Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s Big Mountain Team took on the steep, exposed, technical terrain at Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming for the Junior Freeskiing Open last weekend, 3/19 and 3/20.  This was the third stop on the 2011 Junior Freeskiing Tour.

SSCV’s Christian Nichols put together two solid runs to take 5th place overall for the 15-17 year old boys.

“Christian skied really well both days in a very competitive field,” said coach Garrett Scahill. “Christian was actually waitlisted for this competition and received a call that he was in the day before the qualifier.  Coach Mark Filippini and Christian made the 9-hour drive together to get him to Targhee just two hours before the event started on Saturday morning at 8am.”

For the younger juniors, ages 12-14, the format changed slightly this year. “They each had two runs for a cumulative score that determined who advanced to Finals. The cut was deep. They only took 35%,” Scahill said.

Gabe Suszynski, Grifen Moller and Mathieu L’Esperance skied two consistent, technical runs to advance them to the finals on Sunday. Suszynski led the team finishing 11th, followed by Moller in 15th, and Mathieu in 17th.

SSCV’s Big Mountain Team heads to Snowbird for the Junior World Championships in April.