Axamer Lizum
After the first snowfalls of the winter, things no longer looked so bad for the contests planned for January in Tirol. Unfortunately, the 3* contest planned for January 14 in the Axamer Lizum had to be postponed due to the weather forecast for the coming weekend. As the snow cover in the Kalkkögel still leaves a lot to be desired for a top-class competition, the date for the contest stop near the Tyrolean capital was postponed by a further three weeks to February 4th. The first contest in the Eastern Alps will therefore be the 2* FWQ in Kappl on January 20-22.
Hakuba
On January 13, riders will compete for points towards the overall standings at this new 4* event. This will be the first time an FWQ contest has been held in Japan and to increase interest, Travis Rice has been invited at short notice. In the region on the main island, which will be familiar from the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano (Hermann Maier!), the local Japanese riders will face a strong field of participants from America, Europe and Oceania in a very international 4* qualifier. The weather window runs from January 12 to 18, 2017 and the contest will be held on the slope with the promising name "The Mix" (1950m, see picture above). On average, it is 40 gad steep and has a vertical extension of 900m, which is rather atypical for Japan. There will be a live webcast for the event on the day of the competition, starting at 9am Japanese time - in Central Europe that's 1am. The webcast will be available at www.freerideworldtour.com.
On the night of February 11, the 2* FWQ preceding the 4* event took place on the backside of the Hakuba Happo-one ski resort. Until more is known, here are the results:
