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Thread: Freeride World Tour - 2020
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01-21-2020, 07:45 AM #201
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01-21-2020, 07:49 AM #202Registered User
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Freeride World Tour - 2020
I only watched the men’s skiing (obviously), which is always entertaining, but if these guys are supposed to be the best in the World, the standard of skiing was pathetic. The variable snow and less than perfect light (more so for some, including Turdell) showed up who can (Tabke, Barkered, Pollard, Freeland) and can’t (Bilous, Marshall, Ottner, Hall, Sasaki, Renvall) actually hold a smooth balanced arc through a turn. I figure the winners in last weekend’s junior comp held here would have placed mid field.
Last edited by kootenayskier; 01-21-2020 at 09:41 AM.
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01-21-2020, 08:25 AM #203Registered User
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The go pro footage reveals how truly bad the snow was.
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01-21-2020, 08:31 AM #204
WSL just points their cameras at one spot. Filming a big, complicated mountain is a lot more challenging than filming where Pipe breaks every-single-time. Unless they go backdoor, and then there is a second place where the wave breaks - so hosting live requires a lot less camera/production. Plus funding per altacoup.
ETA: I do wish it was streamed live, but I'm fine with this format. It was a good show.
Anyway, fun comp on a mediocre venue with challenging snow. My daughters loved watching the women's ski - Hedvig blew their minds!
Congrats ALTO!Last edited by meter-man; 01-21-2020 at 10:24 AM.
sproing!
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01-21-2020, 08:33 AM #205
I don't care that much about it being a live broadcast, but what about the old format where you could click ahead to each rider's run? That whole setup was really cool. Why get rid of that too? Or is it somewhere else and I'm missing it?
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01-21-2020, 08:36 AM #206Registered User
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^^^ If you click on the replays section of the FWT site you can access the dot thing. I dig that feature as well. I find skipping around and watching the runs in the finish order gives an interesting perspective on the judging.
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01-21-2020, 09:05 AM #207
I found it interesting. There were features I could relate to, and some of them scared me. It's not the Bec for sure. That center pepper island of cliffs was rad, too bad only a few went near there. Why would you though, as they judging is about loose sends and who can add in a ton of 3s to their runs. I couldn't believe how many some of these guys were trying to cram in.
Wish the dude that SENT that lincoln held on. That would have been bonkers.www.dpsskis.com
www.point6.com
formerly an ambassador for a few others, but the ski industry is... interesting.
Fukt: a very small amount of snow.
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01-21-2020, 09:41 AM #208
Fun to watch. Way better venue than last year's Japan stop. The snow seemed tough, and with a lot of the guys, it seemed like more luck than skill in terms of getting a bobble free run. We all know Turdell can crush, but he made it look hard. Some of the guys that were smoothest I think just got lucky with slightly better snow where it mattered. Of course, some of them are just smooth motherfuckers (Tabke, Barkered). Thought Pollard should've been on the podium, and there were a couple of outliers, but for the most part I thought the judging was pretty consistent.
Psyched to see Malakov back in the mix, even if his run wasn't anything spectacular. He's always fun to watch. And Bilous - yeah, looking forward to watching him this season.
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01-21-2020, 10:30 AM #209
I think Neil Williman is excellent, but he and McFly were much better together. Maybe he and Lorraine just need to find their feet together. Also, the live/not live format may have made for a slightly awkward atmosphere.
Can't really argue with the top 3. They all impressed me hugely in different ways, but Hank Bilous definitely looks like he'll make a huge impact. Far canal, he sent it! And he can most definitely hold onto a proper turn in tricky snow; that's what you learn skiing in NZ.
I'm trying to imagine him at Bec des Rosses, knowing that he does not hold back. Yikes!
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01-21-2020, 10:31 AM #210
Fuck yeah, Alto. Such a joy to watch and glad to see you on the podium.
I miss the energy of the true live broadcast. Notice they didn't show the judging category scale?
Reine was way overscored. That made no sense to me. Smooth and pretty, yes, inspired? Exciting? Podium-worthy? Not so much.
Bilous' flung cat mega transfer was badass and fun to watch, but I'd bet dollars to donuts it wasn't intentional (not that it matters). Looked to me like he came in a little hot to that ridge and just sent it because to try to shut it down would have slammed him into the opposite wall.
TH's flying elbow, baggy-ass, afterbang-y, steeze looks dated and out of place. He's a legend at what he does, and deservedly so, but this ain't it.
