BRISTOL, N.Y. — The country’s top freestyle skiers will compete at Bristol Mountain starting Friday, soaring dozens of feet in the air while doing aerials.

News10NBC’s Hailie Higgins spoke live with people involved in the U.S. Freestyle Aerials National Championship about how Bristol is preparing.

Bristol freestyle skiing coach Johnny Kroetz explained that the athletes jump thousands of times into the water before attempting a jump on snow. The skiers also practice with trampoline work, moguls, and smaller jumps.

When it’s competition time, Bristol’s crew manicures all the jumps to ensure a smooth lead-up on the ramps. The crew also chops down the snow at the bottom and replaces it with fluffy snow for a soft landing.

“It’s really fluffy and it’s kind of just like jumping in a pile of leaves in the fall,” Kroetz said.

Bristol is one of only three places in the country that can host an aerials competition at this level. One of the jumps features a 65-foot vertical drop. For one of the double jumps, which has a 10.5-foot drop, athletes will soar about 40 feet in the air while doing their aerials. Kroetz said several people who he has trained will compete, the youngest being an 8-year-old who will do a backflip.

“Eventually, they learn how to flip into the water and then they’ll flip on snow on the smaller jumps first. And then they’ll work their way up to here,” Kroetz said.

Tommy Morsch, the head groomer at Bristol Mountain, has been making jumps or other features of the slopes for 21 years. He explained how he uses a machine called a Snowcat to create the jumps on the slopes.

“First up is a week’s worth of snowmaking. And then once we have the snow, it takes days,” Morsch said. “I probably have three nights into that landing, shaping it, and getting it to where we need to be. Then, the crew comes in and puts the forms up to build the actual takeoffs on them, which are about 12 feet tall.”

The competition on Friday night includes both local athletes and members of the U.S. national team. Steve Fuller, vice president at Bristol Mountain, said it’s special to have people of all different experience levels compete together.

“It’s such a unique thing to have an eight-year-old competing against an Olympian,” he said.

What’s the schedule for Friday and Saturday?

Practice rounds for the national championship have been underway since Wednesday. There will be another practice round on Friday from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Then, the selection round for the aerials runs will get underway at 5 p.m. for men and women. It’s all happening at Mikey’s Jump at Challenger Terrain Park.

All days are free to attend. Here’s Friday’s schedule:

• U.S. Selections Aerials Run 1. From 5 to 6 p.m. (men and women)
• US Selections Aerials Run 2. From 6:30 to 8 p.m. (men and women)
• Award presentation. Starts at 8:30 p.m. at the Challenger Podium

The Aerials National Competition is taking place on Saturday. It’s also taking place at Mikey’s Jump, Challenger Terrain Park. Here’s the schedule:

• Nationals Aerial Training. From 2:15 to 3:45 p.m.
• US Nationals Aerials Qualifications Run. From 4 to 5 p.m.
• US Nationals Aerials Qualifications Run 2. From 5 to 6 p.m.
• US Nationals Aerials Finals, Women (8). From 6:45 to 7 p.m.
• US Nationals Aerials Finals, Men (8). from 7 to 7:15 p.m.
• US Nationals Award Presentation. Starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Challenger Podium