Freeride World Tour

[Island Bay]

Loved APoll's commentary. Made the comp for me.

Some insane lines were skied and tricked, but the snow (and vis?) made it less fun to watch than Fieberbrunn imho. Not as fluid.

[grskier]

No problem.
Thanks, I didn't noticed before. Peculiar, anyway.

Astrid (woman from France, had the Swiss flag on her shoulder as well).

But yeah, some of the others had their country.

FWT/FIS probably plays on the nation of origin a bit more than the athletes being where-ever they are skiing out of for the moment.

[subtle plague]

The gougen double is wild. And if hitzig has to backslapthe landing must have been savage.

[rbciii]

Astrid (woman from France, had the Swiss flag on her shoulder as well).

But yeah, some of the others had their country.

FWT/FIS probably plays on the nation of origin a bit more than the athletes being where-ever they are skiing out of for the moment.

I think it has to do with both wearing the leader's bib.

[oftpiste]

A-pol great color commentary.

Funny to see him being sent off as a godfather with that lovely tribute. First met him at a SB junior when he was probably 14. I'd taken Thing #1 to his first out-of-area comp and we were serious outliers amidst the solid crew that was the Altabird team. He was always friendly and great to be around. So fun to have witnessed his (and so many others') trajectories into adulthood and competition. Sigh.

[powdork]

The gougen double is wild. And if hitzig has to backslapthe landing must have been savage.

Doesn't matter how savage. He backslapped and was rewarded for it. His run was uninspiring for the score he received.

[bobinch]

Doesn't matter how savage. He backslapped and was rewarded for it. His run was uninspiring for the score he received.

Have you ever skied the Bec?

[grskier]

Have you ever skied the Bec?

This.

His run was very impressive. Especially where he skied


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[kootenayskier]

Doesn't matter how savage. He backslapped and was rewarded for it. His run was uninspiring for the score he received.

Not a backslap, just a wheelie.

[Dantheman]

How is it possible to land slightly backseat on a massive sketchy double and not even backslap never mind crumple like a tin can? In flat light?

Seriously. Maybe the gnarliest thing I've ever seen on the Bec.

[powdork]

Have you ever skied the Bec?

Completely irrelevant. I've watched every FWT comp for at least 10 years and most 4* and junior comps. I've done press for comps and even competed. We all have differing opinions but mine are not without knowledge and experience to draw from. Look at his run compared to Finn's. Finn had more airs, bigger airs, more tricks, and landed all his airs cleanly. His skiing in between was a bit more rugged to shut his speed down to hit the next air. The one air they both hit he went much bigger and spun a clean 3 (the first ever on the Hollywood hit). Neither line was particularly more spicy than the other. Max was 24 seconds faster from the gate but their times were almost exactly the same from when they dropped into the face.

Not a backslap, just a wheelie.

probably not a backslap, but the hand in the snow and the lack of control was undeniable. Stage 1 or I think 2 deduction.

A stage 1, where a rider lands off center but rides away cleanly, will incur about a five-point deduction. A stage 2, where a rider compresses hard and takes a second to recover while riding, will result in an approximate 10-point deduction. A stage 3, or a backslap from a big cliff or jump, will result in roughly a 15-point deduction. Finally, a stage 4, or a real crash that results in the rider’s run coming to a full stop, will result in a mandatory 45-point deduction.

[bobinch]

Sorry it seems we all watched a different run to you

[subtle plague]

Completely irrelevant. I've watched every FWT comp for at least 10 years and most 4* and junior comps. I've done press for comps and even competed. We all have differing opinions but mine are not without knowledge and experience to draw from. Look at his run compared to Finn's.


probably not a backslap, but the hand in the snow and the lack of control was undeniable. Stage 1 or I think 2 deduction.

So take home message is you're rad and finn was underscored. You should judge differently during the next fwt stop in mammoth when you do the press work while competing.


What does it have to do with the fact that this landing must have been quite ouchie because I've never seen hitzig backslap/ wheelie/whatever before?

[powdork]

Sorry it seems we all watched a different run to you

I was talking about Max Hitzig. If you reread my reply to Subtle Plague it is obvious.

Quote Originally Posted by subtle plague View Post
The gougen double is wild. And if hitzig has to backslapthe landing must have been savage.

Doesn't matter how savage. He backslapped and was rewarded for it. His run was uninspiring for the score he received.

[powdork]

I agree with all the comments about Goguen's run. I had Goguen to win the title so that's part of the reason I was bent. In the end it doesn't matter as Hitzig would have had to finish 4th for Goguen to win and there's no way Mandin or Chabloz had better runs than him. But Finn was robbed IMO.

