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 KIRKWOOD FINALS: Photos from the Cirque
Photos by Keith Carlsen/MSICLICK HERE FOR THE STORY!
 NORTH AMERICAN FREESKIING CHAMPS: Day 2 Gallery
The 10th Annual Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships continued today with the semi-finals on Kirkwood Mountain Resort’s Cirque. Yesterday’s 62 qualifiers joined 31 pre-qualified World Tour athletes in a stacked international field.PHOTOS BY KEITH CARLSEN/MIS CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY!
 N.A. FREESKIING CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIERS
Photos by Keith Carlsen/MSI
The 10th Annual Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships kicked off today to open the final weekend of the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing and Skiercross Series and the Freeskiing World Tour. Over 90 competitors—15 women and 77 men, including 25 snowboarders—charged through howling winds to qualify for tomorrow’s semi finals.
CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY!
 DISPATCH: Whistler Backcountry
I stumbled out of bed at 6:30am on Saturday morning after two kegs of beer and one hell of a St. Patty's Day party. After three and half hours of sleep I somehow made it out of bed and woke up my buddy Aaron. It had dumped 46 centimeters over the past 5 days and it was finally bluebird. After two hours driving up the Sea to Sky highway with a coffee in one hand and Ibuprofen in the other, we finally got to a very packed Whistler mountain. The avalanche report for the past few days had been moderate with a weak layer of snow about a foot down. We decided to take our chances and head for the glacier.
It was nearly eleven o’clock when we got to the Glacier Express on Blackcomb and our buddy Mathieu was not impressed. He had been waiting for us for nearly two hours. Finally we were at the backcountry gate and started the trek out to Decker bowl. By the time we got to the top of our first line I felt like a new man, I had finally sweated out most of the beer from St. Patty’s day. We took a pretty casual line down into the valley but it was fresh, deep, and sweet.
Once in the valley we traversed to the base of Decker and slowly crept up and around the side of the mountain. About a hundred meters from the top, a front started to move in. We grabbed our gear and got moving. When we got to the top, the clouds were in and we were losing visibility fast. We found a safe entrance into the bowl that avoided a massive cornice, dropped in, and Mathieu took the first line. It was untracked, deep, beautiful cold snow –some of the best lines of my life. We ended up cruising back in-bounds around five o’clock and had the mountain to ourselves. The weather held clear and we had just enough time to get a beer and watch the sunset from Longhorns Pub. These are the kind of days that can wash away just about everything and can even make Monday morning manageable. - Michael Alexander Epic day? Fun tour? Send photos and stories to tess@powdermag.com.
 JACKSON FREESKIING OPEN PRESENTED BY SUBARU
 DISPATCH: Northern BC
Yo Guys,
Recently returned from an incredibly successful trip to Northern B.C. One of
the best Powder assignments I've ever done. Multi-layered story line,
solid adventure, big ass avalanches, bombs, storms, and of course, with
the Heath brothers, muchos good times. I won't speak for Dave, but from
what I saw he killed it with the photos. Shot a size 3.5 avalanche from
the helicopter. Here's some of my digi cam pics for a sneak peak.
-Mitchell Scott
Make sure you catch this in print! Don't miss a single issue of Powder next year. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
 MATCHSTICK HITS JAPAN, CHINA
 SLAYIN’ SNOQUALMIE: Shredding 20 inches-plus of Washington Pow
We heard SNOQUALMIE Pass got pounded with 20 inches-plus from a massive coastal storm, so we decided to pull off I-90 and check it out, breaking up our trip to Whistler for the K2 Back Nine. Atop the pass, snowbanks were piled so high that streetlamps no longer served a purpose.
Once we rolled into the Alpental parking lot and geared up to shred some new snow, we found out Chair 2, the chair that accesses the higher part of the mountain, derailed and was out of operation.
Nevertheless, we teamed up with Todd and Ben of K2 Skis and found some sweet, deep pillow lines on the lower mountain. Alpental dished it out and solidified its status as one of the best gems on the West Coast.
After we exhausted ourselves from skiing deep, untouched lines, we cruised over to the Summit-at-Snoqualmie Summit Central and made a few laps through the expansive terrain park. Summit Central’s park included numerous rails and boxes, a super fun wall ride, a legit Superpipe, and four tables.
Back on I-90, we were completely satisfied with our first stop on this West Coast journey. -John Stifter
 RED BULL SNOWTHRILL
 EURO RAGE
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 K2 BACK 9: DAY 2
Photos by John StifterCLICK HERE FOR THE STORY
 K2 BACK 9: DAY 1
Photos by John Stifter
CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY
 AK SYNDIKATE: Turnagain Dispatch
A couple weeks ago Simon Evans, Josh Hegna and I decided to go for a tour. It was a bluebird day and while hiking up, it appeared the skiing would be a smooth, wind buff slash. During the ascent we were hit with a few strong gusts, but at the top wind was ripping. It wasn't the enjoyable, hang at the top, gloves off, admire the view, and fuel up kind of summit. In true no time for water, rip the skins off, get the junk show together panic style we dropped in. Off the summit skiing was more wind scoured but shortly became sweet, buff snow with pockets of light, fresh. We skied a south facing aspect. After a nice, steep sustained 2,500' vert, a short push out of the valley, and an 800' vert ski we were back at the truck. - Jason Scheben
 TELLURIDE FINALS: Subaru Freeskiing Open
SUBARU TELLURIDE FREESKIING OPEN
 RONER BASES CODY
BIRDOS FACTORY
Photos by Derek Taylor
 DYNASTAR FACTORY
Photos by Tess Weaver
 LAKE LOUISE BIG MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE: Adverse conditions for days 1,2
Who needs blower pow and bluebird skys? Not the competitors at the Lake Louise Big Mountain Challenge in Alberta, Canada, who turned the rocky face of ER-6, into a proving ground. The visibility was good enough for the judges, but the flat light unfortunately meant some serious carnage though some of the rockier sections. Skiers that made it through the first round stayed up through the technical sections, while those who got rowdy in the dangerous conditions were penalized. Top female qualifiers Karolina Ekman and Tessa Parry stepped up against the adverse conditions and charged as hard as the rest of the pack. Everyone who made it through the second ground really took it upon themselves to make something out of nothing. Today’s finals should be even more impressive.
 ANDERMATT SIX DAY STORM: Swiss Alps get pounded
They say there are some amazing views surrounding the Gemstock Mountain and the town of Andermatt. And for about 20 minutes of a six day trip there, I actually got to see some. The rest of the time was pounding snow and complete whiteout. With no tree skiing on Gemstock, our skiing was limited to the Sonnepiste side of the mountain and a couple of steep couloirs where there was at least a little visibilty. It was a tough early seaosn in Central Switzerland, so entering the chutes meant side-stepping down a rocky entrance for about 40 feet. Once in, though, conditions were blower, and Utah-style refills prevailed for the entire trip. As soon as it clears, conditions will be the best they have been all year. Check out www.meteoschweiz.ch for weather, and to see some amazing skis local powder whores are skiing on, go to www.birdos.com. The tight crew here swore me to secrecy, so I'm off to Chamonix before anyone sees this. --Derek Taylor
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