Freeride World Tour

[nortonwhis]

Venue looks like hard work to find large airs. Lots of dick slapper trees all over the place

[Stuntmonkey]

Comp on now. Conditions look... ok? Seems like some wind effect here and there. Also tough to tell with the snowboard women since they kinda make everything look difficult.

You can see the hard crust that is still there. Conditions look the same as last week, bit of dust on a really fucking hard crust.

[Stuntmonkey]

Comp on now. Conditions look... ok? Seems like some wind effect here and there. Also tough to tell with the snowboard women since they kinda make everything look difficult.

You can see the hard crust that is still there. Conditions look the same as last week, bit of dust on a really fucking hard crust.

[toast2266]

Yeah, certainly not bottomless. But not quite as bad as I was expecting.

[singlesline]

Glad they got some snow to work with, but this venue area seems pretty limiting. Will be interesting to see what the men do with it.

Camera setup seems pretty good? Lot of good zoom shots and a sober drone operator.

[Stuntmonkey]

I don't think the realised how fast it is there. Astrid stomping the backflip off the lower lip is wild lol

[toast2266]

Glad they got some snow to work with, but this venue area seems pretty limiting. Will be interesting to see what the men do with it.

Camera setup seems pretty good? Lot of good zoom shots and a sober drone operator.

No one's gone over to the far looker's right yet. Last time they had the comp here, there were some great lines in that zone. Wonder if the conditions just aren't good enough for those lines this year. Or maybe it's just rowdy enough that the only ones that'll hit it are the ski men.

Also, Hedwig's top air was gnarly.

[toast2266]

And there it is. Stan Rey opening that looker's right zone. That was one of the more impressive tomahawks I've seen in the FWT. A bummer too - he had a pretty good run going.

[singlesline]

Kendall Goodman's recovery game is on point. Hooked tip to backwards tomahawk into switch exit was a thing of beauty.

[subtle plague]

Jesus. Hitzig is a fucking robot.

[toast2266]

Damn. Bummed for Chabloz. That was some bad luck on a rad line.

[singlesline]

Didn't know this was a thing

[toast2266]

^^^ Lol.

The Hitzig fix is in. He had a great run, but I would've put him in 3rd. I probably would've put Goguen over Mandin too, but could really go either way on that one.

Was impressed by Ben Richards - he wasn't really on my radar, but he put down a great run.

Edit: Also, Pfeiffer was great in the booth. He should do that more often.

[pfluffenmeister]

Peeing is definitely a thing.

Although I too, have never seen such a sign.

[Dantheman]

The Hitzig fix is in. He had a great run, but I would've put him in 3rd. I probably would've put Goguen over Mandin too, but could really go either way on that one.

Goguen got robbed. On a venue like this you shouldn't be punished for not going straight fall line, especially if you do it with that much style and nail an untouched tech section.

Overall, great comp. Some incredible skiing.

[GoldenBC]

The pre spot is mandatory. It’s up there all the time. Limited real estate to out skis on up top and people will just piss everywhere. A comment I heard today on the lift was KH is very casual with their signage but their pre spots are dialed.

[gaijin]

Agreed with what everyone above said about Hitzig, Mandin and Goguen. That said, the features are assigned agreed-points before the comp. So, sometimes judges miscalculate features and it throws off their card. Hindsight is 20/20 and there is usually debate after-the-fact. But I believe they try super hard to keep things fair.

Stellar comp, though. And yeah, Pfeiffer was great. Would have been cool to see him forerun it, though. Ha.

[altacoup]

I can’t believe that you guys are saying Hitzig didn’t deserve the win. Goguen was super loose on 2 of his 3 spins. Mandin was good. But the level of control, fluidity and line choice of Hitzig is just unreal. Spinning a 3 off a flat takeoff cliff and doing it with 100% control in bad conditions is ridiculously difficult. Dude is out of this world, he made his run look like conditions were excellent. At this point I’d guess the other skiers know that if he doesn’t fall he’s going to win. Both comps this year he’s put down the best run by far.

[gaijin]

I'll have to go back and re-watch. Tiny phone screen in my car was surely less than ideal viewing conditions.

[subtle plague]

I can’t believe that you guys are saying Hitzig didn’t deserve the win. Goguen was super loose on 2 of his 3 spins. Mandin was good. But the level of control, fluidity and line choice of Hitzig is just unreal. Spinning a 3 off a flat takeoff cliff and doing it with 100% control in bad conditions is ridiculously difficult. Dude is out of this world, he made his run look like conditions were excellent. At this point I’d guess the other skiers know that if he doesn’t fall he’s going to win. Both comps this year he’s put down the best run by far.

See my robot comment. It looks so easy I would be easy to underscore him. Glad they didn't. His line Was so critical and made it look like a walk in the Park.

[powdork]

I can’t believe that you guys are saying Hitzig didn’t deserve the win. Goguen was super loose on 2 of his 3 spins. Mandin was good. But the level of control, fluidity and line choice of Hitzig is just unreal. Spinning a 3 off a flat takeoff cliff and doing it with 100% control in bad conditions is ridiculously difficult. Dude is out of this world, he made his run look like conditions were excellent. At this point I’d guess the other skiers know that if he doesn’t fall he’s going to win. Both comps this year he’s put down the best run by far.

If Bathgate didn't flop so hard off the same jump, or if Mandin went before Hitzig I don't think Hitzig would have been scored so high. Marcus was a little (and only a little) loose on one spin, and snagged a rock before the take off on another, but was still crazy smooth in the air. I would have given him the win easily.
The announcers clearly agreed.

and FWIW I thought the girls were given too much credit for the backflip off the wind lip

[toast2266]

Hitzig only had 3 hits in more or less the "main" line and then just straightlined out the bottom. To be sure, he was rock solid, but it felt like a relatively safe run. Both Mandin and Goguen had more hits and put more effort into their lines, which I think should be rewarded. Especially on a venue like this that doesn't really have a ton of line options.

[subtle plague]

I don't agree. Freeride is not cross court Feature hunting. And has anyone else stomped those big Hits and made it look easy?

[kootenayskier]

Hitzig’s ability to stomp moderate angled landings makes him unbeatable. Mandin was impressive, but he rolled the dice and got lucky, whereas Hitzig appeared well within his limits. Goguen’s cross court airs were stylish, but not in the same league as the top 2, and his bottom air was impressive for it’s creativity and navigation, but otherwise lacking … if he’d tricked it he might have been in contention.
Did every one of the US skiers bail?

[grskier]

Podium and placement therein did not disappoint me, but I don't think anyone is totally wrong for arguing otherwise. I probably am docking a little more in my head for a messy turn after an air than others.

Those were tricky conditions I think. Thin in a few places, punchy in most places, with a layer of snow that wasn't regulating speed as much as they probably anticipated.