Verbier Xtreme Freeride World Tour Finals 2015
The 20th Xtreme Verbier competition
The Freeride World Tour (FWT) is the biggest freeriding event on the planet and when it comes to the 'Xtreme Verbier' it's almost as if it gets bigger and This year 'Xtreme Verbier' celebrated its 20th year in resort and that made the start for a big party weekend!
With a 9am deadline to be on the mountain, our alarms were set for 05:30 to get the day going before the sun was up. We were on the piste for 8am and hitched a ride on the jumbo with Dion, the head judge of the FWT, talking about the fact that the event might have been postponed due to bad weather, but with blue skies above us, that was not happening.
Setting our seat for the day at gentians, we listened in on Xavier De La Rue and Sam Smoothy talking about which line to take down the awesome face of The Bec Des Rosses - it was like being in the dressing room before a big fight or before the world cup final.
With the snow conditions not as substantial as in previous years, the competition wasn't able to be held from the top of the Bec, instead there were 3 zones a bit further down to the right, but with still a half kilometre of terrain to get down. The girls took off first with amazing pace and skill, with all eyes on the current leaders Eva Walkner (AUT) for ski and local snowboarder Estelle Ballet (SUI). Nicola Thost (GER) took the crown for the day in the snowboard category with a daring run down, the half pipe world champion from 1998 rose to the occasion and did not let her first ever run down the Bec go to waste.
With the pressure off for Eva Walkner (scoring enough points to take the overall lead in Alaska) she tumbled down her first cliff and didn't score. The rookie Sylvia Mosses (ITA) impressed with her creative run down, but it wasn't enough to beat Hazel Birnbaum (USA) who took the crown with an impressive double drop at the end which has never been done.
In the Men's Ski category their was four men who could of took the championship home and all the current leader and rookie Gorge Rodney (USA) had to do was finish in the top 5, which he did with an impressive 3rd place. He had strong competition from all around. Local hero Jérémie Heitz (SUI) came in fourth, and notched up an impressive 124kph speed coming down the Bec. Aurelien Ducroz (FRA) took home the crown for the 4th time as the Verbier champion.
Four riders could have gone home with the title which gave the competition a real edge as we watched the riders come down. Flo Orly (AUT) was one of those guys, but could not capitalise on his run after a poor landing. The 2014 Snowboard Champion Emelien Badoux (SUI) hit an impressive line and has showed he is back to fitness after being injured all season. It was not enough to claim the title from Chamonix's Jonathan Charlet with an impressive score of 91!
A fantastic day of riding and big thanks to all the organisers for putting on a great show, we cannot wait till next year!
Classifications:
Woman Ski Xtreme Verbier
1, Hazel Birnbaun 88.5 (USA)
2, Slyvia Mosses 76.25 (ITA)
3, Cristine Hargin 72.75 (USA)
Woman Ski Overall Champions
1, Eva Walkner 9100 (AUT)
2, Sylvia Mosses 8305 (ITA)
3, Hazel Birnbaun 7930 (USA)
Mens Ski Xtreme Verbier
1, Aurelien Ducroz 88.5 (FRA)
2, Reine Barkered 88.12 (SWE)
3, George Rodney 87.75 (USA)
Mens Ski Overall Champions
1, George Rodney 8780 (USA)
2, Jérémie Heitz 7700 (SUI)
3, Reine Barkered 7660 (SWE)
Woman Snowboard Xtreme Verbier
1, Nicola Thost 71.0 (GER)
2, Estelle Ballet 55. (SUI)
3,Shannon Yates 52.25 (USA)
Woman Snowboard Overall Champions
1, Estelle Ballet 9400 (SUI)
2, Shannon Yates 8960 (USA)
3, Elodie Mouthon 7960 (FRA)
Mens Snowboard Xtreme Verbier
1, Jonathan Charlet 91.0 (FRA)
2, Emelien Badoux 85.75 (SUI)
3, Sammy Luebke 82.75 (USA)
Mens Snowboard Overall Champions
1, Jonathan Charlet 8630 (FRA)
2, Sammy Luebke 8605 (USA)
3, Flo Orly 7835 (AUT)
