If theres one thing thats consistent about the athletics side of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival, its that the events are inconsistent and athletes and organizers wouldnt have it any other way. As sports evolve, so should the contests.
Back in December the principals of W1, which produces the World Ski and Snowboard Festival, met with their athletes to discuss formats and invite lists for this year. According to WSSF founder and president Doug Perry, two sides of the equation are coming together for the first time this year.
"In December we gathered Whistlers top skiers and snowboarders to ask them what they wanted Aprils events to look like event formats, disciplines, all the details," said Perry. "It was the first time we had all the skiers and snowboarders in the same room at the same time. I guess the way that skiing and snowboarding are evolving, theyre both on the mountain in the same place at the same time, the feedback was to do the competitions together. That divide is no longer there."
Skiers and snowboarders will be grouped and judged separately, but the finals for every event will feature both skiers and riders for the first time. And while the athletes arent competing for the same prize money, Perry believes that competing side by side will only push the athletes to go harder.
"(Skiers and boarders) already do compete a little, and thats the spirit of competition. They feed off each others energy," said Perry. "Theres obviously a lot of camaraderie there, but theres also still a bit of a rivalry to fuel the fire."
The athletes and spectators also wanted to see a return of the big air event to the village, after organizers decided to skip the event last year in favour of a slopestyle not that there was enough snow at the base of the mountain to run a proper event anyway.
The Playstation Big Air will return for the evening of April 22, the second Saturday of the festival.
The organizers also decided to keep the slopestyle event alive in a slightly different form. The Stompede will take place on a small closed course near the top of the Emerald Chair, and will feature rails, boxes, hips and a huge tabletop.
"(The Stompede) really emerged from an open discussion about the challenges that the slopestyle has. They can be difficult events to watch, judge and televise, and given the length of the course and where they have to be located we created a concept to bring the best elements of slopestyle together in a high traffic area, where everyone can watch the skiers and riders interpret the course in their own way," said Perry.
McDonalds will once again sponsor a Rail Session in Whistler Village, with riders dropping in from the GLC patio. The Rail Session with also be enjoying a better time slot this year with skiers and snowboarders now competing together later in the week that opened up the first Saturday of the festival, which McDonalds scooped up.
The Rail Session is also only one of two jibbing events in the festival this year. WSSF organizers have put together a warm-up rail event in Vancouver this Saturday, April 8, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Library Square. The event is billed as the Library Rail Session and will feature 10 skiers, 10 snowboarders, DJs, dancers, and other attractions.
The Salomon Superpipe will take place on Blackcomb, with two days of training, a ski qualifier, a snowboard qualifier, a semi-finals on Friday, April, 21and the final contest and SuperHit contest on Saturday.
Finding skiers and riders for the events wasnt difficult, according to athlete manager Lindsay OBrien. For example, the Stompede, which was completely open, filled up all the qualifier spots in about 48 hours and currently has a long waitlist to draw from if anyone drops out.
"From the beginning we were looking at ways to offer more open entry spots, and this year we have more open entry spots than invite spots, which will make (the festival) more accessible to athletes," she said. "With invitational events you cant do that, and it really limits how many people can be involved.
"We always want more skiers and riders to be involved, and were already looking to next year to expand the events to let in more people."
For the invitational lists, including the rail jams, superpipe and big air, OBrien says that the WSSF event design team aspires to be as fair as possible in the selection.
"We always invite the top-three from last year and the winners of other major contests, and we have a base of athletes who have submitted invitation requests to round out the field," said OBrien. "From there we have a ranking system. We make a complete list of every athlete that requested an invite, and assign them a rank based on their results and skills to get an average overall ranking. Then we get on a conference call and talk over the results to make sure everybody agrees with how the list turned out and go from there."
According to OBrien the festival attracts a lot of attention from international athletes because its the last major event of the season. Its also the biggest pro event for Canadian skiers and snowboarders.
One event that doesnt fit in with the regular lineup of contests is the World Backcountry Freeride Jam on Whistler Mountain. The Jam will feature all kinds of touring/backcountry-specific events, including Ortovox Avalanche Clinics, Prior Backcountry Snowboard Clinics, Ozone Kites Kiteboarding Clinics, The North Face Whistler Dash citizens randonee race, the North Face Spearhead Passage touring race, Escape Route and Whistler Alpine Guides Bureau randonee tours, and more. For a complete schedule and list of events visit www.wbfj.ca
For more information on the WSSF, including athlete rosters and a schedule of events, visit www.whistler2006.com.