posted Mar 21, 2008 9:44 AM by Hans Hibbard
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updated May 30, 2008 8:52 AM
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Katie placed 7th overall at the US Open Slopestyle!!!
Katie made it through 2 qualifying rounds and about 40 other women to get this dorky shot at the top of the slope course. She's hangin' with the big dogs here... |
posted Mar 20, 2008 11:40 AM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 20, 2008 1:51 PM
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(from Seth)
Today's events were in order women's pipe qualifiers, men's slope qualifiers and women's slope qualifiers, luckily we didnt have any women in the pipe qualifier so we got to sleep in...an entire 30min :) So we finally got to enjoy the continental breakfast, which consisted of egos and cereal, a perfect meal for a long day. We arrived at the mountain around 8:45 where we were welcomed by a course delay of an hour, so slopestyle practice was pushed back, allowing all everyone to take there time and get ready with no rush. the riders we had competeing today were, Katie and Ben W. Ben ended up catching some sort of sicknesss and wasn't feeling well enough to compete in thte slope qualifiers, on the bright side Katie was just over coming her sickness, and was feeling great about the course and what she felt she could do on the course.
(from Hans)
Obviously I have too much on my mind. Last night I left my board sititng in front of the lodge. I actually had several chances to remember it but, I just didn't. I noticed this morning, when we were loading the car , that my board wasn't there. I was pretty stressed following a schoolbus, going 30-35mph, all the way to Stratton. I had left my board in an area that was sectioned off with caution tape due to falling ice and snow. My board was mostly buried by snow and that may be why it was still there this morning. I was thankful all day long that I had my board back!!! Thanks Stratton!
Anyway, Seth filled you in on Ben W. Katie did her 2 slope runs this afternoon beginning around 2pm. The weather went from foggy ice storm to just plain cold and windy. The temp dropped and the winds whipped during the women's runs. Practice was cut 10 minutes short (25 mins instead of 35) and many of the girls were not able to get their 3rd practice runs in. It's actually a big deal. When you're give a certain amount of time, you gear your practice runs to that timeframe. Many of the girls were going to start spinning and practicing their comp runs for their 3rd runs. I felt bad for them that practice was cut short. Regardless, it was a fairly level playing field since all of the girls weree not quite prepared for their runs.
After a long wait to drop for her first run, Katie slipped out on her second rail and had trouble clearing the jumps after that. Her second run went much better until the end. She got both of her rails, a back 3 on the first jump landing really deep, followed by deep straight airs on the 2nd and 3rd jumps. She landed so deep on the 3rd jump that she was worried about clearing the 4th jump. She chose to straight air instead of the planned frontside 360 and ended up overshooting. She took a good fall on the 4th jump but, her run still earned her a 7th place overall finish.
We are sitting in the rider's meeting right now and we just found out that Katie made semi-finals tomorrow!! They took the top 5 women from prequals today but, 2 invited riders didn't show so, they took top 7! Katie's stoked...
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posted Mar 19, 2008 5:05 PM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 19, 2008 5:38 PM
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Adam tells me that we've had 36 MBSEF riders qualify into USASA Nationals...that is amazing! We definitely don't weigh ability or progress on results but, it is great to have so many of our team riders earn a slot to Nationals following a season of working hard to get there! Congratulations to all of our qualified riders! Copper, here we come!
Welcome to Day 3 of the Burton US Open. Today's weather was just plain awesome...a mix of rain and sleet but, mostly it was flesh-piercing pellets. It was like we had a home field advantage coming from Mt. Bachelor. We were in our element...bad weather! The snow on the ground was a deep sugary mess though and allowed nothing less than perfection for a run to be completed. Any errors meant that speed was lost in the sugar and the next jump would be un-clearable. And WOW, are the roads bad here!!! Freezing rain, ice, slush, enormous frost heaves, and rental car tires make a bad, bad combo! Easy does it...
