from skiers to skiers
After 13 years in the Roxy team, 2 X-Games golds, World Titles, and a 2010 Olympic Gold Medal, Torah Bright (AUS) continues to amaze us.
This winter Torah is taking on her biggest challenge yet, one that has never been attempted by any snowboarder ever before at the Olympics…
To line up at the start of 3 disciplines in Sochi: Boarder X, Slopestyle and Superpipe!! 😛
Torah Bright ready for some action at the Olympics 2014 in Sochi 🙂
Quiksilver is launching today the FURY PARK video featuring french freestyle ski prodigy Thomas Krief.No less than 4 Red cameras (including 3 Epic and 1 one) handled by 4 pro filmers as well as 2 producers and 4 assistants were necessary to produce and edit this authentic short movie shooted last spring in a giant half pipe especially raised in the DC Area 43 snowpark in Méribel French resort.This monstrous and insane set up directed by 7 shapers requested 30 000m3 of snow and 1500 hours of hard work.
The result is a perfectly sized 130m long pipe enriched with wall-rides, steps up/step downs, big air, rails other funny stuff to ride… All of this to allow Thomas showing what he can do on various playgrounds.At the very start of an epic and challenging 2014 winter for Thomas, Fury Park raises the bar and announces a rich season for the Quiksilver skier already awarded by a bronze medal at the Oslo World Championships in 2013.All winter long, you’ll be able to follow Thomas on TKTV webseries which shows the backstage of freestyle and his performances on contests as well as his preparation for the Olympics. Next step is a new adventure at the end of the winter in his home resort of Meribel…
Quiksilver’s new outfit for Thomas Krief
This winter, Thomas Krief has chosen the Electron jacket and the Porter pant, a lightweighted and confortable outfit to dominate and ride the halfpipe. Design wise, Thomas has loved a coloured geometric design in blue and orange.Electron Jacket : 10K Quiktech jacket with fully taped seams, Durable water repellent 3M treatment on the fabric, warm insulation. TheLong Slim fit jacket includes many pockets (goggles, packs, radiosunder a centralized flap), comfortable Lycra cuffs and a powder skirt. 199 eurosPorter Pant : Quiktech 10 K pant with Dobby textured melange.Critical seams have a waterproof seal. Fabrics treated with Durable Water Repellent 3M, and Thinsulate Insulation. This regular fit pantalso includes ergonomic knee shape and internal leg-lift system in cargo pockets to avoid walking on them. 149 euros.
Check out the FuryPark video:
David Bonneville (FRA) in the startbox of the men’s Slopestyle qualification @ X Games Tignes 2013
Winter X Games Tignes 2013 åbnede officielt i går, onsdag, med Slopestyle kvalifikation for mænd og finale for kvinderne.
Desværre var vejret ikke med hverken arrangørerne eller riders, da den dominerende farve var hvidt-i-hvidt og snevejr…
Mændene lagde ud, men pga den dårlige visibilitet blev det ikke til de helt store og imponerende airs, som X Games bla. er kendt for.
Efter de 2 gennemløb lød top 3 på: Jossi Wells med, efter vejromstændighederne imponerende 91,33 point – Russ Henshaw med 89,33 points og Gus Kenworthy med skuffende 85 points.
At det var muligt at opnå en 3. plads til X Games med sølle 85 points, vidner heldigvis ikke om niveauet, men om den dårlige sigtbarhed – og med det sagt, så var det alligevel meget imponerende, at riders var friske på at gennemføre konkurrencen! 🙂
Et af de mere spektakulære, men kiksede runs, var Nick Goeppers ene kvalifikationsrun, hvor han på den anden kicker mistede den ene ski, og alligevel gik efter sin Double-1080, som han landede perfekt – på én ski! Geopper forsatte som intet var sket – uden om den sidste kicker – og ned til det nederste rail, som han afsluttede med at tage på en ski 😀
I løbet af dagen lukkede vejret mere og mere til, og sneen begyndte så småt at falde henimod slutningen af mændendes sidste løb.
Efter mændendes kval, var det kvindernes tur, men pga det få antal kvindelige topløbere i verden, blev der ikke kørt kvalifikation først, og alle var derfor direkte i finalen.
Efter en flok opvarmningsløb blev konkurrencen endeligt aflyst, hvilket flere af pigerne udtrykte glæde og tilfredsstillelse over.
Winter X Games Tignes 2013 Slopesyle spectators area and Tignes in poor visibility
I dag var så dagen, hvor både mændene og kvinderne skulle køre finaleløb, og morgenen stod knivskarp med blå himmel og sol 😀
I løbet af ugen, er det flere gange blevet nævnt af forskellige riders, at kickers ikke er så store, som nogle kunne ønske, og som de var i X Games Aspen.
