Over the years I’ve met a lot of great skiers and great people at these contests. I’ve finished dead last as many times as I’ve podiumed. I’ve judged and been judged. And I’ve had a ton of fun at most of them. Even if your goal is to just make it past the first day, you are pretty much guaranteed to have a good time. Now that we agree you are going to enter the next contest you can, here’s what to expect and how to do your best…

The first step to doing well at a big mountain contest is to know the judging criteria and understand how you are going to be awarded for you efforts. There are five separate judging criteria which are each a possible 10 points for a total of 50. They are Line, Fluidity, Style, Aggression, and Control.

The first and most important category is Line/Degree of Difficulty. This is quite simply how tough a line you choose down the contest area. A more technical line with rocks, airs and steep, tight areas is more difficult to ski than the open bowl down the middle and that is what this score reflects. Try to think like a judge here. Look up at the contest area from where the judges sit and see what features look the most difficult or impressive from there. The judges will sit down at the start of the day and decide what lines look the most difficult and award them hypothetical scores (eg. if someone hits that rock at the top then links up that straight-line and the bottom pepper field it might be a 7 out of 10). It will be tough at first, but you should be able to see how your line will measure up to the rest.

Why is Line score so important? Because you can only score 2 points higher than your Line score in each of the other four categories. In other words, if you get a 3 for Line you can only score a 5 in Fluidity, Control, Technique and Aggressiveness. So, Line score is important! You want to pick as tough a line as you can ski well. Find something that is well within your ability level that you can ski fluidly with style, but is tough enough to give the judges something to score you on.

The other categories are fairly self explanatory. Fluidity has to do with how you continuously move towards your goal (the finish area or your next feature). Stopping and hesitating hurt you here and traversing across the slope is a negative unless you are heading to a specific feature or line that is worth the interruption.

Technique/Style is always a subjective category, but everyone knows a good skier when they see one. Style is personal, but if you are backseat and sliding your skis around instead of carving them and staying balanced you are not going to score well. As a judge this is a tough category to explain to people. The best thing you can do is video yourself and see just what you look like. Most people seem to think they look better than they do and can’t understand why they don’t score better in this category. If you watch other competitors you’ll see that some people just have better style and are a lot more fun to watch, even on the turns between airs.

Aggression is an easy category to understand. When a skier drops in to challenging terrain or points it at airs without hesitation, that’s aggression. Skiing fast is definitely part of this and knowing exactly where you are going helps a lot. If you look scared you will not score well in aggression. So ski something you can really charge with confidence.

Control is the final category of the five and just as important as the others. The judges do not want to be scared for you. First off it’s no fun to watch someone who is out of control and secondly, no one involved with a contest wants to see people get hurt. So, you can expect the judges to hammer you for falls, near falls, back-slaps, and sketchy skiing in general. If you want to maximize your score you need to find a way to ski aggressively while still being in full control (and looking like you are in full control!).

So now that you have the scoring memorized you can pick a line that suites your style and will score well with the judges. Some skiers are better at skiing easier lines super fast, some jib their way down the mountain and others are better at skiing technical lines. All can score well if they are done well. A few other things that will help impress the judges are creativity (the judges don’t want to see the same line skied over and over again), being playful (it’s fun to watch someone who’s having fun!), and staying in view at all times. It’s important to look at your line from where the judges will be sitting so that you know you aren’t hidden by trees or cliffs during parts of you run. If they can’t see you they can’t give you points!

I know this is a lot to think about and that’s why it’s pretty rare for someone to do well their first contest. It’s best to enter your first comp with the goal of just learning and enjoying it all. Making friends and cheering them can be just as fun as doing well yourself.

Also remember that complaining about the judging is pointless and lame, so don’t even bother. In almost all the comps I’ve seen the winner is obvious and the judges get the podium right. Most of the complaints come with people who finish tenth or so and think they should have been higher. So, if you really want to be happy with your scores leave nothing to chance and blow the competition away. If you don’t, try to keep quite about it. Does it really matter if you think you should be sixth instead of eleventh? Besides, the judges are probably more honest about your skiing than you are yourself, so try to suck it up!

My last advice is to just relax and enjoy yourself. Everyone is nervous skiing in front of the judges their first time (and 10th time), but the truth is the judges and other skiers are there cheering you on and just want to see you do your best and have fun. It’s actually a way more supportive atmosphere than you might think and besides, if you get eliminated the first day you will have a lot of great skiers to go rip the mountain with and you will be able to enjoy the beer and parties every night!

That’s a lot of info to take in and that’s really only scratching the surface, so if you have any other questions about these contests, ask in the forum and we’ll all try to help you get it dialed.

Lake Louise Smith Optics Big Mountain Challenge is Feb. 21-25, 2007.
Smith Optics Fernie Freeski Competition is March 14-18, 2007.