GoPro LIVE: Freeride World Tour 2023 | Kicking Horse Golden BC

foreign [Music] Golden BC for stop number three of the Freeride World Tour 2023 kicking horse mountain resorts it's high up in the Purcells right on the border of the Rockies towering over the beautiful Canadian town of Golden BC the champagne outer capital of Canada this is its fifth year on the Freeride World Tour and has fast become a favorite of riders and fans alike it's known for huge terrain big lines and is home to a whole range of Free Ride events we've got Juniors all the way up to the Freeride World Tour my name is Derek Foos and unfortunately for you but fortunately for me we've lost Anna smoothie to an ankle injury but we have the next best thing Big Brother legendary free ride World Tour Rider Sam smoothie Sam welcome to kicking horse I'm very happy to be here just was over the uh over the past and Revelstoke and just thought I'd pop on over to say hello all right well we're really stoked to have you and bring your unique uh take on the Freeride World Tour we're going to have a quick look at the order of the day we are going to be running our snowboard Men first starting at 8 30 a.m that is very very soon ski men can be the second category ski women and then snowboard women rounding out the day Sam we switched the order every time when you're competing did you have kind of a favorite did you like to drop in the first category or wait a little bit later to be honest to me it kind of depended on the conditions and and the venue uh in terms of the show itself I always thought it went quite well if we had them fresh enough the snowboarders went went earlier um they can just put on such a great show and they're just throwing up those huge calves and ears and uh leaving the skiers to mop up the mop up the mess well that's perfect because the snowboard men are dropping first today in the ozone phase in absolutely great shape it uh dusted a nice little five centimeters last night here's our judges panel this is the cream of the crop Laurent Bass the uh the commissioner of the Freeride World Tour Rachel Croft Free Ride World Tour athlete and Podium finisher Laurent gote finished on the podium in verbier he knows what he's doing Bertie denevo legendary multiple wins on the back and Jeff Holden going to be our video judge Canadian uh icon in the Free Ride World Tour Freeride world I should say so we are we are ready and they are ready yeah I'm really uh really happy to see these guys uh is definitely on the pressure for being under the cut it's pretty intense you know it's make or break I'm under the card and I want to try to make it you have to be forgive that if you want to stay it's a war you might be wanting to push it harder to get a good result and risk it we might run I feel like the cut will change it because I want to go big but I also need a run that I can land I have to win this next one [Music] foreign horse the cut looming over everything there's a lot of riders I'd say familiar faces on tour on the downhill side of the cut that are going to be looking to make a big splash on the face today there's a lot of New Riders Fresh Faces sitting way up in the ranking so definitely a bit of a shake-up but of course with a ton of points on offer today it's still all to play for and as as we heard there from a bell and Jess and Craig they're they're not too worried about it but they're definitely thinking about it yeah it is a veritable pressure cooker out there today with the third competition of the year uh as you say we've got Riders really looking to stamp their Mark to guarantee their spot into the final two stops uh or be sent back down to the Challenger Series it's it's going to be really tough especially with the conditions we have today yeah an intense day all right we're going to take a little bit of a look at the ozone face Sam run us through what we're looking at today all right so here we have the ozone faces the fourth time the freeway World Tour has competed here as you can see it's a wide sweeping venue with numerous line options with a lot of spread across the face it's a Southeast aspect which we've just had cross loaded a little bit by a southerly wind which is going to create a little bit of variability with the fresh snow being a bit deeper in some places it's a 44 degree Max angle on this slope but that sort of changes a lot depending on whereabouts you are in the face we've got 324 meters of vert so it is one of the shorter venues but it is packed with a bunch of technical features yeah it's going to be really interesting to see where the Riders select to go we've seen the rider's left side the the sort of famous Craig Murray Marcus eater Zone get a lot of play the judges love that when the tricks go down some of the middle parts of the face a little bit thinner it's a slightly low tide snow year so we've got some sharks some rocks in in those middle zones the guts of the shoots are all in good okay um but the the high points the takeoffs are a little bit of a question mark so we're gonna see how that plays out today for the Riders on on the ozone face [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] we're here with Jess what's up I'm gone I'm gonna single all the pepper it's gorgeous I mean I never seen it before that sucks