The North Face Chilean Freeskiing Championships are taking over Valle El Arpa this weekend; this is the second stop of the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour.
Athletes inspected the venue today, and weather permitting, will compete on Saturday and Sunday. Snow is in the forecast, so hopefully things will go off without a hitch.
Below you'll find an introduction video, press release and event schedule, a photo of the venue, and a list of athletes.
Event intro — hear from judges Jim Jack, Brant Moles and Ben Wheeler.
Press Release:
"Who likes helicopters, snowcats, snowmobiles, and blower powder?"
Event director Bryan Barlow addressed the crowded room of international athletes, media, event organizers, and Ski Arpa staff at the Inca Hotel in Los Andes, Chile, headquarters for The North Face Chilean Freeskiing Championships, FWT Stop # 2.
Friday is inspection day at Ski Arpa Cat Skiing where conditions couldn't be better. We're expecting anywhere from two to four feet of new snow on the venue and, unheard of in the Andes, the wind wasn't blowing at all today.
Day 1 venue.
"Tomorrow we'll be moving people from Los Andes to the Andes," continued Barlow. "A wagon train of athlete trucks, staff Subarus, and shuttles will head up the most challenging roads we've ever seen on the FWT starting early Friday morning. This is true backcountry in every sense of the word.
"This is going to be the most exciting event we've ever put on," said head judge Jim Norm Jack. "We're going to an incredibly remote place. Everybody needs to be on point, have a positive attitude, and make this a team effort."
Bottomline is the snow is deep, the team is in place, and the athletes are here and ready to get down to business.
We're going to Disneyland.
Stay tuned for full photo, video and story coverage tomorrow night.
CONFIRMED ATHLETE LIST AS OF 8/18/11
Ahrens, Leo
Brinson, Spencer
Burns, Clare
Chicherit, Guerlain
Chickering-Ayers, Lars
Chickering-Ayers, Silas
Coirier, Adrien
Collinson, Angel
Collinson, John
Daiek, Josh
Deane, KC
Diaz, Chopo
Diaz, Sole
Dujardin, William
Dunne, Griffin
Edgerly, Jacqui
Ellingson, Tommy
Fisher, Drew
Gardner, Michael
Haines, Evan
Halverson, Zach
Hammer, Hadley
Hendrickson, Zorayda
Imbert, Mathieu
Larkin, Josh
Lentsch, Fabian
Lercher, Sonja
Lopez, Julien
Lundin, Connery
Marruncheddu, Thibaud
Maxfield, Ashley
Nelson, Luke
Omeara, Kevin
Parker, John
Pelton, Conor
Permin, Richard
Post, Griffin
Pritchett, Hunter
Rouse, Drew
Runcie, Tom
Salencon, Nicolas
Schneider, Willie
Selig, Rebecca
Shafer, Christopher
Sheue, Broc
Smith, Peter
Sorbe, Jim
Tabke, Drew
Taran, Alexandra
Vailly, Laure
Wright, Crystal
Zeller, Eric
Echaurren, Ignacio
For more about the tour, visit the Freeskiing World Tour website. For more about the venue, visit the Ski Arpa website.
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