There probably isn’t a kid in Colorado who doesn’t appreciate a snow day. But there might not be a kid who appreciates one more than Torin Yater-Wallace.
Yater-Wallace, a 14-year-old freeskier from Basalt, won’t soon forget the snow day that canceled the halfpipe competition at the Gatorade Free Flow Tour stop at Keystone this winter. That contest was meant to be his springboard to the action sports big leagues: a chance at a start alongside the pros at next winter’s Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge awarded to the Free Flow feeder tour’s overall champion, who was crowned in February.
“I had gotten second behind Pat Baskins (in the Free Flow contest a week earlier) at Vail, and when they canceled the pipe comp at Keystone I was like, ‘Aw, dang, I won’t have a chance to make it,’ ” Yater-Wallace said. “Then they called me and said they still had a spot open in the finals and I got invited to compete. I was so stoked.”
The wild-card entry made the most of his opportunity in the Free Flow finals at Mount Snow, Vt., coming from behind to beat his pal Baskins, 18, and the rest of the field as the youngest competitor in the national contest, open to skiers up to age 21.
“I’d say that’s pretty much the biggest contest I’ve ever done — and won, for that matter,” Yater-Wallace said.
And for that outstanding accomplishment, Yater-Wallace was selected the February winner of The Denver Post Youth Excellence in Sports award.
In only three years of competitive halfpipe skiing, the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club member is rapidly making his mark. He built on the success at Mount Snow as one of 10 skiers to qualify for halfpipe finals from a field of 100 competitors (as old as 25) at the Aspen Open last month and then won two USSA divisional qualifiers (and finished second overall) to make the national championships (11- to 15-year-old bracket) in Squaw Valley, Calif., at the end of March.
Yater-Wallace will then try to defend his 2009 USASA championship titles in both halfpipe and slopestyle skiing among 11- to 15-year-olds in April.
“There’s usually a really big field in slopestyle, so I don’t always do as well. But I like both (slopestyle and halfpipe) equally the same,” he said. “Personally, I feel like ‘pipe is harder. . . . But I feel more comfortable in the pipe.”
After mastering 900-degree spins to his offside and corked 1260s to his natural side, Yater-Wallace got comfortable enough this winter to attempt his first “double-flare” in the pipe, essentially a double back flip with a 180 twist. The move didn’t go over as well as it could have, finishing with a hard fall and a broken ski.
But the young athlete with aspirations to compete at the Winter X Games on his home hill and ultimately the Olympics (should the discipline be adopted) knows it’s those type of moves that will eventually carry him to the next level.
“If I was actually competing, it would be the sweetest feeling ever,” Yater-Wallace said of the X Games, where he’s forerun the pipe contest three times. “It’s just ridiculous to be right next to those guys thinking: ‘I wish I could be like that one day.’ “
Honorable mention
Colorado Miners.
Coach Randy Perkins’ eighth-grade team rolled to championships in the Colorado Sports Authority Select tournament Feb. 20, defeating the Colorado Wildcats 58-44, and in the Gold Crown league tournament Feb. 28, downing Valor Christian Blue 45-35. The showings at the Gold Crown Fieldhouse in Lakewood capped 14-1 and 18-0 campaigns, respectively. All this while the players maintained a cumulative 3.6 grade-point average.
Know a top athlete?
Youth Excellence in Sports honors those 17 or younger who have excelled in any athletic endeavor unaffiliated with the Colorado High School Activities Association. To submit your choice for the top individual or team achievement that occurred during March, visit for an online form or fax a brief description of the achievement to 303-866-9004 (Attention: “Youth Excellence”).