Judging was an issue today. The course is longer than 1, or even 2, sets of judges can view in total. So, 3 sets of 2 judges are used to judge the course. The first 2 judges judge the 2 sets of rails, the second 2 judges judge the first 2 jumps, and the final 2 jumps judge the final two jumps. Each set of 2 judges ends up judging 2 features. The problem with this method turned out to be how falls or other errors were penalized. So, suppose 10% is deducted from a score for a fall. If that 10% is only deducted from 1/3 of a run, it has far less of an impact than if 10% were deducted from judges scoring an entire run based on overall impression. Because of this, many riders who fell, drug a hand, straight-aired or 50-50ed a feature ended up with very high scores still due to the weight of the other sections of their runs.
Ben Ferguson and Ben Watts both landed solid, well-planned runs, however, they placed behind several people who fell during their runs due to the judging system. Ben Watts ended up making it through todays prequalification rounds and will compete in tomorrow's qualifiers. Ben Ferguson just plain should have recieved a higher score than he did for a well executed run (fs 360, bs 360, fs 540, sb 540). Consider this in a field where most people fell. Oh well, such is the life of a judged sport. Beginning tomorrow, and for the rest of the week, slopestyle runs will be judged using video monitors and an overall impression score based on the entire run.
Katie took the day off to sleep and recouperate. It was probably a very good day to take off! She has slopestyle qualifiers beginning tomorrow. She'll really need her head to be in the right place tomorrow if she's going to do well after being down for so many days. It isn't easy to jump right back into it. If she stays positive and confident then, I think she'll do fine. Seth took a couple of runs through the slope course but, still didn't feel that his ankle was ready. His hope is to keep it rested and maybe have a chance at competing in the big air Saturday night.
Katie getting her appetite back with mega bbq burger.
More video to come...it's been busy here and we are a little backlogged on video and sleep! |
posted Mar 18, 2008 12:50 PM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 18, 2008 7:18 PM
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Pipe prequals for Max, Ben W., Ben F., and Gabe F. So today's pipe events cut a field of 150 men down to 10! People were throwing down their best runs to get through today's rounds. Ben Watts ended up in about 12th when all was said and done (that is unofficial, but what I counted from the results sheets). There is a chance that he'll still progress if some of the competitors from semi-finals don't show. All he needs is for a couple of them to not show up (wink).
Katie is still recouperating from her death-virus but, is doing much better. Seth's ankle is hurting but, he'll give his best shot in slopestyle prequals tomorrow. We'll be leaving the hotel at 7am tomorrow for heat 1 of slopestyle prequals. In heat 1 we have Ben W., Max, and Seth. Ben F. will be in heat 2 tomorrow afternoon. They are calling for rain tomorrow so...woohoo!
 
Seth, Ben, Branden, and Gabe at the base of Stratton's Sun Bowl. Stratton's HP.
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posted Mar 18, 2008 7:06 AM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 18, 2008 3:17 PM
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Seth's Day 7 blog
Today was our travel day, a whole day to make it from Boston MA, to Manchester VT. Originally our day was going to be an early one, because Josh had to be at the air port by 5AM, but turns out his ticket was read wrong and it was actually 5PM. So for the first time in a week we all got to sleep in, till 9:50 where we all sprinted down to breakfast to grab a bite before the man took away all the food at exactly 10AM on the dot. We then proceeeded to all take showers and get packed for our 12:00 check out time. Finally outside the hotel, Katie wiped off her puke from the prior day which was delicatly layered down the out side of the car from her moving explosion. Then the crew loaded the car 4 people with all there bags in about room for 3 children. Let the Journey begin
At approximatly 12:12 we headed out, Leaving the comfort inn on our journey to a greater experience. Not too far along we had to stop and get Hans a starbucks coffee, we couldn't stop at one of the thousands of dunkin dougnuts it had to be a starbucks, with the help of Magellan our trusty navigation system we found one not too far away, and what were the chances it sat next to a dunkin dougnuts which was very lucky since, Hans decided he needed a Coffee Cake Muffin. With time being no constaint we figured, "lets let Magellan get us to the air port with using the least amount of free ways". This was a questional decision after avoiding multiple collisions and a few sketchy people. We arrived at the air port with pleanty of time to spare, but the journey was far from over.
