Freeride World Tour - 2019

[huckasoreass]

Nice 3rd person creeping Gaff! Reminds me of that Sinfield episode...lol

Haha. Yep, I thought that was a little weird, too.

[meter-man]

Both Penfield (snowboard) and Gorak (ski) went first and won. Impressive runs.

Klassen - wow. What a superhuman. 54!

Pollard has soooooo much style. I thought he was proto-alto, but I now think he's got a lot of the Sage C-A style too.

Turdell is so ridiculously smooth - maybe the smoothest big mt skier I've ever seen. I bet he would win more events if he flailed a bit more and looked a touch more out of control haha. I can see why Eder wins (great run again on the Bec - that back flip was sick), but Turdell is just otherwordly.

I really dug Slemmet's run - just so fun to watch - creative, technical, smooth, and stomped.

As shitty as it is to see someone fall, Carl Regner Eriksson's wreck showed just how consequential any error can be. Damn.

Overall, an amazing and great end to the season. Hope they can figure out a couple South America/NZ stops so FWT can have a short "summer" tour too. They do have FWQ, but give us the big show!

[Island Bay]

What a beast. Beautiful run.

[JaBr]

Skiers made the snow look easier than it was ,to ride ; the Boarders looked a little Un-fluid in comparison


..serious Balls to go fast there that day >Kudos to ALL the Riders


*thx to the FWT website for the awesome replay videos and access

yea Bimboes run was to funny...you could see he had some plan to hit another feature ..and dismissed the idea as he passed it at Mach 12

I keep thinking about the levels of skiers vs. riders and wondering if it has to do with the competition or level of skiers/riders or just that the skiers are able to do more/do it better.

However, Victor De Le Rue is on the tour for men's snowboarding and he's a bigger name and rider.
Travis Rice came in and threw down a line I would say was on par with the top skiing lines, but none of the other riders really rose to that level.

[madcult]

Verbier just blown my mind, no other stop comes close to it. The excitement, gnarliness and high consequences makes even mediocre run looks awesome.

I'm hoping they will come with more stops.

Especially stops like Bec de Rosses. Its just miles away more entertaining than Japan. I know the consequences of Verbier are higher than the rest but still this is competitive freeriding.

Also would prefer bigger faces than Andorra or Japan they are just too compressed.

[JayPowHound]

Bimbo top speed video already posted. My bad. App still can't delete posts, but regardless happy to have it back.

[SUPERIOR]

What North American venues would you all like to see?

I loved Alaska, but obviously the weather and travel was too much for most athletes to deal with.

I thought it was primarily weather and low snow that got the tour stops nixed in NA.

1. The Mackenzie Face at Revvy
2. Snowbird
3. Kirkwood
4. Moonlight/Headwaters

How do they compare size wise with the euro stops?

Also, I believe Hakuba has bigger terrain, but maybe Gaijin could weigh in on that?


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[teamdirt]

1) whistler
2) snowbird
3) kirkwood
4) heli or cat ski venue in British Columbia

[duffski]

finally got around to watching the entire event last night. curious and a little disappointed why no other athletes went from the top other than klassen? he says in the interview following his run that he was nervous and "really wanted to go from the top, it didn't feel right to not go from the top". that top cliff he hit was so gnarly and he stomped it. i felt he deserved a better score for the run.

[adrenalated]

I thought it was primarily weather and low snow that got the tour stops nixed in NA.

My (probably incorrect) understanding is that, at least for USA stops, it has more to do with how FWT likes to run their events than anything else - ie, keeping venues closed for a month+ before the event so that the snow is pristine for the competition.

The ski areas aren't interested in keeping their marquis terrain closed to the public for a good chunk of the season.
USFS permits are challenging to get, comps can't be run in wilderness areas (where lots of the good terrain is), and the logistics of closing a part of the backcountry are challenging at best.

[TahoeJ]

^^ Which is why Kirkwood makes a lot of sense since the Cirque is closed anyway. Same deal at Snowbird? Silverado at Squaw is a pretty decent venue (putting aside Tram face as too sketchy) when there's coverage in years like this one but the locals wouldn't be happy to have it closed off, that's for sure.

But these are all WAY smaller than something like the Bec. That face is just perfect for freeride events.

