If you were watching the Winter X Games in Aspen this last week, you might have noticed some of our boots on the podium. We had a total of 5 team riders up there!
Ski Slopestyle:
1. Tom Wallisch – Gold
Women’s Slopestyle
1. Kaya Turski – Gold
2. Anna Segal – Bronze
Big Air:
1. Kai Mahler – Silver
Women’s Superpipe:
1. Brita Sigourney – Bronze
After being undefeated in the Dew Tour this year so far, surprise surprise, Tom Wallisch won Gold at the Winter X Games in Aspen. Word is that X Games officials had to check to make sure Tom wasn’t a robot of slopestyle destruction. Turns out he’s human and has rubber knees.
Instead of writing about how ridiculous his run was and how he’s getting into uncharted territory in dominating slope this year, we just compiled as many Tom Wallisch videos we could find that are new this week. Enjoy!
Gold Medal Run
Gold Medal Recap
Backflip Practice Run
Double Backflip “cross the sky oh my gaaah”
Informing the Masses
With four jumps and three urban rail features, the men’s freeski slope finals at Breckenridge offered up a challenging course that saw a lot of the top guys struggling to get in a clean first run.
Alexis Godbout hurt himself at the second stop of the Dew Tour last year, but you could tell his injury was behind him with the way he was skiing here in Breckenridge.
“I lost a lot of weight so it’s easier on the body,” Godbout said. “I worked out all summer really hard, rode the bike and everything. So I’m feeling confident and strong and happy.”
He took over the lead in his first run with a score in the 80s, and he was able to improve upon his results and score 87.00 on his next run.
On the higher scoring run, Godbout started with a 2 on disaster 2 out, switch 4 on the rails, a stylish wall ride and he delivered on the last two jumps with a switch misty 9 right dub to a flat 9 dub Japan.
That held on until 17-year-old Nick Goepper dropped in.
His run went like this: switch 2 on blind 2 out on the down rail, to rodeo onto the down box, switch right double 9, into left double cork 10, into back 810 out of the up-rail, into switch left double cork 9, right double cork 12.
That run was a game-changer, and he quickly jumped into first at the time with his score of 88.00. The score held on Tom Wallisch dropped in for his final run. He was low in the ranks after falling on the first run, but he used the disadvantage as motivation.
“I like landing the first one, a little bit of pressure off,” Wallisch said. “But that pressure gets your heart going and the adrenaline is good.”
He delivered on his second with 270 pretzel 270 off into a blind 3 switch-up, switch right 9 high mute, double cork 10 high mute, blind 450 off the wall ride, finishing with back-to-back switch left to switch right double cork 10 Japan grabs.
He was rewarded with a score of 92.75 from the judges, bumping Goepper into second and Godbout finished third.
“The tricks are so crazy nowadays,” Wallisch said. “Everyone’s got a whole bag of double flips. I think it’s going to come down to a lot of technical rails and really clean grabs and clean landings. It’s not really easy to distinguish yourself from the rest of the field because everyone is doing really difficult runs.”
Wallisch has the overall lead heading into next month’s Pantech Invitational in Killington, Vermont. But if today was any indication of the season ahead, there will be a lot of talented guys looking to overtake him.
from allisports.com
WATCH TOM’S WINNING RUN ON HIS HOT DOGGERS HERE:
After a quick storm dropped a foot of fresh on the Wasatch mountains a couple buddies and I loaded up the powder skis and boards to try and get our fix. We decided on the famous Grizzly Gulch and it didn’t dissapoint. We took a couple laps off Twin Lakes Pass and then climbed back up and skied Grizzly Gulch down to the parking lot. Other than the couple of hidden rocks the snow was stable, soft, and deep enough to feel like we were skiing pow again. Another storm is forecasted for Thanksgiving night…
It’s impossible not to take pictures of Superior. Black and white too, just like Jordan…
What could already be considered a full house, Full Tilt would like to welcome Spencer Milbocker to our team! We think his smooth style and technical rail skill will fit perfect with our extensive freestyle team. Spencer Milbocker’s reputation as a hard charging park kid has certainly grown since coming out of Bittersweet MI and is now blowing up big time at while in Breckenridge. Welcome Spencer!
