Chile’s Chopo Diaz set the stage with a large air at the top of the venue beating out his competitor Seb Michaud to earn the first point of the competition for Team Americas. Next up was Oakley White-Allen beating out Australian Chris Booth and putting Team Americas up 2 – 0 early in the day.
The tables turned quickly however with a European sweep for the final six heats. Henrik Windstedt earned the first Team Europe point with a powerful big mountain line topping Team America’s James Heim.
Markus Eder ripped an unsuspected line consisting of a series of couloirs and cliffs in a “high speed charge” to the skiers left of the venue. The hidden line, visible only from the helicopter, earned his team a point off Team Americas Josh Bibby.
Dana Flahr suffered a fall during his run opening the door for European Captain Kaj Zackrisson to add another point to Team Europe’s tally.
Time constraints limited the day to only one big mountain run per competitor and Team Europe walked away from the day with a commanding lead but with a strong air-force on the Americas side The Swatch Skiers Cup is still up for grabs heading into the backcountry slopestyle stage of the competition. Gas it up Team Americas!
Swatch Skiers Cup (image: skierscup.com)
Complete results of first day of competition:Â Big Mountain