After finally getting rid of Josh, Hans, Katie, And I (seth hill) continued our adventure to Vermont....
Continental breakfast at Comfort Inn. Followed by hangin' at Starbucks.
This is why we didn't go to Dunkin Donuts for coffee...the cups are too big for Seth.
Seth and Katie passing time on the way back to VT.
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posted Mar 18, 2008 7:05 AM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 18, 2008 7:09 PM
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More to come for day 6. Today we competed in slopestyle. The pipe finals was postponed from last night until today due to fog so, the slopestyle format was changed to a best of two runs format without finals. Doing well meant that you had to really go for it in both runs. There was no safety in qualifiers followed by a high-end finals. Katie came down with a flu-like illness and wasn't able to compete. Max over-rotated a frontside 720 and fell in his first run. In his second run he didn't fall but, didn't get the run he wanted either. Ben Watts had errors in each run on his swith backside 900 that kept him from completing the run that he wanted. Josh Dodson landed his first run with a couple of small errors which kept him from getting the high score his run was capable of. In his second run he fell and broke his snowboard. Seth Hill fell in his first run, strained his ankle, and broke his board. For sure not our best Grand Prix showing but, respectable nonetheless. We are awaiting results to be placed online to see where Josh ended up with his first run.
Following the slopestyle, we crammed into our rental car and headed to Boston. Katie was really feeling sick so, we stopped at an immediate care clinic in Rutland, VT. She was given some Tamaflu (sp?) and we left town. Four vomit stops later and we arrived in Boston for a vey comfortable night at the Comfort Inn.
We tried...but they wouldn't take her...
Josh and Seth shredding the K-Rock
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posted Mar 15, 2008 1:05 PM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 15, 2008 7:23 PM
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Tired...everyone is tired. After slopestyle practice, followed by really fun spring conditions freeriding, followed by pipe practice until about 8:15, we stopped for dinner on the way back to the hotel. Dinner was great at Wally's, in Killington, but it was slow. We ended up back at the hotel around 10pm but, still needed to sharpen edges and wax boards. Bedtime was about midnight and morning came too quickly again. We have video and photos to add to yesterday's post and we'll get some updates on today soon!
Everyone (Josh, Katie, Max, and Ben) all rode well today. Everyone landed at least one of their runs but, no one made the cuts for finals...although Ben Watts was very close from his first run score.
We'll update more in a little bit. For now, here are some shots of us eating dinner, blogging, and listening to Shiny Toy Guns in the background (out the window).
Here's some video of Friday night's practice and today's qualifiers (with Max, Katie, Ben, Josh, Seth, and Mackenzie). |
posted Mar 14, 2008 5:04 AM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 15, 2008 2:51 PM
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Morning came a little later today. Slopestyle practice from 9-2 followed by pipe practice from 6-9...that's right 6-9...night practice under lights! Our friend, and adopted teammate, Seth Hill, from Ashland, Oregon joined our group yestereday evening and will be with us through the Open at Stratton.
Today is an amazing spring day at Killington! Seriously, it is sunny and soft with lots of friends. Slope practice was from 10-2 today. The course was great but, soft and rutted quickly. We cut-off our practice just before 2, at lunch, and went to cruise around Killington again today. It was a blast! We have some video that we'll post later today or tomorrow. We still have pipe practice from 6-9 this evening. We'll definitely have video of that but, it may not be uploaded until tomorrow...we'll see. I'm typing this as I'm supposed to be paying attention in the coaches meeting. I love it that ski areas offer free wifi now!
This was taken by a guy who switched the camera to video instead of photo.
A shot of everyone, (L to R) Ben Watts, Max Warbington, Josh Dodson, Seth Hill, and Katie Williams as they were waiting to drop for slopestyle practice. Followed by Seth, Katie, and Josh on the chairlift.
