Snowbird, UT – The 2010 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour came to a close Sunday on Snowbird Ski
and Summer Resort’s North Baldy venue at the Subaru Freeskiing World
Championships. The crowd on hand surpassed Saturday’s semi-final by two
fold; there were rows upon rows of dug out snow benches, the smell of
burgers on travel grills and the random toots from horns and megaphones, all
in support of the remaining athletes that have made it through the Tour
gauntlet.nAs impressing as the crowd was, the athlete’s runs were even more so. A
collection of the top five women and 12 men collected for Sunday’s Super
Finals, and it was definitely a stomp-to-win situation on North Baldy,
considering the level of skiers in the mix. For the men it was an East
coaster, Lars Chickering-Ayers, of Mad River Glen, Vt., who skied a fast,
aggressive line to win, getting huge air off of Flying Squirrel Cliff and
then straight-lining it to a double-drop in the Amphitheater, earning him a
combined score of 125.57.

“I just went as hard as I could,” said the men’s winner, who was followed in
the standings by two Snowbird locals, Drew Stoecklein and Oakley
White-Allen. Nick “Little Buddy” Greener, also of Snowbird, finished fourth
and earned the coveted Backcountry.com Sickbird Award.

Snowbird’s own Angel Collinson was the clear winner amongst the women, after
demonstrating aggressive skiing and a strategic double cliff drop in
Amphitheater that not only earned her the top spot but also the lead for
overall Tour points, as she also took third in Revelstoke, British Columbia,
Canada and fourth in Crested Butte, Colo.

“I went for it, because this isn’t about winning, it’s about skiing,” said
Collinson.

For her stellar skiing, Collinson was awarded the McConkey Cup, in honor of
the man who not only pioneered big mountain skiing, but also started the
International Freeskier Association. Collinson, 20, also won the coveted
overall 2010 The North Face Young Gun Award.

Behind Collinson in second, was Crystal Wright, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., and
Emily Teague, of Aspen, Colo. The North Face Young Gun Award winner was
declared to be Sara Mancuso, 20, of Squaw Valley, Calif., who finished in
fifth place Sunday amongst the women.