Dan Vandermeulen wins 2011 World Extreme Skiing Championship
An abridged version of the 2011 World Extreme Skiing Championships (WESC) went down at the Thompson Pass in the heart of the Chugach Mountains of Alaska last week. Some of the best professional freestyle skiers were present at the Bro Bowl venue to take
each other on and get their hands on the title.
After an exciting contest, it was the Valdez local, Dan Vandermeulen, who managed to outperform his competitors and take the title home. Greg Stafford put up a good fight but ended up short and had to settle for a second place. Rhett Foster finished in at
third place.
Vandermeulen has gotten himself a reputation of a legendary big mountain skier over the years and he managed to live up to it last week. He dropped down the mountain, fearlessly gaining momentum and going over large exposed cliffs. His run set a standard
for the entire field. There was hardly anyone who even came close to his speed and style. He eventually sealed the title of the contest with two hairball runs in no fall zones. With a combined score of 501 out of 600, he secured himself the 2011 WESC title.
“I'm very relieved. It's hard to ski to your full potential without a resort out your back door, and that was maybe my 20th time skiing this year. I put a lot of thought into my line selection.”
The rest of the skiers attempted to outperform Vandermeulen but to no avail. Stafford was the second in line with 481 points. However, the effort was not good enough and he had to settle for second place. Foster earned 440 points to find a third place.
The World Freeriding Championships was scheduled to host the 2011 WESC in March, but the organisers were forced to postpone the event after a lack of cooperation from mother-nature. The weather conditions prevailing in Alaska over the course of entire spring
had been the worst in its last 30 years. Thompson Pass eventually experienced April snow-showers that finally offered a reset to the snowpack and covered the rocks underneath that had gotten exposed due to the recent drought. However, the snowfall that came
as a blessing soon became a bane for the WESC after it became nearly non-stop and led to low visibility.
With no apparent improvement in the snow conditions for over a week, a lot of skiers left the venue after getting convinced that the competition will eventually get cancelled. However, the organisers and around seven skiers remained optimistic and stayed
on site, anxiously hoping for mother-nature to smile upon them. Their patience and hope did not end up futile as plenty of hours of sunlight and perfect conditions prevailed over Bro Bowl on Wednesday, allowing the contest to finally go off.
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