The Freeride World Tour (FWT) festivities have begun in Golden, British Columbia. After previous cancellations and location shifts on the tour due to the low snowpack worldwide, the competition WILL be taking place at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (KHMR) this year, but there will be a change to the competition grounds. Read on for more info about the confirmed date, location change, and start order, as well as our thoughts leading up to the competition
Confirmed Date – Thursday, February 15th
Athletes arrived on Monday for the bib draw but were unsure as to when the competition would be taking place within the weather window. However, cold temperatures are keeping the snow in primo condition and the sun will also be making an appearance, which has allowed the FWT Team to decide on Thursday as comp day.
First drop will be at 10:15 MST! Tune in here
Competition Face Change
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is the home to the only FWT stop in North America and is a cornerstone for Canadian freeride due to its difficulty. Normally, the event would take place on the Ozone face but due to snow conditions, the 2024 contest will be taking place on the Terminator 1 South (T1) face.
According to the KHMR Ski Patrol – “The top section of the Ozone is fine, but the middle section has an inconsistent snowpack – from a thick crust to deep, sugary snow over rock – while the bottom is littered with ice cookies the size of watermelons. Hardly ideal for freeride competition. In contrast, T1 South has a consistent snowpack with up to 20 cm of snow covering the old firm crust – including around 5 cm of fresh snow on Tuesday”
Start List – Ski Women
- Zuzanna Witych (PLD)
- Lily Bradley (USA)
- Lydia Nelsen (USA)
- Hedvig Wessel (NOR)
- Astrid Cheylus (FRA)
- Molly Armanino (USA)
- Megane Betend (FRA)
- Manon Loschi (FRA)
- Addison Rafford (USA)
- Sybille Blanjean (SUI)
Start List – Ski Men
- Stan Rey (CAN)
- Jackson Bathgate (CAN)
- Thibault Magnin (ESP)
- Blake Marshall (NZL)
- Kendall Goodman (USA)
- Karl Regner Eriksson (SWE)
- Kristofer Turdell (SWE)
- Weitien Ho (CAN)
- Martin Bender (SUI)
- Max Hitzig (GER)
- Finn Bilous (NZL)
- Maxim Chabloz (SUI)
- Marcus Goguen (CAN)
- Dillon Flinders (USA)
- Oscar Mandin (FRA)
- Abel Moga (ESP)
- Valentin Rainer (AUT)
- Colton Shaff (USA)
- Max Palm (SWE)
- Ben Richards (NZL)
- Tenra Katsuno (JPN)
- Alex Pollard (USA)
SKIER Team Thoughts
After skiing KHMR these few days leading the event, there’s no doubt that it is low tide out there. Snow levels are extremely low and conditions are going to be tricky from the top of the competition face to the bottom. We think that due to the light nature of the Rocky Mountain snow above a thick layer of ice, landings will be hard, scrubbing speed will be difficult and falls will be catastrophic.
