Freeride World Tour - 2019

[burrito]

Any yet Tanner was being judged on those criteria and still podiumed. I guess the judges see it differently to you.

Absolutely they do. Not saying they’re wrong, just that I have a stronger opinion about that type of speed check when it comes to style.

[CascadeLuke]

Reasonable points made defending THall. Though I’d speculate if he continues all year with pizza checks it will probably wear on judging, competitors discussion, and start to affect scoring. But what do I know

[oftpiste]

And why does he still wear those huge clothes? Major technical foul there. Combine that with the snowplow and, well........

[Spooky]

And why does he still wear those huge clothes? Major technical foul there. Combine that with the snowplow and, well........

Agreed. Someone needs to check his pole length too, fucking park rats.

[californiagrown]

And why does he still wear those huge clothes? Major technical foul there. Combine that with the snowplow and, well........

That's like asking why Plake rocks a sweet mohawk. Tanner is the original gangsta/rasta skier posterboy and stays true to his roots! G'd up from the feet up, yo!

Plus, oversized clothing is super duper comfy. Just ask Baker Bob!

[GoldenBC]

Can we give Tom Peiffer some love. For a rookie, coming in and winning with old school hard charging, great technique. After watching him for years on the Juniors it was no surprise to see him qualify after one season, and then do well here. But so quickly. Fuck yeah. And that three being thrown fall line at the top is bad ass. Don't side hit if you can hit it fall line kids.

[oftpiste]

^^^^YUPYUPYUP. Big props to Tom. He and B are homies and I was stoked to see him do so well.

Just say Kye's IG story. Pretty disappointing and dismissive to the other athletes who busted ass for years to qualify and stay there. Not cool.

[TahoeJ]

Modern players won’t do it despite it being proven effective because they think it looks stupid. When your goal is to objectively score more points than the other team I actually think that’s a stupid reason and that a lot of players would benefit from shooting granny style. But if they were being judged for say fluidity, technicality, and style (like the FWT) it would be a perfectly acceptable rationale.

I think you need to watch some footage of Shaq and DeAndre Jordan shooting free throws. The aesthetic argument doesn't hold up very well as an example. Heh. ;-)

^^^^YUPYUPYUP. Big props to Tom. He and B are homies and I was stoked to see him do so well.

Just say Kye's IG story. Pretty disappointing and dismissive to the other athletes who busted ass for years to qualify and stay there. Not cool.

I get what you're saying, but I'd say Kye certainly busted his ass to earn that spot - just took a different path. Have you seen Numinous?

[muted]

Never thought I’d ever see THalls style compared to Rick Barry from the seventies. Spooky, kudos to you for actually explaining what you meant, I wouldn’t have the patience.

Kyles IG story didn’t seem like a dis to anyone, just an explainer. Maybe he wasn’t eloquent doing it but everything can be misconstrued these days if you aren’t using a PR person. I say give him some slack, who cares.

[burrito]

I think you need to watch some footage of Shaq and DeAndre Jordan shooting free throws. The aesthetic argument doesn't hold up very well as an example. Heh. ;-)

I actually remember seeing a story about a guy who taught people granny free throws because with them you can get an average person to shoot something like 75% in a couple of hours. He had offered his services to Shaq free of charge. Shaq never returned his calls

[TahoeJ]

I actually remember seeing a story about a guy who taught people granny free throws because with them you can get an average person to shoot something like 75% in a couple of hours. He had offered his services to Shaq free of charge. Shaq never returned his calls

It was Rick Barry.

[burrito]

It was Rick Barry.

Haha. Too perfect.

[oftpiste]

Kyles IG story didn’t seem like a dis to anyone, just an explainer. Maybe he wasn’t eloquent doing it but everything can be misconstrued these days if you aren’t using a PR person. I say give him some slack, who cares.

Sorry, he was rude. "If only the field were more select and smaller"? Seriously? Explainer? More like excuses. "I was too busy filming to pay attention to this invitation and show up on time". Sorry. What a load.

