Nadine Wallner

62 athletes from four continents, including all four reigning freeride champions in skiing and snowboarding, are taking part in the Freeride World Tour 2015. The interesting field of participants includes not only the qualifiers from the last FWT and the promoted athletes from the FWQ, but also some participants with wildcards. These were awarded, among others, to those top riders who were injured last season and are now making their comeback. Other wildcards go to the Olympic participants.

As in previous years, this winter's finale of the very varied Freeride World Tour was an exciting high-caliber event at the legendary Bec des Rosses in Verbier in the Valais Alps. Due to the difficult snow conditions on the extremely steep northern slope of the Bec des Rosses and last-minute changes to the starting line-up, early speculation about the distribution of titles and the day's winners was completely inappropriate. The Verbier Xtreme 2014 freeride competition was correspondingly exciting for spectators and participants alike.

After the last-minute postponement, the fourth stop of the FWT in Snowbird/Utah was held on the last day of the scheduled weather window. With blue skies and fresh snow, the riders found suitable conditions on the Silver Fox Face. Lars Chickering-Ayers (USA) won the skiers' competition, Jamie Rizzuto (CAN) won the snowboarders' competition. Lorraine Huber (AUT) and Elodie Mouthon (FRA) came out on top in the women's skiing and snowboarding categories.

The fourth stop of the Feeride World Tour 2014 in Snowbird/Utah started on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 10 a.m. North American local time (= MST, Mountain Standard Time). It started with the women's snowboard and ski races, with the men's race coming last.

Due to the difficult snow conditions on the Wildseeloder in Fieberbrunn, the third stop of the FWT, also the 10th anniversary edition of the Big Mountain Fieberbrunn, took place this time in the Paznaun Valley on the Quellspitze in Kappl. Despite the last-minute relocation and the unfamiliar slope, the freeriders performed impressively in the sunshine and challenging snow conditions. The winners were Sam Smoothy (NZL) for the skiers, Sammy Luebke (USA) for the snowboarders, Nadine Wallner (AUT) for the skiers and Shannan Yates (USA) for the snowboarders.

The Big Mountain Hochfügen 4* FWQ is now an established contest with a very strong field of riders on a slope that can easily compete with most of the FWT faces. This was one of the reasons why the podium places at the 2013 edition were mainly occupied by current FWT riders, above all Loic Collomb-Patton, who qualified for the World Tour with his victory and has been unstoppable ever since. While the conditions on the slopes were pretty good at times due to the difficult winter in the Northern Alps (PowderGuide tested them on site), the mild temperatures and foehn are currently putting quite a strain on the snowpack. Nevertheless, we hope for a successful competition from 08.02.2014 in safe conditions!

The unified Freeride World Tour has crowned its first world champions: Drew Tabke (USA), Ralph Backstrom (USA), Nadine Wallner (AUT) and Elodie Mouthon (FRA). The winners of the final on the Bec des Rosses were Kevin Guri (FRA), Ralph Backstrom (USA), Matilda Rapaport (SWE) and Elodie Mouthon (FRA). The contest took place in very good snow conditions at an absolutely top-class level! Thousands of spectators on site and over 180,000 viewers followed the 18th Verbier Xtreme live via webcast.

After the 5th stop of the Freeride World Tour in Fieberbrunn on March 9th was postponed by a week due to poor snow and weather conditions, all riders were condemned to hold out. The best freeriders in the world were forced to bridge a few days. German World Tour rider and Fieberbrunn "local" Tom Leitner shortened the waiting time for his fellow riders from the States by organizing a short trip to his home in Berchtesgarden. The freeride spots in the area, such as Obertauern, were also checked out with local Ferdl Winter.

Christine Hargin and Drew Tabke underline their role as favorites among the skiers on this year's Freeride World Tour. Jonathan Charlet wins on his home mountain, as does Laura Dewey among the snowboarders.

The FREERIDE WORLD TOUR kicked off with wins for the favorites in all four disciplines. In first-class conditions in Revelstoke (B.C.), Canada, Drew Tabke (USA) and Christine Hargin (SWE) won the skiers' event, while Ralph Backstrom (USA) and Shannan Yates (USA) won the snowboarders' event.

Hagrin, Yates, Tabke and Backstrom win the first tour stop of the 2013 Freeride World Tour in Revelstoke!

With "only" 3 stars, the X-Over Ride in Kaprun doesn't shine as brightly on paper as some other FWQ events, but the riding level here was also more than respectable. After all, the X-Over Freeride contest on the Kitzsteinhorn is the last FWQ tour stop in the Alps in 2012 before the final in Norway.