Skiercross Event Recap

The Honda Ski Tour’s first event of the year went off today in clear and cold conditions. It didn’t disappoint. An interesting innovation The Honda Ski Tour brought to the table today was the unique “Paul Mitchell Dark Horse Qualifier” format which allowed local skiing talent to compete for a spot in the money round. Despite the excitement and intensity of the dark horse format all the big names, names like Rahlves, Crist, Kraus and Puckett made it easily into the semi-finals…then things got interesting. Reggie Crist, acting as master of ceremonies due to an injury that kept him from competing, referred to the amount of talent in the final 8 as “an X-games final in every heat.”

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Despite the cold, the temperature hovering right around zero for most of the day, thousands of spectators lined the course to cheer on the competitors as they raced for $25,000 dollars and a new Honda Element. From the first heat on it was pure energy and speed on the course as all the athletes seemed to understand how much money was on the line. The first heat also saw the first casualty as local skier Biche Rudigoz, who qualified in the 8^th position, caught an edge and high-sided, crashing violently into the uphill side of a whoop…he was taken away in a toboggan with an injured hip and possible ruptured bladder. Definitely one of the local crowd favorites, news of Biche’s injury spread rapidly and was met with sympathy and concern. It also instilled a deep respect for just how dangerous this sport is to all those present.

The first semi-final heat included Casey Puckett, Tomas Kraus, Jake Fiala, and Stanley Hayer. Jake Fiala and Kraus got tangled up coming into the first turn allowing Puckett and Hayer to cruise unchallenged into the final. Semi-final heat number two was much more intense as Zach Crist squared off with Daron Rahlves, Travis Svensrud and Lars Lewen. Lars exploded out of the start making it a race for second almost immediately. Zach juiced the rollers up top perfectly and passed Daron on the first turn. Daron in turn took an incredible line on the next two turns, a line that only someone with the strength and skills of an Olympic racer could take, and passed Zach on the inside in dramatic fashion as Zach tried to close the gap and almost lost it into the fence. That was how they finished. Lars Lewen and Rahlves advanced to the final and Zach came in third, leaving his home town crowd visibly disappointed.

The final in a nutshell was spectacular. All four competitors were rubbing shoulders as they came onto the steeps with Puckett holding onto his lead of Rahlves by the slimmest of margins. Through the banked turns Rahlves and Puckett were practically riding each other’s skis. Rahlves, sensing he was out of time made the most aggressive move of the day, trying to pass Puckett on a steep fall-away turn. It appeared that he’d made it by Casey Puckett but then got tangled up as he tried to adjust his line a flew off the track and into the fence in a cloud of snow.

Far from being out of the woods, Puckett had to slow down just enough during daron’s move to allow Stanley Hayer into the race and once again it was neck in neck over the final jump. Less than one ski length separated Hayer and Puckett as they crossed the finish line and Casey Puckett could finally stand up and celebrate with a fist pump. His immediate quote when approached by the cameras was “that was, by far, the most intense final I’ve ever been in…there wasn’t one second that somebody wasn’t riding my tails. Daron’s fourth place finish belies how strong he was all day long and it is quite apparent that he will be a serious threat for the rest of the season. So here’s how it ended; Casey Puckett 1^st, Stanley Hayer 2^nd, Lars Lewen 3^rd, Daron Rahlves 4^th, Tomas Kraus 5^th, Zach Crist 6^th.

Other than a few minor technical difficulties the event ran flawlessly, covered on the ground by numerous cameras and even a helicopter getting shots from above. The event will air on Jan 20 at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time, one hour later than PST and two hours earlier than EST.         

- Kitt Doucette