One Week
Two RVs
Two Teams
Three Skiers Per Team
One Photographer, One Videographer Per Team
150+ Challenges
One Winning Team

Many of you will recall Freeskier’s Road Trip Challenge (RTC) of 2007, in which Team Salomon battled Team Volkl for RTC supremacy. Back then, after two weeks of pure mayhem, scattered about New England, it was Volkl’s Scott Hibbert and Ahmet Dadali—along with Matt Harvey and Mike Thomas—who emerged victorious over Salomon’s Michael Clarke and Andrew Hathaway—along with Shay Williams, Sam Peters and sub skier Willis Brown. While the intention was to host the RTC again in 2008, a handful of factors barred Freeskier from launching the contest for its second straight go-round. Fast forward six years, and the stars have aligned for the RTC to make its grand return. Going head to head between March 11-17: Team K2 vs. Team Nordica.

Road Trip Challenge 2014:

Keeping with the theme of the original RTC, each team will be given a packet of challenges—the tasks include skiing stunts of all shapes and sizes, plus off-hill antics. Teams will travel around New England via motor home, with a goal of completing as many challenges as possible, with each of the various challenges corresponding with a certain point value. Whoever racks up the most points in the allotted time period wins. The prize: the ultimate bragging rights, plus an invitation to defend the title during next year’s RTC showdown.

The Challenges:

The official list of challenges will be kept under wraps until the teams embark on their journey. There are more than 150 challenges currently listed, including skiing tasks—like, 450 on to a rail, pretzel 450 out, or jib a stranger’s car—and there are general challenges, as well—for example, have a stranger’s mom cook you dinner, or kiss a stranger on the chairlift.

How You Can Get Involved:

We’ll be relying on you lot to help us out in two regards: 1) We ask that you submit your best ideas for challenges; if we see something we like, we’ll add it to the official roster prior to the start of competition. Feel free to submit ideas via the comments section below. Get ’em in early. 2) We’ll be looking for assistance while we’re out on the road. The aforementioned task re: mom cooking dinner is a prime example. You live in West Dover, VT and you happen to see that we’re shredding Mt. Snow that day? We’ll expect an email or a call. We need a quad kink rail somewhere in southern New Hampshire and you know the spot? We’ll need your tips.

How to get in touch? Stay tuned. We’ll have special email accounts set up for both Team K2 and Team Nordica, as well as (flip) phones on both RVs. Feel free to invite us for dinner or a sleepover, or call just to say hello—it’s all good. Be warned: you’ll end up on speaker phone with cameras recording your every word.

So, who’re the athletes? Who are the photogs? Who are the filmers? How else can you get involved? Where will the footage end up? Keep your eyes peeled for more information coming soon. For now, we’re just excited to let you know that, yes, RTC is back.

[Update] 2014 RTC team members announced:

Representing Team K2:
Follow @k2_skis on Instagram

Skier: Sean Jordan
Skier: Maks Gorham
Skier: TBA
Filmer: Kyle Decker
Photographer: Topher Baldwin
Freeskier staffer: Lambo or Quigley, coin flip will determine on March 11

Representing Team Nordica:
Follow @nordicausa on Instagram

Skier: Ian Compton
Skier: Dale Talkington
Skier: TBA
Filmer: Evan Williams
Photographer: Peter Cirilli
Freeskier staffer: Lambo or Quigley, coin flip will determine on March 11

A reminder: we’ll be counting on you New England locals for help along the way. Stay tuned for info on how you can reach us while we’re on the road.

Another reminder: We’re accepting your best ideas for challenges through Saturday, March 8, at noon MT. If we see something we like, we’ll add it to the official challenge list. Post your ideas in the comments section below.