The Day It Went Down | Kings and Queens of Corbet's Recap
The call came late. Believe it or not, the 2nd annual Kings and Queens of Corbet’s freeride event almost didn’t happen. The week-long weather window didn’t account for unrelenting storms, which have since continued to pound northwestern Wyoming.
The unsettled weather had everyone on their heels. Many thought the small respite in Tuesday’s forecast was a gamble and wanted to hold off for later in the week. The event originator, Jess McMillan, felt less confident in the week’s later forecast. “If we get a blue hole,” she said. “We’ve got to go.” So, late afternoon Monday, it became official. Tuesday morning. It’s on.
Before sunrise, the Tram shuttled workers up the mountain. Snow control, generators, film crews, athletes. Comp officials, race crew, ski patrol, and volunteers went into overdrive readying the venue for the day.
McMillan got the hole she was looking for. High thin clouds were the only elements interrupting the sun’s illumination of the Teton landscape. Light winds whipped up spindrifts of fresh snow, and crews of athletes and comp workers built in ramps onto Corbet’s daunting launch site.
Crowds gathered in Tensleep Bowl. Tents went up, sound systems, filmers took positions, and Red Bull’s famous iconic finish line stood proudly below the final kickers. There were so many moving parts, darting this way and that. And yet, the comp started pretty much on time.
Mikey Marohn styling out a 540 into Corbets.
I missed the first few athletes dropping in. Not an issue. I saw enough. To give the entire play by way is impossible, but I’ll share a few highlights. Last year’s Queen Caite Zeliff undoubtedly won the velocity award, launching a huge straight air into the void and bulleted her way through the course and into the finish line before her bomb hole dust settled. Veronica Paulsen threw two huge backflips, and even though she wasn’t quite centered enough to pull them clean, she wowed the crowd and athletes alike for her conviction to the inverted aerial. Our own ski patroller Ashley Babcock entered the fray with a big straight air as well, super-G’ing her way into Tensleep. She was under strict orders to not fall during the comp, lest her job depended on it. She has shifts to fill later this week.
Hana Beaman, the only female snowboarder to enter last year’s comp, slithered into this year’s couloir with surgical precision, lining up a sleeper backflip off the second hit. Floating a quick three off the bottom hit as well, she proved why she made the podium last year.
Last year’s King Karl Fostvedt went almost last, and he primped and pruned his in road for ten minutes before take off. It was worth the wait. Coming in switch, he spun a slow 540, spiraled an off-axis cork screw, and landed spot on, rifling for the second jump, hurled a single back off the middle hit, and finished for the crowd with a 720, accenting the second rotation with a mini-spread eagle. I’ve always said it’s the little thing that matter.
Karl Fostvelt decides he needs a switch entrance.
Travis Rice crushed too with a text book backside 540 off the entrance, backed by asymmetrical mastery throughout the entirety of the course, allowing everyone to watch his otherworldly proprioception in the face of gravity. That said, he shined as much at the lip as he did in the couloir, helping buff the launch site for Karl, as well as assisting and coaching Trevor Kennison, or sole sit skier athlete, to find the line into Corbet’s history. Rice pushed him to the edge, literally, a few times, offering nuanced pointers on the art of flight. He’d push him back up the hill and do it again. At one point he looked Trevor into the eyes for a quick reality check. “You sure you wanna do this, dude?”
“Yeah, man,” he said. “I’m stoked.”
After one solo trial, he got pushed farther up the hill to get enough speed for the real deal. Now, watching a sit ski begin its course from a dead stop is unnerving. He swayed side to side, thwarting a dynamic turnover with his outriggers, correcting the micro-movements with each arm. But quickly his momentum grew, and Trevor was gaining speed, and just like that… his lone Rossignol left the earth.
I’ll just say it. Everyone was crapping their pants when he went airborne. And for just cause. He went big. When he finally returned to the ground, he impacted the landing with such force that he rebounded out of the snow like a porpoise. He then lawn darted to a dead stop with his ski augured into the fall line, and thrust his hands to the sky. The crowd went nuts.
Coen floats a perfect backflip as the crowd below watches.
As they should. Because in that moment Trevor embodied the spirit of the late local ski luminary Bryce Newcomb, who left us too early. Bryce carried the essence of skiing with him every day in the mountains, where being in the moment with others is paramount to scores, results, and standings. This year, the Riders Choice Award is there to honor Bryce Newcomb. Trevor carried that same energy off the precipitous edge, if only to be a part of a pure moment. And we all got to see it happen.
At the end of the day, I ran into competitor Coen Bennie-Faull, who was beaming with enthusiasm. For his part, Coen played a role in my overall experience. Big and beautiful, he floated the most harmonious backflip into Corbet’s that I’ve ever seen. “I wish all comps were like this one,” he said. “It’s so much more natural, and all the athletes don’t feel that unnecessary pressure to impress the judges. The overall experience is just so much better.”
Click HERE for full results of Kings and Queens of Corbets.
King (Travis Rice), Riders Choice Award (Trevor Kennison) and Queen (Caite Zeliff) celebrate after the awards.
Women’s podium with 1st place Caite Zeliff, 2nd place Hana Beaman and 3rd place Ashley Babcock.
Men’s podium with 1st place Travis Rice, 2nd place Karl Fostvedt and 3rd place Blaine Galivan.