Haines

The dream of many young athletes was to come true. To be able to leave their tracks in the (still) untouched nature of Alaska and join the small group of Freeride World Tour riders who have already had this privilege. Never-ending white slopes, bright sunshine in freezing temperatures and the best freeriders in the world. This calls for fun, action and thrills as well as crunchtime in the first part of the final events of a special kind.

"All good things come in threes" is often said, but it is not always true. This time, "exceptions prove the rule" would probably be more accurate. Due to the snow conditions, no Freeride World Tour contest can take place in Fieberbrunn either.

Survived Christmas, said hello to the whole family in love and stress - or hid somewhere in the snow or on the beach? I'm using this space this week to draw attention to a website: the Freeski Museum. Eric Iberg has been working for years on creating a platform that brings together all ski films, all ski pro models, all podcasts, etc. It's finally online and still a long way from being finished - but wow, so cool. Thanks for that.

Still no sign of summer break in Alaska. Just as winter is making a comeback in the Alps, it’s doing the same in Alaska. Despite being much farther north, Alaska is beginning to thaw—slowly. Spring is usually the time to "claim your spine" in the Chugach Mountains, but the weather windows have been few and far between, especially on the southern slopes. Since the last SnowChase, the weather simply hasn’t settled down.

Before we head into summer break, we’re checking in one last time with an update on the heavy snowfalls sweeping across Alaska. Since last Thursday, the snow has been coming down steadily—and there’s more on the way through Monday. For everyone in our community chasing the dream of "Back into the Wild" or those iconic ski film vibes, here’s a quick look at what the weather has in store over the next few days.

In recent years, films have emerged that go beyond the sport itself, encouraging us to reflect on our responsibility in the climate crisis. They urge us to take imperfect, yet necessary steps to create change. With impressive action and artistic vision, some of these projects show that change doesn't have to be perfect, but instead that every step matters.

Contrary to the trend in recent years towards rather mediocre contest conditions at all events, the Freeride World Tour in Haines was lucky once again: blower powder on a beautiful face provided the basis for a contest worth seeing. Only an avalanche on Reine Barkered's run marred the impression a little. Sammy Luebke (USA) and Shannan Yates (USA) won the snowboarder category, while Loïc Collomb-Patton (FRA) and Arianna Tricomi (ITA) won the skier category.

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.

Steep gullies, spectacular cliff drops and unfortunately no livestream: the fourth stop of the Freeride World Tour in Haines (USA) was the hoped-for highlight, at least on site. In Alaska, Eva Walkner (AUT) and Logan Pehota (CAN) won among the skiers, while Anne-Flore Marxer (SUI/FRA) and Ryland Bell (USA) won among the snowboarders. Snowboard "gorilla" Flo Orley (AUT) took third place. Fabio Studer (AUT) and Stefan Häusl (AUT) took fourth and eighth place; Felix Wiemers (GER) came fifth.

Markus Eder from Val Pusteria has been the figurehead of Italian freeskiing for several years now. After a career in the park and an Olympic participation in slopestyle in Sochi, Markus can now be seen more and more in powder. He has been on the Freeride World Tour for several years and also films freeride segments with MSP, one of the biggest ski film productions in the world (Days of my Youth, Superheros of Stoke and many more). On Thursday 29 October 2015, "Fade to Winter" celebrates its European premiere in Innsbruck. We took this as an opportunity to ask Markus a few questions about his work with MSP and his plans for the winter.

Now it's over, the Alaska tour stop in Haines that overshadowed everything this FWT season. At first it looked as if the Freeride Word Tour entourage would have to travel on without having achieved anything, having sat out the bad weather and made three futile attempts in vain. But then the tide turned: the competition only took place one day after the official time slot. The question of whether the wait and effort for this unique Freeride World Tour stop was worth it was one that many European freeride fans were able to answer for themselves on 23.03.15 on the live stream at prime time. For all those who didn't have the time or opportunity, here is a recap of the event.

The FWT crossed the Atlantic for its fourth and only North American tour stop in 2015 and landed in Haines, Alaska (USA). The field of participants has been reduced in all categories: Only the top 60% of the overall rankings are still taking part in the FWT Alaska premiere. But 2015 will not only be remembered for this first FWT tour stop in Alaska, but also for the following anniversary at the FWT finale: the Verier Xtreme is celebrating its 20th anniversary.