foreign [Music] well some nervous moments at face check always uh always a bit of a stressful time for the Riders as they're just trying to unlock The DaVinci Code on On Any Given face we're running relatively early in the competition window so definitely not as much time as some of the Riders might have liked to take a look but we're going to take a look right now at where we're sitting in snowboard men in the big picture overall we've got Ludo Guillo diet with a commanding lead 16 400 points Michael mon with that win in Spain uh kind of cementing his butt and uh John Powell Jonathan Penfield jumping way up after a tough start and then we've got you know some really familiar faces down a little bit lower Kami Armand who was in the hunt last year for the overall title is sitting on the on the tough side of the cut so I think we're gonna see you know some some riders coming out swinging and we may see a little bit of um I don't know a little bit of of delicate riding from some of the guys sitting a little bit higher who are already sitting on two results you think they strategize like that or they're just going to go for it anyway I think it can come down to the athlete I know uh a few athletes definitely uh love a few strategies little little Mind Games you know and someone will be looking to cement their place whereas others they're more intrinsically motivated all right well let's take a look at the order they're going to be dropping in our start list today looks like this so we have Liam Rivera dropping first from Mexico followed by Enzo nilo after that we have Hans minich from the USA Jonathan Penfield down to Ludovic giodiet Holden Samuels Michael mourn and brought home by kamiyaman yeah Kami definitely going to be looking to make a big splash here he he's definitely looking for a big result um his last event in Andorra definitely did not go as planned a massive Scorpion and he actually had a bit of a back injury out of that so hoping that he's going to come back firing we weren't sure if he was even going to show up so let's see what you guys thought at home the Peak Performance fun bet fan favorites Ludo guio Diaz shooting up the rankings with 64 percent of you guys thinking he is going to finish on the podium Michael mon I mean that's an easy one kinda he's definitely been been on fire so far this year and Cameron uh the the folks at home backing the Frenchman to to come back swinging yeah what a handsome group of devils as well look at them just big big grins across their faces yeah imagine those grins might be a little more serious right now happy to be out here free riding you can see hugs all around Liam Rivera is going to be the first man to drop as he's uh just kind of getting those last minute preparations I mean the nerves are starting to fire the heart rate's going up now it's go time it's crunch time we've got the cut looming our first Rider's just about to drop in oh man like I can feel it like I can feel it like I used to be in in the gate you know obviously this is more about me uh you know this is why we're all here but um this is that moment where you just feel your heartbeat riding up and you've been waiting you've been scheming you've been plotting and it all comes down to this yeah you were saying this morning on our gondola ride app that you're feeling a lot better about uh our spot in the booth than than the rider spot in the Starkey what's that what's that feel like I mean those those last seconds before you drop in the intensity of it yeah the intensity is huge uh I found I always like tried to kind of like forget a little bit and just kind of relax enjoy the surroundings as if it's a normal day in the mountains with my friends uh but it's about here that it's pretty hard to ignore this is about to get super cereal yeah just about to get real and and for the writers having that um that routine to go through at the start to get themselves into the mindset for a performance to to try to keep it like you said as normal as possible it's just snowboarding and these guys are really good at snowboarding so if they can just do it as normal as possible then then they're going to have success so Liam Rivera 23 years old a rookie Mexican Rider the first Mexican Rider on the Freeride World Tour and the first Mexican Rider on a Podium and the first man dropping here at kicking horse stop number three on the Free Ride World Tour is underway oh my gosh that looks glorious don't you just want to give that little windruff a tickle I am absolutely pumped to see how this kicks off look at that view yeah so Liam just making his way down the ridge as we said we're gonna have Riders going all over the face some hard Riders left and Liam opting for way down to the Rider's right we've got the ridge kind of protected by this corner so the Riders are going to need to know exactly where they are and finding landmarks when you're on the uphill side of a cornice is definitely tricky uh Liam it looks like the snow conditions absolutely fantastic up on the Ridgetop yeah that's the thing with this sort of like oh someone can be like a blind rollover uh which can make picking exactly where you're going to drop in pretty like devoid of landmarks and he's going away Riders right uh pretty close to where we saw the Forerunner yeah