With the cold snap temporarily retreating on Sunday morning, eleven snowboarders took to the slopes at Mt. Sima for an Arctic Winter Games trial session.

The riders competed in slopestyle and speed events.

Head coach of Snowboard Yukon, Mary Binstead, said that all the riders were excited to "let loose and ride again” after frigid temperatures forced Mt. Sima to close on Saturday and postpone the trials.

The results from Sunday's events will be used in determining which snowboarders will attend next weeks final selection camp with six athletes ultimately being chosen represent the Yukon.

Adam Waddington led the field in the slopestyle event with scores of 115, 107, and 258 in three runs. Binstead said the judges scored the runs based on the difficulty and amplitude of the tricks.

Alidas Jamnicky was the fastest rider of the day, completing the speed course in just over 39 seconds.

The team will be one of the youngest squads to represent the Yukon in the snowboarding event, with each of the riders falling into the juvenile category.

"We've got a really strong, really young team,” she said.

"The difficulty and progression of the tricks they are doing are pretty close to last year's team, but this group of riders is two to three years younger.”

Binstead attributed some of that growth to the structure of Snowboard Yukon and the club's ability to groom the young talent with a structured system.

She noted that in previous years, snowboarders were largely left on their own to develop their skills while the current riders have already been training with Snowboard Yukon for two to three years.

"This new group has been involved in a structured program where they learn and they train and they build on their skills year after year in a coached environment,” she said. "And now we're seeing those results.”

Jamnicky also highlighted the potential of this years team by focusing on their age and the fact they are still developing.

"I think we could better than the last team even though they were really, really good,” he said. "We have more people that are excelling really quickly and I think that will help us.”

Waddington, who said his strength is in the slopestyle event, landed one of the most impressive tricks of the day, a 50-50 front-flip.

"I had a tough time in the early runs but then I just went for some bigger tricks and it worked out for me,” he said.

Waddington, who has been snowboarding competitively for two years, said that the strong talent displayed by the riders helped him to elevate his skills.

"During the race I had people ahead of me which really made me get into it,” he said. "I was trying to catch Alidas because he's the fastest but I also had riders right behind me, pushing me.”

Binstead said that once the final roster is selected, the team will be looking to expand upon the variety and difficulty of their tricks.

"We'll be looking to increase the bag of tricks for some of the athletes and also working on consistency,” she said. "We want to make sure they can land them on a regular basis.”

Binstead said the athlete's abilities on the snow are just one aspect the judges will consider when selecting the final team.

She says the evaluation process will also focus on team chemistry and cohesiveness.

"The selection includes things like do the athletes respond well to coaching, are they open to being coached, do they work well in the team environment, and are they enthusiastic and motivated,” she said.

Once the selection process is completed, the team will travel to Calgary in the first week of February to take part in a half-pipe and slope style competition in the Alberta Series, a regional event.