The Freeride World Tour announced its 2012 schedule today from Verbier, SUI. Entering its 5th season the Freeride World Tour will no doubt bear witness to more mind numbing big mountain riding from some of the world’s top freeride competitors. We can also expect a greater tendency towards styled airs from riders as the Freeride World Tour, (and Freeskiing World Tour) push to incorporate a more progressive format into competitive big mountain riding.
FWT Newsletter:
Alongside Chamonix Mont-Blanc will be Austria’s best kept big mountain secret, Fieberbrunn and a new Scandinavian stop – the tour will descend upon Røldal in Norway for the first time. The world’s best Freeskiers and Snowboarders will then meet for the season finale on the legendary Bec des Rosses in Verbier which continues to stand alone as the world’s biggest and most prestigious Freeride competition.
Competitive Freeriding has evolved rapidly over the last four seasons with the pros spinning, cliff-jumping and stomping with an ever increasing intensity. We’re expecting to see further progression in 2012 as the experienced big mountain riders compete against a new wave of young talent.
The 2012 Freeride World Tour:
1. Freeride World Tour, Chamonix Mont-Blanc 2012 by Swatch
- Dates: January 21-27; Location: Chamonix (FRA)
- Disciplines: Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard
2. Freeride World Tour, Røldal 2012 by Swatch
- Dates: February 25 – March 01; Location: Røldal (NOR)
- Disciplines: Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard
3. Freeride World Tour, Fieberbrunn 2012 by Swatch
- Dates: March 09-15; Location: Fieberbrunn (AUT)
- Disciplines: Men’s Ski and Snowboard
4. Freeride World Tour, Verbier 2012 by Swatch
- Dates: March 24 – April 01; Location: Verbier (SUI)
- Disciplines: Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard
The planned tour dates in Sochi (RUS) and in North America are still pending confirmation. It will be interesting to see what happens with the North American Freeride World Tour stop. Last season the Freeride World Tour (primarily European Tour) and the Freeskiing World Tour (North and South American Tour) hosted a joint competition on the Cirque at Kirkwood, CA featuring a large field with Athletes from both tours. In an ESPN article earlier this year there was talk of the two tours working together to develop a universal ranking system.
espn.go:
According to a source inside the Freeride World Tour, “We are in the middle of a negotiation with MSI [Mountain Sports International] to see how we could merge the two tours in one world ranking … If this is successful, and it is looking like it will be, MSI will take care of North and South America and we would take care of Europe, Asia and New Zealand.”
Whether the two tours host combined or separate events in North America this year will likely play a role in the development of such a ranking system. There has also been discussion of combining the points and ranking systems for the Freeride World Tour snowboard events and The North Face Masters of Snowboarding (MSI’s freeride snowboarding tour).
The Tram Face at Squaw has yet to be skied in an FWT event. Both years (2009 & 2010) when competitions were scheduled to be held on the Tram Face, the venue had to be moved to Silverado due to snow conditions. And last season the combined freeskiing competition at Kirkwood, CA was overshadowed by the tragic loss of freeskier Ryan Hawks. Moving into the 2012 season we will have to wait and see if the Freeride World Tour will return to the Sierra.
