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Pandemonium at Purgatory

As snow piles up, Purg Devo team ‘going for it’ in freestyle ski event

The snow, it seemed, would not relent.

Nor would the kids, thanks to all that powder.

The snow of the last week started tapering off Sunday as the two-day Southwest Freestyle Ski Tour event at the mountain came to a close. But it had dumped about 4 feet of snow at Purgatory, providing a plush, powdery safety net for competitors, should they fall.

It didn’t necessarily result in reckless abandon, but members of the Purgatory Freestyle Developmental Team obviously took note.

“It seemed like everyone was going for it,” coach Kirk Rawles said of the Purg Devo competitors, who typically range in age from 7 to 14. “That was great. I encourage that.”

Pandemonium? Yes, the steep, challenging run that’s been dubbed Pandemonium – or Pando – was the site of the weekend’s moguls/aerial competition, and it lived up to its name.

“For the kids to brave the weather ... One of the pluses of having 4 feet of snow is having 4 feet of snow. But when you’re doing a (freestyle) event in snow it’s more tenuous,” Rawles said. “There were some great crashes, and they get excited about that, too.

“I was wondering if we could pull this off (with all the snow). Those troughs get pretty big and these are kids who are only 4 or 5 feet tall. They don’t have the height to drop from turn to turn.”

But when the snow had cleared from a weekend of “turns and air,” the Purg Devo team had Rawles raving.

“Across the board a lot of kids could see progression,” he said. “From where we were skiing last year and where we’re at moving forward, we’ve just improved immensely. That’s great to see.”

The event drew 29 kids from the Purg and Telluride teams on Saturday and 25 on Sunday.

“This is a chance to get kids in the gate ... A chance for them to get a taste of competition,” Rawles said.

According to Rawles, “two-thirds of scoring is based on turns and one-third on the aerial trick. It’s about your skiing ability in the moguls and the degree of difficulty in the tricks – turns and air.”

Rawles lauded a number of competitors for their efforts over the weekend, including:

“Cole Alexus won the under-13 division both days. He had a real good weekend. And Charlie Mickel won the U-11 both days. Those two were No. 1 and 2 in the state last year. That’s a big barometer for all the kids to take a look at. We have the caliber of skiers here that ski against Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, Steamboat and Telluride and win it, Having those two ski and ski well here keeps them sharp for going to the Devo state championships in two weeks.

“Ryan Bell in U-11 was second yesterday (Saturday) to Charlie, and that’s the first time he’s ever competed. Charlie at the ripe old age of 10 has an incredible number of events under his belt. So (Ryan) should be proud of that. And Jaden Kirk was third today (Sunday) in U-11 and hasn’t had much competition. And Shaw Kassay was third in U-13 today (Sunday).

“The standout for the girls was Megan Faherty, who won U-13. She has an incredible amount of potential. We had her ski against the boys today (Sunday) and she finished in eighth place out of a field of 11 or 12. She stepped up. I asked her why not step up and ski against the boys and she was all about it. That’s awesome that she would do that. And in U-11, Nina Quayle won both days. There were only two girls in that. And Megan was the only one in U-13, which is why I asked her if she wanted to ski against the boys. But a lot of Telluride girls didn’t come because of the weather. I’d Love to grow that (the girls’ side).

“Across the board there were a lot of athletes who had solid stand-up runs. They were all going for it. There were issues of visibility, staying warm, staying dry. But I find that when these kids aren’t skiing they’re rolling around in snow and wrestling. They enjoy being out in it.

“They don’t get fazed by it.”

bpeterson@durangoherald.com



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