2009 Freeride World Tour Athletes

Based on 2008 Freeride World Ranking, the 14 best men and 4 best women of each category have been invited to enter the first contest of the Freeride World Tour 2009 which will take place in Sochi Russia from the 20th to the 25th of January 2009: TheNissan Russian Adventure.To complete the starting list, you still have to add the winners of the FWQ sister event (Rldal Freeride Challenge 2008) and some wild cards which will be distributed by the organizers.Here is the list of confirmed riders:Skiers Men:FWT Ranking 20081. WINDSTEDT Henrik SWE2. MICHAUD Seb FRA3. DUCROZ Aurlien FRA4. TABKE Drew USA5. TOWNSEND Cody USA6. ZACKRISSON Kaj SWE7. PASQUIER Nicolas SUI8. VASIUK Estanislao ARG9. COIRIER Adrien FRA10. GILLIOZ Raphy SUI11. HAUNHOLDER Matthias AUT12. LINDBERG Wille SWE13. DUCHOSAL Thibault FRA14. BARKERED Reine SWE15. Winner FWQ sister event: Rldal 2008+ wild cardsSnowboard Men:FWT Ranking 20081. DE LE RUE Xavier FRA2. COUDRAY Alex SUI3. ORLEY Flo AUT4. NERI Cyril SUI5. EMERY Jonas SUI6. FALCO Julien SUI7. TOELDERER Mitch AUT8. MAGNUSSON David NOR9. SOMMER Andr SUI10. KHRYACHKOV Gennady RUS11. BULLET Raphal SUI12. BROMMELSIEK Will USA13. REGENSBURGER Daniel AUT14. WATSON Dave USA15. Winner FWQ sister event: Rldal 2008+ wild cardsSkiers Women:FWT Ranking 20081. SAUGSTAD Elyse USA2. MC MILLAN Jesse USA3. ENDERUD Ane NOR4. MEYNET Caroline FRA5. Winner FWQ sister event: Rldal 2008+ wild cardsSnowboard Women:FWT Ranking 20081. LEISIBACH Ruth SUI3. HRKNEN Kaisa FIN4. KARVINEN Anniina FIN5. ZENKLUSEN Nathalie FRA5. Winner FWQ sister event: Rldal 2008+ wild cardsFor More Information Please Visit www.freerideworldtour.com

Adrenalina

I have been staring at Adrenalina for the last four years and now I can finally say I have skied it. It seems a little crazy to skin for 5 hours to the top of a peak when Marte is running, but you can look at a mountain for only so long before you have to ski it.

The buses in Las Lenas run 24-7. We left our apartment at 7:00 in the morning and joined the poeple on the bus coming home from the discotequas. The bus driver was awesome and drove us to the end of the road, saving us 2 miles of road walking.

The morning was beautiful. As we skinned to the base of Adrenalina, we watched the sun rise and shine on the surrounding peaks.

The best part about climbing Adrenalina is that you can skin the entire the mountain.

Here’s a photo of our skin track that we were really proud of.

It took us five hours to climb the 6,000 vertical feet to the summit.

The ski off of the summit is a little over 50 degrees.

The snow was chalky at the top and smooth corn at the bottom. It was a great ski and well worth the climb.

The best decision we made all day was to bring our flip-flops. It felt so good to take off my boots and put my flip-flops on for the two mile walk back to Las Lenas.

“Why Do We Go Looking for Trouble?”

As we are dropping into the Parrot’s Shell, Imar says to himself, “Why do we go looking for trouble?” The top of the couloir is steep and narrow. We all know there is a double drop somewhere at the bottom. We have looked at it everytime we ride up the Neptuno chairlift and now we are dropping in. Why do we go looking for trouble, because what would life be without a little trouble.

Las Lenas is full of trouble. Thefirst line I skied in Las Lenas is called Sin Solida, No Exit. I remember riding up the Neptuno and looking at the super steep, rocky terrain. Eric and I thought we had picked out a perfect couloir, or at least one that went through. We were wrong. Half way down our ski, the couloir stopped short at a 80 foot huck. And that is the beauty of Las Lenas.

A short ski off the Marte chairlift will take you to some of the steepest and most challenging terrain anywhere in the world. What is interesting, most of this terrain is considered “out-of-bounds.” So while Marte Bowl (the bowl directly under the chairlift) is closed due to hard “duro” conditions, all of the super gnarley stuff right next to it is open. This is also the beauty of Las Lenas.

With only one week of skiing left, Las Lenas is a ghost town. There are no lift lines and most of the gringos have left. The skiing is amazing. Days are filled with early morning corn runs until 1:00 and then chalky/powder runs in the afternoon. Not a bad way to spend your day.

Clare loaded the bus today and said goodbye to another season in Lenas. She’ll be back!

Just One More Week

Las Lenas is still going off. It is the third time our departure date has arrived and the third time we have extended our stay. We keep talking about heading South to check out Bariloche and other mountains, but can’t quite seem to be able to leave Las Lenas. Today was a prime example of why.

Our last big storm was ten days ago and we are still finding powder within the resort. Today was really fun. We tried to ski a line we had never skied every run. And we found some really good snow.

A lot of corn skiing and some great powder turns.

It is hard to believe that with so much snow, Lenas will be closing on Monday, Sept 29th. It is sad to think that we will be leaving Las Lenas soon, Wednesday, but I can’t wait to checkout Bariloche.

Cerro Negro

Cerro Negro stands at 10,547 feet and is known to be the steepest of all the tall peaks surrounding Las Lenas.

Las Lenas received about 3cm of snow last night and we were hoping there would be a fresh coat of paint on Cerro Negro. The snow looked pretty good from the top, but when I dropped in I realized it was bullet proof with 3cm of new snow on top.

