words by Mike Rogge
photos by Amanda Cola

The Paul Mitchell Opens Freeski Tour stormed through to Vermont this past weekend for the Mt Snow Open. Athletes, media, and the general public a like enjoyed sunshine, a bluebird sky, and snow-packed fun all weekend, as athletes put on impressive displays in both halfpipe and slopestyle. Saturday saw the halfpipe competition go down with the men and women working with a pipe that was plagued with strange conditions due to the position of the pipe in relation to the sun. The skier’s right wall was provided with shade and a solid wall while the skier’s left wall was exposed to the sun for the entire day leaving it a slushy mess. Some interesting speed issues were prevalent but thankfully the staff at Mt Snow worked tirelessly slipping the pipe and making sure the athletes had the best possible conditions the beautiful weather would permit. On the ladies side the lovely Dania Assaly took home some paper, spinning and grabbing her way into first. Making his way to the top spot of the podium was pipe veteran and master candy thief, Dan Marion. Marion was making the pipe his and took home a fresh two grand!

Brian Kish

After the pipe awards were handed out, athletes and event organizers took over the famous Snow Barn. Enjoying the sweet sounds of the Peach Eaters, an Allman Brothers Tribute Band, everyone enjoyed a fun filled evening till the early morning. Highlights included multiple toe stands, Vegas Baby shots, marker drawn mustaches, and more air guitar than a sad kid without guitar hero!

AJ Burton

Taylor Felton

Sunday morning arrived with the Easter Bunny laying eggs (rabbits don’t lay eggs and neither did Jesus, I still haven’t figured this out) and putting a delicious array of tasty slopestyle features in our Easter baskets! The Mt Snow park crew, along with the help of Scott Hibbert, built one of the best park runs the East Coast has ever seen. Skiers had an insane amount of options ranging from well over six rail/bonk options into three beautifully crafted jumps. The jumps were built with a lot of pop to provide athletes with the right amount of air to float out some of the styliest tricks these eyes have ever seen. It should be noted that all competitors, both male and female alike, were competing at the highest level.

Shea Flynn

Highlights ranged from Keri Herman’s huge and beautiful cork 5’s on the last booter which she chose to take to the bottom of the tranny multiple times to smooth double flips to Shea Flynn getting super hyphy with his switch 7’s to arguably the most impressive trick of the day, a front flip double nose grab that was tweaked to the helmet! Impressive, impressive, impressive.

Hi I'm Parker White and this is the styliest front flip anyone has ever seen!

The thunderous crowd was filled with families celebrating Easter the only way it should be celebrated, on snow with loads of candy! Taking home women’s gold and yet another victory on the Paul Mitchell Opens Freeski Tour was Keri Herman, hailing from Minnesota. As stated before, Herman and the rest of the girls were boosting as big, if not bigger than some of the men and oozing impressive displays of style all weekend. News Flash! Women’s skiing continues to progress at an alarming rate. Keep up the great work ladies!

The men’s division was extremely difficult to judge and no doubt judging has and will always be disputed at most events. The difference between the top score and tenth score were the closest I’ve seen in a competition. All the skiers on Sunday deserve an immense amount of respect for the aerial show they put on for the crowd and their fellow competitors. Taking home first place and an oversized check was Kolby Ward. Rounding out the podium was second place winner Chris Logan, and in third was NY native and compost pile jumper extraordinaire, Giray Dadali.

Giray Dadali

All in all, the event this weekend will go down in history as a great competition with great weather and impressive features. The open jam format, free lunch, and great turnout combined with the hard work provided by the event organizers and Mt Snow staff helped provide a positive experience at the first annual Mt Snow Open. Look out for more stops on the Paul Mitchell Opens Freeski Tour next year!

Note - Mt Snow would like to inform you they will be keeping the slopestyle course open and maintained for the remainder of the season!

Women's Halfpipe
1. Dania Assaly
2. Miyuki Hatanaka
3. Devin Logan
4. Jillian Kazley
5. Abigail Miles

Men's Halfpipe
1. Dan Marion
2. Tucker Perkins
3. Scott Nelson
4. Brian Kish
5. Clayton Villa
6. Evan Schwartz
7. Marshall Lacroix
8. Tony Seibert
9. Evan Walls
10. Matt Duhamel

Women's Slopestyle
1. Keri Herman
2. Jennifer Hirsch
3. Dania Assaly
4. Veronica Kelly
5. Devin Logan
6. Eden Netelkos

Men's Slopestyle
1. Kolby Ward
2. Chris Logan
3. Giray Dadali
4. Parker White
5. Christopher Laker
6. AJ Burton
7. Nick Martini
8. Max Peters
9. Tyler Thistle
10. Joss Christensen