By Andy Gilbert, SVSEF Snowboarding Program Director and Head Coach
SVSEF Snowboarding Team Riders were back at Woodward Park City for a halfpipe camp and USASA Big Mt. West halfpipe events Feb 25-26.

Even with lack of a halfpipe locally learning how to ride transitions is a necessary skill in building great, well rounded riders. SVSEF Snowboard Coaches Nate Sheehan and Andy Gilbert took the team down to the freshly open 22-foot super pipe. In typical Sun Valley Snowboarder fashion, riders took to the pipe with no hesitation during the Friday training day. The team was also able to gain some practical knowledge from U.S. Snowboard Team Halfpipe Head Coach, Rick Shimpeno—just back from Beijing, he came out to work with the kids.

After a great day of training, riders were able to put these new skills to work in the two events scheduled for Saturday. Everyone continued to build on each run they took during practice, showing solid straight airs with grabs, Alley Oops and bigger amplitude as the first event started.

The youngest riders, Enzo Schmillen and Rory Gadhia, showed great fundamentals and got creative with some spins up the pipe in their runs. Miles Hatzenbuehler and Henry Georgiades rode really solid lines in the pipe with “Hatz” doing some nice methods, Henry showed a ton of potential in this discipline looking confident on both walls with nice straight airs, Naomi Gorringe rode in her traditional confident way with an aggressive line that had her only getting five hits with big grabbed straight airs, which earned her the top podium spot. Karsen Miller who discover a love for halfpipe last season wasted no time getting to business.

Halfpipe #1 shook out like this for SV Riders:

Menehune Boys 11-12

5th Miles Hatzenbuehler

6th Henry Georgiades

7th Enzo Schmillen

8th Rory Gadhia

Menehune Girls 11-12

1st Naomi Gorringe

Breaker Boys 13-14

4th Karsen Miller

Keeping with the theme of building up, riders continued to progress as the second pipe event of the day began. Everyone wanted to step up their runs by adding amplitude and some creative spins to the mix. Enzo Schmillen added an Alley Oop comp to the bottom of this run, Rory Gadhia continued to improve and grabbed his airs all the way down the pipe and took some risks with spins near the bottom. Henry Georgiades really stepped up with solid airs and looked smooth between the walls riding a nice line. Miles Hatzenbuhler smoothed out his run with noticed improvement. Naomi Gorringe was at it again riding faster, going bigger, and adding a frontside 360 to her run—grabbing the top spot again. Karsen Miller could touch the podium in the first contest, so after landing a solid first run in the second comp he went for it, landed a really nice 540 on his second run, and boosted onto the podium in the process!

It was a great three days of learning in an awesome halfpipe. Halfpipe is a discipline that Sun Valley riders have always done well in, and the skills learned riding Baldy lend themselves to it very well. It was really inspiring to see these young riders take to it and love every minute of it!

Halfpipe #2 SV Results:

Menehune Boys 11-12

6th Henry Georgiades

7th Enzo Schmillen

8th Miles Hatzenbuehler

9th Rory Gadhia

Menehune Girls 11-12

1st Naomi Gorringe

Breaker Boys 13-14

3rd Karsen Miller

Feature Photo: U.S. Snowboard Team Halfpipe Coach w/SVSEF Snowboard team riders L-R – Miles Hatzenbuehler, Karsen Miller, Rory Gadhia, Shimpeno, Enzo Schmillen, Naomi Gorringe.