Levi LaVallee hit his special ramp -- modified for his planned double backflip attempt -- exactly four times this afternoon.
Levi LaVallee hit his specialized ramp for the double backflip exactly four times during the first and only practice session for Next Trick this afternoon. And as soon as the session wrapped up heavy snow began coming down.
LaVallee's first hit off the mod ramp sent him long to a hard impact at the bottom of the landing's transition. The ramp was then pushed back 10 or 15 feet and LaVallee hit it again, this time casing the knuckle for hard impact No. 2. A third hit—just another straight air to get the feel of it—resulted in another hard landing. But it was starting to feel more to LaVallee's liking.
Mark Kohlman
Daniel Bodin looked confident after his first practices on the BAR.
Riding over to Sam Rogers, LaVallee said, "It's butter smooth. You can't even feel the landing." Rogers shrugged, saying with a laugh, "It didn' look butter smooth to me, but I'm not Levi LaVallee."
One spectator put it this way: "Looks like he's just falling out of the sky. Then smack."
LaVallee explained, "The landing's exactly how I thought it was gonna be: hard. So I probably won't hit it too many more times because you land so doggone hard. But I've got to get the speed dialed in."
Later, LaVallee hit the jump for a fourth time. Again the re-entry looked violent. "Holy crap," said LaVallee after pulling up to family and friends. "That was insane. I'm glad I'm so short because I can't really be any more compacted. Geez Louise, the one I knuckled felt better than that!"
The plan is to re-cut the landing to a steeper pitch in hopes of lessening the impact for tonight's big Next Trick final. We shall see unless we're in a full whiteout.
Daniel Bodin made his first acquaintance with the BAR jump today. "I feel way better now after hitting the big one," he said. When asked about the passage of time during hang-time off the BAR, Bodin replied, "Long enough for the whole Swedish national anthem, I think." Then he laughed, saying, "That's a keeper, no?" Yes.
Jimmy Blaze hit the BAR jump about 50 times far more than any other rider during the Freestyle and Next Trick practice session. "The jump's big," he said. "I wish I had another five months to practice on it."
Heath Frisby was the first rider to flip the BAR jump yesterday. Today, Joe Parsons flipped it at least seven times in a row with variations like no handers and super flips. To date, Frisby and Parsons remain the only riders who've flipped the big one.
Tim Mutrie
After practicing a few hits on his quarterpipe hit for Next Trick this afternoon, Dane Ferguson, right, reviews video with Sebastian Landry.
Dane Ferguson practiced a few modified Twist-Offs today in preparation for tonight's Next Trick. Ferguson, a longtime Ski-Doo devotee, was riding a Yamaha sled borrowed from friend and fellow Freestyle competitor Jeff Mullin since Ferguson's Ski-Doo hasn't been running right for several days now.
"The power is better, but I've got to figure out the balance points," Dane said. That was after a couple attempts in which Ferguson and sled went their separate ways in mid-air. Ferguson was OK after the minor wrecks, and the sled's exterior panels were only cracked in several places. "That sled just got signed into my name yesterday," said Mullin. "But I know what it's like being on sh**ty equipment and that's why I'm helping him out."
At a Freestyle riders' meeting prior to the Freestyle and Next Trick practice sessions, a number of riders voiced their displeasure with the timed nature of the Freestyle contest. "I don't want it to come down like last year when Levi got two more jumps because he's faster," said Frisby. "Because that's got nothing to do with freestyle." Ferguson added, "Especially when my wife can do those two tricks!"
Sport Organizer, Joe Duncan said the rules are the rules. For now runs are 90 seconds each but that may be reconsidered for next year. Ferguson noted that at Sweden X last spring organizers scrapped plans for timed runs like WX and instead defined a run as 12 hits with the first and last hits counting double. "And they only did that because they knew Levi was coming," he said. "And nothing against Levi, but we're not all racers."
"It should be about style, not speed," said Frisby. "Otherwise it's bulls**t."
LaVallee, for the record, was not in attendance.
Mark Kohlman
Dane Ferguson throwing one away during Next Trick practice.
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Tim Mutrie
As a retired ski patroller and Aspen Times staffer, Tim Mutrie has been deciphering two-stroke transmissions since '07. He also covers big mountain skiing in the ESPN Freeskiing Blog.
