Freeride World Tour

[dmcd]

10 hours and counting and sounds like they got almost two feet. Let's hope it skis like it.

[toast2266]

The social media clips of the FWT guys skiing Val Thorens today sure make it look like the comp is gonna be insane. Prime conditions.

[stealurface831]

Anyone got the lowdown on this FIS championship?


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[DougW]

Anybody need lift tickets for KH FWT PM me.

[twat]

40 min to go


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[powdork]

Delayed. Why did they skip the bluebird pow day in favor of today?


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[powdork]

Wow didn’t see that score coming for Bender. I was thinking 4th maybe. I thought Rainer was overscored, but still first at the time


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[powdork]

Weak scoring for the men. Bender shouldn’t have made the podium with the backslap to long traverse . The announcers had already discounted his score, as they should have


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[adrian.bee]

Really having a hard time understanding the judging. I'm biased but seems like a NA snubjob to make up for last event

[toast2266]

Weak scoring for the men. Bender shouldn’t have made the podium with the backslap to long traverse . The announcers had already discounted his score, as they should have


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That was my initial impression as well, although after rewatching some of the runs, I think Bender probably had the winning run. He had a couple backslaps, but they were relatively minor. And most other runs that were contenders for the win had control issues that were more significant than Bender's.

Rainer's run was clean, but he also skipped a couple features down lower that Bender and others hit.

That said, I think Ben Richards should have been much higher (maybe 4th?). He had by far the cleanest run and included some big airs with zero fucking around. If he'd fit in another trick, it would've been a winner. And Tester was underscored by 3 or 4 spots. Way techier than most other runs.

Bummed for Ho. That was a winning run if he'd stuck the bottom air.

Overall, thought the venue was a little lacking. Wide but short. Difficult to link up features in the fall line.

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[roQer]

Overall, thought the venue was a little lacking. Wide but short. Difficult to link up features in the fall line.

The toned down venue was well chosen for this amount of unconsolidated powder. Otherwise they would have sluff massacre/avys all over the place. No bueno skiing exposed consequential stuff on first bluebird day after a major snowfall in the Alps.

[toast2266]

The toned down venue was well chosen for this amount of unconsolidated powder. Otherwise they would have sluff massacre/avys all over the place. No bueno skiing exposed consequential stuff on first bluebird day after a major snowfall in the Alps.

True. Even on the relatively short face, I was surprised we didn't see more moving snow than we did.

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[Atrain505]

If you watch the replay bender didn’t back slap. Hands went down and was back seat but no backslap. He also spun both ways which is a huge score boost. Weiten was the obvious winner if he stuck that last air. Otherwise this was a rare comp where there wasn’t an obvious top 2 or 3 in my mind. Dream conditions as a competitor. Dream!


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[powdork]

You’re describing a stage 1 or low two. His backpack hit too with his hands. Still 5ish point deduction and he had a bobble below as well.

Announcers have been talking about spinning both ways for at least decade now while the sport has advanced so far beyond that. He spun both ways but did nothing but spin either

IMO Goguen’s run was vastly superior. The backflip of the top was the highlight of the comp and straight into a huge double. After he had a slight slowdown exactly the same as Benders after his bottom three (except Benders was part of his landing more than Goguen’s was).
Marcus then uncovered a large rock on his cross court landing but only bobbled a ski. I think less of a deduction then Benders wheelie. Noone repeated any part of Marcus’ line whereas Benders long traverse led to the standard line for that part of the face that many many hit.


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[kootenayskier]

Gougen appears to be significantly stronger, more technically proficient, and aggressive in his ambition than anyone else in the competition, and blows me away in his ability to stomp massive landings and redirect in critical situations. Otherwise, I find the obvious pandering (in venue choice, commentary and judging) to a slope style and youth culture aesthetic reveals a lack of confidence in the sport and its own traditions. The men’s skiing highlights have been incredible, as per usual, but the flat meandering to booters on these first two venues is bullshit. Give them a steep face littered with drops, and let’s see who can ski.

[TahoeJ]

I think it’s pretty clear the best conditions for a comp are after it snows just a little - enough to make it soft but not so much that it slows everyone down too much and big landings turn into hot tubs. Definitely too much snow this time around.

