Local freestyle skiers compete in Aspen

Three freestyle skiers from Whitefish competed last week on the X Games course at the fourth annual Aspen Open.

Mitch Gilman, 12, Danner Pickering, 16, and Logan Walker, 17, competed recently in the U.S.’s only open event for both pipe and slopestyle. To podium at an open would earn one of these young athletes a prestigious invitation to the X Games and the Mountain Dew Tour.

The best amateur and pro freeskiers in the world descended on Aspen to ski in the 22-foot tall X Games superpipe.

Gilman, a national competitor who recently returned from the Mountain Dew Tour in Breckinridge and the Canadian National championship, is in his third year competing at the Aspen Open. He competed in his first U.S. Open at age nine and is still the youngest competitor at these events.

Gilman was six spots away from making it through to the semi-finals, and Pickering was seven spots out from a field of more than 90 athletes.

Gilman will compete in the superpipe at the U.S. Open in Copper Mountain Resort, Colo., at the end of February. For more information, visit online at www.freeskier.com.