We couldn't have been happier for our friends Suz Graham, Claudia Bouvier, and Grete Eliassen for getting the invitation to compete at the Red Bull Cold Rush, in Retallack, B.C., this past weekend. Red Bull Cold Rush is a guantlet of three competitions—slopestyle, big mountain and pillow lines—allowing the best freeskiers in the world—likes of Sean Pettit, Suz Graham, Dave Treadway, Tanner Rainville, Grete Eliassen, Charley Ager—the chance to decide who's the best. The winners are determined by peer-vote, all the althetes participating get to decide who wins.

Graham, Eliassen and Bouvier all threw down in their own right. The boys couldn't have been more stoked about having the girls around, "It's pretty freakin awesome to have some chicks around finally..." said Sean Pettit, "...It's sweet because all the chicks are sending it too, I'm excited to see what they have." —Associate Editor, Leah Fielding

Here are excerpts from newschoolers.com's coverage of the event:

Red Bull Cold Rush

by Jeff Schmuck

Day 1-Big Mountain

The first day of skiing at the fourth annual Red Bull Cold Rush has just wrapped up in Retallack, BC, and what an exciting and intense way to kick off the event it was.

Due to the gorgeous weather, today's originally scheduled backcountry slopestyle event has been rescheduled until tomorrow, as the athletes and crew wanted to take advantage of the bluebird skies and run the big mountain portion of the event instead.

Once that call was made, the twelve talented male and three female competitors took turns boarding the early morning heli and ascended towards the sunrise at the top of the burly Texas Peak. From there, a balls to the walls display of big mountain shredding ensued for the better part of the day, highlighted by Sean Pettit's cork 3 off a 60-foot cliff, Richard Permin and Riley Leboe treating Texas Peak like it was an Olympic downhill course, Charley Ager's outrunning an avalanche on his first run and tossing an effortless 360 over a gnarly cliff band on his second, and so much more, including a stellar showing from the three ladies at the event, Grete Eliassen, Claudia Bouvier and Suz Graham...

Day 2-Slopestyle

After an gnarly, gnarly day yesterday that saw the big mountain portion of the event go off with a bang as loud as the Daisy Bell, things only got wilder today as the backcountry slopestyle made day two of Red Bull Cold Rush in Retallack, BC an event that everyone in attendance will not soon forget.

Seven behemoth-sized jumps constructed by Riley Leboe and the Retallack staff were primed and ready to go, and with more picturesque weather shining down on the crew, things couldn't have been any better.

The ladies stepped up to the plate in a big, big way as well, with Grete Eliassen's 7 and Claudia Bouvier's switch 5...but it was Suz Graham who was the recipient of the loudest cheers of the day with her double backflip off the biggest jump of them all.

Day 3-Pillow Fight

The fourth annual Red Bull Cold Rush is all said and done at the legendary cat skiing operation that is Retallack, BC.

The third and final day of competition took place earlier today in the balls to the walls PME cliff zone, where the eleven men and three women in contention for the prestigious accolade of Red Bull Cold Rush champion gave it their all at the conclusion of a wild and iconic week that saw some seriously next level skiing go down.

Things got off to a bit of a slow start this morning as the weather gods that blessed the first two days of this contest threw a brief monkey wrench into the proceedings via some pea soup thick fog. But once the heavens parted and the familiar yellow face of the sun finally shined through, the rambunctious skiers made the wait well worth it...

...It was a jaw dropping way to cap off an awe inspiring week, and once Karl the Gnarl and his fellow cat drivers turned off the engines on their rigs and the always on point guides at Retallack had beers in hand after a job well done of keeping us all safe, the athletes sat down for the third time to judge each other's performances...

And once the smoke had settled, dust had cleared and glasses were emptied, it was time for the awards ceremony.

In the ladies division, Claudia Bouvier took third, with Grete Eliassen in second, and as expected (to everyone else but her), Suz Graham emerged victorious.

"I feel amazing right now," said Graham. "I was not expecting this at all, so I'm so psyched, because I just got a call last week asking if I was available to come to Cold Rush, and not in my wildest dreams did I expect to be in this position right now, so I couldn't be more stoked..."

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