Birthplace: Allegan, MI
Home Resort: Bittersweet, MI
Winter Home: Breck
Riding Since: 4 years old
Park City local ripper and member of the 4bi9 Crew, John Kutcher is now the newest member of the Full Tilt family. John has a super smooth style and fits in perfect with our extensive freestyle team. Make sure to check out John as well other FT riders such as Tom Wallisch, Collin Collins & Dylan Furgeson in 4bi9′s upcoming film ‘Begging for Change‘, which surely will not disappoint.
Here’s a Quick Lowdown on John:
Name: John Michael Kutcher
Birthday: December 2, 1988
Home Mountain: Park City Mountain Resort
Where you ride now: Park City Mountain ResortSLC Streets, The Wasatch
Whats so great about your mountain? It’s Park City! No matter what time of day, you can roll up to the mountain solo and within one run be cruising with a good crew of friends. Positive Vibes. People tend to think the scene at PC can be too intense, but thats only if you let it be.
Favorite thing you enjoy doing on skis? Hot Laps at PC with a good crew, then the next day getting puked on and skiing pow in the CC’s
If you could spend a week skiing anywhere, where would it be? Skiing pow in Japan is on my list
Why do you ski so much? Skiing is the most fun thing to do and by far the best stress reliever. Once you get up on the snow, nothing else matters. My head gets clear and I am able to just be there without worrying about anything else.
John Kutcher from Evan Heath on Vimeo.
We here at Full Tilt are grateful FT Team rider Logan Imlach is going to continue writing to contribute to SBC Skier, as he always keeps his ‘how to’s’ funny and actually useful. Check out SBC’s interview with Logan and find out all there is to know about the Superunknown 2010 winner from AK.
After winning Level 1′s Superunknown contest in 2010, Logan Imlach began sharing his knowledge with our loyal readers in the form of “how to’s” (which can all be found here) – which ranged from picking up hippies in a resort town to building your own winch. Lucky for us, Logan plans on continuing to contribute to www.sbcskier.com throughout the winter, and don’t be surprised when you see his name gracing the pages of our magazine.
Name: Logan Imlach
Age: 24
Years Riding: 10
Hometown: Anchorage, AK
Now Hangin’: Anchorage, AK (Portland, OR soon)
Accomplices: Level 1, doom/love
Sponsors: Moment Skis, Spy Optic, Full Tilt, Lethal Descent, Joystick, Capix, Marker, Kombi, Outdoor Technology, SkiAK, Purple Jump Suit Apparel
Off-Snow: Golf, fish, learn
Hey Logan, how’s it going?
Pretty well man! Just killing time at work. Hating being at a desk.
What’s the plan for the summer?
I’m working at an engineering firm in Eagle River, Alaska. I get to go out in the field sometimes, but most of my time is at the ol’ desk so I’ll be spending my free time fishing, golfing and getting some quality time in with friends and family before my girlfriend and I move to Oregon.
Why the move?
My girlfriend got into grad school just west of Portland, so I’ll be calling Mount Hood my spot for a while. No idea if it’s permanent – we’re just rolling with the punches.
Any big plans for next winter?
Nothing really set in stone yet, but I bought an enclosed trailer that will fit my sled and some sort of sleeping arrangements, so hopefully I’ll get enough time off of work next season to caravan around the PNW with my sled filming all over the place.
How was your season?
