As the Freeskiing World Tour was making its third stop of the year last Saturday at Squaw Valley, some East Coast hopefuls at Magic Mountain were vying for the opportunity to join next year's tour.

The Londonderry, Vt. mountain was the initial stop on the First Annual Ski the East Freeride Tour, a combination of the four annual extreme events on the Vermont freestyle calendar. By combining the events, sponsors Ski the East, Meathead Films, and Jay Peak Video were able to  integrate the International Free Skiers Association's sanctioning and points system, thereby awarding the overall points winner prequalification status for next year's World Tour.

The second stop on the tour gets under way Saturday at Sugarbush during the Castlerock Extreme Challenge.

Individuals are welcome to register for each of the three remaining events (Jay Peak's IFSA Extreme Competition will be March 20-21 and the final will be held at Mad River Glen's Unconventional Terrain Competition on March 27) which also include additional cash and various other prizes (the shot ski awarded to Derek Pearson, winner of last weekend's Black Magic Extreme Challenge, was put to immediate use).

For more information, and to find out how you can register, visit the Ski the East web site.