The Orage European Freeskiing Op…Slopestyle Qualifiers Have Begun!

Day two at the Orage European Freeskiing Open saw Mother Nature play some cruel tricks on us in the form of what we in the industry call, ‘a bad weather day.’ But the bad weather (read: rain/snow/wind/flat light) combo couldn’t keep slopestyle competitors from charging super hard and throwing down for the qualies. With Luke Van Valin’s soothing voice echoing across Laax, some dope beats to up your stoke and some good international rider camaraderie, it was hard to get down on what would have been a pretty crappy day elsewhere. On a funny note, a mini-avalanche buried the in-run to the chopsticks feature with a crazy amount of heavy, euro snow, thus taking the feature out of slope qualifiers. it’s not often an avalanche happens in a slopestyle course.

The first two men’s heats took their two runs, and absolutely dismantled whatever the course had to offer. Up-and-coming names like Joe Schuster, Sean Logan, and Roy Kittler — to name a few — along with numerous Euros (whose names I can’t pronounce) killed it today. The only unfortunate happening was that due to said inclement weather, the event smartly postponed the 2nd two heats for tomorrow afternoon. And the entire womens field was moved into the semi-finals in a move aimed at keeping the riders injury free by not riding a windy course. The wind and snow will supposedly give us a break the next few days so everyone can absolutely go to town.

Aside from the quarrels with nature, the event has been going off, with tons of sick riding being thrown by riders from 16 different nations. The Riders Palace has been keeping everyone fueled and geared up for the long week ahead here at Laax. Keep checking back for more Orage European Freeskiing Open coverage. Tomorrow: Halfpipe and Continued Slopestyle Qualifiers.

For more information, visit the Orage European Freeskiing Open Site.

Qualifying out of Heats 1 and 2 (no particular order):
Joe Schuster
Paddy Graham
Andri Ambuhl
James Webb
Niklas Eriksson
Roy Kittler
Tom Wallisch
Alexis Godbout
Gaute Haaker
Espen Linnerud
Blayze Bramwell
Blake Nyman