FWT2024

[Drail]

I like it, but do think it has played its course. The lines are all very well known and there's not much room left for anything new.

There's a whole world of competition worthy faces (Georgia this year proved that in spades). Even Kicking Horse is getting to that point.

Bringing Natural Selections back up - I have no idea what they were thinking - putting so much time, effort, and resources into artificial pillows in the mecca of natural pillow zones.... but even worse, they chose a face that is short and boring when SE MacKenzie face is right there and a proven comp face from FWT past. Hell - N Montana into Highway Bowl has potential to be an insane comp face for the best of the best.

Back to FWT - I think they need to seriously reevaluate what the Freeride WORLD Tour should actually be. Why are they constantly repeating the same venues over and over and over. Hopefully they learned from Georgia this year that they can put these riders on a completely unknown, untested face and they have the skill level to ski at the absolute top of their ability. If anything, it levels the on slope skill level between rookies and vets. The true separation comes down to the skiers ability to pick a line that will work from visual inspection alone and not from previously skiing said face.

Ben is a good example of skill on slope, but still has much to learn in terms of reading the face. In Georgia he bailed from a harsh transition after a cliff, and his first run this week, he aired a drop that, as he found out after, doesn't go.

I know its a long run but I really don't like the Fieberbrunn venue they should drop it from rotation.

 

[JmckR]

Ok boomer.

Only argument would be that it's in poor taste to bomb out the landings if you're NS, but considering the conditions and overall rowdyness of the day, whatever.

Serious? I don't get why I've been downvoted whatsoever.

He had nothing to lose, I've watched it again and it's not even a far hike, would take like 2 minutes if that. As mentioned he would've been disqualified anyway so I don't understand why he didn't just hike back up. Especially as his goggles were up there too.. fucking dumb

 

[PeppermillReno]

I like it, but do think it has played its course. The lines are all very well known and there's not much room left for anything new.

There's a whole world of competition worthy faces (Georgia this year proved that in spades). Even Kicking Horse is getting to that point.

Bringing Natural Selections back up - I have no idea what they were thinking - putting so much time, effort, and resources into artificial pillows in the mecca of natural pillow zones.... but even worse, they chose a face that is short and boring when SE MacKenzie face is right there and a proven comp face from FWT past. Hell - N Montana into Highway Bowl has potential to be an insane comp face for the best of the best.

Back to FWT - I think they need to seriously reevaluate what the Freeride WORLD Tour should actually be. Why are they constantly repeating the same venues over and over and over. Hopefully they learned from Georgia this year that they can put these riders on a completely unknown, untested face and they have the skill level to ski at the absolute top of their ability. If anything, it levels the on slope skill level between rookies and vets. The true separation comes down to the skiers ability to pick a line that will work from visual inspection alone and not from previously skiing said face.

Ben is a good example of skill on slope, but still has much to learn in terms of reading the face. In Georgia he bailed from a harsh transition after a cliff, and his first run this week, he aired a drop that, as he found out after, doesn't go.

Yeah just take a year off and come back.

I don't know why they don't let snowboarding do its own thing its unwatchable and everyone fastforwards through. Such a drain on the tour.

I feel like there should be 2 runs and one of them you aren't allowed to do spins or inverts or if you do they get no points. Its lame as fuck they totally removed the Aymar Navarro danger skiing crazy shit from the tour completely. Then have a run where they try to cram in as many tricks as possible or just one huge send.

Ho not making the finals just shows its all about who your sponsor is. Skiing has been great this year though overall.

 

[Drail]

Rookie on the tour, been skiing really well. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.

Serious? I don't get why I've been downvoted whatsoever.

He had nothing to lose, I've watched it again and it's not even a far hike, would take like 2 minutes if that. As mentioned he would've been disqualified anyway so I don't understand why he didn't just hike back up. Especially as his goggles were up there too.. fucking dumb

 

[Drail]

Ho getting underscored was criminal.

Yeah just take a year off and come back.

I don't know why they don't let snowboarding do its own thing its unwatchable and everyone fastforwards through. Such a drain on the tour.

I feel like there should be 2 runs and one of them you aren't allowed to do spins or inverts or if you do they get no points. Its lame as fuck they totally removed the Aymar Navarro danger skiing crazy shit from the tour completely. Then have a run where they try to cram in as many tricks as possible or just one huge send.

Ho not making the finals just shows its all about who your sponsor is. Skiing has been great this year though overall.

 

[nCrow]

Totally agree on the snowboarding. It feels like a waste of time, it’s clearly not the same caliber of riding as the skiers on these types of faces

Yeah just take a year off and come back.

