Freeride World Tour

It seems like a lot of the guys they're hiring to get these drone shots are more interested in showing the capabilities of the drone by getting crazy high speed swoopy shots, and less interested in getting stable footage that's actually beneficial to the viewer. This has been an issue with almost every bike and ski edit I've seen that uses drones for anything more than b-roll.

The drones really open the door for some nice shots without the expense of a helicopter, but it seems like it's gonna take another year or two before the operators figure out that the drone doesn't need to be flying all over the place at a million miles an hour to get good footage.

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Originally Posted by Pirene

Plastered. Damn. TBH always felt like Ozone was a bit of a small face too. It's a nice show but very often it's one hit wonders. I remember one time they did it off the back, that was a nice face. Bit short too. Can't seem to find anything in the vicinity of the resort that offers steeps, features and vertical all at the same time. Any help?

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It's definitely a bit short. The inbounds terrain at KH is very rad but it's all ~200-300m shots and mostly super steep. When you hit something sizable, you tend to find yourself going mach chicken so immediately that it's hard to get another hit in. Ozone is kind of an exception in that it's not at steep as some of the north facing stuff, but it's still compressed. It's got a backside that has been considered as a venue but the FWT turned it down. I personally think it would be interesting, but it's substantially steeper and could be billygoatey. Kind of old school. Doesn't really suit the current trend toward trick heavy runs.

There are a few longer (600m+), more euro style faces around the surrounding area but they'd all require heli or at least sled transport for riders and gear. Plus the associated logistics and avy control issues of being off resort. Ozone is inbounds and lift accessed except for a short hike so it's relatively easy and cheap to run.

Was there ever a shot of Navarro's line at any point in the comp? There wasn't during his run or after the crash and it never appeared in the pre event video (which for some reason looked like there was more snow than during the event).

Agreed on the drone angles. They need to have their operators watch some Dendrite films are just hire their operators.

Unpopular and probably incorrect opinion: I thought Moga's run was best. I would have gone Moga, Murray, then Palm. Double back was sweet, but I thought Moga and Murray skied basically perfect FWT lines.

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Originally Posted by waveshello

Murray's flat 3, Nichols' Lincoln loop, Moga's yuuuge send and Palm's double backie. All had me laughing in WTF disbelief.

Moga is a sick, sick man.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

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This. Wow, what a show.

Agreed with all the comments on the drone / lack of perspective footage. I wanted to see Navarro and Moga's line from further away.

This is a pretty sweet (cept the music lol) - Olliver's massive cliff looks unreal in this.

https://youtu.be/KeiWUAKJ-0E

Pirene, thanks for sharing the great local knowledge!

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Originally Posted by powdork

Was there ever a shot of Navarro's line at any point in the comp? There wasn't during his run or after the crash and it never appeared in the pre event video (which for some reason looked like there was more snow than during the event).

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I didn't see one, but he posted some good shots of his run on his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZFgHLQg..._web_copy_link
(scroll to the second clip)

Attachment 402678

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Originally Posted by ill-advised strategy

Agreed.

It would be cool if the mission of the drone work would be more like finding a really good view of the venue, then hover/hold and shoot from there.

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I do this sort of thing for a living (but have no inside knowledge of the FWT) so my guess is the drone likey has to stay tight on the skier to avoid any safety and/or camera coverage conflicts with the real heli. Which, from a production POV, I get. If I was running the event I'd also use the drone for super-tight follow shots no other camera can get, then direct the big heli to snag angles with more context.

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Originally Posted by powdork

Was there ever a shot of Navarro's line at any point in the comp? There wasn't during his run or after the crash and it never appeared in the pre event video (which for some reason looked like there was more snow than during the event).

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Aymar's run was really odd. There's a tiny chance he went into a blind spot they didn't have coverage for beyond the drone, but given the big heli is in view I don't think that's the case. I would guess they had a tech issue that kept them from having other angles of the run for the live broadcast, but I have no intel to back that up.

Ditto on the drone footage. I like the close ups out of the gate but after they drop in and start hunting around it’s chaos until the rider settles into the fall line.

Also, HOLY MOGA, that line was so sick. I’m sure the judges know their rubric but from where I’m sitting that was the one.

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Originally Posted by Spooky

Same - really interesting to see some POV shots in better snow conditions. Gnarly zone.

BAnd yeah, could have been scored higher but backslaps have been penalized hard for a good few years now which always make big cliff line choices like that a risk when it comes to the judging. Sick to see him hit a different zone to the rest though. Must have been so scary trying to line up that take off.

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The drone angle of his cliff drop was pretty wild, he was pretty close to the cliff for the majority of the drop.

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Originally Posted by kathleenturneroverdrive

Aymar's run was really odd. There's a tiny chance he went into a blind spot they didn't have coverage for beyond the drone, but given the big heli is in view I don't think that's the case. I would guess they had a tech issue that kept them from having other angles of the run for the live broadcast, but I have no intel to back that up.

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My guess is when he popped up from behind the ridge, the long lens cameras had no clue exactly where he was (just a dot in the rocks) until he jumped the 1st cliff and then it was over in an instant and they couldn't tilt that fast, he went 0-100 in seconds. The drone guy knew exactly where he was the whole time because he was following him from the start. If the director could see the drone angle in the production tent, maybe he radioed all cameras frantically telling them where to look and everyone didn't quite understand in time. You'd think if it was a tech issue all cams would still have the footage in-camera for the highlight reel to show.

As for the big heli, maybe they were changing batteries right then, ha.

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Originally Posted by kathleenturneroverdrive

I do this sort of thing for a living (but have no inside knowledge of the FWT) so my guess is the drone likey has to stay tight on the skier to avoid any safety and/or camera coverage conflicts with the real heli. Which, from a production POV, I get. If I was running the event I'd also use the drone for super-tight follow shots no other camera can get, then direct the big heli to snag angles with more context.



