Nate Kern, Tanya (Nate's girlfriend) and myself set out on the two-hour drive from Breckenridge to Aspen on 8th February for the Aspen Open.

The Aspen Open is held just a week and a half after the X-Games on exactly the same slopestyle and halfpipe courses, and is one of the best places for riders to showcase their talents, and compare themselves to the best in the world. This was the main reason I desperately wanted to compete.

I hadn't made it into the contest, but I knew I was on the waiting list to get in, despite this I decided to go in case anyone was to drop out, meaning I could take their spot.

When we first arrived the practise was underway and we got straight on it. I was allowed the credentials for the event so that I could practice and was 5th on the waiting list. This is a good place to be because people do tend to drop out a lot, especially on the X Games slopestyle course.

It's pretty understandable: the course was incredibly hard to ride and get used to – let alone to put your best tricks down on. Despite what the TV shows for X Games, the course is in fact very, very compact. The jumps are still really big but extremely close together on a steep slope. This was the same for the rails at the top too, and simply meant: no room for error.

A half day of practice and myself and Nate were starting to feel fairly confident although we knew that the competition was going to get hot straight from the first heats. We also bumped into some other UK riders there, Becky Hammond, James Machon and Machon's brother Rob, it was really cool to see their progression from just the beginning of winter 09/10 which stood them in a good position for the contest.

Two days of practice were given so we took full advantage of this and got to the slopes nice and early for maximum time. Still I was in the dark as to whether I was actually going to get a slot in the competition. After the one and a half days practice team GB were on great form, myself and Nate were feeling extra confident on the slopestyle course and the Hammond, Machon pipe combo were on fire.

Next day was slopestyle snowboarding, and halfpipe skiing. I had the day off but it was straight into the action for Nate, Becky and James. With ease the guys made it through the qualification heats which was great to see – no slip ups and well set for the semi-finals.

Semis came around and unfortunately the male pipe contest was off the chain and although putting down an incredible run Machon missed out on the finals by literally one place! Notably if James had been in heat one he would have made it through, a massive shame but he proved himself to be a great pipe rider.

Hammond however made it through with her run qualifying in an amazing 4th place! Her run was fantastic and the same as Machon their progression has been insane since the last time I've seen them skiing.

Kern breezed the semis, showcasing his usual effortless style qualifying in 7th with lots more in the bag to pull for finals…

Finals time: the sleds came out (my favourite part) to bring the athletes up the the top of the course as quickly as possible. Becky gave a consistently amazing performance actually finishing in up in 4th, an incredible result, everyone is seriously stoked for her!

Men's snowboard finals, and unfortunately the weather came in and speed started to become an issue. Nate regrettably fell vicim to this and court the knuckle on his third kicker after an amazing run of 900, 720, 1080 that I still believe could have placed him higher than 9th. Still a great result and after a slight hic-up nothing to be sniffed at.

Eventually after two days of waiting, it was time for skiing slopestyle and snowboard pipe (no UK riders in this though, so no one cares haha!). A stroke of luck came as I turned up at the riders' office on the morning of competition and there was a single spot at the end of heat two free, I was penciled in and I got my bib, YES! I was so happy to get the chance to do my run.

I took my first run of qualification and managed to get my ski tangled in a banner that had been hung from under the hitching post causing me to flip forwards and fail my first run miserably. Bit of a shame as then I started to feel the pressure for run two.

Run two went down fine until the third kicker for me, when instead of doing a switch 1080 I court my edge in the transition and just went upside down, some how I managed to pull it off as a switch rodeo and landed a little on the knuckle. All good though made it through to Semi Finals.

The next day for the semi-finals I put my run down okay, not the best run of the day for me but it went well double flatspin 720, cork 9, switch cork 9. It was good enough to get me into the top 5 of my heat, top 10 of the two and through to the finals.

Yes stoked I get to ride the sleds!! First run of finals for me:

450 off - flat rail.
450 on, 270 off - down rail.
540 nose tap - hitching post.
Switch on, cork 450 japan off - canon box.
Double flatspin 720.
Cork 900.
Switch double cork 1080.

I was and still am very happy with this run as it's definitely the best run I've ever put down in a contest. My second run was very similar except  I slipped up just before the third kicker and didn't manage to get the switch double on the third jump only a switch cork 540, but I was super confident with my first run and knew I couldn't do better on the course in the conditions.

My first run was only good enough for 5th place, but I suppose I'm happy with that. First place went to Guss Kenworthy with Kangaroo Flip, switch 720, switch double cork 1080. Congratulations to everyone at the event it was a great show with plenty of amazing runs. Thanks to everyone from the Aspen Open, it was a great event and I had lots of fun.

Cheers for reading - enjoy the rest of your winter…

Woodsy :D