all the way down there you can see some old tracks there as Liam now into the guts of it and starting off with a bang already two features and a 360. perfect powder Landing oh what a way to start this comp oh look at that little herps he's gone front three to back three Liam being a regular ride just whacking that snow up as he descends into the shade so right Liam holding on to a seventh and a third and sitting in fifth overall so he is the man on the line for the cut and I feel like he's done a really nice job of making his claim to get himself into the Free Ride World Tour finals two events coming up still fever broon with the two run format and then of course the the grand finale on the back de Ross in verbier looking like Liam didn't carry quite enough steam there let's take a look at this replay this entrance I really love that getting the grab there nice little bit of bone as well front three off that feature and just absolutely bolts Landing I'd almost like to see the start of that I think did he half cab in uh well we're gonna have to we'll have another look so judges uh lines there fluidity um and sorry control and technique absolute maxing line fluidity air and style two 360s boats spinning both directions Liam all smiles face covered in snow but not from falling but just from White rooming himself I think that's going to give the Riders they were stacked up at the start gate a huge morale boost yeah I totally agree and just look at that face it is a happy happy little camper just pulling up his uh verbier four valleys buff there just how many people in this field from like skiing out of Rubio now all right score coming in for Liam Rivera 75-6-7 so the judges definitely uh they're loving it that's a solid score for the first Rider of the day and now we're gonna see where the other Riders stack up to Liam's run as he takes a spot in the dinosaur hot seat and we'll see if he settles in for a long haul or a short haul as the rest of the Riders up in the staircate definitely Keen to take on that spot yeah dropping first is always an interesting one with nothing else the gate for the judges to gauge against often sitting that first score when it's a clean run with good ears and features like we saw that can be really difficult I think that's actually quite a great score to start off this yeah I agree so we go right back up to the top we've got Enzo Nila Enzo was a very very last minute call up a wild card to uh to join the tour and he's made a splash already sitting on a sixth and a fifth uh riding on a team but he's actually from Brit so that surfy style that he rides with probably uh formed honed and forged in the waves off of the coast of Brits sitting in six right now so Enzo he's he's looking for a solid score here to get him just over that line and inside the cut for for free ride World Tour finals crunch time here at kicking horse and it's still all to play for yeah it is crunch Diamond day let's see how hungry young yinzo is all right well Enzo nilo 29 years old he's been making his way he's been filming a bunch we've seen him on the qualifier tour and making his way onto the big stage chair with a wild card super last minute he had about a week and a half to prepare and Enzo nilo he is on course and looking to make a splash yeah really great to see him getting a good cheer from his other competitors there as he makes his way down the Rider's right Ridge uh Enzo of course riding regular so let's see if he's going to pull out a few little tricks from his deep little baggie as well yeah it kind of feels like especially after seeing Liam spin both ways I think that's going to be pretty mandatory and and the conditions the way they are I mean just watching Liam land this the splash that he made in the powder definitely I'm definitely gonna gonna lend itself to some big tricks so heading down the cornice just looking for his entry here as Enzo nilo now airing in and he is on course yeah and this is one of the interesting parts of the Zone I was really curious to see how many rides are going here you can see it's quite technical it's one of the steepest Parts in the entire face he's working his way down to this drop nailing that takeoff and the landing straight off the nose there and now coming in onto the spine on top of the oh and look just getting hooked up on his heel side edge that is an unfortunate tumble and uh Gotta Give oh popped a little pocket there on the Rider's right side and Enzo going out to the left spinning at 360. so look at this to salvage a bit from this run wow that's a that's an incredible way to just recover things just oh I'm just gonna Chuck another front three cut a pocket yeah really interesting run you could see the intent he was still going for a nose lutter on that Ridge but I do Wonder being on the Winwood side was that maybe not the spot for that yeah I mean we we can kind of see as you said in in the face preview Sam the the face is cross-loaded so the wind's been blowing effectively from left to right um across the face and Enzo just getting a little little caught up there maybe we could have a look and see if we can catch what happened I love this shot this is such a great shot of like the down angle of that zone you can see just how steep that was how's that Landing yeah right