Kumi Yama in Photos
Summertime in the French Alps had a brief respite this weekend as the Kumiyama event, held on the Les Deux Alpes glacier, took over town bringing Japanese flair and world class skiing with it.
Now in its third year, the contest's unique concept has teams of three battle it out knockout-style with one team taking the title. This year, it was Team Apo -- with an all-star lineup of Sammy Carlson, Willie Borm and Kai Mahler -- that took the top prize.
The winning team's runs included a switch double cork 9 nose, cork 7 blunt and double cork 1080 mute followed by an unnatural cork 7, 450 in 270 out of the elevated box and rodeo 5.
"It's been such a great feeling skiing here up on the glacier the last few days," said Carlson. "I feel like we're putting everything together to get ready for this coming season."
Kai Mahler is the newest addition to Apo's freeski team, which signed Borm earlier this summer and Carlson last December. "Having Kai on the team is sick," Carlson said. "He's such a creative skier who will go on to solidify this team."
Team Downdays with Tom Grainier, Alex Neurohr and Christian Bieri finished second, and Team Inspired, consisting of Lolo Favre, Laurent DeMartin and Nicolas Vuignier, got third.
