Top Five Fridays: January 26, 2024
Lead Image: It's the time of year again! The X Games are back, and in their second year under new ownership, some positive tweaks have been made to the scheduled events. Image: X Games on Facebook
#1: FIS World Cup Alpine Update - Shiffrin Earns Win #95 While AJ Hurt Continues Career Growth:
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the January 26, 2024 edition! This week we’ve got a triple header of competitive highlights to share with you, including a preview of the X Games, as well as coverage from a unique contest that’s in its first year, but is somehow brand new to us. We’ll get into those highlights shortly, but before we do, let’s start by recapping the latest action from the FIS World Cup.
As you’ll recall, Mikaela Shiffrin had a wild week two weeks ago, going from being sidelined with an illness, to the sidelines of her boyfriend’s hospital bed, back to the top of a podium. With that rollercoaster of a week in the rearview, Shiffrin fell into a more regular routine this week, being able to focus primarily on a giant slalom and a slalom race in Jasna, Slovakia, ahead of a downhill race in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Starting with the giant slalom race, Shiffrin seemed to return to form, taking home second place. Almost as impressive in that race was AJ Hurt, who took home 7th. That result comes on the heels of Hurt’s 3rd place finish two weeks ago in Kranjska Gora. In other words, Hurts is starting to surge, putting her towards the top end of the sport, right alongside Shiffrin and Moltzan. Speaking of Moltzan, she also skied well in the giant slalom, placing 16th. Then, a day later in the slalom race, Shiffrin did what Shiffrin does: she won. Again. For the 82nd time in slalom, and 95th time across all disciplines. With just five more gold medals until she hits the 100 mark, we officially have a new statistic to watch for the remainder of the season. Also earning points in that race for Team USA were Paula Moltzan in 18th, and Lila Lapanja in 27th. Finally, rounding out our coverage of Women’s FIS World Cup alpine skiing action this week, is a downhill race in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy that wrapped up just hours ago. While no Americans made the podium in that race, we did see a super rare triple tie for third place, which is pretty exciting in and of itself. That said, there were some Americans who earned points. Finishing in 13th place was Jacqueline Wiles, while Lauren Macuga finished tied for 16th, Isabella Wright took 18th, Keely Cashman took 27th, and Tricia Mangan took 28th. Looking ahead, the women’s circuit has another downhill and super g race to complete in Cortina, before they head to Kronplatz, Italy for a giant slalom race on Tuesday. As always, we’ll look to report back next week with the latest results!
On the men’s side of the sport, the USA Team came back to earth a bit after having a phenomenal week two weeks ago. When we left off last Friday, Ryan Cochran-Siegle was on an Austrian hotstreak, as he’d just missed the podium in a downhill race at Kitzbuehel by one one-hundredth of a second. With a second chance just a day later, our hopes were high that he’d be able to crack the podium. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as he ultimately finished the second downhill race at the venue in 16th, followed by teammate Sam Morse in 17th. A day later, in the slalom event, no Americans finished in the points. From there, the men’s circuit moved to Schladming, Austria for a giant slalom and a slalom race. In the giant slalom race, River Radamus led the way for Team USA with a 23rd place finish, while Tommy Ford took 26th. In the slalom race, the Americans once again failed to finish in the points. Looking ahead, the men will spend the week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, for a duo of Super G races. With speed back on the agenda, we’ll have our fingers crossed this week that Team America can find themselves earning points yet again.
#2: The Nendaz Backcountry Invitational is the Best Contest You’ve Never Heard Of:
Next up in competitive skiing recaps this week, are the results from an event that has somehow flown under the radar for us until this year. That event is the Nendaz Backcountry invitational (NBI), whose 4th iteration took place earlier this week. Now before we jump into competitors and results, let us make our best effort to explain what the NBI is, as it’s a pretty unique competition. In short, it’s a mashup between a slopestyle event, and a freeride event. Taking place on what might be considered a low angle freeride venue, the NBI course features numerous jumps, natural hits, and even a rail, allowing competitors to put together a slopestyle-esque run on big mountain terrain. If this sounds pretty cool to you, trust us, it is.
