Tobias Huber

Despite the poor snow conditions, this year's Youngstars Challenge was held in relatively good conditions and perfect weather. A total of almost 100 children and young people between the ages of 7 and 16 took part in both contests.

At ISPO, all manufacturers present their innovations - or not. Read about the new products in the ski sector.

Loïc Collomb-Patton (FRA) for the skiers and Sammy Luebke for the snowboarders (USA) are the winners of the first stop of the Freeride World Tour in Courmayeur Mont Blanc (ITA). Creative line choice impresses the skiers, control and style the snowboarders. At Cresta Youla, skiers Josh Daiek (USA) and Jérémie Heitz (SUI) and snowboarders Sascha Hamm (GBR) and Ludovic Guillot-Diat (FRA) took second and third place.

No big surprise: the second Open Faces tour stop in Kappl has unfortunately also had to be postponed due to a lack of snow.

New date: 14-16.02.2014. As part of yesterday's Open Faces Kick Off Party in Innsbruck, the Open Faces organizers also announced the new date for the postponed three-star competition in the Axamer Lizum. This is now to be held on the second weekend in February, i.e. from February 14th to 16th. However, the date for the Open remains open due to the unchanged snow conditions; the Open Faces crew will also provide an update on this next Saturday, January 11.

Team Americas was declared the winner of the 2014 Swatch Skiers Cup. JP Auclair's crew was leading 9:7 after the backcountry slopestyle. The decision was to be made at the Big Mountain on 09.01.2014, but after strong winds and high temperatures worsened the conditions, the competition unfortunately had to be canceled. The result of the first day was taken as the final result.

Most PG readers will be familiar with the name Tom Leitner from his participation in the Freeride World Tour. As one of the first to show freestyle elements in big mountain contests, he is certainly one of those riders who can win a tour stop at any time, as long as he gets his line down cleanly. In addition to contest riding, he also found a little time to film during the past season.

For five days in the first week of October, several thousand visitors celebrated freeski culture, film, the sport and themselves at the international Freeski Film Festival in Hintertux and Innsbruck. The iF3 showed over 30 films from the current premiere season, brought many a well-known rider from the scene to Tyrol and ensured exuberant parties in Innsbruck's town halls. The second edition of iF3 was in no way inferior to last year's event and was a complete success in the eyes of the organizers.

Who hasn't heard phrases like "Take care" from their loved ones when setting off for a day in the mountains? Sometimes these well-intentioned words are annoying, but you can understand them. But how do relatives of professional freeriders feel when they set off for their work?

The unified Freeride World Tour has crowned its first world champions: Drew Tabke (USA), Ralph Backstrom (USA), Nadine Wallner (AUT) and Elodie Mouthon (FRA). The winners of the final on the Bec des Rosses were Kevin Guri (FRA), Ralph Backstrom (USA), Matilda Rapaport (SWE) and Elodie Mouthon (FRA). The contest took place in very good snow conditions at an absolutely top-class level! Thousands of spectators on site and over 180,000 viewers followed the 18th Verbier Xtreme live via webcast.

The Austrian freeride contest scene has grown considerably this winter. No fewer than five new Freeride World Qualifiers in the OPEN FACES Freeride Series have invited youngsters and established riders to put their skills to the test in contests. After four successful events, the OPEN FACES Freeride Series is now heading towards the finale on the Kitzsteinhorn. Before that, however, the postponed 2-star competition in Kappl will be rescheduled.

While the contests in Tyrol are mainly focused on competing for Freeride World Tour points, things are a little quieter and more independent in Vorarlberg: In addition to the Eric Themel Invitational (Freeride Festival) and the Back On Track Freeride Contest, the Nature Ride has been offering an innovative contest format for years: on February 23, 2013, it's all about backcountry freestyle on the Portla Horn in Damüls.