The first 4* Freeride World Qualifier event in North America took place last Wednesday and Thursday at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, in British Columbia, Canada, with the International Freeskiers and Snowboarders Association (IFSA). Temperatures ranged from -17°C to “Oh man, I think I have frostbite.” The arrival of 13 centimeters of new snow earlier in the week softened up the venue, but landings were flat and firm for Day One on Separate Reality.

Strong skiing and riding was the theme for the first day, with the majority of competitors sending solid lines to their feet. This made the job difficult for the IFSA competition judges (Jeff Holden, Leif Zapf-Gilje, Dave Cashen, and Sonja Lercher) with 50% of the field moving on to finals.

Day Two on North Bowl featured more strong skiing and riding. In Men’s Ski, Berkeley Patterson held onto first place with a huge 3 up top, and followed it up with a fast, fluid run. On the women’s side, Rachel Croft followed up her high-scoring Day One line with another solid run. In Men’s Snowboard, the victory went to Kai White, who followed up his top score from Day One with a technical line above some serious exposure in the middle of the venue. Women’s Snowboard went to Michelle Locke, who put down a clean line from top to bottom.

Congratulations to everyone for all of the solid skiing and riding, and thanks to Revelstoke for putting on an awesome event. The level of skiing and riding is unbelievable right now and it’s clearly going to be an excellent season.

Here’s a nice video recap (edit by Jeremy Wallace) from the West Elk Project, featuring a crew of Western State Colorado University Mountain Sports athletes—some of them top finishers—and their journey up to British Columbia to start the Freeride World Qualifier competition circuit. They took a jaunt to Whitewater before heading to compete at RMR. Western’s Zach Bare, a Junior, took second for Men’s Snowboard, while Grifen Moller, just a freshman, took second in Men’s Ski.

Here’s a quick link to all the results for the first 2017 4* Freeride World Qualifier event in North America.

For those interested in tracking their stats, elevation, conditions or where friends are at while making tracks in the snow, the free Snowledge app lets you do that and more! Was super stoked to track my lap down South Bowl and share the epic view with those that weren’t with me up at RMR.