When we first came across the NBI recap on YouTube earlier this week, we hit play out of curiosity, being only vaguely familiar with the event. Immediately, our minds were blown. Right off the bat, it was obvious that the quality of the conditions were absolutely perfect. Imagine, perfectly sculpted backcountry jumps with untouched powder landings and bluebird skies. It truly looked like something out of a video game. And then there was the list of riders, which ranged from Freeride World Tour legends like Craig Murray, Markus Eder, Maxime Chabloz, and Leo Slemett, to guys like Alex Hackel who grew up hitting urban rails outside of Boston, and Emil Granbom who is best known for his prowess in the park. As you can imagine, this combination of perfect weather conditions and an allstar list of riders led to an incredibly high level of skiing.
This, of course, led us to wonder even further about why this event wasn’t firmly on our radar until this year. As it turns out, there are actually two reasons for that. First, it was the first time the event was live streamed, resulting in the type of coverage that an event like this deserves. Second, the weather for the event made a miraculous turnaround, ultimately providing the best conditions it’s ever had. Interestingly enough though, that almost wasn’t the case. When event organizers gave the contest the greenlight, things were looking perfect, with a deep base already in place. Then, it rained heavily, forcing those same organizers to all but accept that they would have to cancel the event. Fortunately though, mother nature had one last plot twist left as she decided to turn on the snow machines, ultimately blanketing the venue with 12” - 16” of powder, just in time for the event.
As for the results? At the end of the day, it was Craig Murray who won the rider judged contest, and if you watch his runs it’s pretty easy to see why. While both of his first two runs were stacked with high rotations and big hits, it was a massive natural feature midway down the course that made Murray’s run stand out from the rest of the competitors. On his first run, Murray sent an enormous 360 off a windlip that had him gapping a majority of the course’s mid section. On his second run, he took it to 720. To be honest, it’s one of those feats you just have to see, as written words could never do the enormity of the trick justice. Still, while Craig put down the biggest hit on the best run of the day, it’s not as if other competitors weren’t right on his heels. This entire contest featured the full gamut of tricks: double backflips, nose butter 7’s, switch bio 9’s, a cork 630 out of the rail feature from Markus Eder, and so much more. All in all, the event was an amazing one to watch this year, and we hope the stars will align once again next year as it has the potential to become one of our favorite events in skiing. To read a full recap of this year’s event, head on over to Downdays. If you’d like to watch specific runs from specific riders, the Nendaz Backcountry Invitational website will allow you to do exactly that.
#3: The X Games 2024 is Upon Us! Now With More SLVSH!
For our third competitive ski highlight this week, we’re bringing you a preview of this year’s X Games, happening today through Sunday in Aspen, CO. As you might recall, ESPN sold the X Games ahead of last year’s event to a group known as MSP Sports Capital. As such, last year’s event came with a little bit of anxiety attached, as we weren’t sure whether or not it would remain up to snuff, or if MSP would bring changes to the event that would “ruin” the experience we’ve loved for decades. As it turns out, aside from some awkward YouTube personalities making appearances during the livestream, such as Stoney McBlaze, the overall programing was on par or arguably even better than previous iterations. Keeping that in mind, it’s with nothing but enthusiasm that we look forward to this weekend’s events.
Next week, we plan to return with full coverage of the results from this year’s games, so for now we’ll keep this highlight somewhat brief. The key thing to know here is that for the second straight year, the games have been reduced to focus solely on skiing and snowboarding, with a similar slate of contests. This year, there will be men’s and women’s, ski and snowboard Big Air, Slopestyle, and Superpipe events. What’s interesting about this new focus on just skiing and snowboarding, is that it allows the Games to expand into new events for these disciplines. Rather than making room for snowmobile or motocross events, the contest schedule now allows for events like the Knuckle Huck, which has expanded to include a female contest for both skiers and snowboarders. Additionally, this year will also feature a snowboard Street Style contest, which is essentially a rail jam, as well as a full on game of SLVSH for the skiers. For us, that’s possibly the highlight here. In addition to hosting a mini SLVSH tournament leading up to the games to determine the final athlete in the Men’s Ski Knuckle Huck, the X Games has also incorporated the event into the Games itself as something of an appetizer. If you’re someone who watches SLVSH games on YouTube, and especially the SLVSH Cup events, then you already know the entertainment value of this format, which is why we’re excited to see it finally being broadcasted to the masses. All in all, it should be a pretty exciting weekend, and we can’t wait to check back next week with the highlights! Until then, head over to the X Games website to learn more about what you need to know.
