Colorado Rocky Mountain School pinhead turns heads

Local high school telemarker now has a ‘ticket’ to ride

Click to Enlarge Browse and Buy Post Independent Photos Jake Sakson, a Colorado Rocky Mountain School Telemark Ski Team member, won the preliminaries, finished fourth in the finals and then won the super finals at the three-day inaugural World Telemark Freeskiing Championships at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. Submitted

Staff Report
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
April 1, 2008

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GIRDWOOD, Alaska — Being relatively fresh to adult telemark competition has done little to slow Jake Sakson’s maturation.

Winning two of his three runs and finishing third overall at the past weekend’s World Telemark Freeskiing Championships at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska, the 18-year-old Colorado Rocky Mountain School senior further asserted himself as one of the globe’s top telemarkers.

Sakson, a CRMS Telemark Ski Team member, won the preliminaries, finished fourth in the finals and then won the super finals at the three-day inaugural event.

That, after placing fourth overall at this year’s U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Telemark Championships in Crested Butte and beating out a field of juniors at the event last year.

“This basically writes his ticket for telemark skiing worldwide,” said CRMS Director of Communications Jeremy Simon.

Sakson’s accomplishments up north captivated his CRMS tele teammates. An entry on the team’s blog — located at crmstelemark.blogspot.com — communicated the excitement surrounding Sakson’s endeavors:

“As news trickled in from Alaska over the course of the two day competition, we could hardly sleep. The time difference made it all the more difficult, as midnight became the telephone rally and the only other news came from cell phone text messages.”

Well-known local tele skier Nick DeVore, a CRMS Telemark Ski Team alum, enjoyed a big weekend as well, turning in a first-place finish. Dylan Crossman finished second, followed by Sakson, Bayden Hamilton Olds and J.T. Robinson.

The inaugural worlds opened terrain that hasn’t been touched since 1999 for the skiers’ second-day runs. Competitors needed a half-hour hike to reach the almost-vertical rocky cliffs.

Sakson’s athletic exploits are diverse. On top of his tele prowess, the CRMS student is an accomplished kayaker and participated in a national yoga competition.

The Aspen Times contributed to this report.