With tuition and guidance by professional skiers, a great atmosphere around camp and give aways from the event sponsors it is definitely one to put in your diary, 6th – 11th June 2012!

For more information please check out their Facebook page here.

Here’s what Nolan had to say

“My goal was to finish top ten in both Halfpipe and Slopestyle, but I didn’t lay down any of the runs that I had wanted to on the Slopestyle course, I ended up in the mid 30′s out of a 70 competitor field. In halfpipe I felt really strong coming into the event and I wanted to ‘redeem’ myself from my somewhat abysmal Slopestyle scores. I ended up stomping both of my runs and finishing in 9th place in a field of 45 competitors!

“Coming out of Nationals and having my ski season start to wind down I definitely feel like I could have done better in Slopestyle
but, I am pretty proud of my Halfpipe runs. My plan for the rest of the season is to hopefully get stuck into the slush and build some booters!”

FREERIDING, an extreme snowsport in which enthusiasts launch themselves off cliff edges and down steep slopes on skis and snowboards, is to include a Scottish event as a qualifier for its world tour for the first time.

The Coe Cup, hosted last month at Glencoe, will be included as an official qualifying event for the Freeride World Tour from next year, it was announced yesterday.

The sport, which attracts daredevil skiers and snowboarders for whom conventional downhill slaloms are too tame, is attracting a growing number of participants in Scotland. Andy Meldrum, owner of the Glencoe resort, said winning a place on the world tour would bring the sport to wider attention.

Mr Meldrum said: “We are delighted at winning official qualfying status.
“The world’s best extreme skiers and snowboarders will now be descending on to the slopes of Glencoe to fight for points and win a place in the Freeride World Tour.
“We did not have the best of conditions for the inaugral Coe Cup, but the competitors and spectators had a great time. It is a captivating sport with a huge following. It is just great to see the skill of these guys up close.
“They were hurling themselves off 20-ft cliffs upside down, and doing it with style and landing upright without getting injured.”

Andrew Phyn, of freeride ski manufacturers Whitedot Skis, said the “heart-in-mouth” extreme sport would bring a massive economic benefit to Scotland. Mr Phyn, who came up with the concept of the Coe Cup, said: “This was the first freeride competition in the UK and was such a success it has become a qualifier.
“This puts Scotland on the map in terms of extreme freeriding.
“These qualfiers get up to 300 applicants for a limited number of places and attracts all the top skiers and snowboarders from around the world.
“And it has a huge following, so will be a major tourist attraction with economic benefits not only to Glencoe but Scotland.
“We will be looking for major sponsors for next year’s event, and there will be media coverage including television and live links broadcast at the time.
“It will be the biggest snowsport event ever held in this country and we are delighted to have become a qualfier for the world tour.”

The inaugral Coe Cup, which took place on 24th March, attracted former US Olympian-turned-freeride legend Jeremy Nobis and top freeskier Fred Syversen to act as judges.

Mr Phyn added: “This is fast becoming a major sport and will attract a huge number of tourists to Scotland.
“It is not only a major coup for us and Glencoe, but for the whole of Scotland.
“The qualifiers will see 30 skiers and 30 snowboarders travel to Glencoe to compete for points in a bid to qualify for the major world tour.
“In a football sense it is like competing in your national league in a bid to get to the European football competitions.
“To get a qualifying event in to Scotland has been a big goal for me for the last five to six years.
“We will now enter discussions with sponsors like Swatch and there is also the media coverage – with events being broadcast on Eurosport – which will hopefully show Scotland at its best.”

Despite 2012 being a season that will be remembered in Scotland for high winds and poor snow, there was an advantage for the Coe Cup which took place on the 24th March. High winds earlier on in the season blew a substantial amount of what snow there was onto the competition face (the Fly Paper) at Glencoe Mountain, allowing for a great competition and a great end to the Scottish season.

