Soyland soars to top of freeride podium at Crystal

The Flathead Freeride Club entered its busiest part of the season last week with athletes traveling to Washington and Colorado to compete in Junior National Freeride contests against skiers 12-18 from across the country and Canada.

At Crystal Mountain in Washington, Anders Soyland took top honors in a stacked U19 field of hungry skiers. Sitting in third after day one qualifying Anders skied smart, staying on his feet with a huge last air in the finals on Silver King to seal the win. 

Harrison Trufant came into the finals sitting in ninth, but had some bad luck when his ski hit a chunk of ice causing him to come to an abrupt stop and ended up the day in 18th. 

In the U19 Ladies division, Raiya McCutcheon put down a heater of a qualifying run and moved from ninth to sixth in the finals with strong fall line skiing. 

In Crested Butte, Colorado, the historic location where skiing earned its nickname “extreme” Beckett Clark tackled the North Face’s Headwall and Spellbound to finish in fourth place in the U15 men's category.  

Also competing were Amelia Mason, Ashby Dominick, Metta Campbell and Bodie Mason. 

The Flathead Freeride Club travels to Lake Louise and Grand Targhee later this week.