FWT 17 Freeride World Tour spoilers within

[oftpiste]

I've got a bribe for ya if you're judging KH this weekend.....

Interestingly enough the injury statistics in the IFSA junior arena show what is probably the lowest rate of hospital-visit-required accidents than virtually any other youth sport. Certainly because of training, competitive experience etc.

QUOTE=GoldenBC;4964250]As a judge of 4* FWQ and Jr events I can confidently say that in Canadian events, recklessness gets punished hard and any control errors at all destroy scores. Judges and TDs mitigate risks and put the focus on skiing by limiting features and not running away with line scores. It is up to the organization to not promote go big or go home skiing, and we are doing that.

There is carnage at the Jr level but it is very limited. Big crashes, sure. But there are very very few times where we are afraid for the athletes. Over the years we have rewarded smart skiing and the coaches reinforce this attitude. With these Jrs coming up the ranks and graduating to the FWQ we are seeing the same control and smart skiing and they are winning the events.

Europe and the USA do what they do, but Canada is running a pretty tight ship that sure as hell doesn't promote go big or go home.[/QUOTE]

[klauss]

Stating the obvious, but it helps that most of the venues in FWQs don't have hucks above consequence. There are plenty of cliffs and opportunity for air, but most have open aprons to flail into and the pitches after most cliff bands aren't sustained nearly as long as that fieberbrunn wall / FWT stops.

edit: I guess I kind of take it back, this FWQ4 venue has a pretty serious lower section. I don't recall many similar NA venues



How is the transfer air at .10 viewed by the judges?

[pfluffenmeister]

^^^ I saw that transfer into the chute vid yesterday and watched it at least 5x in a row.

That is sick.

Is that guy local to that venue?

[skibum93]

I understand the logistics/cost/avy control/etc are very cumbersome, but I think that the biggest problem with FWT is your entire year is based on 2 runs.
As a former collegiate XC / Track athlete, I understand the value and draw to putting everything on 1 day, but the risk involved in these lines makes that a recipe for disaster. I prefer the older Freeskiing World Tour (I did a jr comp back in the day) where multiple days of competition reduced the win or break yourself mentality.
Yes, the winners still pushed the envelope every run, but I felt the comps appeared safer.

[klar]

Is that guy local to that venue?

No, but he would have skied it before. Jasna has been a 4* for quite a few years and most of the people taking the top spots have been doing this for a while and know the venues by now. Jasna in particular is popular because the venue is pretty cool and the whole event has a reputation of being a good time for the riders. However, there was some grumbling about the rescue taking too long when one of the girls fell on her head and knocked herself out a couple of years ago.

Regarding the Fieberbrunn venue, there are different starting gates for the men (further lookers right above the exposure) and the women (lookers left, not possible to get into the exposed stuff with the big cliffs where most of the recent carnage happened). I once did a 2* where everyone started from the women's FWT starting gate. I think that says quite a lot about the quality of the face as an FWT venue, or, perhaps, about the status of the women on the FWT.

[klar]

The finals of the Nendaz 4*, which were supposed to happen today, have been cancelled. They announced it with this video of the comp face. Turn the sound on, the music makes the video.
https://www.facebook.com/NendazFreer...c_ref=NEWSFEED

[philippeR]

Looks like the wise choice...

[kootenayskier]

It's always been a huge challenge timing any freeskiing event to coincide with safe, high quality skiing conditions, and visibility, on suitably challenging high alpine terrain. If it was easy to pull off, the sport would have boomed, as it's easily as compelling as anything in action sports, comparable to watching a surfing comp in large barrelling waves. The all too common reality is endless waiting periods, and hucking onto avalanche controlled sketchy landings and debris filled run-outs. If it's ever to deliver on its promise the FWT needs to divorce itself from schedules and resort venues.

[TahoeJ]

I understand the logistics/cost/avy control/etc are very cumbersome, but I think that the biggest problem with FWT is your entire year is based on 2 runs.

I talked about this earlier this season with someone on tour (a seasoned veteran) and he said he didn't really mind it coming down to a couple of runs. More so he enjoyed the group vibe of everyone on tour hanging out, getting to travel to cool places, and they get to do plenty of skiing / riding before and/or after the events. If your sponsors are going to pull the plug on you after one season if you don't make the cut they probably weren't going to be very supportive in general anyway. He didn't feel all that much pressure about it and really just wanted to go after lines because it's fun and a rush. Of course, some of the first year participants might not feel quite as relaxed about it, but I got the sense that was the general mentality.

