X-Over Ride

Perfect weather, sunburn, new lines, parking lot beer and powder turns in the seemingly endless terrain on the Kitzsteinhorn.

The season is also drawing to a close for the contests: the penultimate contest in the Alps was held on the Kitzsteinhorn in very spring-like conditions (followed by the 2* FWQ in Gastein next weekend). The Freeride World Tour has just confirmed that the final on the Bec des Rosses will take place tomorrow, Monday, April 3, 2017.

Apart from the FWQ in Jasna, not much happened in terms of contests during the last carnival week. The FWT organizers looked at locations in new countries for possible contests, there is a wildcard competition for the X-Over Ride and both the FWT tour stop in Fieberbrunn and the 3* qualifier in the Axamer Lizum had to be postponed due to the weather.

The 11th edition of the prestigious 3* Qualifier in Zell am See - Kaprun was particularly impressive due to the extremely high standard shown by the riders from 14 nations on the Lakarschneid Face. As in the previous season, the riders had to hold their own in spring-like conditions on the Lakarschneid. Tyrolean Flo Orley won the snowboarder category, Max Kroneck from Germany took his second FWQ victory, Norwegian Anja Gardli won the women's ski category and Frenchwoman Annouk Mouthon won the women's snowboard category.

On March 23, 2013, I took part in the X Over 1* Freeride World Qualifier Contest on the Kitzsteinhorn in Salzburgerland. This contest in late winter was also the last part of the Open Faces series.

Last weekend, everything revolved around the X OVER RIDE Big Mountain on the Kitzsteinhorn. It was the second year for the organizers within the Freeride World Qualifier series. As expected, the field of riders was very strong: it was not only about the Open Faces overall victory, but also about securing the last points for entry into the premier class, the Freeride World Tour. With bright sunshine and perfect conditions, nothing stood in the way of the crowning finale of the Open Faces Freeride Series. For PowderGuide, participants Julian Zenzmaier and Jochen Mesle were on site and report on their impressions.

The Austrian freeride contest scene has grown considerably this winter. No fewer than five new Freeride World Qualifiers in the OPEN FACES Freeride Series have invited youngsters and established riders to put their skills to the test in contests. After four successful events, the OPEN FACES Freeride Series is now heading towards the finale on the Kitzsteinhorn. Before that, however, the postponed 2-star competition in Kappl will be rescheduled.

From 2013, there will be a new way into the Freeride World Tour for ambitious freeriders: the OPEN FACES Series. The newly launched contest series combines many already renowned Freeride World Tour qualifier events in Austria, e.g. X-Over Ride on the Kitzsteinhorn, into an attractive contest series for freeriders in Tyrol and Salzburg for the first time and crowns the overall winner as Austrian freeride champion.

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.