This past weekend marked the second stop of the 2011 Mountain Hardwear Big Mountain Telemark Series at Alpine Meadows Resort in beautiful Lake Tahoe, CA. With a field of 60 competitors and having just received over 18” of fresh snow the first day of competition, the conditions were prime for high caliber performances.

Day one was laced with variable weather of intermittent snow and sun that added challenges to an already demanding venue on The Keyhole. But with all of the fresh snow on hand the weather didn’t seem to play much of a role in individual competitor’s performances. The athletes involved had the chance to test their abilities on everything from technical steeps to narrow, couloir-esque straight lines to massive cliff drops. The energy and skill level was high according to a couple of enthusiastic spectators but at the end of the day cuts had to be made and only the top 25 men and 13 women would advance to the finals.

Day two brought a lot of excitement to the air that was noticeable in everyone involved as the venue for the day, The Buttress, hadn’t been skiable for the last three years of competition due to snow and weather conditions. Coupled with that excitement, however, was a subtle undertone of anxiety amongst competitors and spectators alike that was tangible in the air and highlighted by competitor Anthony Gill who alluded to the tension at the top of the venue after finishing his run. The nervousness stemmed from the fact that the Buttress added even more technically demanding terrain, namely really steep lines riddled with cliff bands and variable snow conditions, to the mix. But with a beautiful sunny day and a crowd of dozens cheering on below, the stage was set for all of the athletes to test their limits. Most of the competitors finished their runs unscathed and reveled at the difficulty of the terrain they had just conquered. With the exception of a few nasty, breathtaking tumbles, like Paul Velte’s rock-clipping fall which resulted in a broken ankle, the athletes showed the Buttress who was boss. The caliber of athleticism in the finals really had the peanut gallery at the bottom of the venue riled up for the ensuing Super Final that would decide the proverbial cake-takers of the weekend.

The Super Final run was comprised of the top four men and the top three women from the previous rounds’ scoring. They returned to the top of the venue for a crack at the prize purse, $1000 for both the top male and female competitor, and the bragging rights that come with such a win. Every one of the super finalists threw down technically sound, aggressive last runs that got heaps of hoots and hollers from the rowdy crowd at the base. Big airs were stomped, some pushing the 20ft range, speed thresholds were pushed, especially considering how variable the snow was, and high fives were thrown as the sun crept lower in the bright blue sky. As the competition came to end the rustling of opinions and shout outs lingered all the way to the awards party.

All in all it was great competition weekend with a lot of highlights and stoke. (check out the final results) A few more notable awards went to Jake Sakson who ended up snagging the Sickbird Award for being the only person in the competition to skin to the top of the The Buttress for both of his runs and once more after helping retrieve a fellow competitor’s ski after a fall. Kate Cardamone received the Sick Chick award for taking the mandatory air at the bottom of the Keyhole bigger than many of the boys. Be sure to check back for the results of the final tour stop at Crested Butte next month for overall winners of the competition series.

-Alex Paul

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