O’Neill Evolution, Davos 2013

After Laax I headed over to Davos for the O’Neill Evolution. I had no idea if I was going to be allowed to ride or not as it was invite only for the girls this year. But I was happy to go and hang out anyway

When I arrived, they told me that a lot of the girls weren’t coming anymore as they were doing the FIS comp in Canada. So I was in!!! Guess they needed the numbers!

I met up with my lovely Austrian friend Isy, Celia from America and Si and Faye (uk crew). As there weren’t many girls there, Isy, Celia and myself thought we would give the pipe a crack……..

Now I am a total novice in the pipe, I mean I maybe venture into the pipe once a season for a laugh…..I have no technique and absolutely no idea what i’m doing or even how to drop in properly!!!! But it was good for TTR points so what the hell!

I had a spare board with me, brand new and still in the packaging. So this would be my “pipe board”. I normally blunt my edges off, but the official pipe riders told me that razor sharp edges were best…….so after a few euro carves with my brand new edges on the piste, off I went….

It was actually pretty fun, I wasn’t even nervous because I didn’t even really care about the result I just wanted to have fun! I finished 10th (wont tell you how many people there was)….my first (and probably last) ever pipe contest!!! But stoked that I actually had a chance to ride a TTR pipe contest

Then it was time for Big Air……

There was an option of 2 different size jumps, then into 2 stair sets or a close out wall ride feature.

The little jump I found pretty whippy, you would be going so fast when you hit it, then with the whip as well it was kinda hard to keep control. I tried some spins off it in practice but it was really inconsistent. The BIG jump was a lot nicer, but huge….well for me anyway. It was 22meters and the biggest jump I had hit for sure. But I actually felt more controlled on this jump so this is the one I used in the contest

I couldn’t believe it when I made it through to the finals, bloody hell! There were 4 of us in the final. I knew the other ladies were waaaay better that me so kinda played it safe as I would be stoked to finish in 4th place. Also wanted to come out in one piece!

So finished in 4th place, so so happy!! Its really inspired me that I want to push my riding a lot more and start progressing on big kickers more, I don’t want to be the rubbish one again next year

Riding in the finals was a complete novelty for me. Having the camera’s there and my face on the big screen, haha!!! And the live streaming so my mum and dad could watch at home! Really just had to pinch myself and remind myself how lucky I was to even be in this situation

I had a great week hanging out with everyone. I met my new team manager for O’Neill, Jan, and loved hanging out with Isy and Celia so much. And I really cant thank Faye and Si enough for looking after me, calming my nerves and trying to boost my confidence….and Simon the dark horse, really impressed me with his skills!

With this comp, I really was just in the right place at the right time and i’m very lucky that it worked out so well:)

Now back to Tignes for a couple of weeks……..