BRITISHFREESKI CAMPS - Dark Summer

The Womens Superpipe was next and was competed as a jam session with the girls being allowed
to take as many run as they could over the 45 minute period. In the poor conditions and flat light,
the girls struggled to maintain their speed and spot their landings. “It was a junk show out there and
maybe I needed better wax or something.” said Sarah Burke who had won the US Freeskiing Open’s
pipe contest the week before in Vail. “It was tough to put down the run I was looking for. I saw a couple
of Grete Eliassen’s runs, and she looked so nice and solid.”
Whilst Sarah unsuccessfully attempted 900’s on each of her runs, Grete tried and succeeded, despite
chronic shin splinters. Her consistent runs and amplitude carried her all the way to the top of the
podium for the second year in a row. The second gold of the event went to the Armada camp.
The Men’s Superpipe was promoted to a prime time spot with live broadcast on the US sports
channel ESPN. The contest started at 7pm with the pipe, so perfect that it sent shivers down
your spine, lit up like a football pitch under a clear Colorado sky.
Simon Dumont, aiming to three-peat with this year’s event, was competing with a tweaked
nerve in his back. The injury had occurred during qualifiers and set him off to a slow start,
boosting barely out of the pipe on his first run. The pain seemed to vanish by his last run and
he rocked a 540 Truck Driver that only Dumont is capable of executing. He continued to boost
but this time it only earned him the bronze.
WWW.DARKSUMMER.CO.UK
Laurent Favre threw down one of the most impressive complete pipe runs ever seen. His first
hit was the biggest of the entire night – a Corked 5 Nose into to a Straight Air. Then he stomped
a massive Corked 7 and finished the run with back-to-back Switch 9’s, securing his first silver
medal. This young Frenchman is one to watch.
Andreas Hatveit spent the whole evening dropping in Switch from the top, and on his final run he
did what must be one of the biggest Switch airs in the history of pipe hits – a perfect 7!
But it was Tanner Hall who put down the golden run. Having dropped out of the Slopestyle contest
to focus on the pipe, he won his three-year battle with Dumont for first. “It couldn’t be any better...
I’m so stoked.” he said. Tanner’s run was, as expected, massive. He put down a Corked 5 off the
first hit, Flare off the second, then into a Corked 9, then a flat 5 and ended with a massive 10,
stomped. Tanner’s amplitude and near-perfect style have set a new benchmark for pipe riding.
Tanner has always claimed that a true great must be a master of all disciplines and his medal chest
says it all. Tanner took the Armada team’s medal count in the contest to three.
And so it was… a weekend when Armada Skis, a young independent ski company, stole three gold
medals from the biggest ski brands in the world – just goes to show money can’t buy everything!
Winter X Games XI start on the 25th January 2007. To find out more go to expn.com ✪
WWW.DARKSUMMER.CO.UK