Sunday was a big day for Sun Valley big mountain free skier Drew Stoecklein, 26, now living in Sandy, Utah.
In his seventh year on the freeskiing tour, Stoecklein won the men's championship of The North Face Chilean Freeskiing Championships on Max's Face at El Colorado, Chile.
Sitting in fifth place after Saturday's first day of competition, Stoecklein conquered the challenge of variable snow conditions and captured the biggest victory of his big mountain free skiing career.
He was one of 25 men and 10 women finalists who showcased their skills on Max's Face Sunday. In all, 42 men and 19 women competed on Saturday's first run. Seventeen men and nine women were eliminated.
Sunday morning, the ski patrol opened up the entire south slope—making the already enormous venue even larger. Added terrain gave the 35 finalists more space and potential for bigger and more creative lines.
And Stoecklein made the most of it.
He laid down a 39.60 Sunday to go with his 40.30 Saturday for a narrow 79.90 to 79.67 triumph over France's runner-up Mathieu Imbert.
Stoecklein, when asked about his effort on Stop #1 of the 2010-11 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour, told freeskiingworldtour.com, "I sent it on the hill and I am going to send it at the party tonight."
The new champion added, "This venue is one of the best out there because there is large variety of terrain for us to showcase our skills. It has everything from Snowbird style lines, to Crested Butte lines, to big airs to jib lines and big open turns."
Over the last two years, Stoecklein enjoyed racing success mainly at Snowbird, Utah, placing second in the Subaru Freeskiing World Championships and second in the U.S. Freeskiing Nationals there.
He placed 10th with 84 points on last year's World Tour, well behind winner Arne Backstrom (197 points) and runner-up Griffin Post (196).
Post, 27, a former Sun Valley skier now of Sandy, Utah, was Saturday's First Day leader on Max's Face with an impressive 42.23 points, but Post had trouble Sunday and dropped to 13th place with 61.90.
Sun Valley's North Parker ended up 10th after two days with 68.20. Women's winner was Jess McMillan of Jackson Hole, Wyo. over last year's World Cup Tour queen Angel Collinson of Snowbird. Less than two points separated the top five women, making for a fiercely competitive final.
Next on tap for the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour is a 17-hour bus ride to beautiful Las Lenas, Argentina for Stop #2 of the 2010 tour.
For a complete schedule of events and to register, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.freeskiingworldtour.com" freeskiingworldtour.com. Already scheduled are the 2011 Canadian Freeskiing Championships in January at Revelstoke, Canada; the U.S. Championships in February at Crested Butte, Colo.; and the world championships at Snowbird next March.
