SWSC Blogs

Hey Freeskiers, 

We had a great three days of training this past weekend. The weather was great and everyone showed up with the right mindset to improve their skills and learn new tricks. Thanks to Stratton Parks we had a few new features to train on, including a bigger jump in Smoothie, allowing the athletes to push their comfort zones for more airtime. Check out our Instagram page @SWSCfreeskiing for some highlights from the weekend.

Looking ahead to this weekend, we have a rail-jam at Stratton on Saturday 2/23. You can register here: https://usasa.org/regions/new-england/southern-vermont

I will be at Mount Sunapee on Sunday 2/24 with Max H. for a Slopestyle competition. If anyone else is interested, please let me know. For those staying at Stratton, Jackson will be there to coach. 

As a reminder, the following weekend there is a Slopestyle competition at Okemo on Friday 3/1 and Saturday 3/2. I hope to see you all there.

Thanks, 

Dillon

Hey Freeskiers, 

This was another awesome weekend watching you guys and girls dominate the skiercross course. It was the best and most challenging course I have seen Stratton build and you all crushed it. Conor M. and Julia P. are still undefeated and took home two Gold medals each. Sebastian C. took home a Silver on Saturday and a personal best Gold on Sunday. Charlie P. earned himself a personal best and a spot on the podium with a Silver. Cici P. took home a Silver. Marco F. took home 2 Bronze. Bradford L. took home a Bronze. Everyone who competed on Sunday earned themselves a spot on the podium, which was a great way to end the weekend!

Looking ahead to this weekend, I will be at Hunter on Saturday with Charlie P. for a couple slopestyle competitions. If anyone else is interested, please let me know. You can register here: https://usasa.org/regions/eastern/catskill-mountain 

Jackson will be at Stratton to train with those of you not going to Hunter and I will be back at Stratton on Sunday.

Again, awesome job to everyone who competed in skiercross and I will see you all this weekend.

Thanks, 

Dillon

Hey Freeskiers, 

We had our first slopestyle competition of the season this weekend. This event filled up quick and not everyone had a chance to compete. I have talked to a few of you already about doing out-of-series USASA events, and right now we are looking at the possibility of doing Hunter slopestyle the weekend of 2/9, and Mount Sunapee slopestyle on 2/24. If there is any interest in doing either of these competitions or any others, please let me know.

Looking ahead to this weekend, we have skiercross on Saturday and Sunday at Stratton. The course will be a little different than last time. Make sure you wax your skis! As some of you found out at slopestyle on Sunday, having freshly waxed skis can make or break your run.

Registration link: https://usasa.org/regions/new-england/southern-vermont

Registration/check-in will be at the same place at the same time (7:30-8:30 in the West Wing of the Base Lodge) and meet me at the Freeski flag at our usual time, 8:25am. See you all this weekend!

Thanks, 

Dillon

Hey Freeskiers, 

What a fun weekend it was watching you all compete in skiercross. I’d like to give a big shout out to Julia P. (pictured), Conor M., and Sebastian C. for claiming spots on the podium.  Julia and Conor took home gold medals both days and Sebastian took home a bronze on Sunday. Max H. competed his way to finals but was just shy of a podium. The course was the most fun and challenging skiercross course I have ever seen Stratton build and I’m excited to ski it with you all as the season continues.

Stratton has a new Terrain Park manager, Zach, and we are very excited to see his talent and creativity at work! Tyro has a fresh new look and Smoothie will will get a makeover in the coming week or two.

This weekend we have a rail jam on Sunday (1/20). You can register here: https://usasa.org/regions/new-england/southern-vermont.

Note on this weekends weather: We are scheduled to get a huge snowstorm on Saturday thru Sunday and looking at the local forecasts, 2-3 FEET is not out of the question. On the backside of the storm Monday morning low temps are forecast to be -20ºF (without wind chill), if athletes are not prepared, they should stay inside. Use extreme caution with the younger groups especially. Frostbite happens in minutes at these temperatures if you are not careful.

Looking ahead at next weekend (1/25, 1/26, 1/27), we will be at Mount Snow for our first slopestyle competition of the season.  Along with all the powder skiing we will do this weekend, we really need to work on having 3 tricks, making sure they all link up, ready to throw at Mount Snow, and it looks like this will be the perfect weekend to work on them.

Safe travels and I look forward to seeing everyone in a few days!

Thanks, 

Dillon

Hey Freeskiers!

Good job to everyone who showed up in the rain on Saturday morning. It only rained for a run or two and the rest of the day was beautiful. The rained softened the landings on Smoothie and everyone pushed their comfort zones and started to go bigger on those jumps. BIG SHOUTOUT to MAX HACK for doing his first backflips on skis this weekend!! The rain and warm weather made the landing on the Detour jump site really soft and it was a perfect time to try. He came in a little short on his first but was courageous enough to try a few more and finally stomped one. If you want to see a video of him land his first backflip, check out our Instagram page SWSCfreeskiing.

This coming weekend we have a skiercross competition on Saturday and Sunday. You can register here: https://usasa.org/regions/new-england/southern-vermont. Online registration closes on Thursday, Jan 10th. Registration is 7:30-8:30 in the west wing of the base lodge. If you registered online and you have your bib already, you still need to go to registration to confirm your bib number. If you do not have a bib, you can purchase it at registration for $20. Meet at the Freeski flag at the usual time of 8:25 and please be on time. Have a great week and I hope to see everyone with freshly waxed skis this weekend!

Thanks, 

Dillon