Yukon Freestyle held the 2023/24 Yukon Canada Cup at Mount Sima this past weekend.

Big Air flew off Friday night, Slopestyle qualifying was Saturday, and the Slopestyle finals were Sunday.

Drew Christensen from Silver Star, B.C. skiing with BC Park and Pipe, captured the men’s Slopestyle gold.

He was asked what he thought of his victory.

“Honestly, I was just like, shocked. My first run didn’t go very well, but second run I got the grabs well and it just went super-well.

“Grabs are everything. If you weren’t grabbing, they wouldn’t score it.”

Christensen, who was visiting the Yukon for the first time, said it’s “sweet. I love it here.” He’s planning on coming back to compete here next year.

Christensen figured it’s his second or third year on the Canada Cup circuit.

“But I’ve been doing Timber Tour since I was 10 years old.”

Christensen’s dream is to someday compete in the Olympics for Canada.

He added a shout out to his dad Rick and his mom Mandy.

Avery Macyk of the Calgary Freeriderz, who had a strong weekend, finished second in Slopestyle.

Ontario Park and Pipe’s Quinlan McManus came in third.

Ayden Fraser of the Calgary Freeriderz took the women’s Slopestyle title.

“It was really awesome to be out again in Whitehorse for my third year and to be able to bring all the tricks I’ve been working on the past summer and off-season to snow and have them be successfully put down and have it pay off, that was pretty great.”

Regarding Mount Sima, Fraser said, “I love it. I know a lot of people complain about the cold, but I don’t mind that much. And it’s not even that cold this year, which is great.

“It’s an awesome opportunity. I got to see the northern lights this year during the Big Air night and it was just beautiful and I love being up here a lot.”

Despite not doing quite as well in Big Air, Fraser still enjoyed the experience.

“That was probably a work in progress. Some of my runs weren’t as good but still so fun, having so many people and locals come and watch.”

Slopestyle is more to Fraser’s liking.

“I’m a pretty big fan of rails. That’s where I like to go.”

As for her key to victory, Fraser explained her formula for success.

“Everybody put down some amazing runs and I’m very fortunate that my run came together so well, but I think that just being in the moment and not trying to mess up with any stress before I drop in really helps calm myself so that I can do the things and not let the pressure get to me. “

Fraser, 18, has also been on the Alberta team since Grade 3.

“I think this is my eleventh season on the team. “

Coming up next for Fraser is the Nor-Am circuit.

Regarding her future, Fraser said, “I’d love to take it as far as I can go; that would be great. Probably the Olympics in the end would be amazing.”

Avery Krumme of Whistler Freestyle finished second in Slopestyle, with Evelyn Mullie of the Freeriderz coming in third.

Yukon Freestyle President Stephanie Robertson said she thought the event “was really great. Everything went really smoothly and I couldn’t have asked for better results.

“The park was pretty amazing. It was more creative, which was really great. As well as the night event (Big Air) was more successful. We had about 350 people show up, which was amazing.”

“Everything just ran really smoothly from pre-season into Canada Cup.”

As always, Robertson said there is room for improvement.

“We’re talking about having a mandatory day off, because we did have a lot of athletes that were so tired, and a couple pretty good injuries.

“And also giving the hill a day to really go through the park and tune it up instead of being under stress tuning it in the dark.”

Robertson said they are also considering doing slopestyle first, so the athletes are less tired. Or having a rail jam instead of slopestyle next year.

“It’s been pitched, and it’s now a part of FIS, rail jam, so I’m interested. The more opportunities for our kids, the better.”

Robertson was asked what this event means to Mount Sima and the community.

“I think it brings a lot of revenue to Mount Sima, for sure, as well as it helps with preseason, because people come up to train, and we’re the first park in Canada to open. Most parks don’t open until January.

“And it just builds the community. The community is wonderful.”

Robertson added that there were three Yukoners in the event as well: Jacob Robertson, (her son), Charlie Fidler and Jason McKay.

“They actually all ended up getting crash scores, which is too bad, but it means that they threw hard tricks down. They tried as hard as they could. I’m super-proud of them. They worked hard all summer.”

Krumme captured gold in Women’s Big Air.

Mullie came in second, and Carolina Cesa rounded out the top three.

Among the men, Matthew Lepine of Ontario Park and Pipe flew to first in Big Air, followed by Macyk in second, and McManus in third.