Det betød også, at der desværre ikke blev budt på noget nævneværdigt nyt inden for nye tricks…
De tre vindere blev McRae Williams med 94,33 points, Jossi Wells med 93 og Gus Kenworthy med 92 points:
Hos pigerne dominerede og forsvarede canadiske Kaya Turski for tredie gang i træk, guldet med flotte 93,33 points over norske Tiril Sjastad Christiansen, der med 90,66 points skubbede konsistente Dara Howell ned på en tredje plads med 88,33 points, hvilket hun i målområden ikke helt kunne bære, og måtte trøstes 🙁
Margot Rozies
Margot Roziès won the Freeride World Tour Event 2013 in Kirkwood (California, USA) on the ladies 3rd stop of the FWT circuit out of 5.
The French snowboarder was runner up last year, and takes her fist win of the season – with a 64 points ride.
She was happy to finally nail the gold after ending second 2 times in Revelstoke and Chamonix!
She dominates Elodie Mouthon (FRA) and Shannan Yates (USA).
Margot is now the leader of the women’s Snowboard Freeride World Tour rankings before heading to Fieberbrunn (Austria) and the finals in Verbier (Switzerland) on 23rd March 2013.
With the first event of the 2013 global expansion completed, X Games returns to the center stage in France with X Games Tignes 2013, March 20 – 22.
Winter X Games Tignes 2013
CANAL+ Events and ESPN will collaborate to host and televise the fourth iteration of the event at Tignes Ski and Snowboard resort in the French Alps.
X Games Tignes will welcome 150 world-‐class athletes competing in Snowboard and Skiing events.
In ski, American David Wise, X Games Aspen Ski SuperPipe winner, France’s Kevin Rolland, Thomas Krief, Anaïs Caradeux and young Torin Yater-Wallace (17) (USA), Bobby Brown (USA), Tom Wallisch (USA), Nick Goepper (USA), James Woods (GBR), Kaya Turski (CAN), Maddie Bowman (USA) all return to Tignes in hopes of winning gold.
Among them, snowboarders Mark McMorris (CAN), Iouri Podladtchikov (SWI), Louie Vito (USA), Torstein Horgmo (NOR), Kelly Clark (USA), Jamie Anderson (USA), Elena Hight (USA) battle to remain atop the podium, while three rookies ‐ Arielle Gold (16 y-‐o, USA), Yuki Kadono (16 y-‐o, JAP) and Max Parrot (17 y-‐o, CAN) make their debut in Tignes after successful Aspen events.
Also returning are 2010 Olympic champion Torah Bright (AUS) and superstar Shaun White (USA) defending his two X Games Tignes 2012 gold medals.
* This athlete list will be updated and is subject to change!
The event will feature eight different events for men and women over three days, including Ski and Snowboard SuperPipe and Slopestyle.
Schedule highlights include:
* Schedules subject to change!
The first stop of the FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2013 concluded on Saturday.
Revelstoke’s Mac Daddy face burst through a sea of clouds and was illuminated by crystal clear bluebird 🙂
The picturesque day started with men’s snowboarding on the pristine, snow covered
venue.American Ralph Backstrom from Squaw Valley (CA) defended his 2012 Revelstoke title, and said, “I was a little nervous we wouldn’t have good light conditions after the past few days but was so excited to have bluebird skies. The super steep pitch of Mac Daddy made it difficult not to go over the handle bars when landing jumps. I really like the big features that exist on that terrain.”
As the Freeride World Tour season continues, Backstrom is looking forward to competing in the coming events.
Continuing on the men’s snowboard podium was French Ludovic Guillot-Diat from Villard-de-Lans taking second place with a very fast and fluid run.
Also representing France was third place finisher Aurelien Routens from La Grave who aggressively charged down the fall line.
Topping the field for men’s ski competitors with an outstanding performance throughout the whole venue was American Drew Tabke from Crystal Mountain (WA). This was the first time Tabke got on the top of the podium with a second and third place finish in Revelstoke in the past.
“Mac Daddy is one of the most beautiful mountain we get to ski on the tour and the snow in British Columbia is amazing.” explained Tabke, “Some challenging conditions existed on the venue due to slides, but my line had great snow. The choice of the line was pretty strategic for me here. I wanted to avoid tracked out terrain and therefore went for a pretty original line. I think I am the first one to ever attempt this line on this mountain, sticking it from top to bottom.”
He further noted that his season goal is to win the overall 2013 Freeride World Tour title; “The title means more than ever before, but mostly, I want to have fun skiing with all of these incredible athletes from around the world.”
Rounding out the men’s podium in second place was Swiss Jeremie Heitz from Les Manecottes. Jeremie was one of the few skiers to successfully ski the fall-line high-speed double from the start confidently through exposure.
