Freeride World Tour

There were no contests in the German-speaking Alpine region last week. The World Tour is waiting for the start in Alaska and Obergurgl is coming up for the qualifiers.

The FWT calls the event in Fieberbrunn 'Crunch Time' and that's exactly what it was. Contests in Nendaz and Axamer Lizum had to be canceled due to the high risk of avalanches. Read all about the latest ContestHappenings here:

The stop of the Freeride World Tour 2017 in Fieberbrunn will take place on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. We can only hope that it has snowed a little in the last few days and that the not-so-safe weather plays along. And of course that the avalanche conditions will allow us to hold a contest worth seeing this time.

Apart from the FWQ in Jasna, not much happened in terms of contests during the last carnival week. The FWT organizers looked at locations in new countries for possible contests, there is a wildcard competition for the X-Over Ride and both the FWT tour stop in Fieberbrunn and the 3* qualifier in the Axamer Lizum had to be postponed due to the weather.

After two World Tour stops in Andorra, the FWT riders are gradually arriving in the Eastern Alps and are taking part in the 3* FWQ in Montafon, for example, or are watching or familiarizing themselves with the local snow conditions in Fieberbrunn. We are all hoping for snow and that a safe contest can be held in Fieberbrunn or perhaps somewhere else.

Last Wednesday, the catch-up event for the canceled stop of the Swatch Freeride World Tour (FWT) in Chamonix took place in bright sunshine in Andorra. Lorraine Huber (AUT) and Leo Slemett (FRA) won the so-called "Swatch Freeride World Tour Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Staged in Vallnord-Arcalís" on skis and Marion Haerty (FRA) and Christoffer Granbom (SWE) on snowboard. FWT newcomer Manuela Mandl took third place. The 2*FJT Silvretta Montafon also took place on Sunday!

Last Friday, the Freeride World Tour stop was held in Vallnord-Arcalís. This was followed by events from the FWQ and FJT series in Austria at the weekend.

Despite all the ISPO hustle and bustle, contests still took place last weekend. So that our readers don't miss anything, here is a brief overview of the events of the last few days, including results and videos.

A short conversation at the start of the tour with German skiers Bene and Felix.

While it is now certain that the FWT will kick off its season between February 9 and 16, 2017 with two contests in Vallnord-Arcalís (Andorra) due to the lack of snow in Chamonix, the only 1* qualifier event took place in the very east of the Alps last weekend. Rider reporter Stephanie was there for us and took part in the event, which is designed to help newcomers to contest freeriding, among other things:

The Freeride World Tour season opener should have actually taken place last weekend, January 28-29, 2017, in Chamonix. However, due to the poor snow conditions (see picture of the competition slope), the organizers decided to postpone the start of the season until Wednesday (2 February).

For the first time, the 2* and 4* FWQ events in Hakuba were international freeride competitions on Asian soil. For PowderGuide, rider reporter Michael Strauss reports on his experiences at the contest and at JaPOW!