Wonderful little bit of ski historical past exploring New Hampshire’s Waterville Valley Ski Resort’s connection to the early days of freestyle snowboarding.
All of it traces again to a dialog between Tom Corcoran and Doug Pfeiffer about who was the very best skier on the mountain. US Ski Group member, Tom Corcoran argued it was the ski racer whereas Doug Pfeiffer pointed to the renegades who had been snowboarding moguls and hitting jumps. There was just one method to settle the dispute and that was by competitors.
A problem was introduced on the pages of Snowboarding Journal inviting the very best skiers from world wide to return to Waterville Valley to compete in The Nationwide Championships of Exhibition Snowboarding. The legend has it Wayne Wong hitch hiked his means cross nation from Vancouver and ended up successful.
Right here’s the story advised by the individuals who there:
WATERVILLE VALLEY HISTORY:
You could be questioning, “How did Waterville Valley change into the Birthplace of Freestyle Snowboarding?” Freestyle snowboarding first got here to Waterville Valley in 1969, once we opened the nation’s first freestyle instruction program, which is how Waterville received it’s title because the official Birthplace of Freestyle Snowboarding. The next yr, we hosted the primary Nationwide Open Championships of Freestyle Snowboarding on the Sunnyside trails, organized by Tom Corcoran and Doug Pfeiffer.
In 1971, Waterville Valley hosted the primary ever “Scorching Canine Competitors: Nationwide Championships of Exhibition Snowboarding.” Legendary freestyle skier, Wayne Wong, traveled to right here from Vancouver on the age of 21 on $200 of sponsorship cash to compete within the World Cup Freestyle Finals on True Grit. Following that occasion, Wong grew to become BBTS’s head freestyle coach in 1973 and nonetheless has shut ties to Waterville Valley Resort.
By the early 90s, Waterville Valley Resort had hosted a number of Freestyle Championship occasions and opened the primary terrain park within the state of New Hampshire – “The Boneyard.” Since then, our ski resort has been a breeding floor for pro-snowboarders together with Pat Moore, Chase Guldemond, and Luke Mathison.
Simply as Waterville Valley performed a job within the growth of freestyle snowboarding, so in flip, freestyle snowboarding formed Waterville Valley. Many legendary freestyle skiers performed important roles within the growth of the ski resort, together with Wayne Wong, Doug Pfeiffer, and Nick Preston. The Freestyle Lounge, Preston’s Path, and Wayne Wong Means are all named in honor of those freestyle legends.
Over time, the ski resort’s dedication to freestyle snowboarding has spurred a number of instructional and coaching alternatives for younger skiers and riders. At present, we’re house to a thriving group of younger athletes. From BBTS Snowsports Membership to the Waterville Valley Academy – Waterville Valley Resort serves as a coaching floor for a lot of aspiring Olympiads, together with 2010 gold medalist Hannah Kearny, who educated at BBTS. We hope the Freestyle Championship occasions will encourage and affect aspiring younger athletes, demonstrating the exceptional talent, athleticism, and sportsmanship concerned in Freestyle Snowboarding.