Finishing out the top three male skiers, Julien Lopez from France who strongly skied the riders right-hand side portion of the Mac Daddy face which consisted of multiple pillow drops and cliffs which rewarded him a good score.
In the afternoon, it was time for the women to put on the show.
Shannan Yates from Snowbird in Utah took the ladies snowboard podium with her smooth style and confident big mountain riding; “This is the steepest venue the female snowboarders have yet to face. The top of the run was variable and icy making it hard to go fast, but I managed to ride my line and land both airs.”
Margot Rozies of the French Pyrenees, managed to grab the second spot and Elodie Mouthon also from France joined the podium in third.
Female skiers were faced with the most difficult conditions of the day created by slough movement and tracked out terrain from all the previous competitors.
The 2012 Overall Freeride World Tour Women’s Ski Champion, Christine Hargin from Sweden once again placed herself on top of the podium with a well balanced polished run throughout the face.
Nadine Wallner from Arlberg in Austria took the second place, and finally, the effervescent Australian Natalie Segal, executed a smooth double pillow drop which was rewarded third place finish.
“It is difficult to describe what a momentous accomplishment today’s event was for the riders and sport of freeriding.” said FWT Americas Event Director Bryan Barlow. “Today officially marked the unification of the Freeride World Tour. We have set the bar very high here at Revelstoke and I look forward to watching the season unfold. See you in Courmayeur, Italy, next weekend!!”
The 2013 FREERIDE WORLD TOUR continues its competition schedule in Courmayeur on the Italian side of Mont Blanc on January 19th (Men’s Ski and Snowboard).
Then they go of the other side of Mont Blanc to Chamonix on January 26th (Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard).
After the Alpes the Tour continues on the other side of the Atlantic, in Kirkwood, California on February 27th (Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard)
Back to Europe on March 9th in Fieberbrunn PillerseeTal, Austria (Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard)
And finally concludes as the recurrent finale in Verbier on March 23rd (Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard).
1. Tabke Drew USA
2. Heitz Jeremie SUI
3. Lopez Julien FRA
1. Hargin Christine SWE
2. Wallner Nadine AUT
3. Segal Natalie AUS
1. Backstrom Ralph USA
2. Guillot-diat Ludovic FRA
3. Routens Aurelien FRA
1. Yates Shannan USA
2. Rozies Margot FRA
3. Mouthon Elodie FRA
6 Freeride World Qualifier competitions in Verbier in January
Come to Verbier between 14 and 20 January to participate in a full week of Freeride World Qualifier contests!
The highlight of the 2013 FWQ competition season is most probably the Verbier Qualifier Week organized by the Freeride World Tour between 14 and 20 January 2013.
This full week of freeskiing competitions will allow amateur freeriders the possibility to enter the FWQ ranking and seeding lists and to score 3 FWQ results – all in one week!
The Verbier Freeride Week is there to provide a solution to the growing demand.
6 competitions over 7 days will be organized – riders who subscribe for the full week will get a priority – even those who has never scored any FWQ points before.
Riders will be able to enter a maximum of 3 events;
either Monday, Wednesday and Saturday or Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
The spots not used by riders attending to the whole week, will be distributed as usual, using the seeding list, for riders willing to enter in only one or two events.
There will be 100 spots per competition day.
The entry fee is 80 € per competition (277 € for the full week) including ski pass and the evacuation insurance.
For those interested, accommodation at the below situated village Le Châble is as low as CHF 50.- including breakfast.
The events will unfold on faces in the whole Verbier St-Bernard destination, in resorts such as Verbier, Bruson, La Tsoumaz and Vichères.
Skis and snowboards will be available for testing during the week, with more than 10 different brands participating.
As riders will be competing only every second day, animations and parties are being organized every day!
Registrations are now open on www.freerideworldtour.com/
Contact:
Fabien Lienard
fwq@freerideworldtour.com
www.freerideworldtour.com/fwq.
Coreupt, the French ski company specializing in freeride skis and accessories, was liquidated in October 2012 😡
It was founded by former World Freeride Champion, Guerlain Chicherit, in 2008, and the brand expanded fast to reach annual sales of about € 1.3 million and only twelve employees.
As business grew fast, Coreupt was unable to finance its growing business, and in May 2012, Coreupt was filled for bankruptcy… 🙁
The managing team spent the summer searching for new investors to breathe fresh life into the company.
However, the negotiantions failed and in October 2012, Coreupt was pronounced in compulsory liquidation by the commercial tribunal in Chambéry…
On the short terme it basically means the company will stop designing new skis and accessories.
The Coreupt Team Riders, Kevin Rolland, Justin Dorey, JF Houle etc. are now free of their contracts – so it will surely be interesting to follow which new paths they’ll follow!