I don't know why they don't let snowboarding do its own thing its unwatchable and everyone fastforwards through. Such a drain on the tour.

I feel like there should be 2 runs and one of them you aren't allowed to do spins or inverts or if you do they get no points. Its lame as fuck they totally removed the Aymar Navarro danger skiing crazy shit from the tour completely. Then have a run where they try to cram in as many tricks as possible or just one huge send.

Ho not making the finals just shows its all about who your sponsor is. Skiing has been great this year though overall.

 

[Twig]

I'm really sad to see APoll and all the other Americans off the tour.

APoll has been one of the best for years now but as a general rule, I feel like the IFSA series really doesn't prepare/select skiers for the tour nearly as well as the Euro events. I don't think it's a coincidence that only 1 man and 1 woman from North America made the cut this year. Just watching the recent challenger events, you could see the difference in both venues and styles being rewarded between Crested Butte and Monte Rosa. Partly you guys just have better snow, so you don't have to ski all the shite conditions the euros/kiwis have to deal with as regularly, but also the on-face inspections, venue types etc seem like they play a huge role. I don't think it's anything to do with level, I just think the Euro riders essentially train for what the FWT actually is, where the Americans seem to come off a fairly different circuit and get dumped into something totally different at the highest level.

Back to FWT - I think they need to seriously reevaluate what the Freeride WORLD Tour should actually be. Why are they constantly repeating the same venues over and over and over. Hopefully they learned from Georgia this year that they can put these riders on a completely unknown, untested face and they have the skill level to ski at the absolute top of their ability. If anything, it levels the on slope skill level between rookies and vets. The true separation comes down to the skiers ability to pick a line that will work from visual inspection alone and not from previously skiing said face.

Ben is a good example of skill on slope, but still has much to learn in terms of reading the face. In Georgia he bailed from a harsh transition after a cliff, and his first run this week, he aired a drop that, as he found out after, doesn't go.

Related, I agree that they do need to figure out what they want the FWT to be. Everything from the judging to the venues needs to be re-evaluated or at least clarified. Is it freeriding? Is it backcountry freestyle? Is it a world tour or a European tour?

For me, the Fieberbrunn stop was some of the most confused judging I've seen, just because there isn't much clear direction. The runs were all of such different styles, on a scale from Finn to Turdell, that it must be virtually impossible to compare without clearer criteria. Any of the top six could have won depending on what direction you want to go with it. I'm no huge fan of his skiing but Maxime was clearly shocked about his score, and he wasn't the only one.

I feel like at this point you need to relook at the scoring system, have four twenty point categories (Air, Line, Fluidity, Speed/Control) and then an overall impression score, something like that and then add them up in a transparent way to make things easier for all parties. Fuck it, have one judge for each (at least then the air judge might vaguely understand the different trick difficulties) and then a head judge, and probably need some new blood too... Viewers a) need to be able to understand what they are scoring and why and b) the rider who wins has to roughly align with what the 'freeride' community wants to see. Which judging by chat comments (not always the best metric) and overall feel, it probably isn't often these days because it has gone so far away from traditional 'freeriding'. There aren't many freestyle skiers out there, but there are a shit ton of aspiring 'freeriders' (aka lots of viewing/purchasing power) and the majority aren't trying to cork sev off windlips.

Then the venues, well this relates to the above, but clearly there needs to be more than one North American stop, at least if you want to call it a world tour, and to have those riders have a fair chance on home turf. It would be sick to see it mixed up more from year to year too, I kinda get the Bec being a regular but the rest it would be fun to mix up. I do understand why they don't, the tour is an INSANE logistical operation when you go behind the scenes. I've been to a few stops here and there for 'work' and it's crazy what goes into it. It's much harder to go to a new place each event than have practiced on a venue. But that should be one thing that FIS backing might actually help with.

Finally, while I'm ranting. It's embarrassing to only have 5 women (ok, 6 if Lily wasn't injured) skiing in the finals vs 12 men (+ wildcards for Bec?). The men's ski portion of the comps is just too long, and the whole show would be better if it was a bit more selective on both the FWT and the challenger circuit. Make the challengers a more legit show, trim the tour a little and boom, you have two divisions of sick skiing to watch.

 

[SlushSeason]

Finally, while I'm ranting. It's embarrassing to only have 5 women (ok, 6 if Lily wasn't injured) skiing in the finals vs 12 men (+ wildcards for Bec?). The men's ski portion of the comps is just too long, and the whole show would be better if it was a bit more selective on both the FWT and the challenger circuit. Make the challengers a more legit show, trim the tour a little and boom, you have two divisions of sick skiing to watch.

