From February 16 to 17, 2013, another edition of the now almost legendary T-Bar Free Sessions took place, once again in the charming Swiss resort of Morgins. This is a traditional resort in a high valley on the Swiss side of the (believe it or not) 12-valley(!) Portes du Soleil ski area - the "gates to the sun" south of Lake Geneva with 650 kilometers of slopes, various course parks, halfpipes and countless deep snow areas... On top of that, there are mountain panoramas of a special kind on Dents du Midi, Dents Blanches and Mont Blanc. What more could you want? Nikolai Göz was on site for PowderGuide:
Starting point
Already during the journey through the Val d'Illiez, past the village of Trois Torrents, it became clear with every additional meter of altitude that quite a lot of snow had already fallen here this season. Arriving in Morgins at an altitude of 1400 meters, a snow base compressed to 1.50 meters appeared in places protected from the wind and on roofs! More than decent! Directly on Friday before the "Free Sessions", another 15-30 centimeters of powder snow of the finest kind were added to the host area. The snow-covered landscape and the fresh snow got the pulses and hearts of all freeriders racing in advance. However, not only the riders, but also the locals and the contest organizers were impressed by the great snow conditions this year, to the point of being blown away.
The action
The freeriders were able to qualify for the final on Sunday on the impressive "Tovassiere" mountain massif by taking part in two qualifying competitions on very beautiful, varied and sometimes quite steep slopes. In total, around 70 male skiers, 20 female skiers, 35 male snowboarders and 10 female snowboarders took part in the qualifications. The event was organized as follows: After a first meeting on Saturday morning from 7- 8 a.m., where you received your start number, documents about the program, a T-shirt and various contest goodies, you headed straight to the top of the Champex lift. The first face check, basic safety briefing and introduction to the judging system took place there at 9.30 am.
Afterwards, it was up to each rider to decide when to appear at the Faces between 10.30am and 4pm to register their start number. The only important thing was to complete the two runs on the day in order to have a chance of making it to the final! Skiers had to ski the left face (1) first, snowboarders and girls the right face (2). It didn't go so well for me on the day, as I was still in pain from a knee to stone collision 10 days ago and had to start the contest with the motto: "Easy Going" and: "No more than can be done". Nevertheless, I also enjoyed the runs, even if it was a bit depressing not to be able to tackle them with my usual enthusiasm and not even half my normal confidence and riding ability - but I was all the happier for all the riders who qualified for the final. On Saturday evening, all the competitors were invited to the cozy T-Bar from 5.30 pm for the results announcement and nice chats with the other riders. Afterwards, there was food and drink around the campfire and a special kind of barbecue (www.feuerring.ch - the riders enjoyed it, even if the price range was upmarket). DJ sound at its finest was rubbed under the eardrums and if that was not enough, there was also a concert to attend. On Sunday, all riders who had qualified for the final were to meet at 10.30 a.m. at the finish of the "Tovassiere massif" for a first briefing. They were then transported by a slope roller to the vicinity of the final face to thrill the spectators from 11.30 am to 3.00 pm. It started with the skiers, then it was the snowboarders' turn and finally the skiers and snowboarders were called alternately. The contest was thrilling from the first to the last second and the atmosphere among the spectators was excellent.
More pictures and the results in the gallery
Just looking at the mountain massif, it is clear that there are a large number of different options, lines and cliffs. This and the fact that a skier from the Freeride World Tour also took part in the contest raised the standard at the final to the absolute top level once again this year. The women also impressed with beautiful lines and cliff drops, while jumps such as front and back flips, 360s, sometimes very high cliff drops and rapid speed lines were the order of the day for the men in the challenging terrain. A big round of applause from the spectators greeted every rider at the finish line. My respect goes to all the riders, but especially to some friends and runs that I saw in full: From the skiers to Julian Giacomelli from the German national alpine skiing team with his absolutely insane cliff attempt and to Florent Leu for his very nice, fluid line including a double cliff to the fourth-placed skier. In the snowboarding category, second-placed Dominik Wernli from Central Switzerland also impressed the judges with a long jump over the top cornice and then a very fast, flowing line from top to bottom. The runs of Antoine Steimer (6th), John Fournier (8th) and Tibor Sesti (10th) from the region were also great to watch and characterized by creative line choices and lots of airtime. All results and more photos can be found here
Conclusion
Once again a very successful 2* Freeride World Qualifier Contest on fantastic slopes. Taking part in the contest was an absolute pleasure for most of the riders! The organization and the overall course of the contest was highly praised by all riders. The contact and interaction with the other riders was once again excellent, which was certainly helped by the many different countries of origin (France, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, England, Germany, etc.) and languages spoken. The atmosphere was simply super relaxed and the whole "trappings" were just perfect. High times... 5 out of 5 thumbs up and see you again next year!
