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Hallen places sixth in Vans slopestyle competition

Chad Sellmer, Tribune staff writer

South Lake Tahoe boarder Myles Hallen scored a top-10 finish and a $1,500 payday at last weekend’s Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain.

Hallen finished sixth in men’s slopestyle with a judged best run of 75.0, though two locals were the big winners in the annual pro series event.

Mammoth’s Tommy Czeschin and Eddie Wall of Mammoth took first place in the superpipe and slopestyle competitions.



The Built Ford Tough Championships of Snowboarding is part of the Vans Triple Crown, which made its first stop of the season at Breckenridge in December and will make an appearance at Snow Summit, Colo. later this year. This is the first year the $375,000 competition came to the Eastern Sierras. The series attracts big-name riders, including some of America’s Olympic medalists.

South Tahoe’s Jim Tomer placed 14th in slopestyle with a best run of 69.3 in a warm-up for his Winter X Games appearance later this week. The men’s slopestyle event was won by Wall with a score of 83.7.



Nate Holland of Squaw Valley finished 20th, Sean Tedore of Truckee placed 47th, Ricky Gatterdam of Squaw Valley was 67th and Chris Bartimioli of South Lake Tahoe finished 109th.

Czeschin won the mens’ superpipe competition with a best-run score of 90.5. He won a $12,000 purse.

Michael Chilton of Zephyr Cove placed 27th with a score of 49.25, and Wes Klann of South Lake Tahoe finished 29th with a score of 39. Jake Beechler of Lake Tahoe placed 51st in a field of 71.

Chilton’s dad, Steve, said his son, who is a junior at Whittell High School, had the opportunity to ride with three Olympic medalists during the event.

“I think it was great,” he said. “He’s really seeing the other side of snowboarding, the pro side.”

The events featured Mammoth’s new ‘superduper’ pipe, which they claim is the largest in North America at 600 feet long with 22-foot walls.

“What we heard from other riders is that it’s the most difficult, because it’s so big and tall,” Steve Chilton said.

The women’s slopestyle competition win was taken by Jennifer Jones of Bristol, England with a score of 84. She took home the purse of $8,000. Stacie Anderson of South Lake Tahoe finished in 24th place in this, her fourth competition of the season.

“It was big; it was really giant,” said Anderson of the superduper pipe, noting a slew of wipeouts. “At the end of the day it got really slow, too.”

In the women’s superpipe event, Gretchen Bleiler of Snowmass, Colo., won the $8,000 purse with a score of 94. Autumn Rose of Olympic Valley finished eighth with a score of 69.75, and Kimmy Fasani of Truckee was 12th with a score of 56.75.

Sally Szymaniak of Truckee came in 19th, Anderson 20th and Amy Bell of Truckee 24th.

To win the overall Vans series title, athletes must earn points tabulated from the three events. The winner of the men’s title takes home a new Ford Ranger truck, while the winner of the women’s bracket gets a trip for two to Hawaii. The series features seven core sports: skateboarding, wakeboarding, BMX, freestyle motocross, surfing and snowboarding.


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