Audio Interviews

	Andy Knouse

January 6, 1999: Day 1 of Competition
Andy Knouse from Crested Butte, CO and Robbie Rollins from Alaska tied for the men's lead and Jennifer Ashton from Whistler placed first for the women in the semi-finals of the Canadian Freeskiing Championships. It was a gnarly day on the "Chainsaw Ridge," a challenging section of the Couloir Extreme area on Blackcomb Mountain.

Linda Peterson from Sandy, UT placed second in the women's division by a close .2, and "Big Air" Barb Peters of Crested Butte, CO was third. Dawn McShinsky from Draper, UT followed in 4th place and local Whistler contender Sarah Newman was 5th.

Pete Sowar from Crested Butte, CO and Will Burks from Snowbird, BC tied for 3rd on an extremely competitive day for the men, where only a six point spread separated those from 1st to 15th place. Erik Roner from Sandy, UT placed 4th and local favorite Hugo Harrison placed 5th.

Judges and organizers warned: "unwise decisions will not be looked upon favorably in scoring, so be intelligent and safe." Everyone was safe, a few people were intelligent, and Dean Cummings admitted "I've never read judging criteria" after landing sick, sick, sick air (he wasn't the only one) on the bony venue.

Cummings, owner of H2O Guides in Valdez, AK and winner of the 1995 World Extreme Skiing Championships there, was grounded due to weather while filming in the area with Matchstick Productions, so he decided to ski in the contest today.

There was no room for error. Landings were hard, no powder pillows laid below the cliffs, but there was no holding back—and there were no injuries. A handful of scarier-than-hell spills, rag dolls and near-fakie-take-offs kept the crowd on edge, but all competitors showed that this is a sport which requires precision, confidence and nerves of steel. Leading the men, Knouse commented on his run and the conditions.

	Jennifer Ashton

"The first turn was the one I was worried about," said Knouse. "I stuck that and it was awful steep— I mean snow was going past me, couldn't see rocks, just wanted to make my turns, keep breathing, get down to my air at the bottom and stick it. I visualized my run about 20 times— that probably helped out. I was a little bit scared, but once I start skiing the butterflies go away, then I'm just having fun."

Ashton, who is also a downhill mountain biker, charged during her run, pointing it down a steep, skinny shoot and committing straight down the hill. Peterson, in second place for the women, dropped huge air and fended off a crash by holding onto what seemed like 90 miles per hour on one ski, railing it around to the finish corral. "Big Air" Barb stayed true to her reputation by launching and landing solid.

	Jennifer Berg

"The landing was a little firm, but it gave," said Peters. "There was just enough snow to absorb just enough. Not a lot of coverage, but I'm pretty strong and that's kind of what I do for my airs."

"The venue has been skied quite a bit from all the competitors so it's changed a lot. In a lot of areas some jumps are bigger, steeper than they were before," she continued.

Girls did not hold back today, but veteran local Wendy Brookbank, 8th after day 1, had a change of plans for her line at the last minute.

	Robbie Rollins

"I thought of my line while I was floating in the bathtub last night. It wasn't my bathtub...but I changed my mind when I was out there. I got up there and had a life realization."

Brookbank took the "Hawaii Five-O" line and made the start list for tomorrow's finals.

The men went off— Veteran Doug Ward from Calgary, AB, a speed skier who hit 104 miles per hour last year, almost took off from his jump fakie before turning it around and pointing his skis forward over the cliff. Ward's friend, James Bond stuntman John Eaves, 45, did not make it to the finals, but offered an experienced perspective to this event.

"We judged in Chamonix last year," said Eaves. "At that event we decided, 'well we could probably do that ourselves instead of judging.' It's a little more fun, you know, but that was about the scariest conditions I've ever skied... ever."

Gordy Peifer, last year's winner from Salt Lake City, skied a beatiful, albeit conservative yet stylie line past the launch pads and cornices to simply cruise to the bottom. At first we thought he was making a statement about the insane airs being thrown left and right (and encouraged by the cheering crowd). We asked him about his choice to avoid airtime today.

"It wasn't intentional. I didn't know where I was," said Peifer. Guess that blows our theory.

Other notable lines— Jeff Holden from Fernie, BC continued his habit of lingering around high cliffs as he held on to a nasty traverse around the rim of 85 footers. Scott Aitkens found the last powder shot on Blackcomb and went huge over a line that Scotty Ewing surveyed first. Other spectacular runs by Burks, Roner and Harrison brought them into the top points for these semi-finals.

Tomorrow the finals will begin on Diamond Bowl at 10:30 am. They say the snow is better over there, but nobody believes it.

— Michelle Quigley, on hard pack for The Mountain Zone

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