All photos by Shay Williams

Day one of the Freeskier Magazine all-mountain ski test went off without a hitch under blue skies, leaving many a tester with some sun-baked skin.  After arriving at Copper Mountain ski resort at 8:00 am, it was barely 11:00 am by the time I had downed my second energy drink of the day.  I wasn’t the only one; my team manager at Scott, Kevin Kruse, and Michael Olenick had already started the party earlier with some Red Bull shotgun action.  Whoa.

With the temperatures hitting nearly 40 degrees (F) and no new snow in the past week, schralping the groomers quickly became the name of the game.  Shay Williams decided early that he wanted some ‘sick’ carving shots on Copper’s best groomers, so a crew of us testers and reps headed up the Super Bee lift to find some corduroy to hip into.

Luckily, the sun began to warm up the snow in the back bowls, and by then, my buddy Mike McCabe and I had found some sweet skis to ride.  It seems on this, the second day of March, that Spring has sprung and the corn snow cycle is in full effect.

Check out the 2009 Freeskier Magazine Buyer’s Guide to find out what we had to say about all the shred-stix we tested.  Day two starts early tomorrow morning, so I’m gonna down this last Jack-and-Coke and hit the sack.  Well, maybe after another beer or two.

Scott Leatherman glove in red and black

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