there just hooking that Hillside Edge hopefully it didn't take a Little Rock to the body yeah I I think I was wondering if he got sharp there because a lot of the high points the snow's a little bit thinner but I think it just didn't complete the rotation there in the heel side edge cotton unfortunately that's a that's a tricky little situation to get out of once you're in it yeah and you can see that there with the judging criteria controlling fluidity and technique taking a little bit of a hammering for that yeah in the red so Enzo nilo into the Finish area checking the base of his board as uh yeah wondering if that was a shark catch or just a heel side edge catch so a tough tough day at the office for Enzo as he was hoping for more and it's such a strong start really cool to see I haven't seen many people in that area that section of the face in other years either the cornice is too big or the rocks are completely covered so there's not even a feature but I really like that one straight off the nose um so Enzo nilo now gonna make his way over as we wait for the judges I don't think that's going to trouble Liam in the hot seat as we saw but I think we can see there's a examiner's board uh they did look like he hooked a solid shark on that I mean being from beer Rich you'd hope you'd be a bit used to that 3867 is the score from the judges so Liam holding off one big Challenger there in Enzo nilo as he takes his spot back in the hot seat so Liam it's been quite a journey in the first event it didn't really work out he had a fall and then he was on the podium in the second event now he finds himself in the hot seat so this kid on an upward trajectory right now in his Free Ride World Tour Journey yeah exactly he's got six more bullets to judge before he can call himself the fastest drawer on the west out here in kicking horse it's time to get bucked get bucked indeed as we head back up to the top goofy Rider Hans mid Nick brother of former World Tour Champion Nils midnick and Hans has been uh he's had some tough luck so far some odd runs some weird Falls he had an eighth and then he was fourth in Endora so a little bit closer to what he was looking for um hailing from Stow out east in Vermont but riding on a baker right now he's been a champion at the legendary Mount Baker Bank slalom he's got the ultimate board control Hans midnick I think is looking for a little bit more than what we've seen I don't think we've seen his full array of riding yet 29 rookie a wild card on the tour he's been around the snowboard scene for a long time well known in the in the sort of pro shred world and definitely looking forward to Hans I think this is going to suit his riding a lot better we've seen some tricky conditions at the other events but powder that's got to be hunts bread and butter yeah and speaking of bread and butter that goatee is absolutely salty a lot better than his brothers thin little excuse for a mustache and he's going out to Zone D which I'm actually quite excited to see to see a bit of a spread of different line Choice here yeah definitely many options and so far we have three Riders on the face and opting for three completely different lines so that's really exciting for us it's a little bit thin up top here so the Riders were going to see them maybe going a little slower than you might expect but that's I'd say the sensible move in this uh in this position yeah Lolo from the judges just informing them that they've asked the rise just to take it easy here they're not going to be uh judged until they drop into their line properly it is a veritable Discovery challenge Shark Week as we see commentators curse I'm so sorry uh just dropping the nose under the snow probably yeah as you said hooking up on on a rock there as he is over some serious exposure yeah you can see that is a definite no-fault Zone he's just working his way around I don't think that falls gonna I don't want to put words in the mouth you know I don't put anything in Lolo's mouth but I don't think that's going to come into it because I think it's now he's on course all right well going for the 180 there and down unfortunately so a tough start for the run here for Hans mid Nick is he's still making his way through gonna be looking to uh to salvage a little bit as he gets into the meat of it yeah just snatching a little bit of tail there as well for that last year which was a lovely piece of style and just working his way through these mini Christmas trees he's shopping for Santa and coming down over the big dog here at the bottom Hunt's gonna have to point it if he doesn't oh and he does right off the top ropes clean Landing there for Hans mid Nick oh look at that turn out the bottom dropping into the Shadows really likes the end of that run that is that is that is I'm sure Hans is immensely frustrated by by uh how that's gone because you could really see how close he was to putting that all together oh his board just came to a dead stop and you could actually see in the track there he exposed The Rock right there and I believe that was a 180 off that one there as well so he's trying to bring the tricks in trying to bring in a bit of switchery you can see even the takeoff there basically negative takeoff with the sharks uh basically riding rock yeah you could