Estelle Balet

What to do in times like these? Act appropriately! We have all heard what that means: social distance. We express condolences to all who are affected by the current situation.

It wasn't meant to be this time: Adverse weather conditions initially caused the snowboard and women's ski categories to hold back a little and ultimately led to the cancellation of the skiers' competition at the 21st Xtreme Verbier.

For the second stop of the Freeride World Tour 2016, the riders have moved on to Chamonix, the Mecca for skiers and alpinists. On the north face of the Aig. Pourrie, they put on an action-packed show.

George Rodney (USA) for the skiers and Estelle Balet (SUI) and Jonathan Charlet (FRA) for the snowboarders are the winners of the third stop of the FWT in Vallnord-Arcalis. At the stop of the Freeride World Tour 2015 (FWT) in Andorra, which was canceled in Austria and now made up for in Andorra, today's third-placed Felix Wiemers (GER) and today's seventh-placed Stefan Häusl (AUT) punched their tickets for the fourth stage in Alaska.

At the FWT stop in Vallnord-Arcalis on February 13, Hazel Josie Birnbaum (USA) and Sam Smoothy (NZL) won in the skiers' category and Estelle Balet (SUI) and Jonathan Charlet (FRA) in the snowboarders' category. Flo Orley (AUT) took second place and leads the snowboarder rankings. It was the third stop of the season for the freeskiers. Eva Walkner (AUT), who finished second today, is qualified for the fourth stage in Alaska as the overall leader. The competitions in the other three categories that were canceled in Fieberbrunn will be made up for later this week in Andorra.

After the last-minute postponement, the fourth stop of the FWT in Snowbird/Utah was held on the last day of the scheduled weather window. With blue skies and fresh snow, the riders found suitable conditions on the Silver Fox Face. Lars Chickering-Ayers (USA) won the skiers' competition, Jamie Rizzuto (CAN) won the snowboarders' competition. Lorraine Huber (AUT) and Elodie Mouthon (FRA) came out on top in the women's skiing and snowboarding categories.

The fourth stop of the Feeride World Tour 2014 in Snowbird/Utah started on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 10 a.m. North American local time (= MST, Mountain Standard Time). It started with the women's snowboard and ski races, with the men's race coming last.

The last FWQ tour stop of the 2013 FWQ season in Switzerland stops for the 2nd time in the 4 Vallées - the ski resort that is also known as the Mecca of freeriders. And not by chance...! Niko was at the start of many FWQ tour stops across the Alps in the past season and tells us in detail about his impressions from Nendaz! Thanks for your motivation and commitment Niko! (T.H.)

Another edition of the 3* FWQ contest took place in the beautiful Val d'Anniviers. The only contest where, according to our rider reporter Nikolai Göz, there is a (15-person!) mega jacuzzi for the aperitif... Niko has been at the start of several FWQ tour stops across the Alps this season and once again gives us his impressions...

Last weekend, the freeride hotspot Hochfügen once again welcomed the best contest riders to the annual Big Mountain Event. The freeride contest is one of the top-class 4* events within the Freeride World Qualifier series and attracted many onlookers thanks to the good weather. For PowderGuide, participants Julian Zenzmaier and Jochen Mesle were there to report on their impressions.

The FWQ series also started this season in La Clusaz (France). The 2* events, which took place during the week, gave riders with few or even no ranking points the chance to qualify for the main event at the weekend. The 4* contest attracted many European freeriders, who competed for the good prize money and the many FWT points. Fabian Lentsch and Jochen Mesle were on site for PowderGuide and report on their impressions.