Kappl

Anyone living the dream of freeriding in Austria can learn from the best. Snowboard vice world champion Flo Orley and FWT winner Stefan Häusl have left their active careers behind them - and are now passing on their knowledge to the next generation. Orley as co-founder of the Freeride Academy Innsbruck, Häusl as a coach for young freeride pros on the Arlberg. The impressive offspring from their own ranks proves that both are doing it right: Stefan's daughter Jana is the current FIS Freeride Junior World Champion and Flo's daughter Momo is already a two-time European Champion U14. Freeride DNA literally runs in the family in Austria.

Flat light, icy nights and changing conditions - that's exactly where we want to be able to rely on our equipment. The Atomic Revent GT AMID helmet and Atomic Four Q HD goggles have been tested in the backcountry, on ski tours, skiing and snowboarding, day and night. Find out here how Merino comfort, AMID protection and HD lens technology complement each other and why good vision often makes the difference between hesitation and flow.

The currently unclear situation and the question of how the pandemic will develop in the coming weeks and months also poses major challenges for the organization of freeride contests. Will there be a shortened tour for the elite? Will qualifier events be held and how will they be scored? Answers to these and other questions still need to be found.

The third ContestHappening of the season is about the Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl, the FWQs in Engadin and Les Arcs, as well as a new season wildcard for the FWT and two more wildcards for the Kicking Horse stop.

Here we go again! The Freeride World Tour 2020 starts next weekend in Hakuba, Japan. The qualifier season has already started, after a few contests in France and French-speaking Switzerland, the German-speaking countries have now also kicked off the season with the 3*FWQ/2*FJT in Kappl.

The trailer didn't really convince me, but the movie makes it clear right from the start that Winterland will once again be one of the better TGR flicks. Despite the Warren Milleresque title.

The FJT starts the new season with up to 3000 young athletes who want to gain experience in contest freeriding. The young U-14 riders are now also taking part in some events. In addition, the participants will be divided into the U-16 and U-18 categories for the first time. New venues are on the agenda in Iceland and Japan and efforts are being made to make contest freeriding more popular in these locations too. The season finale returns to Verbier.

The Freeride Junior World Championships, the most prestigious junior competition, took place this week in Kappl, Tyrol. The 4* FWQ was also held in Nendaz at the same time. Find out who can now call themselves Junior Freeride World Champion and what the status of the qualifiers is here.

The first stop of the FWT is coming up and will be livestreamed this afternoon (CET)! In addition, the first FWQ in German-speaking countries took place in Kappl (AT) this weekend!

Somehow it's strange: after years, there's enough snow here in the German-speaking Alpine region to be able to hold freeride contests properly, but there are no contests taking place at the moment. Based on experience from previous winters, the dates have probably been placed a little later in the season to be on the safer side.

The FWT hopes to be able to hold the first tour stop in Japan as early as tomorrow or tonight! The 2* FWQ in Kappl, AT, was canceled last weekend due to the heavy snowfall.

The contest season has begun. Six competitions have already taken place in the past week: Hakuba, Verbier and Kappl kicked things off. While it was difficult to find a suitable weather and time window in Hakuba due to the constant snowfall, the snow cover in the Alps is still thin, but apparently it is already good enough for contests. Hopefully also for the planned start of the FWT in Chamonix next weekend!