see his board Ripple and then a great finish as he just connects with the transition at the bottom of that so fluidity control and technique way down that's an unfortunate one for Hans midnik uh and and you know we're we saw it in face chat chatting to the writers there was a lot of indecision on where to go because they were worried about that exact thing because we're we're dealing with slightly thinner snowpack and and with the five centimeters of beautiful champagne powder on top of it now some of the rocks that you could see before now you can't so it's a bit of a roll of the dice going into that more uh I guess more exposed Zone because the the situation with the rock is just a big question mark yeah uh given the amount of rock exposed at the moment it could have been a bit better if they'd asked for a slightly denser snowfall you know you've got a denser commentator in myself filling in so maybe if we could aligned those up it would have been good so a 34 there for Hans and unfortunate finish he's got a piece of tree dangling off his backpack I think just to keep his connection with nature so our hands into the finish and that is not going to bother Liam Rivera so another big bullet dodged and uh he'll Liam sitting pretty there Mexican rider in the hot seat loving it so far today yeah but it's time to spin the barrel and see who's mixed up in the chamber up top we have one of the big Hitters from the season Jonathan yeah John Powell he lives in Squamish he is officially riding under an American flag he's a well a scientist a biochemist probably uh we've been calling him the smartest man on the Freeride World Tour and uh also incredibly strong Rider he he had a bit of a tough start with a fall I'd say an uncharacteristic fall in in bakira but then came back swinging in Andorra on the podium in second place he's got a a title on the back de Ross in verbier Jonathan losing a spot on the tour a couple years ago going back through the qualifiers and the Challenger Series last year winning a spot back on tour handily and then proving at the last event that this is right where he belongs and they call him John Powell so I think he's going to be happy on the face today with this nice dusting of powder hopefully going to be able to dodge the swarm of sharks we've seen five years on the tour 35 years old Jonathan Penfield just getting ready to kick things off and he's pretty stoked on this on this conditions on this run and on this face exactly I quite unassuming guy I'm a big fan of Jonathan star he just lets us riding do the talking which is an absolute cliche but it's a cliche for a reason that's right these stereotypes come into play and as you said you'll never hear him talking about the cool stuff he does but if you watch his pillow lines on Instagram he's always out there getting after it he's got such a nice a nice snow touch with his board you can see kind of just the soft ankles you know other Riders kind of getting skipped over those win features and his board just tracking on the snow yeah you gotta have those soft ankles uh I've been no good at that mine are absolutely rubbish now he's waking his way down here into that uh far Lookers left side just popping past a week just saying we high on this on the way past let's see where he's gonna drop in just noticing just how much of a roll away that is from the top of the ridge there looks like he might be lining up something similar to Liam yeah it's good you see these Riders Hill they'll make that heel side turn so they can spot where they are in the corner so John pout now right into the heart of it this is a hot start one way in no way out nice little double there lining up the same air as Liam going for the front three sticking it into the powder oh this is looking like the zone that you want to play in oh nice little hip here there getting the grab as well not going back to back spins though yeah for sure the judges are going to notice that Aaron style one of the categories that they are looking at and uh and you know it definitely may be slightly more technical entrance airing onto that first pad that Liam aired off so adding a little bit of technicality to his line but the freestyle element for sure coming into play but a solid run and uh you know just from from observation at this point it looks like that looker's right side delivering a slightly better snow quality yeah I think indeed look at this here nice piece of sluff in the background getting the grab there slashing it up lining the next one up immediately front three no grab as far as I could see I wouldn't quite say as stash as Liam's one maybe that uh takeoff's been a little bit hacked getting yet another grab buzzed by the Drone just laying it down very soft Elegant Style Mozart on the mountains so smooth I really like that kind of lip smack to to to Cross Hill Air there for John Powell so we see the judging criteria just a nice straight line all the way down line fluid and control air and style and technique those are the categories the judges are working with and working on that they're going to be matching the riding to going through every little detail in the Run comparing it to Liam's run comparing it to the criteria to drop a score on it you can see they're getting to work all of those criteria