At USASA Nationals at Copper

Well it has been a very busy week so far and we are only half through it. Spencer and arrived at Copper March 27 and started to board on the 28th. The first competition did not start until March 30 so we had some time to practice and just free ride. The conditions here are great. We had one day where we got 8" of new powder.

Sunday was Spencer's first event, slopestyle. For those of you that do not know what that is, it is rails and jumps. The event is judged. Spencer did great. Especially since he moved up to this age group this year and there were 50 kids competing in the event. Spencer took 5th place out of 50. He hit the 25' jumps and did big air with some great grabs. Then he hit the hard rails and did some board slides. It was very impressive to watch.

On Monday Spencer's event was boardercross. This is one of Spencer's favorites. Spencer took a Silver last year against 25 kids. We did not know what to expect in his new age group. But after 4 heats he took 3rd out of 40 kids. Spencer was very excited since he got to go up on stage and receive the bronze medal.

On Tuesday Spencer and I decided to go back country riding and do some tree runs with some friends. It was a great time. There was lots of powder and the runs were great. Although I got stuck a few times and it was quite a workout to get going again. But Spencer kept going without any problems. He was dodging between trees and ducking under some fallen trees. It was fun. Later in the day we decided to go to Breckenridge and do some pipe riding to practice for Friday's Superpipe event. Spencer was working on his back to back 360's.

Today, Wednesday, was for Slalom for both Spencer and I. It was a very tight course and was fast. Unfortunately I fell on my first run and did a hand check on my second run. I did not check the unofficial results to see how I did but I assume I am near the bottom. Spencer did well on his first run but slipped on his second run. This cost him his speed and impacted his time. We have not seen the official results but assume he is somewhere in the middle of the pack of 35 kids.

Tomorrow Spencer and I will be doing Giant Slalom, which we both enjoy more. On Friday we both do Superpipe. I will try to post our ranking after we do those.

Well I am off to watch Spencer in a rail jam. I have not had a lot of time to take pictures of the events but did take a few pics of the great conditions and view (see below).