Photo by Morris Prokop
UPSIDE DOWN 鈥 Gabrielle Dinn of BC Park and Pipe grabs some air during the Slopestyle finals of the Yukon Canada Cup freestyle at Mount Sima Sunday.
Photo by Morris Prokop
UPSIDE DOWN 鈥 Gabrielle Dinn of BC Park and Pipe grabs some air during the Slopestyle finals of the Yukon Canada Cup freestyle at Mount Sima Sunday.
Photo by Morris Prokop
CRISS-CROSS 鈥 Ontario鈥檚 Park & Pipe鈥檚 Quinlan McManus executes an Iron Cross.
Photo by Morris Prokop
FACE-FIRST 鈥 BC Park & Pipe鈥檚 Ella Garrod goes down a jump the hard way.
Photo by Morris Prokop
FLYING HIGH 鈥 Whistler Freestye鈥檚 Avery Krumme flies high on her way to a second-place finish in the Slopestyle event.
Photo by Morris Prokop
WAYWARD SKI 鈥 Quebec鈥檚 Vincent Perrin loses a ski while going over a jump during the Slopestyle finals of the Yukon Canada Cup freestyle at Mount Sima on Sunday.
Photo by Morris Prokop
SLOPESTYLE STARS 鈥 Gold medal winner Ayden Fraser of the Calgary Freeriderz tops the Slopestyle podium at the Yukon Canada Cup freestyle awards at Mount Sima Sunday. Whistler Freestyle鈥檚 Avery Krumme, right, and Freeriderz鈥 Evelyn Mullie rounded out the top three.
Photo by Morris Prokop
WIPEOUT 鈥 Deston Swift of BC Park and Pipe eats some snow during the Slopestyle finals of the Yukon Canada Cup freestyle at Mount Sima on Sunday.
Photo by Morris Prokop
PROUD MOMENT 鈥 The top-three finishers in the Men鈥檚 Slopestyle at the Yukon Canada Cup freestyle take the podium at Mount Sima on Sunday. Left to right: Ontario鈥檚 Park & Pipe鈥檚 Quinlan McManus (bronze medal winner), Drew Christensen of BC Park and Pipe (gold) and Calgary Freeriderz鈥 Avery Macyk (silver).
Yukon Freestyle held the 2023/24 Yukon Canada Cup at Mount Sima this past weekend.
Yukon Freestyle held the 2023/24 Yukon Canada Cup at Mount Sima this past weekend.
Big Air flew off Friday night, Slopestyle qualifying was Saturday, and the Slopestyle finals were Sunday.
Drew Christensen from Silver Star, B.C. skiing with BC Park and Pipe, captured the men鈥檚 Slopestyle gold.
He was asked what he thought of his victory.
鈥淗onestly, I was just like, shocked. My first run didn鈥檛 go very well, but second run I got the grabs well and it just went super-well.
鈥淕rabs are everything. If you weren鈥檛 grabbing, they wouldn鈥檛 score it.鈥
Christensen, who was visiting the Yukon for the first time, said it鈥檚 鈥渟weet. I love it here.鈥 He鈥檚 planning on coming back to compete here next year.
Christensen figured it鈥檚 his second or third year on the Canada Cup circuit.
鈥淏ut I鈥檝e been doing Timber Tour since I was 10 years old.鈥
Christensen鈥檚 dream is to someday compete in the Olympics for Canada.
He added a shout out to his dad Rick and his mom Mandy.
Avery Macyk of the Calgary Freeriderz, who had a strong weekend, finished second in Slopestyle.
Ontario Park and Pipe鈥檚 Quinlan McManus came in third.
Ayden Fraser of the Calgary Freeriderz took the women鈥檚 Slopestyle title.
鈥淚t was really awesome to be out again in Whitehorse for my third year and to be able to bring all the tricks I鈥檝e been working on the past summer and off-season to snow and have them be successfully put down and have it pay off, that was pretty great.鈥
Regarding Mount Sima, Fraser said, 鈥淚 love it. I know a lot of people complain about the cold, but I don鈥檛 mind that much. And it鈥檚 not even that cold this year, which is great.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an awesome opportunity. I got to see the northern lights this year during the Big Air night and it was just beautiful and I love being up here a lot.鈥
Despite not doing quite as well in Big Air, Fraser still enjoyed the experience.
鈥淭hat was probably a work in progress. Some of my runs weren鈥檛 as good but still so fun, having so many people and locals come and watch.鈥
Slopestyle is more to Fraser鈥檚 liking.
鈥淚鈥檓 a pretty big fan of rails. That鈥檚 where I like to go.鈥
As for her key to victory, Fraser explained her formula for success.
鈥淓verybody put down some amazing runs and I鈥檓 very fortunate that my run came together so well, but I think that just being in the moment and not trying to mess up with any stress before I drop in really helps calm myself so that I can do the things and not let the pressure get to me. 鈥
Fraser, 18, has also been on the Alberta team since Grade 3.
鈥淚 think this is my eleventh season on the team. 鈥
Coming up next for Fraser is the Nor-Am circuit.
Regarding her future, Fraser said, 鈥淚鈥檇 love to take it as far as I can go; that would be great. Probably the Olympics in the end would be amazing.鈥
Avery Krumme of Whistler Freestyle finished second in Slopestyle, with Evelyn Mullie of the Freeriderz coming in third.
Yukon Freestyle President Stephanie Robertson said she thought the event 鈥渨as really great. Everything went really smoothly and I couldn鈥檛 have asked for better results.
鈥淭he park was pretty amazing. It was more creative, which was really great. As well as the night event (Big Air) was more successful. We had about 350 people show up, which was amazing.鈥
鈥淓verything just ran really smoothly from pre-season into Canada Cup.鈥
As always, Robertson said there is room for improvement.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about having a mandatory day off, because we did have a lot of athletes that were so tired, and a couple pretty good injuries.
鈥淎nd also giving the hill a day to really go through the park and tune it up instead of being under stress tuning it in the dark.鈥
Robertson said they are also considering doing slopestyle first, so the athletes are less tired. Or having a rail jam instead of slopestyle next year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been pitched, and it鈥檚 now a part of FIS, rail jam, so I鈥檓 interested. The more opportunities for our kids, the better.鈥
Robertson was asked what this event means to Mount Sima and the community.
鈥淚 think it brings a lot of revenue to Mount Sima, for sure, as well as it helps with preseason, because people come up to train, and we鈥檙e the first park in Canada to open. Most parks don鈥檛 open until January.
鈥淎nd it just builds the community. The community is wonderful.鈥
Robertson added that there were three Yukoners in the event as well: Jacob Robertson, (her son), Charlie Fidler and Jason McKay.
鈥淭hey actually all ended up getting crash scores, which is too bad, but it means that they threw hard tricks down. They tried as hard as they could. I鈥檓 super-proud of them. They worked hard all summer.鈥
Krumme captured gold in Women鈥檚 Big Air.
Mullie came in second, and Carolina Cesa rounded out the top three.
Among the men, Matthew Lepine of Ontario Park and Pipe flew to first in Big Air, followed by Macyk in second, and McManus in third.
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