Freeride: Palisades Tahoe 3*
Finn Cornell, 5th place in U15
February 7-9, 2025 - The SBA Freeride team headed to nearby Palisades Tahoe this last weekend for the first National Competition of the season. The comp began Friday with the U15s qualifying on the steep boulder gardens of Enchanted Forest. With a mix of sun and snow squalls the team toughed it out and showed that Sugar Bowl can hang with the nation’s best. Luciana Baranchuck, Charlie Blank and Finn Cornwell all had standout runs but it was Scott Shaw who stole the day. Scott linked together 2 massive airs in the steep upper headwall and finished his run with a crowd pleasing hanging snowfield, qualifying for finals in 2nd place!
On Sunday our four qualifying athletes headed up to large granite cliffs of Cornice 2 for finals. First up, Luciana Baranchuck fearlessly attacked the central couloir linking together 3 airs and moving herself up the ranks to a 6th place finish! Scott Shaw, uncontent to play it safe, aimed his sights on the podium but crashed on his final air. Our stand out run of the day goes to Finn Cornwell. Finn boosted 2 gigantic fall line airs and charged between them with powerful gs turns. Finn’s aggressive approach moved him 7 spots to a fourth place finish.
SB Snowboard athletes were not scared to charge the Fall Line this weekend. While battling weather and variable conditions ALL 3 of our snowboard athletes made it into finals executing perfect runs. C2 venue is intimidating to say the least. With big airs and solid riding, our athletes found the courage to”GO FOR IT”. Owen Squires sent one of the biggest airs of his life, unfortunately taking a tumble but super rad nonetheless. Justin LaBar didn’t shy away from a big fall line air at the end of his run and proved to the field he’s ready to send! Tessa Cullerton, Miss Consistent, rode an amazing line down Classic Chute and earned herself a 3rd place podium. Way to go team!!
Tess Cullerton, 3rd place in Snowboard
The weather finally lined up for us Saturday morning for the U19 qualifier. Blue skies and warm temperatures kept the vibes high as we inspected the Enchanted Forest venue. Ewan Jedlic dropped in with confidence opening up the Ice Goddess double and qualifying for finals in 2nd place. Lily Cutler put down a 4th place qualifying run showing off her strong technique and opening up the Dragon Snout air. Henry Schrichte came out of the gate hot with a huge cross court 360 and an aggressive double qualifying in 3rd place. Gordon Crawford-Currie followed in Ewan’s tracks, sending the same line but with a huge 360 in the middle of the venue, qualifying for finals in 4th place. Alejandro Salgado mixed things up with a smooth air on the skiers right side of the venue qualifying in 24th place. Quentin Bair dropped last for Sugar Bowl putting down a stylish 360 and stomping the Ice Goddess chute qualifying in 14th place.
Finals day was in C2 and we were again greeted with incredible weather. The snow conditions however were quite variable and definitely posed challenges for many of the athletes. Despite the challenging conditions, our athletes skied aggressively and did not hold back. Lily Cutler was our first U19 skier out of the gate. She put down a smooth and technical line on the skiers left side of the venue finishing with a massive air placing 5th overall. Alejandro Salgado was next out of the gate, skiing Lily’s same line with speed and fluidity. Unfortunately he took a little too much speed going into his last hit and wasn’t able to control his runout. Quentin Bair was next for Sugar Bowl stomping a smooth and stylish air off the top. Unfortunately he got caught up by ice going into his final air and ended up finishing in 20th. Gordon Crawford-Currie dropped next sending a huge 360 off of the cornice before skiing into the treacherous No Way Out chute. He briefly got caught up by a rock but was able to activate his cat-like reflexes, pointing his skis straight into the fall line and stomping a huge double earning him 6th overall. Henry Schrichte dropped directly after Gordon sending a massive 360 off of the top cliff. He followed up his top air with an even bigger cork 360 off of the No Way Out kicker, stomping it to bolts. Unfortunately he hit some ice chunks in his runout and lost a ski. Ewan was the last Sugar Bowl athlete to drop. Sitting in 2nd place, the pressure was on. Ewan started off his run with style and confidence. Unfortunately he had a bit of a control issue with his switch 180 off of the cornice, but that didn’t deter him from attacking the rest of his line. Ewan followed in Gordon’s tracks, stomping the No Way Out double and placing 10th overall.
Lily Cutler, 5th place in U19
Huge shoutout to all our athletes! They left it all on the mountain and threw down some sick runs. On to the next one!