The Swatch Freeride World Tour, skiing’s premier big-mountain competition series, has announced its five-stop schedule for 2017.
The Tour will move from Europe to the United States to Europe again, stacking the best freeskiers in the world up against each other on gnarly terrain. Participants’ runs are based off difficulty, control, fluidity, jumping and crashes (or lack of crashes, rather).
“Forget placing slalom poles down the mountain. Forget building artificial jumps and hips and halfpipes and tabletops. Forget grooming the slopes even,” the Tour states on its official site. “Freeride contests are 100% natural, 100% clean. Indeed, the event is all about celebrating the god-given terrain features found on any mountainside in the most exciting and elemental format possible. There’s a start gate at the summit and a finish gate at the bottom. That’s it. Best run down wins.”
Last season, Frenchman Loïc Collomb-Patton took the overall men’s title, followed by Canadian Logan Pehota and Austrain Fabio Studer. On the ladies’ side, Austria’s Eva Walkner came out on top, followed by American Jaclyn Passo and Italian Arianna Tricomi. The late Swedish skier Matilda Rapaport was ranked fourth, who tragically passed away last week following an avalanche incident in Chile. Needless to say, Freeride World Tour competitors will be skiing for Matilda this season.
2017 Swatch Freeride World Tour Schedule
Jan 28, 2017: Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France
Feb 11, 2017: Vallnord Arcalís, Andorra
Mar 4t 2017: Fieberbrunn, Austria
Mar 17th 2017: Haines Alaska, United States
Apr 1st 2017: Xtreme Verbier, Switzerland
