Featured Article - March 2009
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Alaina Heutis demonstrates the courage it takes on the steep chutes to distinguish herself from the other competitors. |
Powder Rush
This month, more than 100 skiers and snowboarders will face the treacherous cliffs at Taos Ski Valley in hopes of winning the $12,000 purse of the Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships. Even more spectators will hit the chairlifts to watch the action.
Story By Arnold Vigil• Photography by Kevin Rebholtz
Tired of falling asleep on the couch watching golf—or, even worse, poker—on TV? Well, at least one spectator sport will go on for three days this month at Taos Ski Valley that’s guaranteed to leave you on the literal edge of your seat. That’s because the only seats available for the 2009 Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships will be those on the chairlift up to the high cliffs of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where all the action takes place March 4–7. And there won’t be any couches or televisions around, although there might be quite a few video cameras. More than 100 competitors will take turns pointing their skis or snowboards over the edge of the cliffs in the West Basin area of Taos Ski Valley the first two days, and at Kachina Peak for the finals on the third day.
“These guys put themselves in some pretty precarious positions,” emphasizes Alejandro Blake, events director at Taos Ski Valley. “Some of the cliff faces are 60 to 100 feet high. It’s really a good spectator event.”
Blake, whose grandfather was Ernie Blake, legendary founder of the ski valley, says that he expects some of the top athletes of Japan, France, Belgium, Canada, and Sweden, as well as many throughout the United States, to take part in this year’s competition—in addition to some of New Mexico’s more daring “local boys.”...
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Spectators take in an awards ceremony. |
Spectators must purchase a lift ticket, then ski or snowboard to the event via a network of beginner or intermediate runs, Blake explains. Otherwise, they can enjoy skiing or snowboarding the entire ski valley, checking back periodically for a dose of excitement from the cliff jumpers on the West Basin the first two days, and Kachina Peak the third day.
For those who wish to partake in a little après-ski nightlife related to the Freeride event, competitors and spectators alike will gather on Thursday and Friday nights at the Martini Tree Bar in the Village of Taos Ski Valley for fun and dancing led by a DJ. On Saturday night after the thrill jumping ends for the weekend, Blake says, an awards ceremony and banquet honoring the best of the most daring of the daring will commence at the Martini Tree, where a live band will perform.
Multiday discounts for lift tickets are available, he says, and lodging, dining, and other local venues for après ski are available throughout the Village of Taos Ski Valley, or down below in the town of Taos.
Blake says that the ski valley will post video of the excitement on their website after the event for those who couldn’t make it up to the venue.
For Freeride event info: (575) 776-2291, Ext. 1436; www.skitaos.org/freeride
For lodging/dining info: (575) 776-1413, www.taosskivalley.com; or (575) 758-3873, www.taos.org
