Other stops on the tour will visit Europe, New Zealand, the United States and South America and riders will have more opportunities than ever before to score points in the FWQ rankings, which improve the possibility of advancing to the FWT.

 

 

 

FREERIDE WORLD QUALIFIER SERIES

 

Click Here to access a complete event FWQ13 Calender

 

“5 new FWQ events in Austria, as well as new FWQ events in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Ukraine, Italy, France and Switzerland – with 41 resorts globally, the 2013 FWQ demonstrates that freeriding is on as a major discipline of skiing and snowboarding!”, Nicolas Hale-Woods, FWT General Manager Europe, said. “This is good news for the hundreds of riders who could not enter the events last year because they were full. There is an option for them this year. ” 

 

 

This season, there is one worldwide FWQ ranking system but riders will be designated into two regions, Europe/Oceania/Asia and Americas. Each region will have 11 spots—split between men, women, ski and snowboard—which will advance to the 2014 FWT.

 

FWQ events are rated from 1- to 4-star with competitors earning more or less points at events according to venue difficulty and scale, competitive pool and other factors. Ski resorts across the globe can now provide competition opportunities for their own local freeride communities. New this season, an FWQ Week will be organized at Verbier, Switzerland. Three 2-star FWQ competitions will be held within 7 days allowing riders to score points for the FWQ ranking. A complete description of the FWQ rules and tools is available online: here

 

“I made my debut in freeride competitions during the 2010/2011 junior competition season and competed on the FWQ circuit last season,” FWT newcomer Leo Slemett from Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France reported. “The access to FWT events is a nice step. I will continue to learn and earn experience during this year's competition season.”

 

 

JUNIOR EVENT SERIES

 

 

Click here to access a complete event calendar for Junior events.

 

In addition to events for adults, junior riders have the chance to earn 1- or 2-star FWQ points which they can carry over to adult competition after turning 18 years old. Freeride Juniors by Dakine events will be organized in Europe inChamonix Mont-Blanc, France (January 26), Fieberbrunn-Pillerseetal, Austria (March 9), and Verbier, Switzerland (March 23).

 

Junior Freeride Tour events in North America include Crystal Mountain, WA (January 25-27), Crested Butte Mountain Resort, CO (February 15-17),Squaw Valley, CA (March 8-10), and the New Mexico Junior Freeride Championships at Taos Ski Valley (March 29-30).

 

Junior events will be divided into two separate ranking systems; one for Europe and one for the U.S. The best juniors from Europe will join their North American friends to compete at the Junior Freeride World Championships by The North Face at the end of the season. The championships will alternate each season between North America and Europe with this season's event taking place on the prolific steeps of Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah, USA.

 

“Our sport is growing. More and more kids are signing up for the junior tour and I think the merger will help accommodate the large influx in talent that we are bound to see in the future,” said North American rider Randy Evans of Crested Butte, Colorado, USA. 

 

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