[winecabin]

It's always been a huge challenge timing any freeskiing event to coincide with safe, high quality skiing conditions, and visibility, on suitably challenging high alpine terrain. If it was easy to pull off, the sport would have boomed, as it's easily as compelling as anything in action sports, comparable to watching a surfing comp in large barrelling waves. The all too common reality is endless waiting periods, and hucking onto avalanche controlled sketchy landings and debris filled run-outs. If it's ever to deliver on its promise the FWT needs to divorce itself from schedules and resort venues.

aren't many of the large surf comps set for a ~2 week timeframe in case the conditions suck on certain days? maybe the FWT could follow suit? who knows.

[Sluff]

I'm in Haines right now for a heli trip. The Tour is here in a few days. Conditions are brutal here. Upper alpine is severely wind blown. No ops brining clients up top. Skied in some tree runs yesterday. Ok at best. Nothing left to ski at this point. Some snow coming in Sunday for a few days. Upper alpine is unstable along with the wind scoured / super hard slabs. Bad layer buried. Guides say it needs to cycle off or rain (yikes) to help things out. Got 6 days left here. We'll see how it plays out.

[Angle Parking]

Most recent episode of the Low Pressure Podcast features a Logan Pelota interview recorded just prior to the Austria event. They talk about all sorts of stuff but there is some interesting FWT related dialogue; comments on the Andorra conditions, Pehota's need to come up with a big result in Austria etc.

http://lowpressurepodcast.com

[skier666]

I'm in Haines right now for a heli trip. The Tour is here in a few days. Conditions are brutal here. Upper alpine is severely wind blown. No ops brining clients up top. Skied in some tree runs yesterday. Ok at best. Nothing left to ski at this point. Some snow coming in Sunday for a few days. Upper alpine is unstable along with the wind scoured / super hard slabs. Bad layer buried. Guides say it needs to cycle off or rain (yikes) to help things out. Got 6 days left here. We'll see how it plays out.

Ugh...head there on April 1st. Fingers crossed that it changes quickly for you.

[Dantheman]

Finally got to watch the replay while home sick yesterday. Risvoll's crash was absolutely nuts!

[Sluff]

Now it's snowed for 5 days straight. No ops flying. 2 ft in town. Went out for a snowmobile ride yesterday. Blower pow from top to bottom here.

[TahoeJ]

Sweet... what's the projected date?

[Sluff]

18th??? Forecast not looking promising. More snow all next week. Maybe a window Saturday or Sunday??? All the new super light snow fell on that wind scoured surface. Avy danger may dictate what happens. All athletes in town now. Heading to the opening ceremony / dinner tonight to check it out.

[gramboh]

Most recent episode of the Low Pressure Podcast features a Logan Pelota interview recorded just prior to the Austria event. They talk about all sorts of stuff but there is some interesting FWT related dialogue; comments on the Andorra conditions, Pehota's need to come up with a big result in Austria etc.

http://lowpressurepodcast.com

Good listen. Was surprised to hear Eric is no longer skiing, sledding only .

[galibier_numero_un]

Looks like Tuesday 21-Mar at 9:45 AK time is a possibility - pending snow safety evaluation:

http://www.freerideworldtour.com/eve...es-alaska-2017

Status update - CONFIRMED
The snow storm that has been hitting Haines for the past few days is finally over and some good weather is forecast for tomorrow Tuesday March 21st. The fresh snow and uncertain weather window prevent us from confirming now that our safety standards will be fulfilled and that we will be able to run that competition tomorrow.
At this point, we confirm that we will try to run the 4th stop of the FWT tomorrow, aiming at a Live Webcast start at 9:45AM (AK Time)

... Thom

[TahoeJ]

Should be going live in one hour...

[powdork]

There's a countdown on the site says 11 minutes now

[TahoeJ]

It keeps refreshing when it gets to zero... so we'll see. Maybe don't have a countdown if it's not a real countdown? But that's just me.

[powdork]

They're now saying noon their time.

[Vt-Freeheel]

It keeps refreshing when it gets to zero... so we'll see. Maybe don't have a countdown if it's not a real countdown? But that's just me.

It's been like quibids.

[BFD]

They're now saying noon their time.

i think it is 11:00 their time that is what it says on my computer.