Vail, Colo. January 12, 2023 – This past December, snowboard and freeski athletes of varying ages and levels headed to Copper Mountain for two weekends of intense competition. SSCV made themselves known as a force to be reckoned with across both competitions. 

The Halfpipe / Big Air World Cup competition at Copper Mountain took place December 14 – December 17 allowing the best snowboard athletes in the world to compete. The competition consisted of halfpipe events December 14 and 16, and big air events on December 15 and 17.  In the big air competitions, SSCV received two World Cup starts, with Brooklyn DePriest and Evan Wroble establishing themselves as a part of the top tier of competitors.   

“At the Big Air World Cup hosted by Copper Brooklyn DePriest and Evan Wroble received their first World Cup starts,” said Chris Laske, SSCV Freeski and Snowboard Program Director. “ We went into the contest with hopes to just land a trick since we were up against the best in the world. These boys did more than that, they both put down triple cork 14’s placing in the middle to top half of the pack. This was a huge win showing they can land the big moves when it counts.” 

As for the halfpipe event, SSCV brought the energy, and Kade Martin received his first World Cup start. 

“The weather was super challenging for everyone, but the boys did great.  Kade was doing the biggest and most jaw dropping frontside 900s on his first hit.  Everyone noticed,” said Ronnie Barr, SSCV Snowboard Head Coach. “ Augustinho Teixeira dropped into a crazy wind event with wind blowing everywhere and put down a great first run.  It was a great kickoff for the rest of the World Cup season. It was Kade’s first World Cup but definitely not his last, and as the new member of the US Rookie Halfpipe team, he is getting ready for a big season.

“Both Kade and Gus have world cups coming up. Gus in the Laax Open Jan 17-21, and Kade in the US Grand Prix in Mammoth, CA February 1 – 4.” 

“The Copper US Grand Prix World Cup at Copper Mountain was a great success for Vail athletes on the team currently and for former athletes as well,” said Willis Englehart, SSCV Head Freeski Coach.  “We had two Full Time athletes Marley Leavitt and Nathaniel Bourgoin qualify and compete in the World Cup, and two former  SSCV athletes Matt Labaugh and Riley Jacobs both competed and are both on the US Ski Team now.” 

“We had a great performance by Marley and Nate during the Copper World Cup. They both landed their runs and skied phenomenal during qualifiers. Matt Labaugh missed finals by one place and placed 12th overall in the competition. Pretty amazing result. Marley and Nate are heading to the Mammoth World Cup in a couple weeks and Nate is off to the Calgary World Cup next week. I’m personally so excited to coach them both at the highest level of Freeskiing Competition!”

The USASA Rail Jam Competition took place December 31st allowing regionally based athletes to compete within their age group. SSCV made themselves known on their home turf with multiple impressive placements throughout the day of competition. 

“The new years eve rail jam is always a fun event the team looks forward to, and this year was a standout!” said Dylan Kobriger, SSCV Head Coach for Weekend Snowboard Team  “The kids showed up with extra confidence brought from sessions on the VSSA rail garden rope tow, an incredible addition to our training facilities in Minturn that enabled our athletes to spend more time on rails than ever before. This gave them a boost of self empowerment ready to show up to this comp excited to showcase the new tricks they were able to dial in during early season riding.” 

Below are the SSCV top ten results from the USASA Rail Jam Competition: 

USASA Rail Jam Competition – Snowboard 7-10 Boys: 

6 – Rylan Cole Polatty – SSCV

USASA Rail Jam Competition – Snowboard 11-14 Boys: 

2 – Kaleb Gibbs – SSCV 

9 – Griffin Applegate – SSCV 

9 – Brenner Pierce Polatty – SSCV

9 – Oliver Jones – SSCV

9 – Gus Wakat – SSCV 

9 – Beckett Depriest – SSCV 

USASA Rail Jam Competition – Snowboard Open Class Men: 

3 – Brooklyn Depriest – SSCV 

4 – Jack Stygar – SSCV 

For full results for the World Cup competitions, head to https://www.fis-ski.com/ and for the USASA competition head to https://www.usasa.org/.