Created: 10 April 2019
Eleven jam-packed days of snowboard and freeski action came to a snowy conclusion on Wednesday at Colorado’s Copper Mountain Resort, as a hugely-successful 2019 USASA National Championships closed out with the final freeski halfpipe, slopestyle, and ski cross competitions despite a deep low pressure system bringing a heavy dose of April snow to the Rockies.
Created: 09 April 2019
Despite warnings of a massive snowstorm bearing down on the Rockies and the Midwest for Wednesday, Tuesday was another perfect spring day at Copper Mountain Resort, and the final Open Class competition of the 2019 USASA National Freeski Championships. The day went down with warm temperatures, sunny skies, and a perfect jump greeting riders at the first-ever USASA/US Ski and Snowboard big air competition
Created: 08 April 2019
Day two of freeski week competition at the 2019 USASA National Championships went down in a big way on Monday, with three of the four groups in action and the Open class riders taking to the pro line of Copper Mountain’s terrain park for slopestyle competition, where Riley Jacobs and Emerson Lawton claimed this season’s titles in a heavy-hitting event.
Created: 07 April 2019
Sunday was a big day at the 2019 USASA National Championships, as the first full slate of competition at ski week got underway under perfect blue skies and balmy temperatures, and the the top men and women of halfpipe and ski cross competed in the Open class competitions at Colorado’s Copper Mountain Resort.
The Copper pipe was once again perfectly cut on Sunday as the 32 men and 12 women dropped in for competition. And though the warm temps made for a little slush in the flat bottom, the expert slip crew on hand kept things running well from qualifications right through to finals, where Hanna Faulhaber and Matt LaBaugh elevated their riding to take the respective women’s and men’s 2019 Nationals titles.
Created: 07 April 2019
Representing the Southwest Freeride Series and coming out of the small town of Penasco, NM, Balsamo spends her time off the slopes riding rodeo. On Saturday, however, she was busy riding the rails, stomping tricks across a majority of the rail jam features, including an incredible double switch up front-to-front on the quad kink that also earned her “Best Trick of the Night” honours.
“I had a ton of fun tonight,” the 16-year-old Balsamo smiled after awards, “It was a blast. I’ve won Nationals before, but this is my first time winning open class and I’m just really excited.”
Created: 07 April 2019
Mt. Hood Series' Tucker Fitzsimmons took home the Open class Rail Jam win to kick off the 30th Anniversary of USASA.
After an incredible warm-up showcase by the Open class riders last night in Saturday evening’s rail jam, the 2019 USASA National Freeski Championships are set to hit high gear on the slopes of Colorado’s Copper Mountain Resort today, Sunday, April 7, where nearly 800 of the country’s best freeskiers will begin four days of competition in halfpipe, slopestyle, ski cross, big air, and at the nightly rail jams.
Created: 04 April 2019
David Retzlaff keeping it cool under pressure to win his first USASA National Slopestyle title with a 95 point run.
The final day of snowboard week competition of the 2019 USASA National Championships went down on Saturday at Copper Mountain, where once again all five daily venues were buzzing with action from first chair to last, and where the highlight Open class slopestyle competition saw Makayla Kellogg and David Retzlaff use their final runs of the day to claim this season’s national titles.
The day started with a change in schedule for the ladies, as in the riders meeting after practice the competitors on hand elected to forego qualifications and head straight into a three-run final for all riders.
Kellogg was one of the standout riders from the get-go. However, despite stomping both of her first two runs, she still found herself in second-place behind Colorado’s own Ellie Weiler before the start of run three.
