AN INTRODUCTION TO THE 2019 FREERIDE WORLD TOUR

DION NEWPORT, FWT JUDGE AND MONS ROYALE AMBASSADOR BREAKS DOWN THE 2019 TOUR

DION NEWPORT, FREERIDE WORLD TOUR JUDGE AND

MONS ROYALE AMBASSADOR

You would be hard pressed to find a more passionate and devoted skier than Dion Newport. He learned to ski on the exposed and often icy slopes of New Zealand’s North Island Volcano, Mt Ruhapehu. Those formative experiences instilled a love of the mountains in Dion that have seen him chase winters for most of his life. This is not particularly exceptional; the snow industry is filled with hedonists. The reason why Dion stands out is because he has devoted his time to the less glamorous side of sport – namely organizing and judging contests. With nearly two decades of experience judging competitions and putting on events, Dion is one of those people who puts his heart and soul into skiing and works tirelessly to support the sport he loves. During the Southern Hemisphere winter, you’ll find Dion touring NZ, organizing the Freeride Junior Tour, a hugely successful undertaking; just take a quick look at how many Kiwi freeriders have moved on to Freeride World Tour. In the Northern Hemisphere winter, Dion is a judge on the Freeride World Tour, the ultimate proving ground for the world’s best freeriders. As a longtime Mons Royale ambassador and a fixture on the Tour for over a decade, who better to introduce this season’s Freeride World Tour to the Mons Royale audience? The first event of the 2019 Freeride World Tour kicks off in Japan this week, so brush up on your freeride knowledge as Dion explains how the tour works and what to look out for this season.

What is the Freeride World Tour?

Describing the Freeride World Tour is simple; it’s the highest level of competitive freeriding on the planet. A series of five events that take place on three continents, the first being in Hakuba, Japan, followed by Kicking Horse, Canada and Fieberbrunn, Austria. The fourth stop, Vallnord in the Andorran Pyrenees, is the penultimate event and then the tour finishes with the traditional grand final on the Bec Des Rosses in Verbier, Switzerland.    

So how does one get on the Freeride World Tour?

There are three tiers of freeride competition. The entry is the Junior Freeride Tour (JFT), then the Freeride Qualifying Tour (FWQ) and above them sits the elite level, the Freeride World Tour (FWT). The bottom line is, if you win the Juniors or Qualifiers, you earn a spot on the FWT.  

Okay so now that you’re on the Tour, how do you win?

Freeriding doesn’t have holes, goals, posts or homeruns and it isn’t a race. It’s a judged sport, so it’s a subjective. But like any subjective sport, there are still straight forward criteria. The first way to win any freeride competition is to have the cleanest run of the day – so don’t fall over. Next, do big tricks in areas of high consequence. It also helps if you ride very, very fast and bite off as much of the mountain as possible.  

Put simply…

These criteria fall into five categories when it comes to judging: Line  This is self-explanatory; it’s the line the skier or snowboarder takes down the mountain. As a judge, I’m looking for exposure. Is it an ‘easy’ line? How many terrain features are linked? Did they hit all the possible features in their line?     Air and Style  This is everything from take-off (butters, pops etc.) to what they do in the air (tricks, loose body position, etc.) and then of course, landings. The landing is difficult and critical part of each run, as this is where we are given an excuse to heavily deduct points. There is a 4-point scale for landings.     Fluidity What we’re judging here ranges from how many stops they have in their run (big deductions for stopping), if they traverse across the face (I always say “traverse with a purpose”) and the energy of the run; if they start fast and slow down then they’ve lost that energy. Control Pretty self-explanatory, but obviously the riders need to be in complete control during the entire run, all the way into the finish area. We have seen riders put down winning runs only to kook it in the run out. We don’t like being scared as judges, so a loss of control is a loss of points.     Technique This element of the sport is constantly evolving. It used to be a lot about turn shape and the rider’s actual technique, but with a more diverse range of skiing and snowboarding backgrounds, not everyone skis like a racer anymore. So, the range of techniques is much broader. This category is very important in the JFT and FWQ. Any kook can ski off a cliff, but arcing turns and riding in the correct position during an entire run is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Every athlete is scored out of 100, each rider starts with 50 points in the start gate and it is then up to them to gain more points during their run.

“ANY KOOK CAN SKI OFF A CLIFF, BUT ARCING TURNS AND RIDING IN THE CORRECT POSITION DURING AN ENTIRE RUN IS A LOT MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT SOUNDS.”

Under pressure

The format of the competition is probably the most complicated element. Because freeriding requires good snow conditions, there is a weather window between seven and ten days for each event. This means that the event can be scheduled for any day during that period and everyone, athletes and event crew, are on call for that time. When the event is called on then it’s an alpine start for everyone; wake up at 4:30am so that everyone is in position for first light. Then it’s one descent, no second chances and the highest score wins. I have worked for the FWT for ten years and there is a lot of pressure. There are careers on the line and the athletes are putting everything into a two-minute run. That means, that over the course of the entire season they will be judged on less than 10 minutes of skiing. When you look at it like that, you can see that getting it wrong is not an option and that’s why I really take this role very seriously. The riders are the show, they put their bodies on the line and it costs a lot to chase their freeride dreams.    

Mons Royale athletes on the Freeride World Tour

Mons Royale has seven athletes competing on the tour this year. Defending world champions, skier Arianna Tricomi and snowboarder Manuela Mandl, will be looking to start strong to assert themselves over their respective fields. Additionally, a new generation of skiers are looking to upset the status quo; now in his second year on tour, NZ’s Craig Murray is looking to build on the second place he earned in Verbier at the finale of the 2018 season. Then we have the tall drink of Swiss mountain water that is Yann Rausis, who really found his stride in 2018. Finally, keep an eye out for one of Colorado’s brightest young talents, Grifen Moller. Guaranteed, one of these three will be claiming podium spots. In the snowboarding, new Mons athlete Gigi Ruf will no doubt be relishing the idea of clashing with another legend of freeriding in the first event, Travis Rice, who has been given a wild card for Japan. Lastly, Davey Baird claimed third place in the snowboard field in 2018 and it will be his experience at the venues that will be his biggest strength going into 2019.    

For more information about the Tour…

Dion and the entire FWT crew will be in action this weekend in Japan. The weather window for the event is scheduled to open on Saturday the 19th, but with a weather window forecast to open on Friday the 18th, it could be that the contest runs a day early. For the most up-to-date information, head over to www.freerideworldtour.com and sign up for the newsletter or follow their Facebook page. Mons athletes will be recapping each stop on the Tour all winter long, as well as sharing and reviewing their favourite Mons products to take on the road with them. You’ll be able to find these nuggets at brand.monsroyale.com and on our Instagram after each event. Don’t forget to tune in, the Japan stop is always a wild ride and the idea that it will be blessed with clear skies this year could see the level go through the roof.  

DION’S MONS ROYALE PICKS

First on, last off.

“It’s not just a Mons slogan, it is the truth. As an FWT judge, I test Mons in more extreme environments than most and it’s not like I’m up the mountain exercising; some days, we can be sat still for more than 5 hours. From frigid wind-blown ridges in Alaska to literally having to dig yourself out of the judges tent in Japan, through to alpine starts in Verbier, I love wearing Mons because I know it’s got my back no matter what the weather throws at us.” Yotei Powder Hood LS – €‎110,00 B3 Balaclava – €‎25,00 Photos: Louis Charnaud