[gaijin]

[DigSki]

Completely irrelevant. I've watched every FWT comp for at least 10 years and most 4* and junior comps. I've done press for comps and even competed. We all have differing opinions but mine are not without knowledge and experience to draw from. Look at his run compared to Finn's. Finn had more airs, bigger airs, more tricks, and landed all his airs cleanly. His skiing in between was a bit more rugged to shut his speed down to hit the next air. The one air they both hit he went much bigger and spun a clean 3 (the first ever on the Hollywood hit). Neither line was particularly more spicy than the other. Max was 24 seconds faster from the gate but their times were almost exactly the same from when they dropped into the face.

Live I agreed with you - I enjoyed watching Finn's run much more that Hitzig's. That said, I usually need to rewatch Hitzig's runs because he makes really hard stuff look so easy. On rewatch
- Hitzig went straight into the gnar from the gate where Finn traversed around
- Hitzig did go way bigger at the bottom

I think Finn's run was more enjoyable to watch because he was making those sweet fall line turns in between features (even white roomed himself, unsure if that was on purpose) while Hitzig was skiing more across the hill. Totally understandable, that shit is impossibly steep and the dude needed to stay on his feet to be the world champ. I also totally get why Hitzig was scored higher; maybe a minor dock in fluidity vs Finn but higher in every other category.

One last thought on Finn - damn that bro has won me over. He makes skiing look really, really fun. It feels like a lot of guys are fun to watch hit features and they just mob between features, while Finn is fun to watch the entire time.

[DigSki]

Great event and great season. This tour has been mind blowing for a few seasons, the ski men category is top notch entertainment. I'm really surprised it's not more popular to be honest; any person who's not a skier who I've told to watch is blown away and comes away a fan.

Hoping Leif Mumma and Max Palm are back on the tour next year, those boys are amazing to watch. But I don't think Palm is in the challenger series, so is he not trying to get back?

[kootenayskier]

I agree with all the comments about Goguen's run. I had Goguen to win the title so that's part of the reason I was bent. In the end it doesn't matter as Hitzig would have had to finish 4th for Goguen to win and there's no way Mandin or Chabloz had better runs than him. But Finn was robbed IMO.

If it was a Slopestyle event and just their airs mattered, then Finn probably had it, but it’s difficult to appreciate how much their respective lines on the upper face factored into the scoring. Finn acknowledged that his run didn’t really start until his skis left the snow, while both Goguen and Hitzig started their runs with technical skiing on butt puckering singular lines. The judges know that terrain, and are going to be impressed by this, even if it doesn’t make for as obviously spectacular footage.

[subtle plague]

If it was a Slopestyle event and just their airs mattered, then Finn probably had it, but it’s difficult to appreciate how much their respective lines on the upper face factored into the scoring. Finn acknowledged that his run didn’t really start until his skis left the snow, while both Goguen and Hitzig started their runs with technical skiing on butt puckering singular lines. The judges know that terrain, and are going to be impressed by this, even if it doesn’t make for as obviously spectacular footage.

But powdork has watched every contest in the last 10 years and Promoted the Tour stop in mammoth!

Why should familiarity with that terrain and line choice matter over that experience?

[TahoeJ]

I thought Goguen was the clear and obvious winner. You have to get some bonus points for opening up a line that has never been done before. That double was sick.

[oetk2]

Wow. Kid is an absolute beast

[powdork]

If it was a Slopestyle event and just their airs mattered, then Finn probably had it, but it’s difficult to appreciate how much their respective lines on the upper face factored into the scoring. Finn acknowledged that his run didn’t really start until his skis left the snow, while both Goguen and Hitzig started their runs with technical skiing on butt puckering singular lines. The judges know that terrain, and are going to be impressed by this, even if it doesn’t make for as obviously spectacular footage.

Both entrances were crazy steep terrain. max gets the edge there but they both hit their first airs very close to each other, Max to enter the central couloir whereas Finn's was already in the couloir. Then they hit the same air which Max definitely went bigger. the next was the Hollywood hit. Max went smooth and smaller while Finn went large sending the first 3 the most popular hit on the face has ever seen. After that Finn had three more airs including another 3. Max had two, a very similar 3 and a larger air that he definitely didn't backslap before the wheelie. I thought Finn should have been second, but that's just like, my opinion man.

[Island Bay]

An NZ biased agree from me.

[toast2266]

Man, that makes the double even gnarlier. That thing was seriously blind. And obviously huge consequences for mis-judging speed off the first hit.