Freeride World Tour - 2020

[grinch]

Only recently realized Yu Sasaki has the food truck downtown. They had an article on him in the local magazine. Amazing food. That truck is shining inside and out. My fave summer spot to eat.I was talking to him about the new relatively unknown bike trail. Trail is definitely the new local man maker. Steep rock faces with onè long near vertical rock face to a compression. I had skipped it in the rain. You dont get that one right and youll explode like a watermelon out of the fifth story window. He rides it on his trail bike he casually mentioned. The ride around is gnarly let alone the direct line. I want to go back in the dry but i was impressed regardless. It makes sense after seeing that massive kicking horse air.
Heres his yt channel . Its in japanese with english subtitles


Sent from my SM-G950W using TGR Forums mobile app

[nortonwhis]

Only recently realized Yu Sasaki has the food truck downtown. They had an article on him in the local magazine. Amazing food. That truck is shining inside and out. My fave summer spot to eat.I was talking to him about the new relatively unknown bike trail. Trail is definitely the new local man maker. Steep rock faces with onè long near vertical rock face to a compression. I had skipped it in the rain. You dont get that one right and youll explode like a watermelon out of the fifth story window. He rides it on his trail bike he casually mentioned. The ride around is gnarly let alone the direct line. I want to go back in the dry but i was impressed regardless. It makes sense after seeing that massive kicking horse air.
Heres his yt channel . Its in japanese with english subtitles


Sent from my SM-G950W using TGR Forums mobile app

I still can't fathom how he cooked that air of the cornice so bad. Got bucked on the run in? such a standard air for guys like him. He must be feeling so bummed/stoked at the same time.

[goldengarbageman]

I think the venue at kicking horse is way too short of vertical for the caliber of skiing on the FWT. It seemed like most were just getting warmed up and they were at the bottom of their run.

I don\t think anyone will disagree with you on this. Word on the street is if the FWT is back at KH next year there is a backcountry face that will likely double (or more) the vertical on the current face. I've seen the location talked about and it looks great. But, I would assume they are still deciding on which venues they will be returning to next year.

[grinch]

I still can't fathom how he cooked that air of the cornice so bad. Got bucked on the run in? such a standard air for guys like him. He must be feeling so bummed/stoked at the same time.

I missed it. I just saw the big one. Maybe he was thinking too far ahead about the big one, idk. I had been seeing a lot of big air pics from him and heard about the backy off the diving board at rmr. Didnt realize he was the friendly but chill guy that cooks the great eats

Sent from my SM-G950W using TGR Forums mobile app

[TAFKALVS]

I don\t think anyone will disagree with you on this. Word on the street is if the FWT is back at KH next year there is a backcountry face that will likely double (or more) the vertical on the current face. I've seen the location talked about and it looks great. But, I would assume they are still deciding on which venues they will be returning to next year.

That would be better in my opinion. I think the small face has encouraged the male ski athletes to "go for broke" on every feature which is why there were so many crashes. I think it's creating risk taking that is unnecessary.

I'd say for the rest of the categories it's probably perfect terrain & such. It was cool to see the skier ladies stomping features that many of them tried last year and bombing out.

[Angle Parking]

That would be better in my opinion. I think the small face has encouraged the male ski athletes to "go for broke" on every feature which is why there were so many crashes. I think it's creating risk taking that is unnecessary.

This is a very good point. Why were the men seemingly so unwilling to scale down their plans, even after they must have gotten word of the carnage? Perhaps because the venue is so short the competitors felt they made to make a big impact right away.

[toast2266]

This is a very good point. Why were the men seemingly so unwilling to scale down their plans, even after they must have gotten word of the carnage? Perhaps because the venue is so short the competitors felt they made to make a big impact right away.

They know what they need to do to get a good score. There were plenty of guys that took (relatively) modest, safe lines. They didn't crash and got ok scores, but none of them are on the podium.

[teamdirt]

The real question we should all be asking is will Tanner ski “the Bec de Rosses” if he qualifies or run with his tail between his legs like last year.

[Angle Parking]

The real question we should all be asking is will Tanner ski “the Bec de Rosses” if he qualifies or run with his tail between his legs like last year.

Another question might be, why doesn't that dude wax his skis? Check out the replay, buddy was noticeably not sliding.

[bobinch]

Great comp in what looked like some pretty fine pow. Women’s level was super impressive. But cant they find a longer face? Several comments by the riders that it was over too fast.