Hakuba Valley paid a lot of money and are on contract to host the FWT for a while. It ain't going anywhere, good venues or not.
I'd like to see a live (live) stream, warts and all, and a condensed version for the masses.
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01-21-2020, 11:10 AM #211
I love internet dudes commenting skiing skills of FWT athletes. You would probably shit your Goretex pants just from looking down the venue course, not even talking about dropping in in flatish light and mediocre snow with the premise to hit some features underway.
I‘d suspect all those guys know how to arc a clean turn for fuck sake.
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01-21-2020, 11:34 AM #212
Pretty much worst announcers ever. Sounds like they were commentating a golf tournament. Had to shut them off after the first rider. Would love to see this presented like Red Bull does Rampage or even DH mtb. Does Cam McCaul know anything about skiing?
“I really lack the words to compliment myself today.” - Alberto Tomba
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01-21-2020, 11:35 AM #213
not to mention that the junior comps get on course inspection and the venues are typically inbounds and they can have them pretty dialed.
How does visual inspection work these days? Do they just get to look from a vantage or is there recent drone footage to look at? Can competitors send up their own drone to scope a line first person like?powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.
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01-21-2020, 11:35 AM #214
There are some really good women snowboarders out there, it will be interesting to see if the FWT equal pay will help up the level of competition in that category over the next couple years. Definitely enjoyed watching the women skiers ski hard the more great content the better. IMO Emma Patterson's crash was the biggest out there and it's hard to crash like that without shredding.
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01-21-2020, 11:38 AM #215
^^^that tomahawk was crazy. glad she came out ok.
powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.
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01-21-2020, 11:59 AM #216
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01-21-2020, 12:05 PM #217
A 7 year olds view
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01-21-2020, 12:45 PM #218
I agree 100% with this. My girlfriend and I were laughing every time they would say something because it felt like they were announcing a tennis match. I’m not sure if it had to do with it being they were announcing a replay but it all felt kind of forced.
I liked the pace of the replay though, it made for easy viewing, but it lacked some of the things that I like most about watching these. I’m convinced the announcers were the main problem.
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01-21-2020, 12:54 PM #219
At least the phrase "to the bolts" was only uttered once.
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01-21-2020, 12:57 PM #220
I thought the announcers were decent? Good enough? Definitely didn't bother me. Watched men's skiing and Victor's run in snowboarding. Bilous gap and Tabke were the highlights, love seeing that dude float steezy straight airs, so composed.
Venue was okay-ish but horrible snow and some flat light. I doubt venues are lining up to pay to host so props to FWT for locking Hakuba in, remember this thing has to be profitable.
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01-21-2020, 01:06 PM #221
Considering the conditions, I thought the skiing was pretty solid overall. Tanner Hall was putting together a pretty nice run before the crash. I do think Pollard should have made the podium but overall fine with the judging and Tabke was clearly the winner, although they really do need to be careful about not docking the early riders in the group too harshly.
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01-21-2020, 01:10 PM #222
Drew's run was pure stoke to me. I was surprised how few people went down that steep cliff portion of the course toward the bottom. Bilous typical Kiwi style makes me smile...akin to the days of Geoff Small airing uphill into a chute competing on the Cirque at Kirkwood in the late 90's. Damn I'm getting old.
I like Neil but him with Lorraine doesn't work for me at all in regards to the commentary. However, I think the filming was done well especially when throwing in some of the riders' GoPro footage on the replays.
As an old competitor in the extreme events...it was definitely nerve-racking waiting for your run. Not knowing if your cliff would be bomb-holed, praying you remember your line, pressure to stick a landing, hoping the visibility holds, knowing that they were filming, crowd watching you...its quite a lot.
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01-21-2020, 01:33 PM #223
There’s no fucking way Hedvig lands that flip without a bazillion reps on the world cup mogul team. She had to fight hard to slow that down.
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01-21-2020, 01:35 PM #224
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01-21-2020, 01:38 PM #225
Among other things, I think my biggest issue with the commentary was that both commentators were offering the same kind of commentary. If one of them was doing the play by play, and one of them was offering color commentary, that might work better. Or if they both had great chemistry together and could feed off of each others' comments, that'd keep it interesting.
But as it is, they're both just kinda saying the same things, over and over. Oh, he spun a 3. Oh, he backslapped. We'll have to see what the judges think of that. Oh, she crashed. We're collectively gutted for her.
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