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1) I thought the drone brought some condition context for a for of the skiers...
2) what Kathleen said

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Originally Posted by nordekette

https://youtu.be/F5M9HM4H9SE

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winning run at the 4:00:00 mark. Martin Bender. Love that Kappl face - such an awesome venue.

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Originally Posted by nordekette

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5M9HM4H9SE

freeride junior world championship

check out ski man winning run martin bender at 4:00:00 exact at 4hours
very nice skiing... i want to see bender on the tour : ) could be great to hear the kiwis announce him

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Particularly given the state of the snow and fact he went right at the end. He came 2nd to Max Palm last year. Really nice kid, amazing mountain biker too.

The Great Britainer after him (Jordan ray) was awesome too. i thought his run was better but he had a bobble up top.

Wow, that is an awesome venue! Great to see the young guns gettin' after it.

THIS is the kind of preview I've been looking for leading up to an event. more info less hype
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAXpgf9yoVE

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Originally Posted by toast2266

It seems like a lot of the guys they're hiring to get these drone shots are more interested in showing the capabilities of the drone by getting crazy high speed swoopy shots, and less interested in getting stable footage that's actually beneficial to the viewer. This has been an issue with almost every bike and ski edit I've seen that uses drones for anything more than b-roll.

The drones really open the door for some nice shots without the expense of a helicopter, but it seems like it's gonna take another year or two before the operators figure out that the drone doesn't need to be flying all over the place at a million miles an hour to get good footage.

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This. "Your <drone pilots> were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Currently co-wearing the yellow leader's bib in the TRG Fun bet league... because of my snowboarding predictions in the part of the event I barely watch. ;-)

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Originally Posted by toast2266

It seems like a lot of the guys they're hiring to get these drone shots are more interested in showing the capabilities of the drone by getting crazy high speed swoopy shots, and less interested in getting stable footage that's actually beneficial to the viewer. This has been an issue with almost every bike and ski edit I've seen that uses drones for anything more than b-roll.

The drones really open the door for some nice shots without the expense of a helicopter, but it seems like it's gonna take another year or two before the operators figure out that the drone doesn't need to be flying all over the place at a million miles an hour to get good footage.

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This.

I would imagine the 'playing with the new toy' phase will end soon and the drones are used to their real potential. Hopefully!

The drone ops mainly come from a racing drone background so that's what they do - go fast and spin around. It's the directors job to tell them to mellow out. I completely agree it's often too fast but the director needs to explain to them why it sucks to watch when following the skiers. Or the director actually likes what they do - he's to blame either way, not the ops.

Loved the up-close drone shot of Aymar skidding into the line - it really showed how thin the coverage was and the drone was NOT circling him like a vulture right then which was great. Used right they are awesome for events!

Thoughts on this next venue? Anyone seen it in person? It looks pretty good from the video the FWT posted today.

Hard to tell what’s in play and what’s not without a terrain photo showing the potential boundaries and the start/finish lines

I think it looks cooler than the previous year's venue, but hard to tell scale and where exactly folks can go. That video motivated me to change my fun bet picks to more big mtn style riders

Some of the cliffs Look pretty limiting? Wouldn't they funnel most of the riders into certain Sectors ?

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Originally Posted by TahoeJ

This. "Your <drone pilots> were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Currently co-wearing the yellow leader's bib in the TRG Fun bet league... because of my snowboarding predictions in the part of the event I barely watch. ;-)

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Nice work! WAGs still count!!

Get yer bets in: https://peakperformance.pronosticgames.fr/

Navarro's line was my personal highlight...I definitely preferred the steeper lines the guys took down the center than hitting the windlips on lookers left. But what do I know? ;)

None of you euro types have any good terrain photos of this face?

From the video
Attachment 403359

Attachment 403360

Attachment 403361

Lots of wind lips to hit and obviously lots of cliffs but it looks like the take offs are burnt back a bit

It would be sweet if the start gate was the summit in that first pic, with the whole face in play. Looks like it’ll be a sunny face with no pow and spring conditions on comp day.

I’d like to see a bit more billy goating in the gnar and less 360s off wind lips. But perhaps I’m in the minority on that

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Originally Posted by Clownshoe

It would be sweet if the start gate was the summit in that first pic, with the whole face in play. Looks like it’ll be a sunny face with no pow and spring conditions on comp day.

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The lone track in the last pic looks pretty good though

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Originally Posted by Clownshoe

I’d like to see a bit more billy goating in the gnar and less 360s off wind lips. But perhaps I’m in the minority on that

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I like the billy goating and the Aymarring too but the billygoating won't ever score well in this format

Attachment 403399

What seemed exciting seems less so now.

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Originally Posted by powdork

I like the billy goating and the Aymarring too but the billygoating won't ever score well in this format

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True. I wonder if Aymar had stuck his line that might have been a winner.

I think he for sure would have. Keep in mind if he made it to the last cliff he was going off a really big part at mach looney and could have easily gotten into the olympic ski flying distances

Arrrrgggh, I thought I would stay up and watch this since 10:30 am CET and 2:30 am calgary MST equal 1:30 am Tahoe but the the countdown clock says it will be 2 hours from now

Website countdown was wrong, game is on. Kevin Nichols drops in 27 minutes

I'm here. Waiting for the technical things to simmer out.. but game on!

betting we'll have more far off shots this time. they seem to be listening

Is the feed jerking around on your end? IT keeps jumping between present and past. It's almost unwatchable. My wifi? But yeah-- nice to see the drones backing off a bit.

i went back to facebook. can't see the start list but thats ok

thought slemett should have been ahead of aymar and i'm a navarro fan

fuck hes not moving