Busy man, really busy. Started off getting my Engineering Degree in December, and days later filmed in/around Anchorage with Will Wesson and the infamous Freedle Coty. I went on a few other trips with Level 1, including my first real heli mission in Colorado with Telluride Helitraxx, which ended up being one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. I didn’t get to get out and film with Level 1 nearly as much as I wanted due to my work schedule and limited budget, but I’ve got my chin up for next season when I’m living in the continental US and working a rotational position in Alaska’s oil fields, giving me two weeks off a month to go shred.
Have things changed very much after winning Superunknown?
Oh man, like night and day. The season that I filmed that edit was going to be the last year we made a movie with our local crew, so mentally I was just kinda like, “Yeah I’ll try to go out with a bang, and transition to becoming a recreational skier.” And I was cool with that. Then when I won it kinda threw me for a loop. It’s an amazing opportunity to keep skiing and keep trying to think of new things to do, so I’m just going to ride it out as long as Josh continues to invite me on trips.
We heard you dislike being labeled as a pro skier.
That is one of my biggest pet peeves right now. So many kids are like “ohhhhhh prroooooooo” when someone is on a flow program. A professional skier is someone who skis for a living, and has no other source of income. Anything less than that is an amateur. Take me for example; just because I had a couple shots in a movie and get some free gear does NOT make me a pro – I don’t make any money off of skiing. In fact, I actually pay out of pocket for a lot of things, that’s why I have to have a real job. So kids, stop asking people how it feels to be “PROOO”, because you sound like a bunch of idiots.
Check out SBC Skier for the REST OF THE INTERVIEW (trust us it’s worth it)
While most of us Northern Hemisphere skiers are sweating through our shirts, a small group of skiers are competing down at La Parva in the photo/video competition, ‘Eye of The Condor‘. As a member of team Optimus Prime, Full Tilt skier Tim Dutton and his teammates may have altered what you think of when talking about aerial footage. See for yourself.
OPTIMUS PRIME VIDEO ENTRY
Eye of the Condor- Team Optimus Prime from UnofficialNetworks.com on Vimeo.
While filming with Teton Gravity for their latest project ‘One For The Road‘, Full Tilt’s own Tom Wallisch played guinea pig up for an impressive 100ft gap up at Baldface Lodge. Sporting his matching North Face & Hot Dogger kit, Tom makes the gap and we’re sure an epic session ensued.
Check it out and make sure to keep posted for new episodes of ‘One For The Road’.
It is with great sadness that Full Tilt Team Member Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, a three-time Olympic aerialist who won a silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver games, died Monday night the 25th of July in what Utah police believe was an act of suicide. Peterson 29, had gone through some difficult experiences and publicly battled alcohol addiction and depression. Despite this personal battle, Jeret lived life with gusto: with his heart on his sleeve and skied as if it was his last jump.
“His care and concern for others made him the amazing person he was and I hope to be able to carry on that legacy wherever I go,” fellow US Olympic aerialist and Full Tilt skier Emily Cook said.
Peterson picked up the nickname Speedy, for Speed Racer, as an 11 year old training in Lake Placid, New York. In 2004, he pioneered a complicated, five-rotation jump called the Hurricane, the same maneuver that would later net him the Olympic silver in Vancouver. Peterson was the victim of sexual abuse as a child, and had witnessed a close friend commit suicide in 2005.
Despite incredibly tough setbacks in life, Jeret still managed to become a shining light in not just the aerial but the entire ski community. His passion for the sport and guts to throw difficult tricks inspired us all to push ourselves beyond what we thought was possible. Even if it meant missing a high risk trick and not winning, it was still worth it in Speedy’s eyes.
“Could you imagine if I decided to go step down to an easier trick and I was only giving 90 percent and I ended up second? I couldn’t live with that. I would definitely have to know that when I’m done, medal around my neck or not, that I gave everything I had. If everything clicks, I’d just beat everybody by a mile, and that’s what I’m looking for.”
Read more at CNN
Visit and Donate thespeedyfoundation.org in helping others with Mental Health
Take a moment to watch this tribute to Speedy
