Freeski

April, April - VDW is back, for the penultimate time this season. It's not over until it's over, and that's exactly how this winter feels. I've brought you lots of spring edits, including a conspicuous number of Swedes - like Bjarne's new web series Fika, in which he accompanies ski and snowboard legends through their everyday lives. There's also NUBZ TV with Freeride World Tour icons Ben Richards and Toby Rafford as well as a documentary that is particularly close to my heart: Into Altai with Victor Daviet - on the road in the UAZ bus through Mongolia.

Two hours before the Arc’teryx Film Tour in Paris, we meet Chris Benchetler at the cinema. A quiet, open conversation about art, nature, collaboration - and how to stay creative without losing yourself: "The gift of art that I’ve been given - it’s bigger than me. Creating puts me into a meditative state. Even though it’s incredibly challenging, it also brings peace. " - Chris Benchetler

In the ninth edition of Videos of the Week, we celebrate Joona, the well-deserved 'Freeskier of the Year,' and take a look at creative film projects from the French Freeski team. We also join Torstein Horgmo on a psychedelic snowboarding journey through Baldface and Japan. On the competition side, we finally have fresh new Games of SLVSH, and the X Games kicked off with its first day full of exciting action. A week full of highlights for all Freeski and Snowboard fans!

Martin is a member of "Protect our Winters Austria", in his last two guest posts he explained why he is involved with "POW" and how the NGO is organised. The content of today's guest article is an interview with POW athlete Rosina Friedel:

Planet Earth keeps on spinning and the freeride scene and its filmmakers keep on making their films! And the protagonists, they also keep on turning and turning and turning! We are pleased to note that all kinds of new films have been created and that individualisation is progressing. Modern motifs are carefully handled by some productions and completely ignored by others, as in the more or less good old days.

Since the beginning of skiing and especially freeskiing, airtime has been essential. Speeds, slopes and soft snow simply demand that you give up contact with the snow. So either special kickers are built and jumped, or natural terrain features are used: cliff drop, gap, step-up, transfer - you name it! Of course, this is fun and also scores points in the freeride contests. We hope you enjoy today's airy selection!

While the winter of 2021/2022 somehow doesn't really want to get going, even at the end of January, the new 160-page Downdays book arrives. This time without a year in the title, but simply titled "Volume 3", it is once again a loose collection of interviews and stories that are roughly divided into three sections.

I had a very pleasant encounter with conditions reporter Nino, a.k.a. schneerudi, at the final PG meeting. What's more, a few days later he surprised me with an email full of treasures I'd never heard of. Here are the collected highlights. Thank you very much! We're not saying goodbye to the summer break just yet. Perhaps there are more surprises in store for us!

Canadian Eric Hjorleifson, better known as Hoji, has been shaking up the freeski scene for 20 years. He first made a name for himself as a young talent in MSP's films, but is now increasingly drawn towards material development. We spoke to Hoji about his beginnings as a pro, current developments in the sport and, of course, about equipment.

Now that there is no longer a printed Downdays magazine, Downdays published the first "Ski Stories" book last season. The next one will follow for the 2020/2021 season! The new edition also comes as a high-quality hardback book with 160 pages and once again has an unusual concept.

Winter has only just begun and just in time for Christmas, no, not a new magazine from Downdays, but a whole book with almost 200 pages! We leafed through it and took a look at what the "Book of Ski Stories" is all about.

In addition to the Candide Thovex Pro models, Faction also has a second backcountry/freeski line in its range - the Prodigy series. We extensively tested the widest model, the Prodigy 4.0, last winter. Find out what makes this ski so special and what you can use a freestyle-oriented twin tip with a 112 mm waist width for here in the test.