Slopestyle

WHITEFISH, Mont. — Five snowboarders from Team Snowboard Northwest traveled to Whitefish Mountain Resort this past Saturday, Feb. 15, for their final USASA Inland Northwest Series slopestyle competition of the season — and they did not disappoint.

Stakes were high as athletes tried their best to accrue enough points to secure an invitation to the USASA National Championships. In slopestyle, athletes must attempt a course unique to that mountain, consisting of various sized jumps and different rail configurations, which means getting there early can be key as features can be challenging to dial in. Across two runs, riders have to calculate an appropriate speed that will allow a clean takeoff and landing while maximizing airtime ... all while being scored on the difficulty of jumps and their execution and amplitude over each feature.

Calvin Schmidt, Cade Hanson and Owen Miller of Sandpoint, Drew Falcone of Spokane and Zadok Steffen of Bonners Ferry were up for the challenge.

After the first run, Falcone was in first with a score of 76.00, Schmidt was second with 74.00, and Hanson was fifth with 50.33. Miller had a fall that landed him in sixth with only 23.33 while Steffen crashed after such a big jump that the binding pulled completely out of his board. While many athletes may have scooted themselves off to the side of the course, Steffen held his binding in the air and completed the run with only one foot secured to his board. Even though only scoring a 20.67, he became a fan favorite amongst the crowd.

For the second run, Miller managed to pull it all together and landed a score of 79.67 that put him in a position for the gold medal. While other riders did not improve their scores, Steffen, who resurrected a backup board for his second run, did improve and walked away with a seventh-place finish. All-in-all, Snowboard Northwest swept the podium in the 15-16 age category with Miller in first out of 10 riders, Falcone in second and Schmidt in third. 

Rail Jam

WHITEFISH, Mont. — The USASA Inland Northwest Series rail jam competition followed slopestyle at Whitefish Mountain Resort this past Saturday, Feb. 15.

Rail jam competitions have a different format, where each rider has an initial run, then they all go one after another, hiking back up to the starting point for a set amount of time. Rail jam doesn’t rank riders on their individual best run, but instead on their overall performance during the entire contest. After all was said and done, Miller and Steffen both achieved podium finishes in the 15-22 age category; Miller was second out of 10 riders while Steffen was third.

    Owen Miller, left, shows off his silver medal, Zadok Steffen, right, his bronze medal after a successful USASA Inland Northwest Series rail jam competition, their final series competition of the season, held at Whitefish Mountain Resort this past Saturday, Feb. 15.