Max Hitzig

Incredible conditions in Verbier right at the start of the season, especially on the extremely steep and exposed slope of the Petit Bec. An incredible start for two German riders: Max Hitzig, FWT Rider of the Year 2023, wins his third stage and for the first time in Verbier. Timmy Schröder puts down an incredibly creative line in the high mountains of Valais and makes his first exclamation mark on his Freeride World Tour debut. Among others, he had to admit defeat to one of the grand masters of snowboarding; Victor de le Rue shook up the fabric of last year's tour with his comeback, as did Kristofer Turdell. Zuzanna Witych won the women's contest.

Their names are Nikolai, Jacob, Antti and also Trygg and Hedvig and they produce ski VLOGs. You can't get past them. And rightly so, because they have the best English "Lordy-Dordy!", the best safety management (Extended Column Test) and run everything on green electricity. They wouldn't need to be skiing, but even that they usually do pretty well. But of course, there are a few Alpine one-offs that stand up to their dominance.

For perhaps the last VdW episode of the season, we present new and old ski heroes: Valentin Rainer and Max Hitzig have opted for riding and Reine Barkered, one of the most successful contest freeriders ever, says goodbye to the competition stage. Antti, Nikolai, Krister, Gerhard and Fabio are also taking part again. We hope this will motivate you to try your luck again!

The Freeride World Tour has had difficulties this season due to the weather. It started with a changed start date in Kicking-Horse, rain and warm weather delayed the start at Wildseeloder and now the Xtreme Verbier had to be canceled for the second time in its 25-year history. In this winter of all winters with little precipitation, heavy snowfall coupled with strong winds meant that the safety of the athletes on the Bec des Rosses could not be guaranteed.

The Freeride World Tour 2022/23 will once again set new standards in terms of creativity, airtime and freestyle elements this season. The story of the older generation and big mountain riders with their alpinistic approach, such as Sam Anthamatten, Reine Barkered or the de le Rue brothers, seems to have come to an end. Nevertheless, avalanche prevention and safety awareness remain key issues for the contest scene.

The Freeride World Tour 2022/23 starts its final stops in the Alps next weekend. The next stop at the infamous Wildseeloder in Fieberbrunn promises two new events and could become the unofficial finale.

We are celebrating the upcoming cold snap with the films of some of our best friends, first and foremost Max Hitzig and Valentin Rainer. We are also very happy to finally follow Max Kroneck and Jochen Mesle's bike-ski trip through the Balkans - a great adventure. Finally, Krister Kopala emancipates himself and releases his first major film of his own, with exciting steep face snowboarding.

On Friday, the FWT made up for the stop planned as the start of the tour at the infamous Ozone Face in Kicking Horse, Canada. The highest art of freeriding was on offer: Snowboarder Liam Rivera won as a rookie for Mexico, on skis Max Hitzig and Valentin Rainer confirmed their huge potential, and in the women's event rookie Megane Betend won on skis and Michaela Davis-Meehan on snowboard. The riders have been cut and are now heading to the finals in Fieberbrunn and Verbier.

The VdW are all about the tour stop planned for today in Kicking Horse, Canada. The stop was originally planned as a prelude, but was postponed due to difficult conditions. Now 40 cm of fresh snow have been reported in the Ozone face and everything is now set for a great show. We have put together some background reports as a pre-program, enjoy!

It was a party! The FWT took place in the Spanish Pyrenees for the second time in a row and it already seems to feel very much at home here. Under blue skies and in partly difficult, partly fantastic snow conditions, it was especially the performances of the local heroes that had hundreds of spectators cheering. It's clear: control wins points but Air&Style wins events, and young rookies win against old hands. A great start to the season!

The FWT season starts next weekend. As many have already noticed, the Freeride World Tour has been swallowed up by the FIS. Little will change in the upcoming season, at least for spectators. What this step means for the medium-term future of contest freeriding is still up in the air.