The second stop in the Freeride World Tour was held in Squaw Valley, USA, from February 27th to March 3rd. After a long trip from Europe (Helsinki-London-LA-Reno), it was time to have a long sleep in a small, comfortable hostel on Lake Tahoe. This year the accommodation was not paid by the organization due to a lower budget than on the Freeride World Tour during the last few years, so the riders had to find a place to stay close to Squaw Valley during the competition. It was a bit of a challenge for the first day to find a reasonably priced hotel/hostel near this luxury ski resort in California.
After visiting five different places we found a nice place to stay with a reasonable price: TahoeCityInn, a nice, small hostel in Tahoe City village only a 15-minute drive from Squaw Valley ski center. At this hostel (with breakfast included during the weekends) you could stay 9 nights instead of staying 2 nights at a pretty expensive hotel in the center of Squaw. Maybe some folks would have solved this problem by using one of their top rated credit cards, but I found it reasonable to save money this time.
Awesome opening day at Freeride World Tour at Squaw Valley
The first competition day was held on Friday 27th on the “Silverado” mountain face under a bluebird sky and with good snow conditions. Riders chose their lines in the competition morning by watching the face with binoculars. The face offered many different line choices and the first rider had to be ready at 10:30 am on the start. Men rode before the women. The 1st competition day gave a really spectacular show for audience and judges, but unfortunately I couldn’t see more than two runs of the men’s competition because I had to climb up to the start to get ready for my turn. Anyhow, I was lucky to see one of the best lines of the first day. Jeremy Jones and Xavier de Le Rue were absolutely the kings of the day on snowboard, while skier Reine Barkered took the victory in the men’s ski competition.
It was very nice to have a new young face on the men’s ski podium, and the media was fascinated for the same reason. The smile on this new winner’s face could have told a thousand things, but you could see him simply grinning: ”This is it!” I guess he had one of the happiest moments of his skiing career. I talked to Reine afterward and he was very stoked over his first big victory and he was really relieved that this victory increases his ranking on the Freeride World Ranking (FWR) and he will have a good chance to ride in the finals in Verbier ski resort.
Not a bad day for ladies either
The women had very strong riding on the first day too, especially US female skier Elyse Saugstad. Also snowboard winner Susan Mol was acting very strong that day. The snow was pretty good the whole day, so even the last riders were able to enjoy the soft fresh snow. Some male riders started from the roof of the ski cabin, which gave a good possibilities for tricks, and we enjoyed different variations of back flips and tricks.
Kaisa Härkönen ended up in 4th place. I had a really bad run on that day, because my fluidity was not good and I had to do some line checks by stopping two times on my run. Even the two clear jumps could not score me high on the ranking, and I ended up in 7th place, which means that I was totally last in snowboard class. I was really disappointed in my run and my result of course, but once again my very best snowboarding friend and the legendary Steve Klassen made my day better by saying: ”Competing is uphills and downhills. Some days you do well, some days you feel like shit. The most important thing is that snowboarding should always bring you good feelings and you should never lose that sense of why you want to jump on your board again and again”. I realized that my whole life should not be so dependent on results and competing, but it is hard when you define yourself so much based on how you do in comps and how you ride. Damn it is hard to accept bad runs and badly chosen lines!
Squaw Valley provides spectacular backcountry riding
After the competition most of the riders went riding powder, and we enjoyed the whole scale of different lines, couloirs, jumps, and tree runs with excellent company consisting of some pro riders and local legendary Dave Hatchett (from Hachett brothers, Starndard Films Production) who took us riding in the nice area of Squaw Valley. The Squaw ski resort differs a lot from European ski resorts in its profile and elevation. Americans are so fond of giving names to jumps and cliffs, so they made a ”guide book” called ”Squallywood” which tells the names of unique runs and cliffs and jumps. Like in Europe, you normally do not name the rocks, only the couloirs and runs. In Squaw Valley every little rock has a name. It makes sense some how, because the area of Squaw Valley is not that large compared to Chamonix for example.
It was nice to ride in Squaw Valley during those 10 days, except we were a bit unlucky with the weather. It was raining water three days after the first competition day and after that the big dump started. It snowed about a meter in three days and the snow was pretty unstable after the rain. The ski patrol paid close attention to skiers’ security in the Squaw Valley ski area and unfortunately one ski patrol guy died in an avalanche accident during the work day while securing the area for skiers. This happened in the ski area and it did not have anything to do with our competition.
Serious powder hunting at Squaw Valley
After waiting four days for the second competition day, the organization decided to cancel the second day. The first day’s results were the final results of the FWT 2nd stop in Squaw Valley. The two last days in Squaw were dedicated to powder riding and nothing in the whole world could not keep the riders away from that!
The places were tracked very soon after the lifts were opened and the lines on the lifts were amazing in the morning at 9 am. The local guys told us that the most fanatic powder hunters come on the line at 6.30 am to make sure that they will draw the first lines on the faces that have a vertical distance of about 500m! Americans, I love them!
One thing I did not like in the Squaw Valley ski resort was that all the skiers were carrying avalanche beacons but no one had a backpack with a shovel and a probe (check also our backcountry ski gear list). I asked one of the locals why you even carry a beacon if you cannot dig your friend out of an avalanche. The answer was that nobody here carries a shovel and you can dig your friend out using your skis or snowboard, and that the locals pretty much trusted the avalanche security system made by the ski patrol. They believe it is only a minimum risk to be in an ”avi” like they call the avalanches when the lifts are opened for clients. Scary, in my opinion. I am used to a bit different riding culture after spending many seasons in Chamonix. Anyway we had a great week and a good show in the U.S., so thank you America!
One Response
Looks like you’re having fun! The powder looks inviting…