NEWS: The Final Freeride Day by Shanti Sosienski THE END OF THE FREERIDE By Sunday of the ESPN Freeride both riders and organizers seemed to finally accept that the event was going to be cursed with intense weather and chaos until the end. That is when the weather finally started to cooperate and everything seemed to smooth itself out. The morning consisted of the triple big air and slopestyle finals, then a lunch break before the freeride event. The slopestyle went fairly well, Chad Ottertrom took it for the men with a run that consisted of a rodeo to a cab five, a frontside seven and then a switch 180. Otterstrom also took the slopestyle in Aspen. Pete Iverson of Alaska took the triple big air for the men with a fakie five, a backflip, and a backside rodeo. "I'm stoked," said Pete who was flanked by his buddy Jason Borgstede who took the overall for the Freeride series. "The event was a roller coaster ride. The jumps were built well, but weren't maintained." The constant snowfall contributed to the problematic jumps. In the women's division there was a major upset when favored rider Janna Meyen landed hard and flat in the big air practice and broke her femur. To make the situation worse the course wasn't shut down right away and at least two people ran over the injured Meyen, cutting her clothes up. The injury came at an unfortunate time for Janna, who was just beginning to have a strong comeback after blowing out her knee three seasons ago. She was recently featured in an issue of TransWorld SNOWboarding launching a 65 foot road gap in Tahoe. After lunch the Freeride event took up the rest of the afternoon. The Freeride event was basically a Chinese downhill in an undisclosed location. Cameras set up at the base of a run, while riders were briefed on the rules. The idea of the Freeride is basically for the riders to be as creative as possible with carving up the mountain. This meant riders shredded through powder on the edges, pulled spins off of moguls, slid trees, dropped off rocks, and some got even more creative. Megan Pischke dropped her pants to her thermals and gave the judges her best backside freeriding, Elizabeth Devereux of Crested Butte pulled some slope ballet in the moguls spinning like a top, Jason Borgstede sprayed the judges with snow. Some riders bombed the course top to bottom, others dropped off every rock they could find, one girl bumped a pole, some guy did a nice face plant into a powder bank. In the end the Freeride seemed to end the event on a pleasant note after a long, trying weekend. Of course by the late afternoon the snow had kicked in again and the awards ceremony took place as the light faded and the snowflakes fell. Read all about who took the overall awards and other awards in related articles on SOL. OTHER NEWS '98 ESPN/Airwalk FreeRide Championships Conclude at Sierra-at-Tahoe Mon. (Feb. 09 @ 11:54:AM est) Jessica Dalpiaz and Jason Borgestede Win Overall Championship at ESPN/Airwalk FreeRide Championships Mon. (Feb. 09 @ 11:52:AM est) Hetzel and Epperson Claim Boarder X Titles at the ESPN/Airwalk Freeride Championships Mon. (Feb. 09 @ 11:49:AM est) El Nino to Blame For Scheduling Changes at ESPN/Airwalk Freeride Snowboard Championships Mon. (Feb. 09 @ 11:47:AM est) Hetzel and Epperson Overcome Odds Winning Boardercross Sun. (Feb. 08 @ 3:53:AM est) The ESPN Freeride Is Off To A Slow Start Fri. (Feb. 06 @ 1:40:PM est) FREERIDE COVERAGE: Aspen | Killington | Sierra-at-Tahoe SOL NAVIGATION: SOL | Scoop | Hardware | Industry | Circleplus | Push | Travel | Interact | School | Weather | Terrain | Compete | Mediator SPONSORED BY: 1-800 Collect | ESPN | Airwalk | USASA © 1997, InterZine Productions. All rights reserved.