As if ordered by the organisers, sunshine, blue sky and a fresh dusting of snow provided a superb setting for the third round of the Freeride World Tour at Kicking Horse Mountain, British Columbia, today.
The theatre for the competition for skiers and snowboarders was Ozone South Face in Feuz Bowl, which is a steep-sided off-piste slope with plenty of crags and cliffs. While mere mortals might prefer to avoid the rocky drop-offs as they descend from a high point of 2504m, the pros of the tour took full advantage of these features.
Standing on a ridge opposite Ozone, one of a large crowd of cheering spectators, I watched with my heart in my mouth as, one by one, the competitors rode the slope at high speed, pulling off audacious and dare-devil jumps and tricks.
Some riders did fall, yet, amazingly, many many didn’t. These skiers and snowboarders were competing to become FWT champions. Kicking Horse is the third round of five events and the only one outside of Europe.

What is freeriding?
Freeriding is a snowsport that allows skiers and snowboarders to impress judges with their own style of riding. Whether a rider’s strength is steep terrain, big airs, technical tricks or speed, each style could win if, on that day, the rider gives the best “overall impression”.
The judging includes five criteria, the line, air & style, fluidity, control and technique. To evaluate the run, judges use a point system of a 100 increments from 0 to 100.

Whats is the Freeride World Tour?
The Freeride World Tour is an annual series of events that pitches the best freeskiers and snowboard freeriders against each other. They compete for individual event wins, as well as the overall title of world champion in their respective genders and discipline.
Action at Freeride World Tour 3rd round, Kicking Horse

Snowboard men
Liam Rivera, a world tour rookie from Mexico, was the first to drop on to Ozone – and he wasn’t to be beaten. Liam pointed his board straight for the deep powder and linked 360s in both directions to take the win.
In second place was French rider Ludovic Guillot-Diat, who cemented his overall rankings lead with a second place finish.
It was anothe podium placing for American Jonathan Penfield, who took third today. He was second in the Andorra round and fifth in Spain.
Liam said of today’s performance: “I don’t think I quite believe it yet. I came here just wanting to make the cut and now I have taken the win. I’m very happy.”
The overall rankings so far see Ludovic in first place, Liam in second and Jonathan in third.

Ski men
The crowd screamed and cheered with delight as the winning male skier, Max Hitzig , skied Ozone today. The German threw what is being acclaimed as potentially the biggest backflip in FWT history. It has to be seen to be believed and even as I watched form afar, it looked immense.
His entire run was judged as fluid and fast as he linked a couple of airs at the top of the run into the historic backflip.
Canadian rookie Marcus Goguen took second place with an exhilarating run, while Austrian skier Valentin Rainer backed up his win in Andorra with a third place today.
Max said: “I wasn’t sure if it [the backflip] was going to work. I saw Yu Sasaki send the pyramid cliff three years ago, which is why I went for it today. I’m so stoked.”
Valentin Rainer sits in top postion in the overall rankings, with Max’s win today giving him second place. Maxim Chabloz sits in third place overall.

Ski women
French skier Megane Betend delivered a career-defining performance to take first place at Kicking Horse today. She produced a fast and powerful display of freeriding, which included an impressive triple drop into the finish line.
Swiss athlete Elisabeth Gerritzen offered a fluid run to take second place, while America’s Addison Rafford rounded off the podium – and also took the lead in the overall rankings.
America’s Molly Armanino and Candadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe now sit in second and third respectively after the three World Tour rounds.
Megane said: “I knew I would have to finish first or second to qualify for the finals, so I said to myself, ‘go big or go home’. I am stoked that it worked.”

Snowboard women
Austria’s Michaela Davis-Meehan put down a huge run under pressure to take the win, but, unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough to make the cut for the finals.
Michaela dropped first and sent two massive airs in the steep, exposed section of the course before completing with speed into some fast powder turns.
Estelle Rizzolio, from France, and Anna Orlova finished second and third, respectively, both pulling off solid runs.
Michaela said: “It was amazing. The snow was so good. I had a backup run that I was going to do, but I blew that one off. I wanted the rockstar run and I am glad I did it.”


What happens next?
The FWT Finals are next with all the riders who made the cut heading back to Europe and the famed and intimidating slopes of Fieberbrunn and Verbier.
See the freeriders in action
To see the third round action live, you needed to be in Kicking Horse today. But you can also see all of the riders at www.freerideworldtour.com. It is a superb spectator sport and a snowsport discipline I am going to follow more keenly now I have seen it live.