Shot by Hans and Seth (Seth's helmet cam); edited by Seth
Seth Hill's Day 4 Blog
Today started off by Josh and I (seth) letting hans and katie wake up at 7:30 and make us breakfast. We then proceeded to the moutain around 9:30 to get our shred on. We all rode the slopestyle course till it was unrideable around 1:00 and then decide to take one last run. The slopestyle course was pretty tradional with starting off with a downrail or flat box, next a flat rail or flat down box, following was 4 jumps ranging from 45ft to 60ft. After a long morning of slope laps the crew with the addition of Max decided to take a journey around the mountain. our runs consisted of very flat sticky cat tracks and little side hits with tree branches jetting into the run. We got to the bottom for our last run at 3:59 where we were greeted by an unwelcoming lifty who wouldnt let us on the chair. in to the lodge for video review and the riders meeting, pipe practice starts here in a bit so the rest of the night will be updated later.
Night Pipe! You'd imagine it was cold here but, it was actually really warm. I spent the evening gloveless and goggleless because it was so warm. You can bet it was hot for the competitors who were hiking the pipe for practice.
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posted Mar 13, 2008 5:28 AM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 14, 2008 5:40 AM
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Wow...morning comes early here...
Despite forecasts of doom and gloom, today was sunny and beautiful. I really wish that you could see the light reflecting off of the ice covered trees in these photos. It was amazing.
The pipe was in good condition for practice today. Practice was from 10-2 and then we (Max Warbington, Katie, Josh, me, and our friend Mackenzie Matters) shredded around Killington. We'll have some video of practice later today.
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Josh's Day 3 report
Today was sick! It was kind of hard to wake up this morning with the time change but we managed. After the worst Continental breakfast ever we went back up to our room and I sharpened my edges for like an hour ALL by myself. Then we headed up to Killington and got all registered for the event and got some sweet free stuff. We headed up to the top of the pipe and it turned out to be a killer practice day at Killington, the pipe was firm but really good. After a lot of hiking and a few laps practice was over and we went in for lunch around 2 O'clock, ate, then went exploring. Killington is pretty rad. Then we went back to the hotel changed then drove around Rutland where Hans used to live. We went to dinner at this little pizza place and got the best calzones ever! Now we're back in the hotel watching some video from today and getting ready to go to bed, we got a sick day of slope ahead of us tomorrow.
Raw video with music from pipe practice!
Josh's dinner...you know you're jealous!
This church is across the street from where I (Hans) used to live in Rutland. Actually, I could see about 10 churches from my apartment window. I remember lazy Sunday mornings when all of the bells would sound off and it was amazing. The stone work and stained glass on this particular church is beautiful. The old 4 bedroom apartment where I used to live, with the enormous living room and 12 foot ceilings, is now gone. It was demolished the year after I moved away from Rutland and replaced by a parking lot for an office building.
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posted Mar 11, 2008 5:43 PM by Hans Hibbard
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updated Mar 13, 2008 2:44 PM
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(by Katie)
Well today we flew out of SLC. There was no continental breakfast so that was a bummer and then we had to wait in line for so long!! But at least this time in the Salt Lake airport I had my ID so I didn't get red flagged and totally searched. So we went to the Great American Bagel place and we ate at a table and enjoyed the wonderful Utah Mt. view. On the plane we caught up on some sleep and then there were these cool screens that showed where we were in the air and how long it had been and how much time left, it was awesome.
 
Today we went to C-eh-N-eh-D-eh!
So we landed in Boston and it was pretty awesome we all got our luggage, even Hans got his bag that never comes. Then we got on the Hertz bus and I tell you what our bus driver was a Kook! Yelling on the loud speaker and honking and making up crazy words. I'd say he was even more awkward than me. So then we finally got our car and it had GPS, just thrown in as a bonus. Sweet. So we left Boston and it hardly took anytime to get to New Hampshire, but the whole time we were hungry. Then we got hungrier and no towns were coming and then when we were almost to Vermont we finally found food. YESSSSS!!! We got Taco Bell/KFC and we ate a lot. Since Dunkin Donuts is, like, HUGE on the East Coast. Hans stopped in one and got a muffin.
Then like a few miles up the road was Vermont and some cute little town that we drove through except I didn't look much because I was typing. Tomorrow we shred Killington for halfpipe practice and Friday is Slopestyle practice. I'm like out... Later |
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