January 30th: Nashoba Freeride Series Slopestyle

The third competition of the season was the second round of the Nashoba Freeride Series. The first round was a rail jam, and the second was a slopestyle, so like the USASA competition, every feature in the park was used. As always, I would be taking still shots while Ciampa shot video.

The most noticeable aspect of the competition was the mood. Compared to the USASA slopestyle, this didn't even seem like a competition. The USASA comp started off with the competition director shouting out the rules and regulations, and what to do if you want to get kicked out. At the Freeride Series, the park crew stood in front of the competitors and went over the structure of the competition, told the kids what they were looking at while judging, and told everybody to have fun. Two different worlds.

I spent the day skiing around the park, getting different angles on different features so that Nashoba's websites would have a variety of photos from the competition. I would stand on the edge of features or on the edge of the trail and snap shots of the competitiors, drinking free Red Bull (thank you competition sponsors). Nobody minded that I was riding through the middle of the park in between runs and setting up right next to the features, everybody was just having fun.