Freestyle Yukon held an epic Toyo Tires Yukon Slopestyle/Big Air Canada Cup at Mount Sima Nov. 30 to Dec. 4.

Freestyle Yukon executive director Stephanie Robertson said the event was really successful.

“Really fun and our athletes had a blast. Probably one of the best Canada Cups so far.”

“The conditions were pretty good. It was a little cool on Thursday for training, but it warmed up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so it was pretty good.”

Robertson said the snow conditions were really good, with well-groomed runs and no complaints about a lack of speed.

“In the evening it started to snow so it made the pictures even more amazing looking.”

“We had a total of 85 registered, so we were full. We couldn’t have anyone else register.”

The 85 athletes were registered to compete in both races.

The participants were from Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, B.C. and the Yukon.

They also had a team from Waterville, Maine try to sign up, but they couldn’t because the event had reached maximum capacity.

According to Robertson, despite some injuries, the Yukon kids in the event had a great time.

“There was a couple of injuries. Actually, all of them are sick right now. They didn’t place well, but they all had a blast. And they threw down some pretty epic runs, even though they either butt-touched or they fell. So they didn’t score well. But when they did do their runs, they were pretty awesome. I can honestly say for three of them, I’ve never seen them ski that good.”

Jason McKay, Issac Maddocks and Alex Wilson all had epic runs.

Jacob Robertson and Charlie Fidler were dealing with injuries. Both skiers didn’t compete in Big Air, and Fidler wasn’t able to compete in slopestyle.

The youngest skier was 12 and the oldest was 20.

“There are no age limits. It’s always at the coach’s discretion with the caveat that you have to be at that skill level. So the coach isn’t going to put an athlete in an unsafe position,” related Robertson.

“The people that did podium, I recognize the names, so they’ve been in the Canada Cup circuit probably for three or four years.”

Robertson said they had a couple of national team coaches on hand, Etienne Geoffrey-Gagnon for the Yukon and Alex Beaulieu-Marchand for B.C.

“It’s nice to see them out and inspiring.”

The Big Air Friday night was a huge success.

“I think we had close to 300 people. It was pretty full. So we had a lot of kids and families. There was some fires, so they were roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. There was a bit of a beer gardens and quite a show. We even had a DJ out.”

Robertson said it was quite the scene.

“It was one of the best. I think that it will probably happen every Canada Cup because everyone seemed to walk away really positive about it.”

Robertson added “Our kids are starting training already as of Tuesday, back at training again. They’re training for the Canada Winter Games and junior nationals … our coaches will be training with them, as well as Etienne, for the next month. So they’re working hard.”

Lyndsey Boorse and Chris Arsenault are the coaches.

Five male and possibly two females athletes will be going to the Games, including three Indigenous athletes.