Above: Monica Purington skis hard at Telluride
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THE MOUNTAIN ATHLETE “MONSTER FACTORY”
Mountain Athlete FreeSki Team members came home with three top-ten finishes at last weekend’s Subaru Freeride Series World Qualifier event in Telluride, Colorado.
Natalie Segal announced to the world she has fully recovered from a major knee injury late last year with a solid first place finish in Telluride. Natalie has been fighting her way back all season, and will cap off her Telluride victory with a trip to the west coast of Greenland to ski undiscovered lines as a key team member of the Shifting Ice + Changing Tides expedition.
The weekend before, Forrest Jillson took home the pro-division first place buckle at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s Dick’s Ditch comp, and followed that up in Telluride with a solid 9th place finish.
Monica Purington also scored a top-10 finish on the women’s side, finishing 10th. Sam Schwartz, one of the youngest competitors in the men’s field finished 12th overall.
Tess Wood and Morgan McGlashon also skied at Telluride, but didn’t make it to the finals. Morgan did garner a backcountry.com “Sickbird” nomination for her prelims run.
Event announcers took notice of the team’s aggressiveness and success, calling Mountain Athlete the “Monster Factory” for free skiers.
Several of the team will travel to Big Sky, Montana for the final qualifying comp April 2-7th.