Most of the guys on the FWT had to QUALIFY in. 3 guys from each region per season. Do you have any idea how hard that is? How determined, committed, hard-working and badass you have to be to get there? Then you have to finish in the top half to do another season which is no small feat either.

B, Grif, Apol, Peiffers, etc. aren't "filming with [whoever in Japan]" and competing when it's convenient. They're scrapping around, couch surfing, training, working their butts off in the summer to pay for it all. Most of them ripped as hard as Kye when they were young but didn't have the legacy so had to come up the hard way through the ranks. No film deals, no magazine covers etc. I guarantee you they would never be caught dead putting that kind of crap on social media.

Yeah, he's a great skier, and Numinous is very cool, but that kind of chatter is bullshit. If he thinks so poorly of the whole thing he should have turned down the invite. To barely show up, make excuses, and dis the other competitors unless they're big names reeks of entitlement. I have no time for that shit.

I could go on......

[altacoup]

^^^
Agree 100 percent. The kids who come up through qualifying have my upmost respect. In many regards the qualifying comps are harder on the athlete and better for the spectators than than FWT. Loved the skiing in Luminous. But lost a lot of respect for Kye due to this. Makes him come off like a spoiled brat, and I know for a fact that the kids who came up through the qualifying series are anything but.

I will say that venue sucks big time. It’s a shame to have a comp on that venue. The competitors are better than that terrain. It didn’t give them a chance to exhibit their skills.


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[Spooky]

Agreed with all of the above - it came across as entitled, whiney excuse making that denigrated the event and the efforts of the other athletes. Shame.

[Angle Parking]

A kind of weird and entertaining start to the season.

Happy Eder won.

I'll admit that I am one of those guys that doesn't get much beyond the men's skiing. Travis Rice blew my mind however and I'll be checking out his runs for sure in events to come.

In Pehota's absence, Tom Peiffer picks up the Canadian mantle. Well done.

Thanks to Offpiste for his unique insight.

So happy to have the FWT back.

This is one of the best threads.

[gramboh]

I don't like Tanner's style (on the actual snow, in the air he is great) but the dude can ski, he's made it down some really technical pillows and decent big mountain stuff in AK over the years in his films, I think he might do quite well this year on the other venues. I much prefer the powerful/fast racer style guys though.

Kye isn't the most eloquent guy sometimes on social media, dunno if he had any ill will toward the other competitors, came across to me more like he was disappointed in his effort and shouldn't have even competed.

[SUPERIOR]

Yeah, the Insta story was bullshit. I was so excited to watch Kye, and pumped on his switch 540. It was obvious that he lost focus/track, or bobbled halfway down the course, and that’s just the way it goes. I was surprised to see him start out of order, and wondered if there was a problem (as the judges were too). To see the rambling excuses on Instagram seemed to solidify my suspicions. His wildcard was announced at least a few days beforehand, so I’m sure he had ample time to prepare.


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[GoldenBC]

When Kye said "select and smaller" field, might he have been talking about other categories? 14 people in men's ski is pretty small.

[t-the-east]

When Kye said "select and smaller" field, might he have been talking about other categories? 14 people in men's ski is pretty small.

My first thought was is it a diss to T?

[oftpiste]

I think there are currently 21 men skiers on the docket.

I'm sure he didn't say any of it with ill will, but it's tone-deaf and disrespectful nonetheless.
My take on the "select and smaller" statement was that he was wishing it was more big names and fewer competitors instead of the commoners who've scrapped their way in.

People who make tone-deaf statements say more about themselves than whoever they're talking about.
He's a big boy and is responsible for his statements. To excuse it by saying he's 'not the most eloquent' on social media doesn't really fly these days.

[californiagrown]

I think there are currently 21 men skiers on the docket.

