What a day to host our last event of the Shred for the Cup series. The first day of spring couldn’t have been nicer – bluebird skies and temps feeling like May or June, rising up into the 60s by the afternoon made for an amazing day to be outside. The ATP crew has worked tirelessly through this recent meltdown to keep all parks up and running, and offered a solid slopestyle course through the Appal Jam and Candied Appal Terrain Parks, giving riders multiple choices of rails, boxes, and jumps in a 5 feature line.
As the sun beat down early in the morning and softened the previous nights semi-freeze, the crew salted down the entire slope, takeoffs, landings, everything to keep the course as consistent as possible throughout the day. Red Bull came through with their signature Pinzgauer – a “mobile party assault vehicle” which provided a nice spot for DJ Jamie Overcash to get the vibe flowing.
The course was salted, shaped, dialed in and ready to go by 10:00am – and all the competitors didn’t waste one minute getting in lots of warm-up laps before the 11am start time. The slopestyle offered the choice of either a down handrail or flat box up top, leading into a smooth tabletop with both a medium and smaller takeoff option. After the jump, riders came into the lower part of Appal Jam and could hit either a smaller true tabletop, the ledge wedge box, or a c-box. This led into Candied Appal, containing 2 lines of 2 features, the A-Frame Box and Flat Box up top, and a flat down rail and lift tower at the bottom.
Over 90 competitors came out for the Slopestyle – the best turnout of the season by far! Judges had a hard time to say the least in every category, it was clear everyone has been progressing this season and threw down for this last event. Beginner Ski and Snowboard took their runs along with the Women’s division in both Ski & Snowboard. This was immediately followed by the Intermediates, and then finally Advanced. Some of the runs put together by the advanced skiers and boarders were unreal. Austin Leonard took the win for the Advanced Snowboarders – with super technical tricks on the rail features, and a smooth 5 off the larger tabletop. Tanner Sinclair claimed the title for the skiers, throwing spins on and off almost every rail feature, and wrapping up a stomped cork 7 off the large table.
Most important – this event was for Kyle West and his family. Kyle was actually able to make it out on the hill Saturday to hang out, grab a hot dog from the on-slope grill, and watch the action go down! ATP and Recess were able to raise right around $600 in the prize raffle for the West family, and Appalachian Ski Mtn. will be matching $500 of this. This means almost $1100 dollars was raised for the West’s on Saturday! A huge thanks to everyone for their support.
Clay, Kyle, and Mom Carol West
Tons of prizes were awarded to the top 3 finishers in each category, and shortly after the Slopestyle awards, overall series winners were announced and presented with their signature cups for their victory. Thanks to everyone who has been involved with the Shred for the Cup series; whether riding, watching, or working, it has been a great time for all this season!
SFTC Slopestyle Final Results
Men’s Advanced Snowboard
1st: Austin Leonard
2nd: Kris Jones
3rd: Nick Joslin
Men’s Advanced Ski
1st: Tanner Sinclair
2nd: Joseph Toney
3rd: Ross Rowan
Men’s Intermediate Snowboard
1st: Matthew Sutton
2nd: Thomas Graham
3rd: Evan Williams
Women’s Snowboard
1st: Perri Runion
2nd: Heather Phillips
3rd: Ashley Gallagher
Women’s Ski
1st: Chelsea Zacher
2nd: Jenna Cantrell
3rd: Nicole Ferren
Men’s Beginner Snowboard
1st: Duncan Nielander
2nd: Devon Trivette
3rd: Zeb Powell
Men’s Beginner Ski
1st: Drew Bolick
2nd: Tyler McCullough
3rd: Kevin Church