Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Maelle Ricker

Team on tour
maellebyline

There has been more action in the last couple of weeks for the snowboard team. All three disciplines, halfpipe, boardercross, and alpine, are separated around the globe. Tracking the progress this month will be tricky!

The trickiest group to keep track of is the alpine squadron. They are still in Europe chasing FIS points and World Cup quotas. After the Nendaz World Cup in Switzerland, the team went east for a World Cup in Bardonnechia, Italy, the 2006 Olympic venue. Matt Morison and Kimiko Zakreski both made finals at that PGS.

Some of the crew then flew northward to Russia, while the rest of the group went to Alberta for four NorAm races.

The racers that went to Russia were very speedy in the slalom. Matt raced for gold in the semi-final to try for his first World Cup title ever! He ended up impressing the crowd with a silver medal, a nice match to go with his bronze medal from Nendaz. He’ll have to wait to complete his set with a gold next week in Japan. Mike Lambert also threw down in fifth place, a nice way to come back after some shoulder issues this autumn. Caroline Calvé was 10 th in the women’s field.

The pipe team has been riding in Whistler for the last stretch. Most of the team resides in the Sea to Sky corridor so it made for a perfect break to take some time at home to refuel and dial in some new runs for the March contest craziness. I managed to make it up Blackcomb for a day of pipe and park riding with the crew.

I forgot how fun it was to ride in the slushy winter conditions in Whistler right now. Sarah Conrad, Justin Lamoureux, Dominique Vallée and I drove up from Squamish to join up with Mercedes and Brad Martin for the day.

It was raining pretty high up on the mountain and the fog was moving in and out all day. The rain was trying so very hard to turn into snow at the top of the Solar Coaster chair. Sounds bad, but I can honestly say that I absolutely love these conditions. Obviously, riding powder is my number one love, but ripping rainy West Coast slush might just be my number two. The misty coastal mountains are so beautiful… you just have to accept the moist feet and go with it.

It’s easy to have fun in that Blackcomb terrain park. There are so many options to choose from and variety of for all riding abilities. The pipe is in great shape too. We all spun laps on Solar until closing that day. Sarah, Justin, and I drove back to Squamish that evening with ear-to-ear grins.

The reason I only had the chance to ride one day at home was because the snowboardcross team has also been busy. We finished X-Games on the Sunday and went straight to Copper Mountain for two NorAms. I can honestly say that the course could have been stepped up. I’m aware of the costs and difficulties of running a snowboardcross race, but strongly believe that this course could have been a little harder. Putting gates on a flat run would have been comparable to this race.

There was a big field of riders at this event with lots of depth in the field. The Swiss and Italians showed up to race alongside the many Canadians and Americans. My heart sunk when I realized that our guys were fighting for World Cup starts on that course.

But as the expression goes, the show must go on.   Everyone lined up for two days of racing and now Francois Boivin, Matt Tunnecliff, Simon Bonefonte, and Mike Robertson will join Drew Neilson, Jasey Jay, Tom Velisek, and Don Swartz in Japan next week for our season opening World Cup. Better late than never.

Tom Velisek, Rob Fagan and I also joined our B.C. buddies Dustin and Carl for a road trip to Mt. Baker for the 22 nd annual Legendary Baker Banked Slalom. I have been dreaming of doing this event since I watched it as a teenager. Riding alongside the likes of Tom Burt, Terje Haakosen, Jamie Lynn, Barrett Christy, Victoria Jelaouse, and a lot of other legends of our sport made for an unforgettable weekend. This event is more than just another race in everyone’s calendar, it’s the heart and soul of snowboarding. I’m embarrassed to admit it took me so many years to participate. I’m so grateful for getting the chance to take part.

We had a great time riding in the rain, snow, and sun. The weekend topped off with a delicious BBQ salmon bonfire dinner in the parking lot of the ski hill. My hat goes off to all the folks at Mt. Baker for running such an incredible event!

 

(Although she’s much too modest to admit it, Maëlle Ricker won the Pro Women category at Mt. Baker, edging out Whistler’s Victoria Jealouse for first place. Gretchen Bleiler of the U.S. was third. — Editor)