Open Faces

Last Friday, the Freeride World Tour stop was held in Vallnord-Arcalís. This was followed by events from the FWQ and FJT series in Austria at the weekend.

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!

Little has changed since the last article, especially in terms of the snow situation. A few more event dates have subsequently been added and the Freeride World Tour has extended contracts with ski resorts.

With an FWQ 1*, the expectations of the face are not particularly high. Uttendorf-Weisssee is completely different: a complex face with many options, a steep upper section and a challenging orientation in the lower section of the Tauernkogel. A contest in April generally demands good technique from the riders, as the snow conditions vary during the run.

Perfect conditions at the home peak for the first Austrian Freeride World Qualifier event in 2016! After numerous cancellations or postponements in this year's "Austrian Freeride Series" due to poor snow conditions or high avalanche danger, it was now time to start the freeride contest season in beautiful Austria under sunshine and powder snow! And the riders were really happy to find great conditions and were delighted with the perfectly organized contest.

On Saturday, 14.03.15, the Axamer Lizum presented itself in its second attempt at the FWQ 3* event with sunshine, a great atmosphere in the Hoadl and good conditions on the contest slope: the Hochtennboden. The participants Julian Zenzmaier and Jochen Mesle were on site for PowderGuide and report on their impressions.

Perfect snow conditions and blue skies made this year's FWQ 3* event in the Silvretta Montafon one of the highlights of the season.

The snow and weather conditions are not making it easy for the organizing team of the Open Faces Freeride Series this season. Instead of holding the contest as planned on the Freeride World Tour-proven, beautiful Quellspitze, a replacement face had to be found at short notice due to the snow conditions. In addition, it was even necessary to change the zoning and the start of FWQ** and FJT** on the day of the contest. The visibility conditions were not the best either ...

Breathe a sigh of relief! The time had finally come ... The first Open Faces FWQ contest was successfully held on 07.02.2015. In bright sunshine and fantastic powder snow, not only was the first decision made at the 1*Freeride World Qualifier 2015 on the Hochkönig, but the juniors also celebrated their successful OPEN FACES premiere. Some newcomers were particularly impressive in the end.

The Open Faces focus on young talent: Two of the three FWT junior competitions taking place in Austria in 2015 will be held as part of the Open Faces Contests in Kappl (18.01.2015) and on the Hochkönig (08.02.2015).

On the last weekend of March 2014, the Obergurgl/Hochgurgl ski resort was the venue for one of the most impressive and best organized freeride contests we have ever seen.

Last weekend saw the third-to-last competition in the Open Faces Series: the Silvretta Montafon ski resort hosted the premiere of a 3* Freeride World Qualifier event. As the points at the end of the season are becoming increasingly coveted - after all, it's also about the overall victory of the Austrian Freeride Series - it was no wonder that many top riders had announced their attendance. In addition to the usual suspects, World Tour rider Neil Williman and local Fabio Studer, who returned from Canada just in time, were also at the start.