward. There were five qualifying events. If you finished top three in two of the five qualifying events, you had a shot at the Olympic squad. Podium in three events and you’d be in.
Blunck proceeded to rattle off two podiums in the first two events. He placed second at a Dew Tour stop back in December and followed that by winning the Copper Grand Prix a week later. At that point he was sitting on top of the overall qualifying points leader board and needed just one more podium in the final three events.
Then, things took a turn.
Blunck crashed during his first qualifier run at the Grand Prix World Cup competition at Breckenridge January 8-12 and after an initial inspection of his injury, was pulled from the competition.
“They thought I might have broken my collarbone and told me I was not skiing,” says Blunck. “I was like no, no, no this is not happening. I was freaking out.”
Once physicians got a better look at Blunck’s injury, they determined it was a stage one separation of his AC joint in his right shoulder.
“When I found out it was a separated AC, I was like, everything’s going to be alright,” explains Blunck. “I’ve done this before and maybe it’ll be sore for a couple weeks but I’ll be fine.”
Nevertheless, he had to get back on his skis with the fourth and fifth qualifying events later that week in Park City and a bid to Sochi hanging in the balance.
Monday, January 13 he woke up sore but ready to train, only to find a recent storm had blanketed the mountains, so he switched gears to an alternative training plan.
“It snowed a ton so I went out and skied some pow, which was what I needed,” says Blunck. “My shoulder was sore but it felt good so I was stoked.”
Back on his skis and dropping into the halfpipe in Park City with his shoulder taped, Blunck put together some quality training runs and was set to make another run at Sochi on Friday, January 17.
“I realized I needed to get another podium to secure my spot,” says Blunck.
But things didn’t play out as hoped at the fourth qualifier. Blunck finished fifth and realized it was going to come down to the final qualifier event of the year the next day to determine whether or not he was going to the Olympics.
“I knew I was just going to have to go for it the next day,” says Blunck. “The next day I woke up and I’ve never been so stressed in my life.”
Woods spoke with Blunck that morning to help alleviate some of the pressure.
“I told him to just stick to the plan, ski well and he’d be fine,” says Woods.
Unfortunately, another crash during practice sent Blunck’s mind reeling.
“I crashed on the same shoulder and I was freaking out,” explains Blunck. “I went back to the top to forget about it but the pain kept coming back.”
After talking more with his coaches, Blunck managed to pull himself together as he prepared for the first of two finals runs.
But on his third to last move, Blunck backslapped on the landing, leaving him low in the standings with one last run standing between him and the Olympics.
“My first run never seems to go my way,” says Blunck. “I’m a second run skier. I do better under pressure. At that point I was like, my second run is going down. It was almost a good thing that I fell.”
Unbeknownst to Blunck, he had qualified for the Olympic team prior to his final run but Woods and the other coaches decided not to tell him.
“With two skiers left to go before Aaron, we realized he had qualified for the team mathematically but we decided not to tell him,” explains Woods. “We didn’t want him to lose his focus and we wanted to see him put down his run.”
Blunck did just that, landing his run from start to finish to score a 92, finishing in second place and officially earning a trip to the Winter Games.
“I dropped in and I was feeling it,” says Blunck. “When I got down I didn’t really care what my score was, I was just stoked I landed my run. When I saw my score I was stoked that I made the podium and then they announced that I made the team and I was like ‘Holy crap, this is crazy.’”
“To put down that kind of run with that kind of pressure is amazing for someone his age,” says Woods.
Since that night, it’s been a whirlwind for Blunck. Saturday night he qualified for the Olympic team. Sunday he headed down to Salt Lake City and then on Monday morning he flew up to Idaho to shoot a commercial for Chobani Yogurt.
Tuesday night he flew to Aspen, via private jet, to start training for the upcoming X Games. Wednesday morning he trained and then competed in the qualifying round for the X Games.
“I haven’t really slept much,” admits Blunck.
According to Woods, Blunck has everything he needs to see success at the X Games and in the Winter Olympics. Now it’s just a matter of tightening up his run.
“He has all of the tricks learned that he needs,” says Woods. “He’s probably got one of the most difficult runs in the halfpipe. We just need to clean things up a little bit and get more consistency. Consistency is huge.”
“I have the run I want to do,” adds Blunck. “I just need bigger amplitude because with bigger amplitude comes better style.”
After placing seventh last year, he’s gunning for a podium this year at the X Games. And while Blunck’s generation grew up under the awe of the X Games, the Olympics have always been the dream.
“I always watched the Olympics and thought about them as a kid, making it in ski racing or hockey,” says Blunck. “Once halfpipe skiing was in, I was like, here’s my dream.”
The X Games halfpipe finals are Friday, January 24. Ten days later, on February 4, Blunck leaves for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
