A local skier took on competitors from across the country in the Canada Cup Series moguls and dual moguls events held Jan. 19 to 20 in Val Saint-Come, Que.
Kolten Latreille, 17, of the Tawatinaw Valley Freeriders, has been skiing for close to a decade, but said he was a little taken aback by the slopes of southern Quebec.
“It was cold, but it’s a nice course, for sure. Definitely high-class,” he said. “There were a lot of high-end athletes here, so the course didn’t get worn down as much.
“The first competition of the year is always the hardest one to get back into it. Experience wise, it was really awesome to see how good of a course that kind of level of skiing is and how different a national level competition is compared to a provincial level, preparation wise and the stress going into a run.”
Competing with close to 60 others, Latreille said he knew he had his work cut out for him. Despite several good training over several days, he finished in 56th place for the moguls and 50th for the dual moguls.
“I’ve been in Jasper for almost every weekend training every weekend, getting turns in on the moguls,” he said.
“For this competition, we had two training days where you get to ride the course and do whatever tricks you want.
“If you go to these kind of competitions, it’s for rank-per-athlete points. A certain amount of points gets you invited to the next level of competition. There’s a qualifier for just about any competition you go to now.”
Through the course, Latreille navigated around several dozen moguls and made three jumps, showing off several mid-air tricks.
He said his love of the sport comes from the adrenaline rush and the tight-knit community surrounding the Freeriders.
“It’s one person against one’s own skill level. You never know what’s going to happen when it comes to a competition, so you have to switch up what you’re planning on doing,” he said.
“Everyone is always in a good mood and are fun to hang out with. It was great getting to know people at that level. Some of the Quebec kids were really rooting for me, giving me fist bumps at the end of the run and such. That was really awesome, just to see the amount of sportsmanship that comes with that level.”
Latreille is back to the slopes getting ready for another national mogul competition at the Canada Cup Series event March 9-10 in Fernie, B.C. in addition to several other provincial-level tournaments throughout the season.
