Story | Roldal Freeride Challenge FWQ 4*

Roldal is a fairly small inland village that can be reached after a winding five-hour drive from Oslo. The Norwegian landscape is breathtaking, and if there's a down day, as there is this year, it's worth driving to a fjord. Past huge waterfalls and through narrow gorges, we follow the road to Odda to marvel at the colorful Norwegian houses by the fjord and pick up some smoked salmon from the local fishmonger. A salmon snack in one of the cozy huts at the campsite, where almost all the riders are staying, tastes particularly good. Then it's on to the riders meeting. It is light until around 9.30 p.m., which is perhaps why the riders meetings were always scheduled for 9.00 p.m. in the evening. Lack of sleep is inevitable because of the early start. And unlike in France, punctuality is a must. Once again this year there was a large international crew at the start, clearly dominated by French riders and really motivated to let it rip at the first event, whose points count for the next season.
After the organizers have carried out very fair cuts in the individual categories, there is again a late night riders meeting with the BIB award for the next day. This will be followed by the first huge party with the spectators who have traveled from Oslo.

The Roldal Freeride Challenge is a two-day contest, after the first day only a certain number of riders are allowed to start on the second day, but the points from both days count together. So: two clean runs were required. Not easy in the rather changeable and hard snow conditions.

The standard was extremely high on the first day, with no trace of safe runs. The Norwegians are an enthusiastic audience, snow caves are built in the finish area to be able to follow the action protected from the wind. The commentator of the Freeride Challenge has a special reputation: he creates a great atmosphere, but also complains loudly if the show on offer is not good enough for him.

All riders have to hike through the face and with almost a hundred starters, the last ones wait for several hours at the windy summit. So snow caves are also built at the start. As a precaution, some Norwegians also have bivouac bags and hot tea with them. The qualification face offers a lot of possible lines and is relatively clear. The women's skiers in particular show some pretty spectacular runs, so much so that the commentator feels compelled to point out to the audience several times that the women's ski category is still racing here. Because we snowbaord ladies were the very first to start, I was once again able to watch an entire contest. And I have to say: I totally understand why so many people come to watch. We riders are a bit hardened when it comes to action, but on both days I was really thrilled to be able to see so much good skiing and snowboarding live.

The final day starts a little later and with fine weather. Another ascent through a face, but a completely different piece of mountain. Once again, the snowboard ladies start first and the crowd goes full throttle on the tribunes shaped by Ratrak. The atmosphere can be seen very well in the contest videos here. As a rider, I've rarely had a better finish.

On the final day, there were spectacular jumps over the waterfall in the central part of the face and some skiers dared to attempt an extremely high drop in the right-hand section of the face. Among them was the eventual winner Sebastien Varlet, who broke his hand on landing due to the impact. Hard on the limit.

The results:

Women's snowboard: 1st Manuela Mandl 2nd Ana Salvador 3rd Lea Klaue

Men's snowboard: 1st Adam Björk 2nd Ludovic Guilliot-Diat 3rd Clement Bochatay

. Clement Bochatay
Women's skiing: 1. Juliette Willman 2. Adela Vilanova 3. Caroline Strombert
Men's skiing: 1. Sebastien Varlet 2. Alessandro Jossen 3. Oscar Mandin

Here are video recordings of day 1 and day 2.
Conclusion:
Luckily, the Norwegian krone has lost value against the euro, making this trip a little cheaper and the experience is definitely worth the trip.