Professional skier Alex Hackel participated in the Nendaz Backcountry Invitational earlier this year. The competition offers perfectly groomed jumps, rails, and nice soft landings mixed into the field, creating a freeride course experience like no other.
It’s a truly wild competition to watch, and I’m frankly disappointed with how little I’ve heard of it up until now. Hackel did not win. German/Canadian Tiemo Rolshoven took first place, with Englishman Jake Müller and Austrian Sebastian Mall coming in second and third. But Alex still through down some serious runs.
The competition is rider judged, arguably the best way to run a freeride competition. So is it the most underrated freeride ski event of the year?
