Growing up within walking distance of Mount Alyeska and carving its wickedly steep slopes nearly every day after school prepared Chanc' Deschamps-Prescott for some of the craziest ski races of his life Wednesday.

The 13-year-old from Girdwood captured a United States of America Snowboard Association skiercross national championship in the boys 11-15 age group at Copper Mountain in Colorado.

Deschamps-Prescott did it by dodging disaster in the semifinals and schooling two older competitors in the finals to place first among 36 skiers in a sport that doesn't take too kindly to wimps.

"It was pretty crazy," he said by cell phone from Copper Mountain Ski Resort. "In the last race, everyone crashed."

Well, everyone but Deschamps-Prescott, a seventh-grader at Girdwood Elementary who won his third gold medal of his career in skiercross at the USASA nationals.

Skiercross is the equivalent of snowboardercross -- introduced to the world during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy -- only skis, instead of a snowboard, are used to swoosh down a roller-coaster mountain trail.

Other than using the same snowy surface, they share only one other characteristic: Inevitable train wrecks.

Deschamps-Prescott nearly suffered one himself on a double roller during his semifinal heat, his sixth and almost his final race of the day.

"I just cut this dude off and was going midair when my ski pole got caught in my skis," said Deschamps-Prescott.

Soaring though the air, he spent too much time trying to bust it free and knew he was destined to land awkwardly.

The double roller was about to eat him alive. Deschamps-Prescott prepared himself for the worst case scenario.

"I thought it was over," he said.

At the last second, he maneuvered his skis in a direction that knocked his pole loose.

The landing wasn't graceful, he said, but it was good enough to keep going. He ended up qualifying for one of four spots in the finals, an elementary race compared to the heart-pounding semifinal.

Checking in at 5-foot and 90 pounds, Deschamps-Prescott was dwarfed by his three counterparts -- two 16 year olds and a 15 year old.

Deschamps-Prescott described them as "three ginormous dudes over six feet tall."

But Deschamps-Prescott soon learned the reason the old cliche is true: The bigger they are, the harder they really do fall.

At the beginning of the race, one finalist lost his ski. It popped right out of its binding, prompting him to chase after it down the mountain.

Later, Deschamps-Prescott was behind the other two skiers, who were duking it out for first place.

But they skied too close together and lost control. Deschamps-Prescott dodged the Copper Mountain yard sale and kept cruising, all the way to the finish line, where he won by at least 10 seconds, he said.

Find Kevin Klott online at adn.com/contact/kklott or call 257-4335.

USASA National Championships

At Copper Mountain Ski Resort, Colorado

Alaska Finishers

Boardercross

Grommet Boys (8-9 age group) -- 26) Camden Quattlebaum. Breaker Girls (12-13) -- 24) Allison Stassel. Youth Women (14-15) -- 8) Rosina Mancari; 16) Sydney Moses. Youth Men (14-15) -- 34) Hunter Tamez. Junior Men (16-17) -- 53) Jerald McCollum. Adaptive Men -- 5) Chris Brodbeck.

Giant Slalom

Grommet Boys (8-9) -- 7) Camden Quattlebaum. Kahuna Women (50-59) -- 6) Marchelle Kesler; 8) Alison Sterley. Kahuna Men (50-59) -- 2) Rick Malone. Legend Women (40-49) -- 6) Tracey Malone.

Slalom

Grommet Boys (8-9) -- 10) Quattlebaum. Legend Women (40-49) -- 6) Tracey Malone. Kahuna Men (50-59) -- 2) Rick Malone. Kahuna Women (50-59) -- 6) Alison Sterley. Breaker Girls (12-13) -- 5) Raven Malone. Youth Women (14-15) -- 4) Rosina Mancari; 10) Sydney Moses; 17) Mackenzie Kesler.

Slopestyle

Youth Women (14-15) -- 25) Sydney Moses; 27) Mackenzie Kesler. Skier Boys (11-15) -- 7) Grant Burke.

Halfpipe

Youth Men (14-15) -- 46) Gordon Foley. Skier Boys (11-15) -- 16) Grant Burke; 19) Christian Wolfe. Skier Men (16-19) -- 11) Scott Cumberland.

Skiercross

Skier Boys (11-15) -- 1) Chanc' Deschamps-Prescott. Skier Men (16-19) -- 10) Scott Cumberland.

ADVERTISEMENT