Snowbird and Verbier

Ladies Podium: left to right- Sonja Lercher, Angel Collinson and Kaylin Richardson

This past weekend I traveled to Snowbird, UT for the 2012 Freeskiing World Tour stop number 4. This was my 6th year competing in the Snowbird competition, it has always been one of my favorites due the crowds, the weather and the venues! This year I had a little more pressure going into Snowbird than usual. The lack of snow in the western states forced the tour to cancel Crested Butte and put Kirkwood on hold until April. Coming into this competition I was right behind Angel for the overall lead and after the current standings for Snowbird they would be sending the top male and female to Verbier for the World Championship. I have always wanted to compete there and this being my last full year to do the tour this was my last chance. Going into the first day on Silver Fox I felt confident about my line and skied it well. The score did not reflect as much and I was sitting in 5th place by about 5 points!

North Baldy Venue

That was a lot of catching up to do, but I loved the North Baldy venue. I picked a line that was incredibly technical and falling was not an option. It was something I had done before, but with the conditions it made it a lot more spicy! My nerves kept going up and down and they were hard to control, it is amazing how mental this sport is! Standing in the start gate my nerves subsided a little and I was ready to go have some fun! I cheered my friend Nicole out of the gate and then I saw that she went down, I was not sure what happened to her, but watched as she was taken off in a sled. This was hard to see, but I had to focus on myself first. I cleared my head and skied to the best of my ability, coming into my bottom air I was incredibly nervous and all I could see was the crowd I just had to point it and hope for the best. I landed and skied into the finish of friends and people cheering! I could not have been happier. I knew Kaylin would be hard to beat, but I ended up winning the run by 1.5 points! Also my 16th second place of my career! With this result I am now going to Verbier and I am also tied for first in the overall tour!!! The only problem is I have been planning for the last year to spend the entire month of April in Chamonix and La Grave! So now I have decisions to make! First decision, going to Verbier on Wednesday!!

Some good beer spraying fun!