factor in equally important uh and definitely John Powell kind of ticking all the boxes yeah suspiciously even across the uh across the board there without each category I'm kind of thinking uh that j-pow has gone a little bit had scientists tactician style here is just holding a little bit back he needs a replacement result for that first he's in second now with the 70 points which is a really solid score again but just under Liam yeah and I think that makes sense with what we saw we saw Liam spinning both ways um maybe a slightly more attacking kind of aggressive uh approach to his run so high five there from John Powell for Liam John Powell's done his bit and as you said he's already got a second in under his belt so he's he's he's sitting pretty uh with the cut looking you know I think for John Powell the focus of the year is always getting to verbier that's his favorite by by a mile and that's where he wants to be sitting in that start gate on top of the Beck day Ross but we go straight back up there no breaks a kicking horse for the Free Ride World Tour and this man is leading the tour we saw Ludo Kyo diet on the tour off the tour he'd win back on the qualifiers then he'd come back on and get cut again and he's found another gear this year he's kind of connected with his riding seventh season on the tour and it's been a bit of a roller coaster for him but he is now sitting in that Leader's bib now because we're in Golden all the bibs are golden so we've gone with a platinum bid before our tour leader so far and that is Ludo right now he is the only guy in the snowboard field guaranteed to make it through to finals regardless he could just comma Hawk Down the Mountain I don't think that's going to be his his strategy but he could if he wanted to and he still make finals Derek Foods why would you just say that y'all don't say that no time of walking down the mountain look at that lovely toe side turn I think it really shows the heart of the men that he's fought his way back on yet again he has the skills to be here and I'm just super excited to see this is beautiful riding yeah literally throwing up clouds Ludo taking a charging approach high speed so far and in another Zone that we haven't seen you can just see the ski patrol track from earlier this morning doing a little ski cutting popping over that one nice tail Ollie I like to see that I mean I think it's critical for the Riders on some of those errors to take off early and now Ludo getting up above this one and he's working his way down into the gut a nice air there setting up for the double getting it bolt pointing it out in the bottom I think that's a pretty damn fine run myself that was a great run and in the classic Ludo gyo Diaz style charging fall line high speed really aggressive stuff I wish my French was a was a lot better than that but uh I believe he is saying the uh elephant ate the orange uh if I'm if I'm reading this correctly you can see that massive pre-olly to get over little Christmas trees there again I think we've seen possibly a little bit of a tactical response from our current world number one playing to his strengths with powerful writing but not potentially taking too much risk keeping it in the fall line keeping it fast staying away from the blood circling sharks yeah I think that's really smart I I really believe that getting your board sideways in the snow today is going to be risky we saw that take out Enzo um getting caught up and so Ludo just keeping it pointed the hallway top to bottom a different approach um you know luda's been known for the big mountain charging style but in the last event he brought the freestyle in with a huge backflip uh perfectly executed so he's got that in he's got that in the bag but here opting for the pure Free Ride approach it looked fun uh but he definitely seems a little grumpy but I think I think he's going to be feeling a little better when the score drops as we've seen the judges take 72-6-7 so Ludo moving into second so a solid result there uh for our current tour leader right now he's got a third and a first under his belt now he's sitting in second with only a few Riders to go still three men that are all big threats to push Ludo and honestly Liam off off the hot seat and off the podium yeah here at kicking horse anything can happen as we look at that list of our current standings Liam Rivera out in front Ludovic guilt and Jonathan Penfield in third up next we have Holden Samuels Samuel Holdens holding samuels's holding sandwiches Holden has uh has come on to the tour hot right out of the gate he's young he's a rookie this is his first year on the Free Ride World Tour and in his first event he was second right away uh he had a big year on the qualifiers here last year or sorry in North America I should say last year and he's kind of got the full package he's the new generation of Free Riders that have the big mountain chops his board control is second to none but he's also got the Deep freestyle bag so let's see what Holden Samuels can bring to the ozone face here today yeah pretty baby face there at 23 but obviously with the skills that you would need to get to this point in the tour staring Straight Into the Heart of the sun he's making his way to a similar entrance's Ludo let's see what he has