Extreme Skiing
A couple of Sun Valley skiers stood tall at the U.S. Extreme Skiing Championships at Snowbird, Utah.
Drew Stoecklein navigated the treacherous terrain of Silver Fox and North Baldy to finish second overall to Lars Chickering Ayers of Mad River Glen. The two swapped the lead after the first two rounds, and heading into the Super Final, Stoecklein trailed Ayers by 3.63 points. He almost got him on the last run, earning 41.40 from the judges to Ayers' 41.97 to place second by .57 of a point.
Griffin Post finished 28th overall, but was second in the tour's overall standings by one point to Arne Backstrom.
Locals North Parker, Bryce Newcomb and Axel Peterson also competed, but did not make it to the second day.
McKenna Peterson skied to seventh place in women's division, marking her third top-10 finish on the tour this season.
NorAm Freestyle
Sun Valley Freestyle Ski Team members spent spring break at Boreal, Calif., and the URTUR NorAm Halfpipe Finals. According to Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Freestyle Director Andy Ware, the event attracted some of the best freestyle skiers in the county.
Bouncing back from illness on the opening day, Hannah Haupt skied to third overall in the second event. Haupt's previous second place finishes in earlier NorAm events boosted her to the overall series title.
In Saturday's contest, U.S. National halfpipe champion Tai Barrymore finished fourth overall. Colter Brehmer was 10th and young Ben Parker, 14, just missed qualifying for finals finishing 13th overall.
Brehmer was the highest Sun Valley finisher on Sunday for the men in 6th overall. Barrymore was 12th and Parker 16th.
"All eyes were on the Sun Valley skiers this weekend." coach Ben Verge said. "Tai and Colter were going for it, getting 18 feet out of the pipe."
The team will remain in Tahoe this week to train for the U.S. Freestyle National Championships. The halfpipe event is scheduled for Saturday, March 27.
U.S. Open
Sun Valley's Kaitlyn Farrington finished the season on an up note, placing second in halfpipe at the Burton U.S. Open at Stratton Mountain, Vermont.
"The U.S. Open is the oldest snowboard event. It is a prestige event and if you get on the podium, you have definitely arrived," Andy Gilbert of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation said.
Farrington was runner up to four-time Open champion Kelly Clark, landing back-to-back 720s. Ellery Hollingsworth was third.
"She's having a lot of fun right now," Gilbert said. "Now that the pressure of qualifying for the Olympics is off, Kaitlyn just going out and having a good time. She sounds happy."
Skiercross
Sun Valley native Biche Rudigoz must have felt right at home in France, skiing to second place in a Europa Cup skiercross Friday in Val Thorens, France.
One of two Americans in the race, Rudigoz was second to Gregor Fritsche of Switzerland. American Patrick Duran was 10th.
In the following race, Rudigoz was 23rd and Duran 26th.
McKenna Peterson