With guest judges Jeremy Nobis and Adam Gorrill on hand, the standard of riding was high with a mixture of great lines and some fantastic tricks including front and back flips from the Buttress Rocks on the Fly Paper run. Jeremy Nobis was heard quoting “with good snow, Glencoe could be one of the best freeride competition venues anywhere”

 
Men’s ski was won with the clean riding from Dave Biggin and Men’s Snowboard won by Tim McGregor with the top women’s rider being awarded to Roslyn Newman. The Coe Cup, the award for the top overall rider and contributor of the weekend went to Peter MacKenzie.

 
The organisers, Whitedot Skis and Glencoe Mountain Resort would like to thank all the sponsors for helping to make it a great event: Zaini Headwear, Arva Mountain Safety Equipment, Hoodyco, Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports, Baltic Bitch, Open Road Scotland and Missing Link and a special thanks to Ian Marshall for capturing the event!

Images courtesy of Ian Marshall

This season’s prototype ski is a more everyday version of our pro-model – a ‘charging powder gun of a ski’, and currently we are working on the multiple versions. The feedback we took from the test day will enable us to go for a final prototype for April which, fingers crossed, will confirm the production model for release winter 12/13.

Our concept ski this year focuses on the use of innovative materials. In this instance we are using flax, which is a derivative of hemp, for its dampening properties; dampening materials are used in skis to deliver a smoother feedback to the skier. When used in conjunction with carbon fibre, it produces lightweight versions of our ski range and of equal importance utilises a renewable organic material.

Our first day we concentrated on the high mountains, we headed up to the iconic Aiguille du Midi cable car overlooked on the Mt Blanc chain only by the trio of Mt Blanc du Tacul, Mt Maudit and Mt Blanc peaks. Standing at 3,810m, we had a lot of vertical metres back to Chamonix town at just over 1,000m. We choose the Grand Envers as our descent route as it is far less frequented then other routes on the Vallee Blanche. The strong northerly wind high up on the ridge really added some great atmosphere, and along with some athletic moves by Matt Gerdes (http://matttg.com/) and Jeremy Nobis (former US Olympian – ), Tim Barnett managed to capture some great shots during the day. A really satisfying day out!

The next day we met up at Argentiere’s Grand Montets lift system along with our prototypes and concept skis to test. Although the conditions were not particularly easy for freeride skiing, for testing purposes they were perfect. By that I mean the off-piste was hard windblown, in parts transformed by the freeze-thaw cycles and occasionally there was deep shadow velvet-like powder.

The concept ski has been so successful and gained immediate traction with the pro-riders that we will introduce it, as a limited edition, with our ‘pure powder’ ski for winter 2012/13.

Images courtesy of Tim Barnett

We are pleased to be supporting the Powder to the People film event in St. Anton next week!
Between 1st & 4th April teams will have 72hrs to film, edit and present a 5 minute film, head on down and check out the results!

Here are a few photos of Eva along with her winning line (courtesy of freerideworldtour.com).

We would all like to wish our very best congratulations to Eva Walkner on her maiden victory on the Freeride World Tour this season!

Courtesy of Freeride World Tour

On a perfect conditions day, the Swatch Freeride World Tour Fieberbrunn 2012 was a success. With a warm Austrian public, riders showed their skills on the Wildseeloder with talent.

The Ski Men category was won by Drew Tabke (USA) ahead of French rookie Kevin Guri and Reine Barkered (SWE). In the women field, Austrians Eva Walkner and Liz Kristoferitsch took the lead, respectively in Ski and Snowboard. Just behind Eva is Christine Hargin (SWE), winner in Roldal. American Shannan Yates takes the second snowboard spot. Finally, the Kuzma sisters from New-Zealand arrive in 3rd position in each category, Janina in ski and Maria in snowboard.

It’s already shaping out to be a good day for Whitedot Skis and our team, a huge well done to Eva and Dennis Risvoll who placed 12th in Men’s Ski, you guys rock!

