Vancouver Island skiers are making a mark in freestyle skiing.
Cassie Sharpe (Comox Valley) and Teal Harle (Campbell River) recently competed at Blue Mountain at an AFP gold event, the Snow Crown.
They both entered the open category to compete against the best in Canada. Harle qualified for the junior national freestyle championships, but chose to attend the Snow Crown instead.
There were three events in this festival, halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air. Sharpe stood on the podium in all three events. She won halfpipe, earned a silver in slopestyle, and received a bronze in big air. Teal crashed on both his half pipe runs and did not make the finals for big air. But he made the finals in slopestyle, where he was not able to put down a clean run.
Darcy Sharpe, Cassie’s brother, one of the best snowboarders in Canada, has been enjoying a busy and successful winter.
At the recent prestigious Burton US Open Slopestyle in Vail, the 18-year-old Sharpe after qualifying for finals out of 32 men, scored an impressive sixth place finish with a killer rail section and added another “best trick award” to his accomplishments for this winter.
He won the Nike Streetstyle and best trick in Breckenridge in December, and after the US Open last week, he arrived in Whistler for the 17th annual Showcase Showdown. The Pro Men saw a battle with a talent pool deeper than the Showdown has seen in the past few years.
Top spot went to Max Parrot, who has been on a podium tear the entire season. Sharpe pushed Parrot hard with double corks and a much more technical rail section at the top of the slope course. On day two, at the Big Air, in tough snow bound conditions, Sharpe prevailed and finished first in a field of 24 riders and beat the double X Games gold winner.
Sharpe, currently ranked 20th in the World Snowboard Tour, is a member of Canadian National Snowboard team. From his humble beginnings at Mount Washington, and a past team rider with local VI Riders and the Whistler Valley Snowboard Academy, he is in the middle of number of important contests taking place over the next few weeks.
After the Showcase in Whistler he moves over to the Canadian Nationals in Calgary; a Dew Tour event at Sun Peaks; the Ride Shakedown in Quebec and then back to Whistler for the Whistler Ski and Snowboard Festival. The season will finish with a stop in the Rockies for “Ruckus” and finally on to Super Park in Oregon.