For those questioning why they didn’t dial it down check Wadeck’s run at last years Verbier Extreme. Pulling the big backy on the exposed cliff won him the comp. I guess the stakes are super high for these boys... but surely a matter of time until there’s a bad accident...

There’s going to need to be a big weather change or Andorra will be a shitshow!

[powdork]

lack of snow? dammit that's navarro's spot and he's on my team. still not sure how he was able to ride away from landing on that rock.

[powdork]

Great comp in what looked like some pretty fine pow. Women’s level was super impressive. But cant they find a longer face? Several comments by the riders that it was over too fast.

Strange how the number one comment from the women as they entered the corral was how awesome the pow was. Didn't here one of the guys say that.

[TAFKALVS]

This is a very good point. Why were the men seemingly so unwilling to scale down their plans, even after they must have gotten word of the carnage? Perhaps because the venue is so short the competitors felt they made to make a big impact right away.

I think the single run format encourages risky behavior as well. I think a 2 run format with a combined score for both runs would also help create a environment of slightly more measured skiing and less reward for going for broke on one run. It would also allow athletes to get a feel for conditions and I bet ultimately it would result in more impressive skiing.

But you'd need to cut the snowboarding out to have enough time and heli drop athletes instead of making them hike to the top of a run.

[toast2266]

Strange how the number one comment from the women as they entered the corral was how awesome the pow was. Didn't here one of the guys say that.

I was kinda wondering if some of the snow was getting manky in the sun. The guys dropped a good bit later in the day than the women - some of those south facing pitches had been cooking for quite a few hours by the time the guys dropped.

[steveski]

I was kinda wondering if some of the snow was getting manky in the sun. The guys dropped a good bit later in the day than the women - some of those south facing pitches had been cooking for quite a few hours by the time the guys dropped.

That would explain some of the landings - > instant somersault.

[skier666]

The Kiwis had some creative lines...love how they tend to create an extra feature or find a different line. Turdell's run was chargin' and smooth...and any word on injuries? Navarro's air to rock looked menacing to my eyes.

[Eldo]

I was kinda wondering if some of the snow was getting manky in the sun. The guys dropped a good bit later in the day than the women - some of those south facing pitches had been cooking for quite a few hours by the time the guys dropped.

No, it was cold all day on Friday up in the bowls, like bitingly cold. And the sun has no melting power at those temps this far north in Feb.

We skied Ozone on Saturday after some overnight snow and there was no crust or discernible layers at all. Pow was great, but we weren’t hucking 60 footers.

[jackattack]

[Greydon Clark]

I thought Tim Durtschi upped the game like a ski boss with the spins, even if he crashed. The Logan Pehota wreck…

[goldenshowers]

That would be better in my opinion. I think the small face has encouraged the male ski athletes to "go for broke" on every feature which is why there were so many crashes. I think it's creating risk taking that is unnecessary.

I'd say for the rest of the categories it's probably perfect terrain & such. It was cool to see the skier ladies stomping features that many of them tried last year and bombing out.

There are a plethora of better faces around Golden than the one they currently use. However, none of them are as easily accessible and spectator friendly as ozone. T2.5-T3 (south of the resort, ozone is north) would be an easy access from the resort but not inbounds spectator friendly.

[Angle Parking]

I think the single run format encourages risky behavior as well. I think a 2 run format with a combined score for both runs would also help create a environment of slightly more measured skiing and less reward for going for broke on one run. It would also allow athletes to get a feel for conditions and I bet ultimately it would result in more impressive skiing.

This ^^

and respect to Blake Marshall's mega daffy up high. So cool. His whole run was great.

[TAFKALVS]

This ^^

and respect to Blake Marshall's mega daffy up high. So cool

What if durtschi had hit that cliff with a 3 first, got it dialed and then went back and stomped a cork 7?

[Angle Parking]

^^^The chances of sticking that type of move would be exponentially higher if he had a first go around to figure out the snow.

The 1 run format is crazy ballsy though. No matter good you think these guys are, they are way better when you think about the fact they are doing this on a one off, visual inspection only format.

[Dantheman]

The 1 run format is crazy ballsy though. No matter good you think these guys are, they are way better when you think about the fact they are doing this on a one off, visual inspection only format.

This cannot be overstated.

[ill-advised strategy]

Imagine if it was like surfing...you just take as many laps as you can in 1 hour or something and keep your top 2 scores.