Niko Göz was in Les Arcs for PowderGuide at the premiere of the 2 and 4* FWQ contests. He wrote his report in English so that his colleagues and fellow participants as well as the organizers could theoretically read along.Last week, from Sunday, 31st January to Friday, 5th February 2016 the first "Freeride Week" in France took place in the beautiful mountains of Les Arcs - Paradiski. It is truly an impressive ski station and with the connection to La Plagne, you will find a lot of amazing scenery and terrain for sure. All kinds of snow and weather conditions, challenging mountain faces and the gathering of really nice riders from throughout the world made the first French Freeride week an exceptional event!
Conditions Base
Les Arcs is a really big station and includes 4 different villages, which are actually really different from each other. The architecture includes everything from charming chalet style houses to neo futuristic apartment blocks and exceptionally large hotels. The villages of Les Arcs are located at 1600m, 1850m, and about 1950m. Each one of these villages has access to the lifts and the runs include all kinds of terrain - slopes for every level, hidden tree runs with lots of features, pillow lines and also quite a few big mountain lines. The free public transport system guarantees pretty good transportation throughout these resorts. The competition faces were chosen nicely and were also really cool to ride on, but check yourself:
The Contests
The first riders meeting was on sunday evening and we were given information about the contest, such as what mandatory equipment we would have to bring: avalanche transceiver, probe, shovel, helmet, backpack and back protector, as well as a harness. This was new for our group traveling from Innsbruck, including Verena Fendl, Andreas Baumann, Patrick Gstrein and me. We never had to use a harness at a 2* FWQ venue before, so if you plan to go to a FWQ competition soon, better bring a harness too! We all had to organize it the next day in a store called Christina Sport (which is actually a really good assorted ski and snowboard store at Arcs 1800). It would be nice if this kind of information could be given in advance by the contest organizers, e.g. by an e-mail to the registered riders.
The next day was reserved for the face check of venues for tuesday's competitions. We also took the opportunity to shred some lines with Felix Schwarz and Kai Kirbs, two talented German riders. As the freezing level had risen very high the night before, the higher parts of the mountains and also the tuesday's contest face were bombed. This caused the organizers to replan the zoning for the comp. But nevertheless, there were still some nice spots and lines to be found that day. On tuesday the first contest was on: We were all really excited before the first contest run, although the conditions were a bit crusty in some areas and a rather rocky and icy in other sections. A good point was that these zones were discussed carefully during the riders meeting the night before. I wanted to take it easy that day and found a cool line. Many of the riders, myself included, were pretty stoked about the snow conditions, which were much better than expected. After coming down the mountain on the first day there was still lots of time left for us to watch other riders, socialize or just chill in the sun, have lunch and then go riding with old and new friends again! At this point, thanks a lot Leon Butler for showing us around! All together, it was a really cool first competition day, but maybe with some other results than expected for some of us. Among the riders we discussed three things that could have been organized better that day: First, evacuation from the contest face, in case of accidents, should be organized quicker! Second, trying to keep the order of the Bib/ starting numbers! And third of all, maybe add Bib numbers to the list of results! This would make it way easier to discuss your line with the judges. Congrats to the winners and all competing riders on Day 1. They showed a really strong level of competition riding! After a long cool party night at Les Arcs 2000, some snowy weather and tree skiing on Wednesday (shout out to the super nice Spanish group from Baqueira Beret in the Pyrenees!), the next venue was announced for Thursday. Contest day 2 was also a blast: It had dumped around 30 cm of fresh pow the night before and the riding level was exceptionally high for a 2* FWQ comp. Our crew had great fun, with Verena sending it to a great 4th place and Andi getting picked. Congrats! Once again, congratulations to all the winners and riders on day 2! I also had a super nice start of my line that day, but after taking too much speed in the middle section, I lost control and couldn't stomp my last two features. Pity! But watch yourself...
There were also some things discussed by the riders that day. Pretty strange for many of us was the fact that we didn't have to wear a backpack with probe and shovel that day. The conclusion most of the riders reached is that even if there's little to no avalanche danger on a face, freeriders should have the best equipment and best education to avoid avalanche accidents! Even if it is not mandatory (it should be), we should always wear all the appropriate gear when competing. Not only is it good to be well-equipped, as representatives of the sport we should also show the public what responsible freeriding looks like. Like this we can give our best while competing in our favorite sport and still show a maximum level of professionalism and set a good example for others (especially in winters with lots of unstable snow layers and many avalanche accidents). In this context, I want to thank Alexander Hoffmann for his good words on the FWQT Facebook (and Riders only) page!
Summary of the 4* venue
The finals of this week were set for Friday, Feb, 5th. As I wasn't part of this contest, I just want to sum up a few things which were articulated during those last days. Others had much better luck, with e.g. Florian Bouvet Fournier winning the snowboarder's category. Congratulations to every winner and rider of this competition! The main thing that was not okay about this contest venue was that there were some riders who went for an on-face inspection the day before. According to the FWQ rules this shouldn't be allowed. Quote from the rules:
"The FWQ Organizer shall close the competition venue(s) 30 days prior to the event or latest after the last snowfall. If competitors were to be seen riding the competition venue(s) after the time the Organizer decided to close it, and it is clearly marked and communicated, the Organizer has the right to disqualify these riders." Another strange thing about this last competition was that riders that normally would not have gotten a spot in the comp were accepted as move-up candidates the night before at the riders meeting. Many positive but also some negative impressions, mainly about the organization, were discussed by the riders in person and on social media during the last days. We riders want to show high level performances during the competitions. We hope that the standard for the organization of the competitions will be at a similarly high level in the future. Personally, I really liked the 2* FWQ events in Les Arcs. Ever since my first competition within the French Freeride Series last year in Sainte Foy, I became a big fan of these events. There's just a bit more work to be done, to make every event the best it could be!
Outlook
The great mountains and very nice people at this event once again made the experience unique for me and most of our group! As Les Arcs didn't host a lot of FWQ events yet, I'm very excited about future events and wish all the best to the organizing committee. If I'm not returning for a competition, I will definitely visit the region on a deep powder day! Well, never stop riding neither exploring! ;) Cheers ya all! Nuff a dem words now: Pow(d)er tot he peolpe! Video Recaps: - Video Day 1: https://www.facebook.com/Evolution2.Lesarcs/videos/745888762211002/ - Video Day 2: https://www.facebook.com/Evolution2.Lesarcs/videos/747311348735410/
