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THE HONDA SKI TOUR AND BASECAMP MUSIC EXPERIENCE
American Jake Fiala wins The Honda Ski Tour individual ski cross time
trial qualifier
Tony Harrington takes
home top honors at the Pro Photo Shootout, as voted by viewers
Sun Valley, ID,
January 13, 2007—The first stop of The Honda Ski Tour (THST) & BaseCamp
Music Experience (BCME) 2007 kicked off in Sun Valley, ID, yesterday drawing
crowds in the thousands along with big-name bands, parties and the world's best
ski cross and halfpipe ski competitors.
The first day of THST ski cross competition ran under sunny
skies and cold conditions on the "Old Bowl" section of Dollar Mountain, the
course lined with spectators to cheer on the first leg of this four-stop tour.
Ski cross competition involves four skiers racing
head-to-head through a motocross-style course featuring jumps, banked turns,
waves and modified terrain features. Yesterday's individual ski cross time
trial qualified the fastest 14 athletes who will automatically advance to today's
elimination rounds. Athletes not making the initial cut had one last chance to
better their time, with a second time trial run. The top eight finishers from
this round will proceed to the Paul Mitchell Dark Horse (PMDH) qualifier today.
Exclusive to THST, the PMDH qualifier allows those eight skiers to race
head-to-head in two heats with the winner of each heat advancing to the main
event.
Former U.S. Ski Team member Jake Fiala took top honors edging
out Frenchman Enak Gavaggio. Travis Svensrud of the U.S. and Stanley Hayer of
the Czech Republic rounded out the top four with X Games gold medalists Casey
Puckett and Zach Crist finishing fifth and sixth respectively. Fresh from his
World Cup retirement, sitting in seventh is World Champion and 13-time World
Cup winner Daron Rahlves.
"The course is hard, grippy and at the bottom I noticed the
speed dropped down," said Rahlves. "The start is going to be key tomorrow. If
you're in the front you have a huge advantage. There aren't a lot of sections
where you can make a good move, or make a pass so it comes down to getting an
aggressive start, getting the timing right and rail some turns on the way
down."
Extreme sports legend Shaun Palmer experienced some bad luck
when he lost a ski right out of the start gate.
"I don't know if it was my fault," said Palmer. "There was
this little drift of snow right outside of the gate that ripped my ski off. The
last time I ran a skiercross race was in 2000 so I think I have some work to
do."
Palmer, however, earned himself a spot in the (PMDH)
qualifier. Joining Palmer will be Jusin Glick, Carl Rixon, Clic Bloomfield,
Matt Murphy, Rick Greener, Griffin Post and Ski cross World Champion Tomas
Kraus.
Although yesterday's individual time trial qualifier seeded
the athletes for today's elimination rounds, each of the qualified athletes
starts fresh and each has a chance to take the title of the first ever THST ski
cross and claim a piece of the $62,500 prize purse.
"Yesterday it was for fun, today it will be the battle" said
second place qualifier Enak Gavaggio.
Halfpipe training continues today on Bald Mountain, where
some 20 athletes are vying for their chance to take home $62,500 in prize
money. Contenders who qualify will go head-to-head Sunday evening in the main
event. The impressive field includes X Games medalists Simon Dumont and Candide
Thovex as well as X Games competitors Matt Philippi, Laurent Favre and Justin
Dorey.
THST is the first winter event to be held in Sun Valley in a
quarter of a century and while the world class ski competition is the major
attraction for THST attendees, the BCME provides non-stop music entertainment
and bar and street parties. The center of Ketchum has transformed into a
veritable street festival with crowds in the thousands attending the opening
ceremonies and athlete introductions.
Representing the best action sports segments from the
biggest producers in the game, five world-class photographers showcased some of
the best work of their careers to determine the winner of the Sun Valley Pro
Photo Shootout, which took place at the BaseCamp Pavilion last night. Scott
Markewitz, Tony Harrington, Charlie Munsey, Corey Rich, and Gene Dwarkin wowed
audiences with epic images from across the globe, including skiing, surfing,
kayaking, climbing and more. But it was Tony Harrington who came out on top,
and received the most votes from viewers who text messaged to determine the
winner.
Around the town of Ketchum giant bonfires burned in the
center of the blocked-off streets, jugglers and fire dancers entertained
festival goers. Legendary reggae band The Wailers played to the enormous crowd
gathered at the BaseCamp Pavilion and sold-out concerts such as the Vancouver hip-hop trio
Swollen Members and the Northwest's favorite instrumental hip-hop band Kamphire
Collective packed local clubs while Elan with DJ Zuz rocked the Crocs Lounge.
THST will be covered
in four hours of network television—one hour per event— scheduled to air on
ABC. Event and airing schedules are as follows:
Event date: January 11-14, Sun Valley, Idaho
ABC airdate/times: Saturday, January 20, 4pm PST / 5pm MST /
2pm EST
Event date: February 1-4, Breckenridge, Colorado
ABC airdate/times: Saturday, February 10, 4pm PST / 5pm MST
/ 2pm EST
Event date: February 22-25, Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado
ABC airdate/times: Sunday, March 11, 11am PST / 12pm MST /
2pm EST
Event date: March 8-11, Squaw Valley USA, California
ABC airdate/times: Sunday, March 25, 11am PST / 12 pm MST /
2pm EST
For up-to-date
photos, videos, blogs, general information and BaseCamp Music Experience ticket
information, go to the THST website www.theskitour.com
The Honda Ski Tour
would like to extend a special thanks to its sponsors, American Honda Motor
Co., Paul Mitchell, Crocs, Spyder, Salomon, Ice Breaker, Atomic and media
partner Outside Magazine.
For more information
and downloadable high-resolution images of Honda vehicles, please visit www.hondanews.com.
Consumer information is available at www.honda.com
For media queries
please contact;
The Honda Ski Tour
801-349-4632
Director of PR & Communications
Keith Carlsen
keith@mtsports.com