The athletes that survived the judges’ decisions after shredding in ER-6 and ER-3 respectively were permitted to drop into ER-5 100 metres down from the peak. The combination of bottomless landings and sunny skies served to raise the level of freeskiing in Western Northern America.
“ER-5 has great vertical and plenty of exposed, super challenging lines,” says head judge of the competition, Jeff Holden. “It’s diverse. It’s very good for separating the field.”
Miraculously, the only registered injuries from three days of high-stakes skiing were a blown shoulder and a torn knee.
“No one overextended themselves,” says judge and former competitor Dano Slater. “We don’t want to see people get into situations they can’t handle. It’s nice to see people come out unscathed.”
However, in the same breath, judges and spectators alike were left reeling from the impromptu battle between Calgarian Rob Meaney and the owner, founder and self-proclaimed architect of Capital Custom skis, Greg Funk. Meaney, who was ranked sixth after two days of competition, opened his first run in the finals with a 45 foot backflip off a cliff that only a handful of competitors even considered. “I knew I could get hurt, but not disastrously hurt,” he says. “I flipped around, saw my landing, my back slapped, I stood up, skied away and was bewildered by the whole thing, he laughs. "This is the first year I haven’t crashed and exploded and lost in the qualifiers."
Funk skied directly after Meaney and responded with a 60 foot Lincoln Loop into the rock-strewn landing below.
“I can’t believe no one got hurt,” says Slater. “Jumping that big in the Rockies is something you don’t really get to see."
Despite the show-stealing performances of Meaney and Funk, Whistler resident Joel Jaques skied smoothly into first place. He secured his victory with creative line choices and unwavering stability that earned him consistently high finishes over the three day competition.
After shattering the precedent set by the men with the highest score of the competition, Karolina Eckman skied comfortably into first place for the ladies. The girls were arguably the story of the weekend; every single one of them redefined what it means to be a woman on skis. They not only handled the extreme terrain but made it their own with aggressively fluid skiing and airs that measured up to the men’s.
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies are holding another competion in Fernie starting on March 15th of this year. If you’re interested in seeing riding that rivals anything you’ve ever seen in the movies, it would be worth your time to see what these athletes are up to.

Women
1 66 Karolina Ekman 146 27.35
2 46 Langely McNeal 115 21.25
3 67 Janina Kuzma 175 21.15


Men
1 80 Joel Jacques 141 28.60
2 149 Mike Hopkins 116 26.20
3 146 Robert Meaney 125 26.20
4 118 Ben Stokie 116 24.10
5 115 Athan Merrick 110 23.90
6 77 Todd Paterson 132 23.80