The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) finished its season at the IFSA North American Championships at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort in Utah this past weekend. Ten team members out of 12 qualified and nine attended, saying a lot about our little program, considering about half of all IFSA members were invited.
It was spring break conditions on Silver Fox early on in the competition, leading to blustery gray-bird conditions in the finals. The two female all-stars, Josie Byron and Brittany Barefield, took fifth and fourth, respectively, while Peter Hunt took the top spot for the boys in 18th.
The seven young men representing the CBMST were senior Bill Klein of Gunnison; juniors Oz Scott and Peter Hunt; sophomores Patrick Curvin, Lane Griffin and Conrad Truettner; and freshman Matthew Harper-Johnston.
Some of the men had competed on Silver Fox earlier in the season at the IFSA National series event, including Klein. Klein’s day 1 run could have been one of the better runs of the day, going for a big 3 off of Standard air, but it was a little too big and he washed out on his landing.
Curvin’s previous experience was a non-factor as he skied right by his big air at the bottom of the venue; that’s something he won’t mess up again. Harper-Johnston and Truettner, one of three telemarkers in the event, both skied admirably well but couldn’t make the stiff cut among the best competition in the country.
Scott was able to make the finals with a great run, including airing the Macaroni Chute, hitting Standard, and sending a big 25-footer with a little back-seat landing, while Hunt skied the fastest run of the day, straight-lining through Little Smokestack to the finish. Griffin squeezed in under the tight cut-line with solid and safe skiing.
In the largest women’s field of the season at 33, junior Brittany Barefield and senior Josie Byron were able to lace some standout runs down Silver Fox. Byron, who took third at Snowbird back when she was a freshman, found a high-speed straightline down the bottom venue with a little five-foot air she hit for 15 feet down to the finish, slotting herself into fourth on the day.
Barefield had one of the most energetic runs of the day, highlighted by a technical straightline that put her in second. The girls would take that momentum into the finals knowing that the other girls were gunning for them with less than a point separating second and eighth place.
The graybird skies made for less than ideal conditions in the finals, but the girls were able to ski strong, regardless of the flat light or hardpack.
Barefield started another straightline even higher up on the venue that would sketch out most skiers. She stuck it and held on to fourth place. Byron repeated her day 1 run and was able to stay in fifth place. After similar finishes in Grand Targhee, the result would put both the girls in the top 10 for the season; Barefield finished ninth—no easy feat out of 81 athletes.
Griffin and Scott had nothing to lose, dropping in early Saturday morning on the graybird hardpack, sitting in 44th and 37th, respectively. Griffin kept it pretty similar to his previous day’s run but upped the ante at the bottom of the venue, stomping a 20-foot air to a good transition, moving up to 27th. Scott decided to step it up as well, hitting a big 30-foot transfer gap at the bottom of the venue to finish just .17 of a point out of the top 20 in 22nd.
Hunt repeated his big straightline from the previous day on even harder conditions and cracked the top 20 in 19th. The finish would put Hunt in 55th overall for the season, finding a little redemption after breaking his clavicle back in early December.
Despite missing the finals, Curvin was still the highest CBMST overall finisher on the season in 22nd, with Oz Scott close behind in 24th.
Solon Gray, who was unable to attend do to a microfracture in his pelvis he suffered during Big Air on Elk (and yes, he took fourth at the IFSA National the next day before he knew about the fracture), finished the season in 58th, while Griffin was in 60th.
With mixed finishes on the year, Klein found himself in 91st, Truettner in 107th and Harper-Johnston in 114th. All these finishes were respectable in a field of 308 total athletes on the season, showing that the CBMST is still a force to reckoned with in big mountain terrain.
With fond memories, we’ll be graduating Josie Byron, Bill Klein, Solon Gray, and Peter Landry from the program as they wrap up their high school careers. Watch out for these athletes in the adult events.
As we move on to next season, the CBMST is stoked to improve upon where these team leaders left off. As friendly reminder we advise all families and businesses to support the Crested Butte Snow Sports Foundation, a crucial organization that supports local athletes with merit and need-based scholarships that go a long way in a busy competition season.
