On February 18, the FWQ community in Switzerland came together for the first time in 2012 to hold the Morgins Free Sessions 2012 after the event in Engadin was canceled. In the hunt for important ranking points and the highly coveted prize money, mainly freeriders from France and Switzerland took to the start line. Many of them came from the surrounding area. Alexandra Panhofer and participant Julian Zenzmaier were on site for PowderGuide.
The contest
The contest, originally planned for two days, was shortened to one day at short notice as a bad weather front was forecast for Sunday. Initially, many participants criticized this decision, but it soon became clear that the organizers had made the right decision. As a result, both spectators and participants were able to enjoy perfect weather conditions on Saturday, while the weather on Sunday was rainy and cloudy as expected.
The standard of riders was surprisingly high for a 2** FWQ event. Almost 90 starters, including 13 ladies, ventured down the very steep competition slope. The snow conditions were rather poor in the upper section - but the skiers were rewarded with perfect powder snow in the lower section.
In the men's skiing competition, Léo Slemett from France impressed the judges with a massive backflip over 25 meters. Second place went to Bellon Romain from Switzerland and third place to Jordan Bricheux, also from France.
In the women's skiing category, local heroine Stéphanie Grosjean impressed with a very fluid run through very steep terrain and two jumps in the lower section. Laure Vailly from France took second place and Seraina Murk came third.
In the snowboarding category, Tobias-Rafael Schefranek, one of the few Germans, was able to push himself into first place with a very high jump, relegating the Swiss Julien Zambotti and World Tour contender Joel Rouge to second and third place.
The female snowboarders also put in a strong performance. In the end, Kateryna Chukvinska from Ukraine took first place ahead of Petra Schwarz from Germany and Ana Marea Zgraggen from Switzerland.
Conclusion
The fantastic weather and the challenging terrain made the event a great success. The riders clearly had fun and enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere and, of course, the party in the infamous T-Bar right in Morgins. Unfortunately, I myself had to be annoyed about a fall, as I couldn't stand a long jump in the upper section due to the poor snow conditions. However, Verena Fendl, who traveled together with me, was able to achieve 4th place in the women's ski category and thus secure her first points in the FWQ ranking.