After a different set up in 2011 for the female side of the FWT, the girls are back competing with the guys on 5 out of 6 competitions this season. The field of women competitors is stronger and more homogenous than ever, closing in on the gap with the men, proving that women are charging hard and taking big air.

To continue our Austrian Contingent story (part 1 and 2) we talked to two Austrian girls on the tour, skier Eva Walkner (3rd in Roldal) and snowboarder Liz Kristoferitsch (2nd overall 2011, and only competed in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc so far 2012).

FWT: Eva, you were 3rd in Roldal, tell us about that!

EW: I´m not that happy with my run actually. Some of us girls had total flat light and I missed a drop. It was still good to see that I can be on the podium with a medium run. But for the next event I want to be happy with my skiing again, so I´ll try and ski faster and stronger than I did in Roldal.




FWT: Whats your goal with the FWT?


EW: Hmmmm… Before the winter I would have said first place. But the first two comps went totally wrong. I had a very stupid crash in Revelstoke and a blackout in Chamonix. I slowly got my self-confidence back and I’ll try to give my best in Fieberbrunn. Maybe if everything runs perfect an overall top 3 placing could be possible. But wont put any pressure on myself and just give it my best.



FWT: Your sixth on the ranking and the top four go to Verbier. Does that put extra pressure?


EW: No, not for me. Everybody wants to compete in the Xtreme at least once in a life time. I did the Verbier Xtreme twice. I know that it’s the coolest event in the world but if I don’t get a spot I’ll go filming or shooting. That´s also a lot of fun. 



FWT: You’ve been competing quite a few years, could you tell us about the level of women skiing. How it has improved these last years?


EW: This year I’m competing my 4th year. Janette Hargin (World Champion 2011) pushed the level last year enormously! She also pushed us girls to follow her level. I´m so sad that she’s not on the tour this year, because of her back problems. But I think the level grows every year. Girls are going bigger and faster, more and more every year. We are closing in on the guys. 



FWT: What’s typical for your style?

EW: I come from racing so my strength is my ski technique. Fast and strong, powerful skiing is typical for me. On bad snow conditions I can feel the hard and long technique training back in the days with the Austrian Ski Team. A great benefit.

FWT: Who of the Austrians do you think has the biggest chances?

EW: For me Björn Heregger is the strongest skier in the Austrian Team. Björn has an awesome style. He´s fast, safe and has a strong technique. He can also drop very high cliffs. I just love watching him.

 



FWT: Looking forward to competing on home ground? 


EW: Oh yes, so excited! It´s so cool to have an event in Austria. It pushes me a lot.

I want to ski strong and good there. Come to Fieberbrunn and watch this awesome competition!

FWT: Liz (Kristoferitsch) What projects do you have when you’re not competing in the FWT?

LK: Besides competing in the FWT I compete in other freeride events and work as a guide in my home resort. This year I am looking forward to some very interesting ski touring projects in April/May in the French Alps.

FWT: What’s typical for your style?

LK: My riding style is influenced by what I love doing most, riding steep technical terrain.

FWT: It’s your second year on the FWT. It started off really well last year taking 2nd overall!, But this year you missed Revelstoke and Roldal – what’s your goal with the FWT?

LK: The fact that I did not compete at Revelstoke and Roldal makes it quite impossible to qualify for Verbier now, no matter what result I will have in Fieberbrunn. So actually I do not have any pressure for the upcoming event but will enjoy the event at home in Austria.

FWT: Tell us about Fieberbrunn!

LK: Fieberbrunn is a great place to be and I spend a couple of days there almost every year. It is great to have the competition in Austria, many friends will come and we will have a great time together at the event.

Thank you to the Freeride World Tour (freerideworldtour.com) for the article

The lucky winner of the Redeemers from last months Whitedot Skis Facebook competition, Eric Varlet, sent in this photograph yesterday – we’re glad we made your day Eric!!

Thanks again to everyone for entering, there is always next time…