[DigSki]

kootenay, I think everyone in this thread agrees. Leif Mumma was a favorite because his skiing was amazing and he just attacked the fall line. Gougen is similar (imo), but plays the game and throws huge tricks too.However, I think we all also think that if aggressive fall line skiing with no tricks was winning comps, people would be dying, so they judge in a way that doesn't reward near death. Was Aymar Navarro fun to watch? Yes. Was it also terrifying? Yes. Would someone die if the whole field was skiing like that? Probably

[Dantheman]

They chose a toned down venue here on purpose due to the recent snowfall, which was clearly a good idea given the number of soft slabs that were kicked off. Further, the first few comps are meant as a bit of a filter and never as aggressive as the later stops. You have to ski to the venue. Let's not forget that Gougen won Verbier last year with one small token trick in an otherwise balls-to-the-wall big mountain line that had never been skied in the history of that comp.

[roQer]

Maybe it would be a good strategy for Gougen to shift one gear down and not to attack the mountain like a maniac. His style is highly spectacularly but, skiing on a very thin edge, results as well in frequent control issues. Technically he is perfectly capable of winning the tour if he focuses on bringing down his runs clean with less risk.

[total_immortal]

Maybe it would be a good strategy for Gougen to shift one gear down and not to attack the mountain like a maniac. His style is highly spectacularly but, skiing on a very thin edge, results as well in frequent control issues. Technically he is perfectly capable of winning the tour if he focuses on bringing down his runs clean with less risk.

Naw, screw that. He's someone who will progress the FWT even more (if that's possible) and is incredibly entertaining to watch even if he has control issues. Remember his first or second comp when he front punched a three and still threw a cork 7 with no goggles? More of that please

[Spooky]

Gougen appears to be significantly stronger, more technically proficient, and aggressive in his ambition than anyone else in the competition, and blows me away in his ability to stomp massive landings and redirect in critical situations. Otherwise, I find the obvious pandering (in venue choice, commentary and judging) to a slope style and youth culture aesthetic reveals a lack of confidence in the sport and its own traditions. The men’s skiing highlights have been incredible, as per usual, but the flat meandering to booters on these first two venues is bullshit. Give them a steep face littered with drops, and let’s see who can ski.

kootenay, I think everyone in this thread agrees. Leif Mumma was a favorite because his skiing was amazing and he just attacked the fall line. Gougen is similar (imo), but plays the game and throws huge tricks too.However, I think we all also think that if aggressive fall line skiing with no tricks was winning comps, people would be dying, so they judge in a way that doesn't reward near death. Was Aymar Navarro fun to watch? Yes. Was it also terrifying? Yes. Would someone die if the whole field was skiing like that? Probably

I loved watching Leif and was disappointed we only got to see him for one season. Weitien has quickly become one of my new favourites for line choice and how he skis techy sections. I thought he was judged way too harshly on a run or two last year and was gutted he didn't make the cut for Verbier so we could see how he did on a bigger, gnarlier face.

Shout out to Toby Rafford on this front though. For a young kid with a huge bag of tricks he also attacked the fall line straight out the gate in VT. Those five turns off the top to set up that three off the cliff were super aggressive and yet he just seemed to dance through them in deep snow. Would have been interesting to see how he fared if he had managed to stick the three.

Rafford top section: https://www.instagram.com/tobyrafford/reel/DFbitEDy5Ms/

[toast2266]

Rafford, Ho, and Richards all seem like they're right on the cusp of laying down a winning run. They're just young guys that haven't quite figured out what their limit is and how to stay within that limit while piecing together a comp run. It's coming though, and it'll be great. They all have slightly different styles that'll be really fun to watch in the future. Hopefully they can all stay healthy.

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[gaijin]

Man... I am sucking at predictions this year. I'm 658th. But that makes it fun. That means there's a lot of (new) talent on the scene and we're witnessing another transitional season.

The sport is growing, that's for sure.

Really no point in armchair quarterbacking when we don't know how the judges scale the face and perspectives are so different between us and them.

Still fun for me on this end, though.

"Too much snow." Yeah, that's a thing in the competitive freeride world. I remember low-snow events and athletes saying in the meeting-- This is what separates the men from the boys. The opposite is also true.

[tgrweb]

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[twat]

I went to make my predictions for kh? Fuck me I have no clue. Like honestly. Sure some riders stood out. But like way to many have the bag of tricks to deliver. How are the conditions this season? And which face? Ozone?
Hard to choose. I don’t have a particular favourite…