A Service of The Arrow           Friday February 4, 2000 11:34 AM

Five FHS students hit the slopes on Big Mountain freestyle ski team

By: Sarah Braseth

ARROW STAFF

In what sport besides basketball, volleyball, and chess can performing jumps, tricks, and maneuvers earn you points? Oh, and all of these tricks must be performed on snow. Stumped? Just ask five Flathead High School students who know it only too well as freestyle skiing.

Junior Chris Daley along with junior Jared Kozel, sophomores Adam Delorme and Adam Colyer and senior Brandon Grande, join about 25 other freestylers on the Big Mountain Freestyle Team.

Members of the team compete in competitions all across Montana as well as throughout the nation and in Canada. Just recently the team competed in Bozeman, and sophomore Delorme is skiing in the Freeze Open in Vail, Colo., in February.

Freestyle competition consists of different events including arials, moguls, and duel moguls. A skier attempts to win points from five different judges by doing tricks and jumps and trying to make a “clean” run.

Though the Big Mountain Freestyle Team has won team rankings in local competitions for the past two years, it's the individual aspect of the sport and the skill required that draws people to freestyle.

“It (freestyle) is cooler than downhill,” said junior Chris Daley. “It's more of doing your own thing, hence the name freestyle.”

“Gate chasing is boring,” said Colyer of downhill racing. “It's more fun to get big air, and it takes a lot more skill to do freestyle.”

Each skier works to make his way to the top of a points list for a chance to compete in higher competitons, and eventually the Olympics. Both Daley and Delorme have competed for the Junior National Team for the past three years, and Colyer is looking to compete this year. To qualify for Junior Nationals, skiers have to be among the top two in rank in an age division. In order to compete against the tough competition they spend whole weekends up on Big Mountain.

“We practice three times a week,” said Kozel. “Doing those tricks aren't as easy as they look.”

However, when the ski season is over for the rest of us, Kozel, Delorme, Colyer and Grande keep up with their freestyle skills over the summer at a camp in Whistler, British Columbia.

Said Kozel: “the main focus of the camp is to have fun and to learn a lot with skiers from all over and of all sorts of ages.”

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