Zermatt, Switzerland – January 13, 2015 – With a professional set up of renowned shapers and judges and a packed program of entertainment, everything has been done to ensure optimal conditions for the world’s best freeskiers, and spectators in this intercontinental battle. Besides the famous trophy, a lot of pride and honour is at stake when the cream of freeskiing meets to settle the current 2-2 score between the continents at this 5th edition of the Swatch Skiers Cup which will be held from February 21-27, 2015.
RED OR BLUE – JUDGING THE SWATCH SKIERS CUP
Three experienced judges will decide the champions of the event in a head-to-head competition format – Woodie Bouma (AUS), Philippe Poirier (CAN), and Dimitri Charrière (FRA). This format keeps the scoring system simple as the judges just compare two riders at a time and chose a winner. After each completed match-up, the judges lift a blue card for a winning Team Europe rider, or a red card for a winning Team Americas rider. Easy to follow for the spectators too – each winning rider tallies one point for their team, while the loser is awarded nothing. The team with the most points after both days of competition wins!
Woodie Bouma (AUS) explains what is taken into account when making the decision: “In my judging for Big Mountain I’ll be looking for good flow and smooth style. A line in extreme terrain is good, but it needs to be done with fluidity and a confident approach that makes it look easy. In Backcountry Slopestyle I’m looking for the same thing – keep the style factor high and you’ll be rewarded for it!”
To keep that style factor high, Philippe Poirier (CAN) says: “Tricks have to be clean with solid grabs – I would rather see good style instead of sketchy tricks.”
Dimitri Charrière (FRA) rounds it up and says good freeskiing is about “a complicity between the skier and Nature.”
THE FIELD OF PLAY AND THE SHAPER
Professional skier, downhill mountain biker, and experienced jump shaper, Arnaud Kugener (FRA) will be the Head Shaper for the Swatch Skiers Cup 2015.
The Shaper is responsible for designing and building terrain-park style jumps in an untracked, off-piste zone. The result becomes the Field of Play for the crowd-pleasing backcountry slopestyle discipline. In this spectacular variation of snowpark slopestyle, natural features are modified and pimped out to increase the potential for a better show.
Arnaud explains the process: “It takes a lot of creativity and planning to place the jumps in the right place on the slope. Then my team and I have to move all the snow and build the jumps by hand instead of with a machine. But the reward is a powder landing, and amazing images!”
PROGRAM
The Swatch Skiers Cup 2015 kicks off on Saturday February 21st, with the opening ceremony, bib draw, and welcome party at the exclusive Vernissage bar in Zermatt.
In order to allow for the best possible conditions for the competitions, a 6-day weather window is open between Sunday February 22nd and Friday 27th to choose the two optimal days for the Big Mountain and Backcountry Slopestyle competitions based on weather and terrain. For those who are planning on experiencing this event on site, the Backcountry Slopestyle competition will be accessible for spectators to enjoy the show.
A Swatch Skiers Cup official event village will be set up from Tuesday February 24th to Thursday 26th in the heart of Zermatt next to the Swatch Store to extend the incredible atmosphere of the event into the night and have the chance to meet the riders. There will be award ceremonies and parties on the two nights of the competition days. Other public events and not least, the Swatch movie night with the screening of the sensational ski movie: “Days of My Youth” in Le Backstage Cinema.
Follow the SWATCH SKIERS CUP on our social media channels