The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Francesca Pavillard-Cain takes women’s title
The big mountain freeskiing circuit landed at Crested Butte Mountain Resort last weekend, bringing in a gaggle of talent from around the nation and bringing out the local contingent of big mountain hucksters.
By the close of the three days of competition, local skiers took nearly half of the podium spots that were up for grabs.
The Subaru Freeride Series competition in Crested Butte consisted of a one-day two-star level event and then two days of four-star level action. Skiers compete at each level to gain points over the season in an effort to qualify for the 2014 Freeride World Tour.
The competition opened on Thursday with the two-star event on Hawks Nest and the locals threw down in the men’s competition.
Ryan Hoynacki has been on and off the tour since 2007, with his last competition back in 2011. With the event returning to Crested Butte, Hoynacki decided to jump back into the mix.
“As long as it’s here I’m gonna do it,” says Hoynacki.
Hoynacki made the most of his run down Hawks Nest, hitting a couple cliffs on top, continuing into features throughout the venue and then iced it with one final move at the bottom of the venue.
“I found a gap feature in the Slipper area,” explains Hoynacki. “I never hit it before but it looked doable so I hit it and nailed it.”
The effort earned Hoynacki the top spot on the podium, taking the men’s two-star title. He was joined on the podium by Western State Colorado University Mountain Sports team athlete Dave Sugnet in second place and Gunnison Valley-born and -raised skier David Bunt in third place. Will Dujardin finished fourth so all four local skiers ended up qualifying for the four-star event the next two days.
The local women had similarly strong showings in the two-star competition as Cierra Glenn won and Alex Riedman finished in third place.
Unfortunately, Hoynacki’s weekend came to an abrupt end on the first day of the four-star event on Headwall.
“I went for a big air right in the middle of Angle Gully and had a nice double ejection,” says Hoynacki. “It was a good one.”
Dujardin would have the best showing of the four that advanced, placing tenth overall in the four-star event. Jack Weise had the top local finish in the four-star competition among the men, placing fifth, but the highlight among local skiers came from Western State Colorado University Mountain Sports team athlete Francesca Pavillard-Cain.
Pavillard-Cain was prequalified for the four-star event and is on a roll this year.
“This has been one of my best seasons,” says Pavillard-Cain.
She won the title at the Salomon Freeskiing Championships in Taos, N.M., placed fifth in the halfpipe and third in the skiercross at the Intercollegiate Nationals to finish in third place overall and was coming off a seventh-place finish a week earlier at a Freeride World Tour qualifier at Moonlight Basin, Mont.
While Pavillard-Cain claims her focus is “about having fun,” she put together a technical line on the first day on Headwall, going where few other women would.
“Angle Gulley was definitely beat up after inspection but I found an air that I didn’t know was really there,” says Pavillard-Cain.
Her effort put her in first place heading into the finals on Saturday on Staircase.
She admits that nerves started to take hold as she prepared for her run but they washed away as she started skiing.
“You can’t really get rid of the nerves,” says Pavillard-Cain. “You try to use them in a positive way and once I started skiing, I just [went] into auto-pilot.”
Pavillard-Cain skied the top of Staircase proper before turning into the Handrail to find some air, only to find a surprise.
“When I hit it, it was destroyed,” says Pavillard-Cain.
She flashed it nonetheless and cruised to the bottom of the venue to take the four-star title. Ashley Bembenek joined Pavillard-Cain on the podium, placing second, and Sydney Dickinson was close behind in fourth.
The win moved Pavillard-Cain into position to qualify for the 2014 Freeride World Tour as she heads to the final qualifier event of the year in Snowbird, Utah April 10-14.
“Right now I’m sitting in third so hopefully I can keep my points up,” says Pavillard-Cain.
