Rex Wehrman, 1998 champion, captured his second win
and Jessica Baker won the women's title Wednesday
at the ninth annual Saab U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships
presented by Magna Bloc.
The final day was held on the Spellbound/Phoenix bowls
in the Extreme Limits - 1,600 vertical feet of super-technical
50- and 60-degree pitches. The winners take home $5,000
in prize money, a round-trip airline ticket anywhere
American Airlines flies in the ontinental U.S. and
more prizes from eventsponsors including new ski equipment,
television sets and two-way radios.
Wehrman, 30, from Montezuma, who claimed he was down
to 48 cents in his checking account yesterday, came
to win. Two years ago, his 1998 win in Crested Butte
launched him into an elite circle of free-skiing athletes
and in front of ski filmmakers and into magazines.
After Wednesday's two runs, he walked away with what
fellow competitors refer to as "the ultimate
dream."
Half a point separated him from runner-up Geoff Small,
23, of New Zealand, as the two veteran competitors
exchanged the lead, run by run, in the Extreme Limits.
This left the rest of the field fighting for third
place, with local Crested Butte rippers Frankie Alisuag,
Jack Hannan and Frank Konsella placing third, fourth
and fifth respectively.
Wehrman, in second place at the start of Wednesday's
competition, posted the highest-scoring run of both
days on his first run down Spellbound/Phoenix - a
line he'd never skied before. He took on the most
difficult section, Rabbit Ears Rock, launched a big
air, stuck it and skied smoothly the rest of the way.
"I figured it was 50-50 on the route to land
the air, and I was pleased to nail it," Wehrman
said. "On my last run I considered the same line
and thought, it's still 50-50 and passed it up. I
decided to keep it smooth and
simple and get in some nice, fast, technical skiing."
"Wehrman's smooth, fluid style sometimes works
against him because he makes the hard stuff look easy,"
remarked Kim Reichhelm, a two-time world extreme skiing
champion and commentator for the television show covering
the event to air on ESPN and ESPN2 later this month.
On the women's side, newcomer Baker, 23, Jackson,
Wyo., made it 2-for-2, winning both of the extreme
skiing contests she entered this year. Baker improved
on each run, leaving the field behind as she had the
top score
through four successive runs.
The top three men and women received equivalent prize
money and prizes - $5,000 for first, $2,500 for second
and $1,000 for third. The total cash purse of
$22,200 for the event is the largest ever for an extreme/free-skiing
competition.
