Mother Nature wasn’t very cooperative today for the halfpipe qualifiers as snow pummeled the course non-stop all morning long causing a halt in the event by the afternoon.

Snow was coming down at about 8 inches an hour when the offcials finally decided to pull the plug on the halfpipe qualifiers.

After confusion over start time and practice, the women began dropping into the pipe at about 9:30, and within an hour the contest was officially underway. The practice session allowed the women to get a feel for the slow snow, but as the contest got underway the weather took a turn for the worse.

The first 30 of the 68 women were lucky enough to have a fairly clear pipe, but the second half struggled. In order to even reach the lip, a full charge in was required. Some of the women didn’t realize this as they struggled to regain speed toward the middle of the pipe but weren’t able to pull it off.

As the women’s qualifiers were finishing up the snow and white out conditions were quickly worsening. A lot of disappointed grumbling could be heard from both competitors and observers about the conditions of the pipe. Little thought was given at this point to canceling the contest though, and the pipe was opened up for a men’s practice.

The men’s practice seemed to be going well, but the weather kept getting worse. "It’s very slow," said Daniel Franck. "It just means I’m going to do fewer hits and keep my speed."

Others weren’t so positive. "I’ve got no wax," said Bjorn Leines. "By the time I get to the bottom of the pipe I’m barely moving."

At about 1:30 the judges decided they couldn’t see the course well enough and they would have to delay the men’s qualifiers until the following morning. The riders seemed to have mixed feelings about the ISF’s decision to delay until the following day. Some were obviously happy to take the rest of the day off as conditions were not very good for halfpipe, but there was concern over the heats being too rushed tomorrow.

Of course in sync with Murphy’s Law, as soon as everyone began packing up to head back down the hill the weather lifted and the snow stopped. It was too late at that point to change the decision though as many riders had already split, and so the only results that would be logged today were the women’s.

Competition continues on Friday with the women’s last chance qualifier and the men’s qualifier.

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The European ISF Worlds AT Tahoe (2-26-97)

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