Day 2
Day two of the Black Diamond Big Mountain CHILL Series and what a banger. Powered by an amazing meal Thursday night by Temple Basin chef, Cath, the competitors were ready to throw down. The sun was shining with a brisk breeze keeping those on the ridgeline moving and the snow softening slower than yesterday. Wild card junior entrant Jamesa Hampton took out the day with a high line score and two massive 360’s, including a 50-footer, thrown into his run. Ollie Hunt continued his good form and now sits top of the overall place after securing second today. The Europeans weren’t far behind with two insane and fast runs to Quentin Lombard (FRA) and Fabian Lentsch (AUT).
The female snowboard division was shaken up with an epic run from Ana Marea Zgraggen (SWI) and Anna Loomes stomping a solid run to bounce back from a disappointing day yesterday . The female ski division was dominated Sweden’s Tove Kockum who put many of the guys to shame with an impressive run full of plenty of air time. Alex Brook continued her good form and secured second place.
After two heavy crashes yesterday the men’s snowboard division was narrowed and the top competitors batted it out for the day’s honours. Ruari MacFarlane was the best of the kiwis in 5th but it was an international affair with two Swiss in the top 4, Sam Trippe (USA) in second and Raphael Bulet (SWI) taking out the top spot.
Tomorrow there’s an invite super session with the top 8 Male Skiers, Top Female Skier, Top 3 Male Snowboarders and Top Female Snowboarder battling it out on the notorious and just plain gnarly ‘Little Phipps’…….. watch this space.
Day 1
Day one of the Black Diamond Big Mountain CHILL Series kicked off today and yet again the level off skiing blew minds. Fast and big sums it up. Temple Basin has suffered from some unfavourable rainfalls this year so the bottom of the ski area looks a little grim, the top however is a different story. Powder in the shade and sun softened goodness elsewhere. This meant with no tracks on the ridge between Mt Temple and B’Limit competitors could point it and with drops after drops the skiing was spectacular.
Although the number of female competitors was a little low the level of skiing and riding was anything but. Alex Brook showed why she was defending champ and took out the top spot after day 1 in the ski division. Tess Carney continued her good form from last week’s CHILL Series and took the honours in the snowboard division.
The men’s ski and snowboard division were loaded. The number and level of competitors were simply epic. The men’s snowboard was closely fought at the top and bottom. Antoine Blaizeau and yours truly lost it in no fall zones and thanks to cat like reflexes we somehow made it to the bottom of the course relatively unscathed however we have lost one of our nine lives. At the other end of the men’s snowboard results table lies USA’s Sam Trippe, closely followed by Switzerland’s Walter Brughelli.
The men’s skiing, well, what can we say. Big, airs, tightest of tight chutes and some rock landings with no consequences. What a good day! Did we mention it was a still bluebird up at the top of Temple. As for results after day one:
1st Linus Hansson (SWE)
2nd Bertrand Clair (FRA)
3rd Ollie Hunt (NZL)
