The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Host of local athletes to compete
By Than Acuff
As many as 180 junior freeride athletes are coming to Crested Butte for an IFSA National 3* event Thursday through Saturday, February 22–24, with close to 30 local athletes, including 25 from the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST), defending their home hill.
While the competition season is rife with regional 2* events, the National 3* events are a step up as all athletes must qualify to compete based off results from the previous season.
“The overall level of competition is proportionally higher at National events,” says CBMST head freeride coach Mark Robbins.
“For this 3*, we will be seeing some of the best skiers and snowboarders at their age level in North America,” adds local veteran IFSA judge Ben Blackwood. “They are going to put on a show and I encourage our community to come check it out.”
The event kicks off on the Headwall on Thursday with the u15 age group skiing in their qualifying round. The action continues on the Headwall on Friday when the u19s drop in for their qualifying round. Scores are then tallied, numbers crunched and a cutoff line is set advancing the top of the field in each age group from Thursday and Friday into the finals on Saturday when the finalists will be treated to Spellbound as the venue.
“That area provides a lot of different sized features, including some technical zones, and we are going to see these athletes take advantage of it,” says Blackwood. “Crested Butte has a lot of great venues, and Spellbound is definitely one of the premier spots, not only here but in the entire state of Colorado and beyond.”