I disagree with this assessment. I find that the women consistently underperform on the FWT and are not very interesting to watch. This is in comparison to all of the women freeride and big mountain skiers in the film scene. It seems like the FWT has trouble attracting and retaining top female talent, likely due to the limited pool of women freeriders and intense competition with the "powder porn" ski movie industry. Another possibility is that the venues just aren't selected with women in mind. I didn't watch the womens' runs at Fieberbrunn this year, but i really doubt any of them skied lines like Turdell's. It might not be logistically possible, but i would find it more interesting if the women (and maybe snowboarders too) had their own comp venue with appropriately sized features.

The ski men have been progressing so quickly over the past several years and the other categories just haven't kept up

 

[KungKalmar]

Once again Hitzig was over scored by few points. Finn should have been second.

 

[SofaKingSick]

I disagree with this assessment. I find that the women consistently underperform on the FWT and are not very interesting to watch. This is in comparison to all of the women freeride and big mountain skiers in the film scene. It seems like the FWT has trouble attracting and retaining top female talent, likely due to the limited pool of women freeriders and intense competition with the "powder porn" ski movie industry. Another possibility is that the venues just aren't selected with women in mind. I didn't watch the womens' runs at Fieberbrunn this year, but i really doubt any of them skied lines like Turdell's. It might not be logistically possible, but i would find it more interesting if the women (and maybe snowboarders too) had their own comp venue with appropriately sized features.

The ski men have been progressing so quickly over the past several years and the other categories just haven't kept up

i generally hate when people hate on girl skiers/snowboarders but damn dude i caught a few minutes of the women's snowboarding at one of this year's stops and sorry but they were so bad i was shocked

 

[brownetown]

Finn’s run had me up off the couch yelling at the tv. That shit was insane. Wish it woulda won or at least been second but hyped it didn’t get as criminally underscored as the rest of his runs have been. Martin’s cork sev woulda been so lit but he couldn’t quite stick it, insane how fast progression is happening these days. Congrats to hitzig and marcus g for going psycho on that face, can’t wait to watch them battle it out next year. Also Apoll is such a good ass announcer, they should have him do it next year with Sam smoothy or someone instead of the bozos they have currently

 

[tomPietrowski]

This season has been so good. I really think this is the best form of comp skiing right now. Slope is great but it’s got to the stage where you pretty much know who will do what. Freeride is progressing so fast it’s crazy right now and so exciting to watch!!

 

[BigPurpleSkiSuit]

Totally agree on Apoll announcing. Dude is a fantastic announcer

Finn’s run had me up off the couch yelling at the tv. That shit was insane. Wish it woulda won or at least been second but hyped it didn’t get as criminally underscored as the rest of his runs have been. Martin’s cork sev woulda been so lit but he couldn’t quite stick it, insane how fast progression is happening these days. Congrats to hitzig and marcus g for going psycho on that face, can’t wait to watch them battle it out next year. Also Apoll is such a good ass announcer, they should have him do it next year with Sam smoothy or someone instead of the bozos they have currently

 

[BigPurpleSkiSuit]

I find the ski women to be routinely more impressive than the snowboard women.

I think this is because the FWT is much more highly thought of in skiing vs boarding.

I also think that the level of the ski men is just so insane everything else pales in comparison.

The other difficulty is money, and I totally understand it. The truth of the matter is if you can make more money by being a powder skier in movies still and be pro that way, vs banging it out on the qualifiers for negative money, that's an easy easy choice for anyone who is trying to make a living skiing.

The answer to this would be red bull or someone putting up large sums of cash for the winners but it's a return on investment thing and as amazing as freeride is, it hasn't been widely viewed yet compared to X games or anything like that.

I disagree with this assessment. I find that the women consistently underperform on the FWT and are not very interesting to watch. This is in comparison to all of the women freeride and big mountain skiers in the film scene. It seems like the FWT has trouble attracting and retaining top female talent, likely due to the limited pool of women freeriders and intense competition with the "powder porn" ski movie industry. Another possibility is that the venues just aren't selected with women in mind. I didn't watch the womens' runs at Fieberbrunn this year, but i really doubt any of them skied lines like Turdell's. It might not be logistically possible, but i would find it more interesting if the women (and maybe snowboarders too) had their own comp venue with appropriately sized features.

The ski men have been progressing so quickly over the past several years and the other categories just haven't kept up