The snow did soften up half way down the slope.

And turned to perfect corn near the bottom.

It was great to ski Cerro Negro. It was the last big peak I hadn’t skied in Lenas. Next time I ski it, I will wait for powder.

Sunshine and Corn Skiing

Las Lenas has some of the best corn skiing in the world. And right now it is going off. The corn cycle is perfect and if you choose your aspects right, you can ski the smoothest 4,000 vert of corn all day long. Today was a blast! Our feet were a little beat up from our tour out to Rio Desecho yesterday, so we spent the day ripping down endless fields of corn.

One of my favorite stories about skiing corn in Lenas happened two years ago. I had traveled to Argentina/Chile with Lynsey Dyer, Vanessa Peirce, and Gabe Rogel. I had described the corn skiing to Lyns and she just couldn’t wrap her head around it. “I just don’t understand what could be so great about corn skiing.” We skied off a face called Edwardos. The corn was perfect. It was better than a groomer and Sun Valley and there was no speed limit. I stopped at the bottom to wait for the group and heard Lynsey giggling as she was ripping down the slope. She stopped at the bottom with a huge smile on her face. “That was the most fun I have had skiing in a really long time!” Like I said, the corn skiing in Las Lenas is almost as good as skiing powder.

Rio Desecho

It is spring in Las Lenas. It feels like it happened overnight. There is still a lot of powder to be found on the south facing slopes if you are willing to hike for it. Yesterday we skinned out the Rio Desecho area and were pleasantly surprised to boot deep powder into perfectly formed corn.

It is about two hour hike out the Rio Desecho. After skiing, you follow the river out to the road. It is 7km walk back to Las Lenas, unless you are lucky enough to hitch a ride.

Luckily, we did get ride back to the resort in the back of pick up truck. I wasn’t looking forward to another hour of walking.

Slim Shady

This post is dedicated to my friend Raja who discovered and shared this couloir with me in 2004. We miss you Raja! It is HOT in Las Lenas right now. The corn is good around 10:00. There is still some powder to be found, but it is a good time to explore new lines and ski the old ones that you haven’t skied yet. The first time I skied Slim Shady was with Raja in 2004. He had just discovered it and was super excited about finding a new line. Since then I have skied it every year. It is one of those lines that will get you puckered at the top, even more puckered in the middle, and makes you laugh at the bottom.

The hike up to Slim Shady is not for the faint of heart. It’s not super long, but as you are jumping from rock to rock with exposure on both sides it gets your attention.

And then there is also a little rock scrambling, which is always fun in ski boots.

By the time you reach the top, adrenaline is surging through your body and then you look down the couloir. It is about 50 degrees the whole way down and at its widest will fit a 200cm ski. During my first look, I usually ask myself why I just hiked to the top of this. And then I remember it is for the laugh that always comes at the bottom.

My first couple of turns were really good; soft powder snow. And then I hit the breakable crust. Breakable crust is probably the least desirable snow for this descent. There are two chokes that are not much wider than a 150cm ski. In good conditions, you can straight line through both cruxes. In breakable crust, you can carefully bridge your skis across the granite and somehow inch your way through each crux.

Once you have wedged your skis through the crux, you are almost finished. The last crux is a straight-line. The straight-line always looks really intimidating. Almost everyone takes a moment to gain the courage to send it. The best part about the straight-line is landing in the powder field that is always there.

The rush of emotions that fills your body when you land in the powder field is overwhelming. No longer are you puckered, all anxiety leaves your body, and you look up at Slim Shady. You can’t help, but laugh. Really?

Freeride World Tour 2009

Freeride World Tour 2009. Program

Here are the dates and locations for the FWT09. An official announcement will be done during the Summer.

FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2009Nissan Russian Adventure – Sochi (Russia) 20-25 JanuaryNissan Tram Face – Squaw Valley (USA) 27 February-5 MarchNissan Freeride de Tignes (France) 8-14 MarchNissan Xtreme – Verbier (Switzerland) 20-29 March

Exploration and New Lines

The crew was a little beat after hiking yesterday and we decided to do a little exploring without a lot of hiking. Clare was given a photo of a pretty impressive line last year and still had not skied it. We decided our mission would be to find it and ski it. Our first run, we were off by a bit, but we found some really good corn skiing.

The corn skiing was great!

The best part of the run was when we reached the bottom to see the line we were hunting for. We were so excited! It looked really cool, but I have to admit that it looked really steep. Clare decided she might want her helmet and Eric definitely wanted his camera. We headed back to the base to get prepared.

At the base we took a little break at the hospitality shack for some free gatorade and candy. After our snack, we headed back up the Marte chairlift on the hunt for Clare’s line.

We found the line. The best part about the line was the powder fields on the way down.

The zone we were in was so cool. It was full of spines and chutes.

After skiing the powder fields, it was a little difficult to get to the entrance of Clare’s line. We had to traverse over a rocky ridge with exposure on both sides. The closer we got, the steeper it looked.

We decided Clare would ski first because it was her idea. I wasn’t too upset to let her ski first. It was difficult to see the exit of the line. The light was really flat and steepness of the chute was intimidating. Yeah, I was nervous.

Clare dropped in with confidence and after two turns was out of sight. Everything seemed to go well for her, so I buckled my boots, took a deep breath, and headed towards the entrance of the line. I was so stoked when I got there. The line was sick. It was about 60 degrees with a straight-line at the bottom.

After initiating my first turn, I realized the snow was good and started to enjoy myself.

I was so stoked when I got the bottom. I skied up to Clare and gave her a huge hi-five. It was one of the steepest lines I had skied in Lenas. We had a great day and I am looking forward to our next adventure.