Many contests end up falling on the same day. I guess there just aren't enough weekends in the winter. Usually when making a contest decision it comes down to where there will be a cash prize. So between competing at Canyons, or Wolf Mountain, it was a no-brainer to go to Wolf Mountain. With a $2,000 prize purse for the contest my friend Max and I drove about an hour early Saturday morning to get there. We showed up in time to register, and I was informed that they would not be paying the girls, because they consider us "amatures." That did not sit very well with me, and I was a little upset to say the least. I understand there are not as many girls as boys competing, but if you advertise a Women's Open contest and clearly state on the flyer that ALL OPEN divisions would be paid, I expect that they would follow through with that. Regardless, I was angry enough that I entered in the men's open division too.
We had about 30 minutes of practice left before the contest started, and that gave us just enough time to go through the course once and straight air everything, before putting our runs together next time through. The course was tiny, but really fun! With a boost of confidence from somewhere, I was feeling pretty good all day. I was trying to do cab 540's to backside 360's but I kept over-rotating on the five and taking it to a 720. That was fine with me! I had been trying to get past the hump of 540 for a while now, and I just accidentally thrust myself into the next level. With my mind pretty much everywhere but the contest, I spent my whole 6 runs (3 in men's open, and 3 in women's open) going for that 720. I didn't land it really clean, but I landed well enough to still finish my run and do a swith 360 on the last jump.
I had so much fun pushing myself all day, and with some helpful pointers from Max, I will have it on lock by the end of the week.
The contest seemed to end just as quickly as it started, so we decided to go ski the hardest run on Wolf Mountain. Max and I tore up some runs for about 30 minutes before we headed back over for awards. We were all ready to see the results, in the end, I got 2nd. Slightly disappointed, and confused, I happily accepted my award and congratulated Elin on getting 1st. Better luck for me next year I guess! But on a lighter note, Max got 1st place and won $500! So all was not lost and at least we didn't drive all the way to Wolf Mountain for nothing. I would like to say thanks to Monster, and Wolf Mountain for hosting this event, we had a blast.