I'm sure he didn't say any of it with ill will, but it's tone-deaf and disrespectful nonetheless.
My take on the "select and smaller" statement was that he was wishing it was more big names and fewer competitors instead of the commoners who've scrapped their way in.

People who make tone-deaf statements say more about themselves than whoever they're talking about.
He's a big boy and is responsible for his statements. To excuse it by saying he's 'not the most eloquent' on social media doesn't really fly these days.

I can't find the salacious instagram story or whatever, but he also might just be commenting on how features get skied out because of the number of competitors... something that is especially noticeable on terrain reliant on pillowy/powder features, and on small and tight terrain like the Japan venue. Once 2-3 people have gone through a pillow line, that pillow line is completely thrashed and done. Seems to me (uneducated POV) that the classic bigger mtn venues are less susceptible to have features skied out so quickly and support a larger field much better.

At the end of the day, the guy wasn't stoked on his performance or the competition and this is another example of a "public" person putting private thoughts that would usually stay behind closed doors on social media, because that has become the norm in the world we live in.

Who would have thunk that someone other than Ski Boss would be catching flak after the first event for his poor attitude haha.

[auvgeek]

My first thought was is it a diss to T?

Nah, they go way back.

My take on the "select and smaller" statement was that he was wishing it was more big names and fewer competitors instead of the commoners who've scrapped their way in.

Yeah, this. It's hard on fragile egos to be beaten by people with no fame or social media status.

To be fair, if you listen to Kye's Powell Podcast interview from like 2 weeks ago he said a bunch of this stuff in advance - before he was even announced as a wild card.

Link: http://www.thepowellmovement.com/lis...3-kye-petersen

Still listening to it to find where he discusses the FWT.

[zede]

Yeah, this. It's hard on fragile egos to be beaten by people with no fame or social media status.

A respectful athlete would have said something like :
"Im a bit disapointed by my performance/run, things did not go as I planned, I have a huge respect for all the competitors who qualified, and tried/managed to send sick tricks and ski sick lines with only a visual reco" (is that bro enough?)

As for TH, yeah, he does not ski as good as kris turdel (but who does ?), but he landed cool tricks, and arrived to the bottom without falling, that's not bad for a first ?

[Atrain505]

Kye's excuse was definitely lame. I can tell you from spending a lot of time with him he doesn't always think before he speaks. His heart is usually in the right place. I'm sure he meant it with good intentions but he fucked up there plain and simple.

Whatever the excuse he clearly did not inspect the venue very well. He rarely competes, but he pretty much wins every other event he has ever been in. He won the last one he was in, so it makes sense he would not do well in this one. 2 Red Bull Coldrush wins + a revelstoke FWT win.

As far as judging from a former competitor... Berkely should have been a few spots higher, his run was definitely better than a few guys ahead of him. I thought Aymar's run was better honestly. Unique extremely difficult line choice. That top double with a super quick clearly uphill takeoff was not easy. The single most difficult feature hit that day for sure from a pure skiing standpoint.

The biggest judging error was the first 2 guys. Bimboes was one of the best runs of the day. Bigger airs than anyone. Faster than anyone. Tons of features. He easily could have been top 5. Tabke's run was weak with a loss of control. I love his skiing, but those two runs back to back epitomize the judging issues to me. I know going first always sucks but to look at only those 2 runs and score them the way they did is crazy to me. Should have been reversed at the very least.

I really think they should implement "unofficial" results in real time. Then do a video review making sure they were on point. Awards ceremony in the evening after every event. They would usually only be moving a few people a few spots here and there in the middle of the pack but when those few places can mean the difference between re-qualifying or not at the end of the season and everything you worked so hard for is thrown away, it's a tough pill to swallow. Not something you could do at a FWQ with 70+ competitors, but could easily do on the FWT.

Final thought. Like when Xavier de la Rue was competing a snowboarder clearly had the best run of the day by far. It has been a long time since that happened. Beautiful, exciting, perfectly executed. Unreal for that venue.

As always fun watch. Looking forward to more as the season progresses.