#4: In Killington, a Cautionary Tale Emerges as Group of 23 Skiers and Snowboarders Require s Backcountry Rescue:
A group of lost skiers and snowboarders had to be escorted out of the backcountry by the Killington Search and Rescue Team last weekend. Image: Killington Police Department on Facebook
Finally, for our last highlight this week, we’re steering clear of competitions and bringing you a somewhat unbelievable story coming out of a little town just to our south known as Killington. There, a group of 23 skiers and snowboarders had to be rescued after becoming lost in the backcountry. Yes, you read that number right: 23. And the thing about it is, it didn’t happen all at once. These 23 skiers and riders came from between 3-4 individual groups, each of which made the decision to wander into the backcountry, likely following each other’s tracks. While we didn’t know the details when the story first broke, in the week that’s followed we’ve learned quite a bit more about what went down, and how.
To get the full story, Outside Online reporter Frederick Dreier spoke directly with the Search and Rescue coordinator for the Vermont State Police, Drew Clymer. According to Clymer, the groups became lost when they decided to ignore resort boundary signs and duck a rope at the top of the Snowdon Six Express lift. Looking at a birds eye view of the resort, it’s easy to see how this decision would quickly lead these skiers and riders off the backside of the mountain, and into a region known as Brewers Brook. Once trapped inside the gully, the only option for this group was to ski or snowboard out to the nearest road, which was a full 2.5 miles away. For adventurous backcountry skiers and riders, it’s a plausible mission, but one that would require prior logistics and planning as leaving a car at a trailhead on the road and shuttling would likely be the move. According to Clymer though, that was not at all the case for the skiers and riders caught in this group, saying, “These were all front-side resort skiers…We were rescuing skiers in the backcountry, but that doesn’t mean they were backcountry skiers.” Adding emphasis to this account is the fact that there were 6 children amongst the group.
All of this of course begs the question, “how did this happen?” The resort boundary was clearly marked, including signage warning skiers of the risks of going past the ropes. Furthermore, it would seem pretty obvious that ducking that particular rope would lead skiers and riders off the backside of the mountain. So, what happened? Well, this is by no means verified, and a complete guess on our end, but our assumption is that the first tracks into the tantalizing backcountry zone were left by a group of skiers or riders who were prepared for the mission that laid ahead. While we’re not familiar with the area, it sounds like it has the potential to be an excellent backcountry zone for someone who’d made the right preparations and left a car parked at a trailhead on Wheelerville Road. Assuming that’s the case, it means those first tracks would’ve been a siren song to the second group, whose temptation to ski fresh snow would’ve led them to put too much trust in that first set of tracks. And then, seeing even more tracks, the third group would’ve followed.
Ultimately, this leads us to two thoughts. First and foremost, what is the solution here for a resort like Killington? That first group that went out, assuming their mission was well planned, really should be able to have an experience like that. The issue is, the tracks they left would’ve tempted more inexperienced skiers and riders to follow their lead. So what’s the answer? Should Killington put up a wall, making it impossible to enter this backcountry zone? Would more drastic signage be sufficient? Or, is there another solution? Secondly, our other thought is that this story serves as the perfect reminder to never blindly follow someone’s tracks into the backcountry. While the allure of untouched powder can be impossible to ignore, it’s also very possible that those tracks lead directly into a terrain trap. As such, always know the terrain you’re in, and always know the direction of tracks before following them. For more on this particular story, read the reports from Outside Online, or the Rutland Herald.