[GoldenBC]

They are scoping new terrain in behind Kicking Horse that will blow Ozone away.

[adrenalated]

^^ Which is why Kirkwood makes a lot of sense since the Cirque is closed anyway. Same deal at Snowbird? Silverado at Squaw is a pretty decent venue (putting aside Tram face as too sketchy) when there's coverage in years like this one but the locals wouldn't be happy to have it closed off, that's for sure.

But these are all WAY smaller than something like the Bec. That face is just perfect for freeride events.

I didn't realize the Cirque at Kirkwood was permanently closed, actually.

I'm also not a Snowbird expert but the venues that I've seen used there (North Baldy, Silver Fox) are open to the public.

Big Hourglass at Crested Butte is another comp venue that's closed to the public but getting enough snow to put people through it is very unreliable. It'll never happen, I think it would be really interesting actually to see FWT athletes compete on smaller, extremely technical venues like CB. A lot of the guys would have to change their usual styles completely.

[sharcsplean]

I want to give a big shout out to what a great person Markus Erder is. My kid was too lazy to get up and take the early lifts up to the event. When I finally saw him at the end of the day, I gave him a lot of crap for bailing on the event.
"You should of seen Erder's run! You suck for not getting up." (the boy is a huge fan)
"I saw it on my phone Dad... and he took some park laps with us in the afternoon..."

so, after the event, Erder was in the park and hanging out with all the kids. Really cool of the overall tour champ to do that!

[TahoeJ]

They are scoping new terrain in behind Kicking Horse that will blow Ozone away.

Interesting. The backside of Stairway to Heaven? Or across the valley?

[teamdirt]

They are scoping new terrain in behind Kicking Horse that will blow Ozone away.

Rudy's? That would be a sick venue!

[jorion]

Watching Bimboes’ run makes me want to continue not watching these events live. Incredibly badass but I don’t think skiing like that over and over would end well. If he is retiring from the fwt good for him. Absolutely mental run though.

[McDee]

Line check with Gorak and Bimboes. Scary how something so small like the angle can make the difference



That is some scary shit there

[TahoeJ]

Great breakdown and I appreciate Bimboes' honesty... and damn, credit where it's due, Gorak's huge backflip was just so clean. Pretty awesome for his first ever run down.

[nortonwhis]

Line check with Gorak and Bimboes. Scary how something so small like the angle can make the difference



That is some scary shit there

This is so sick.

[Boissal]

Great breakdown and I appreciate Bimboes' honesty... and damn, credit where it's due, Gorak's huge backflip was just so clean. Pretty awesome for his first ever run down.

Both of his landings are insanely clean considering speed, angle, and snow quality, but the way he lands that backflip is just over the top, the perfect definition of stomped. I wobble more after a 2' drop going 10 mph...

[TahoeJ]

Turdell's POV: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bve57ggniQ7/

He might be my favorite skier right now. Just makes it all look so easy when it's not. Reminds me of a modern Doug Coombs in that regard.

"If you listen closely you can hear my tails scratching the rocks" - referring to the Hollywood cliff, and yet he stomps it super clean regardless.

[teamdirt]

Turdell's POV: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bve57ggniQ7/

He might be my favorite skier right now.

I thought your favourite big mountain skier was Sammy Carlson?

[TahoeJ]

I thought your favourite big mountain skier was Sammy Carlson?

Haha... that was funny. But I think we’d all rather see what he can do than Tanner. I give that guy points for being part of the Nimbus crew with Pep, EP and Chris B.

[baron]

I keep thinking about the levels of skiers vs. riders and wondering if it has to do with the competition or level of skiers/riders or just that the skiers are able to do more/do it better.

However, Victor De Le Rue is on the tour for men's snowboarding and he's a bigger name and rider.
Travis Rice came in and threw down a line I would say was on par with the top skiing lines, but none of the other riders really rose to that level.

It appears that when the snow gets inconsistent and difficult, for lack of better terms- Riding one Edge is a Handicap ,compared to Riding 2 Edges

the Athletes are in similar physical conditioning

their Knowledge of the terrain is similar based on experience ,and on par w skiers at same experience lvl

+Any Riders do Both???and can chime in???