Amateurs and well-known freeriders from all over the world were once again able to compete for one of the coveted starting places at the third edition of Verbier Freeride Week. At the three 2* FWQ contests taking place, you had the opportunity to qualify for the 3* final with a very good placement and thus collect some points in the FWQ ranking system right at the start of the season. For PowderGuide, Niko Göz once again reports on his experiences at the event this season.
The starting position
The event was scheduled to take place from January 11 to 18, 2014. However, it was advisable to arrive in Verbier a day early for accreditation, as the first contest was to take place on Saturday, January 11. Even on the first gondola ride from Le Chable in the Val de Bagnes to Verbier, it was clear that not much snow had fallen this season compared to previous years. What's more, the snow at lower altitudes had almost completely melted away due to the previous mild temperatures.
The action
The schedule was also organized a little differently than last year: the most important change was probably that the order of the allocated start numbers was strictly adhered to, so that the motto at most of last year's contests - first runs first - was no longer possible. Around 100 riders were allowed to start each day, of which around 60 were skiers, 20 snowboarders, 15 ski girls and 5 snowboarders. As last year, all the contest slopes were selected by Cyril Neril, three-time winner of the Verbier X-Treme on the Bec de Rosses. This year, however, fresh tracks were not always guaranteed, which was most noticeable on the first day of the contest on Mont Géle. There had been no fresh snow for a week and the face was completely tracked except for a few rare spots. Nevertheless, as with almost all FWQ events, the standard was extremely high and there were some great cliff drops, beautiful, stylish lines and tricks such as 360s and backflips.
What was demanded on the first day was made up for on the second day of the contest. The venue here was the left side of the infamous "Bec de Rosses", the notorious final slope of the Freeride World Tour. The snow conditions on this day were many times better, which was probably also due to the fact that you have to climb three quarters of an hour to the start of the "Baby Bec" and no one had yet taken on the hardship. After the descent, pretty much every rider had put on the usual "big smile" again, which was still very familiar from the FWQ events of recent years. The next two days were so-called (bad) weather days, when Mother Hulda once again shook the blankets quite vigorously. This lifted the spirits of the riders even further and prompted some of them to go freeriding themselves. So did we... After a two-day break (and completely exhausted from all the deep snow riding...) the last 2* FWQ event took place on Wednesday. As on the second day, the contest face was the left side of the Bec de Rosses, but with about 20-30 cm of fresh snow for good measure. (The location was probably retained due to the riders' satisfaction with the spot and the almost critical amount of fresh snow, which made the avalanche situation a little trickier). The "Baby Bec" was really nice to ride on this day and most of the riders still wanted to shred the freshly fallen snow afterwards.
The last day and therefore the 3* final of the week then took place after another day's break and some fresh snow on a familiar face from last year: La Chasse. Due to a variety of possible lines in steep, wooded terrain and thick cliffs, the location really deserves to be included in the category of 3* faces. The spectacle was even greater for the spectators on this day due to the participants' increased willingness to take risks, even if the number of spectators could have been a little higher.
The results
Conclusion
Taking part in Verbier Freeride Week was great fun again this year. There were lots of new contacts with nice people and many of the people I knew from last year were there again this year. For my part, I didn't get the results I wanted. Nevertheless, you feel pretty comfortable in the family of freeriders, because the passion for powder is a great bond! So long - a lala long... Niko Action pictures can be found here