Commercial Manager, Pierre Gjurasevic, has earlier told Freeskier.dk that the season 2012/13 was prepared last spring, and that the already produced skis would still to be sold in the shops this winter.
Although their important sales channel Coreupt.com is currently down, we expect to see Coreupt skis a little while yet! 🙂
Managers are still trying get the brand sold to other ski companies, and a small range has been prepared for especially this purpose!
If even this fails, the company will probably be forced to selling everything it owns in order to pay its taxes as well as suppliers…
Hopefully this isn’t the last news we get from Coreupt!!
Four times World Freeskiing Champion, Guerlain Chicherit – founder of Coreupt
Yesterday morning the Tignards woke up to a delightfull view, as the first snow has fallen 😀
Check out the panorama shoot from the webcam on the Grande Motte glacier – the peaks of Val d’Isère, Les Arcs and La Plagne are to be spottet with snow as well – and of course Mont Blanc in the far North 😉
Grande Motte glacier in 3.653 m
Summer Ski just closed 2 weeks ago, and Tignes are opening again for the autumn/winter season on 29 September – and stay open until 11 May 2013!
Tignes Le Lac in 2.100 m
Tignes making out for the last days of summer 🙂
Swatch Freeride World Tour, Freeskiing World Tour og The North Face Masters of Snowboarding har netop offentligtgjort, at de tre tours fusionerer til en fælles global championship serie.
Den nye world tour får navnet Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North Face og vil have freeskiing og snowboarding ved alle begivenheder!
De fleste stop på turen er fundet, og vi kan glæde os til at følge med i Revelstoke (BC, Canada), Chamonix (Frankrig), Kirkwood (CA, USA), Fieberbrunn Pillerseetal (Østrig).
Endnu en europæisk begivenhed mangler at blive bekræftet, inden der (som traditionelt hos Swatch Freeride World Tour) afsluttes med finalerne i Verbier (Schweiz) sidst i marts 2013.
Her er kalenderen:
SWATCH FREERIDE WORLD TOUR BY THE NORTH FACE 2013
1. Revelstoke (BC, CAN) 7-12 jan 2013
2. Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (FRA) 26 jan – 1 feb 2013
3. Kirkwood (CA, USA) 27 feb – 3 mar 2013
4. Fieberbrunn Pillerseetal (AUT) 9 mar – 15 mar 2013
5. Stop No5 in Europe – Location To Be Confirmed
6. Verbier Xtreme (SUI) 23 mar – 31 mar 2013
“Foreningen af de tre tours er et stort skridt i sportens udbredelse.” siger Nicolas Hale-Woods (Freeride World Tour Managing Director Europe). “Ikke kun på World Tour (FWT) niveau, men også til kvalifikationen med events i New Zealand, Nord- og Sydamerika og Europa. Alle kommer til at tælle i en fælles Freeride World Qualifiers (FWQ) ranking, hvilket gør atleter fra alle active områder i stand til at kvalificere sig til næste års Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North Face.”
“Big mountain freeriding har en lang og rig historie med utrolig talentfulde atleter fra hele verden,” siger Adam Comey (Mountain Sports International President og Freeride World Tour Managing Director Americas). “Nu hvor to store brands som Swatch og The North Face samt to dedikerede arrangører i Europa og Nordamerika ser fremtiden for freeride skiing og snowboarding særdeles lovende ud.”
Startlisterne i 2013 vil have kvalificerede atleter med fra alle tre 2012 tours, ligesom der også vil være atleter med fra 4-star events.
Derudover vil der være et begrænset antal wild cards fra begge kontinenter.
“Sammenlægningen af de to ski tours er et stort skridt for vores sport.” siger 2012 Swatch Freeride World Tour Champion Reine Barkered fra Sverige. “Det vil skabe endnu mere opmærksomhed verden over. Selv ser jeg frem til en vild sæson med mange nye ansigter.”
Udover 5-Stars Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North Face vil der være omkring 40 kvalifikations-events rundt omkring i verden rangerende fra 1 til 4-Stars, så den store talentmasse kan score point til næste års FWT. Første event finder sted i New Zealand i Chile nu i August 2012.
Atleter vil score point inden for to forskellige rankings, en 5-Stars FWT ranking og en 1 to 4-Stars FWQ ranking.
The North Face er hovedsponsor for den nydannede Freeride World Tour.
“Siden 1980erne har The North Face været en af frontløberne inden for skisport med vores tekniske udstyr og førende atleter, eksempelvis Scott Schmidt og Jim Zellers allerede for 25 år siden. Med inspiration fra vores hold til seneste Freeride World Tour – Giulia Monego, Janette Hargin og Xavier De Le Rue – vi vil fortsætte vores store engagement i fremtidens freeriding.” siger Eric Pansier (VP Marketing EMEA The North Face).
Freeride World Tour 2013 by The North Face teaser