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ContestHappening 4 2016/17 | Here we go.

Successful start to the competition season with six contests in one week.

by Tobias Huber • 01/22/2017
Powder with not much underneath was available for the riders on the south-east facing slope on the Quellspitze in Kappl-Paznaun

Powder with not much underneath was on offer for the riders on the south-east facing slope on the Quellspitze in Kappl-Paznaun

OpenFaces/MKnoll
The contest season has begun. Six competitions have already taken place in the past week: Hakuba, Verbier and Kappl kicked things off. While it was difficult to find a suitable weather and time window in Hakuba due to the constant snowfall, the snow cover in the Alps is still thin, but apparently it is already good enough for contests. Hopefully also for the planned start of the FWT in Chamonix next weekend!

The first two FWQ contests in Japan, a 2* and a 4* event, were held successfully. Unfortunately, due to the persistent snowfall, a short face in the trees had to be used for the 4* contest. Even though the face couldn't quite live up to the standards of a 4* FWQ, all participants were probably pretty happy about the fact that they had to deal with fresh snow every day while waiting for the contest. Travis Rice, who was more in the air than on the snow surface during his run, of course won his category. Everything else can be found in the recap video. A complete replay, individual rider clips and the results lists can be found here.

Verbier Freeride Week

The first FWQ competitions in the Alps took place in the freeride hotspot of Verbier in French-speaking Switzerland last week, from 14-22 January 2017. Here, too, a thick blanket of snow is still a long time coming. In any case, the presence of many riders from the Swiss and French-speaking regions was put to good use and three competitions were held within a week. The three 2* competitions led to the following results:

Results 2* #1
Results 2* #2
Results 3* #3

www.freerideworldtour.com / J. Halayko
www.freerideworldtour.com / J. Halayko

Open Faces Kappl

Since the date for the competition in Axamer Lizum had to be postponed to February 4, Kappl-Paznaun kicked off the Open Faces this time, with perfect weather and sufficient snow cover on the proven contest slope of the Quellspitze. Snowboarder Mara Neumayr and freeskier Tao Kreibich took two Austrian home victories with spectacular runs on the day of the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel. Malene Madsen (DEN) came out on top in the women's ski category and Koen Goris (BEL) in the men's snowboard category.

The local heroes felt particularly at home in the snow in Kappl: snowboarder Mara Neumayr (AUT) took victory in the women's category with a spectacular run. "For being here for the first time today and inspecting the face for the first time at 7 o'clock in the morning, it went really well. I already had my line in mind, but then I skied a little differently because the snow was great. I also found a few nice cliffs in between," said a beaming Mara Neumayr. Christine Innerhofer (AUT) came second in the women's snowboarding category ahead of Finnish Freeride World Tour rider Mikaela Hollsten.

In the men's skiing category, Tao Kreibich (AUT) from Vorarlberg came out on top ahead of Luca Beran and Martin Krautschneider (AUT): "The day was great, perfect weather, the run was actually flawless too. When Luca arrived, I thought to myself that he might have been better than me. But in the end it worked out just as I had imagined," said Kreibich, who also wants to compete in the upcoming Open Faces competitions.

Behind Malene Madsen (DEN), the two former Austrian freeride champions Sabine Schipflinger and Jacoba Kriechmayr took second and third place respectively in the women's ski category. In the men's snowboarding event, Belgium's Koen Goris came out on top ahead of Italy's Tommaso Gazzini. Marcel Loschin, a local, also finished in the top three in this category.

Juniors also made their mark at the top of the spring

The under-18s also made their big appearance in Kappl and two Austrians were also beaming from the podium here: Valentin Rainer secured first place, Tyrolean Ben Hotter second. German Luca Schwieder completed the podium in the Juniors category. The Open Faces continue next weekend with the 1* competition at Hochkar in Lower Austria.

The podium in the women's skiing: from left Jacoba Kriechmayr, Malene Madsen, Sabine Schipflinger

The podium in the women's skiing: from left Jacoba Kriechmayr, Malene Madsen,Sabine Schipflinger

OpenFaces/MKnoll

All results of the 2* FWQ Kappl and the FJT event can be found here.

The other dates of the Open Faces:

27.- 29.01.2017 HOCHKAR 1*FWQ
04.02.2017 AXAMER LIZUM 3*FWQ
11.2.2017 ALPBACHTAL 1*FWQ, 2**FJT
17.-19.02.2017 SILVRETTA MONTAFON 2*FJT
24.-26.02.2017 SILVRETTA MONTAFON 3*FWQ
10.-12.03.2017 SAALBACH 3*FJT
24.-26.03.2017 OBERGURGL HOCHGURGL 4*FWQ
07.-09.04.2017 GASTEIN 2*FWQ

Up Next: FWT Chamonix

The "big ones" are about to get going too. The FWT starts on January 28 in the Brévent area of Chamonix. A field of 22 male skiers, eleven female skiers, eight male snowboarders and eight female snowboarders will compete on the Clocher-Clocheton. This slope is the first choice for the contest, but has not yet been finally confirmed.

After last week's snowfall, conditions in the Western Alps have improved considerably, but are unfortunately still far from ideal conditions for a top-class freeride contest. The short to medium-term weather forecast (high pressure and endless sunshine) doesn't look very promising, and not just for contest freeriders...

The FWT event in Chamonix will be broadcast in a live webcast on January 28, 2017 from 9 am, or whenever the contest finally takes place, on www.freerideworldtour.com. With the help of the rider tagging system, fans can easily and quickly share the runs of their favorite riders on social media.

www.freerideworldtour.com / D. Daher
www.freerideworldtour.com / D. Daher

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This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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