This December has been pretty crazy for me.  In addition to finishing up the semester for my online school, the first couple weeks I was focused on riding halfpipe to get ready for Dew Tour and skiing all the fresh snow Summit County has been getting.  I spent a good amount in the Copper pipe.  I dialed in a run over the course of a couple weeks rather than a couple days, which normally seems to be my program.  I think the fact that I put in a real effort to ski a lot of halfpipe before the comp is what helped me do so well.

Going into the first day of practice I was feeling pretty confident.  That morning I woke up to about 7 inches of fresh snow, so I headed to the hill with Huge Troubles as well as pipe skis.  I skied powder until 1:00 and got a couple hours of good practice in after.

Over the next couple days I continued to practice and visualize my run.  I felt good going into prelims and stomped my first run: right-side 7, switch 9, switch ally-oop 7, left-side 9, right-side 3.  Not the most tech run, but I felt I could do it smooth and be consistent with it.  I ended up qualifying for finals in 3rd, which I was really stoked on.

Going into the finals, I focused completely on my run and blocked out everything else.  Various people asked me if I was planning on changing the right 3 at the end of my run.  I considered it, but eventually decided to keep it in there.  I like having a really low spin somewhere in my run, and I was more focused on doing a run that was smooth and creative than I was on getting a good score.  I was really happy to qualify in third, but I didn't expect to end up there.  I knew I would be super stoked on getting anywhere in the top six.

I stomped both of my runs in the finals, the second being the better of the two.  At the end of my runs, I was in third behind Tanner and Dorey with an 81.  Simon had a bit of a bobble in his first run and was sitting in fifth.  I was thrilled at that point to be in the top 4, so watching him come down wasn't too nerve-wracking.  He went so big he ran out of pipe for his last switch hit and lost a ski.  It was unfortunate, but I won't be surprised if he's back on top within the next few comps.

Getting third was really crazy, as it was my first major contest podium.  I'm thrilled with the result, but I'm now focusing on skiing and getting ready for Mount Snow.  It's fun to ski powder after focusing so much on halfpipe.  There's more snow in the forecast, so I'm stoked. 

Happy Holidays.

Duncan