to say here well the writer's just loving the conditions as he's going up just a touch higher catching an upper air that we haven't seen anybody hit yet and now just pin through the powder holding having a great time out there how is that Hillside turn just leaning back into it lovely Arch oh speaking of getting arched out that rock just sent him one yeah just a little too slow on that one and now pinned with the pre-op oh my God speaking of full packages anyway I was just got absolutely massive out the bottom well we saw the two ends of the scale there too slow on the upper one and then not willing to take the risk of not enough speed on the next one so just opening the throttle wide and sending that bottom Air and that Landing looked perfect this screenshot did not do that Justice look how far back he took off on that thing oh my God I love this heel so turn coming up here this makes me want to go out and buy a fish board and just go and just never ski again oh yeah you can see coming into this Rocky Zone there look how much he has to get right through that little Gap and just land Square on that pointy one yeah I wonder if that was just a little more uphill than he was expecting and then yeah the way early takeoff for that one Wheeling out of it and just getting control back before that clump of trees so control down for for Holden Samuels there yeah I just you know it was a little uphill there and I think especially um coming in and losing a bit of speed on the approach it was hard for him to have the speed to make it still going for the acid drop though straight to the UPS upside face of that rock as it's straight up the side of the face absolutely not what you want in a day like this he's waiting for his score and obviously but I think we can safely say that's probably not going to challenge the top three so a tough day in the office for Holden Samuels but he's got many good years ahead of him he sure does and he's got already a really really good results uh under his belt so that's going to be fourth so far so with two Riders to go Liam Rivera guaranteed to be on the podium today as he is sitting in first the other two still going to be a bit nervous about their spots on the podium um but only a couple more to go we're going to be back up to the top straight away for uh back to back pakira Barrette winner Michael Monnet not the same without you here a little shout out there to uh to I think that was to Cody Bramwell as uh he's been a fixture on the tour unfortunately suffering a broken ankle in the last event so hopefully watching the boys throw it down here from a comfy couch somewhere Michael mon second year on tour started last year with a huge result winning in Baker Barrette and backing it up with another win there and then unfortunately going down in the last event in Andorra so he's got a he's basically got a win in a crash so far so he's going to be looking to dump that crash and just a big cheer for the rest of the crew up there at the start as Michael monkicks his runoff yeah it'd be really interesting to see what kind of approach he takes here uh tactically will it be all-out war or will he just be holding a little something something in his back pocket yeah I think so you know he's he's uh he's one of the most technically sound Riders on the tour goofy foot so you can see he's got his uh his face his front side to the corner so he can kind of keep eyes on where he is on the ridge but he's you know initially known for really technical writing slashing it with a 360 off the corners to kick things off the judges are going to be loving that that's the drummer of that just cuts a little piece of Corners immediately hooks into a 360. and you're not just charging beautiful turns down this open face so getting up into the zone that gave Enzo nilo some trouble but now coming down onto the Rider's right side there are a few interesting options that have formed up in here getting over top into a double oh and Michael mon catching up on that Landing bit of a butt slide down on the Rocks hopefully he's wearing uh some padded shorts yeah that looked like a bit of an ass grater unfortunately there for Michael mourn um I hope he's okay but I'm sure he's a tough little cookie just making a few turns there that's a real shame I'm not sure he would have known that that pocket that he had to ride through released hopefully that didn't affect his run yeah as as you could see from the Drone shots from the top it's completely blind down onto the face from where the Riders are standing in the start gate and uh you know that that double definitely it was a cool idea um but even just looking at it this what an entry into his run though yeah I think just I love the added drama points of a little cornless failure just to really get your heart in your mouth as you pop the three and another beautiful air up there just perfect Landing but it's down lower in the run where things get a little bit sticky you can just see as bored as he lands just punching straight through there over a bit of a slide there sort of back backside turn over the Rocks not what you want to be doing not what he was wanting to be doing I'm sure yeah it's an interesting uh an interesting decision for the Riders when they get into the other they're going to put the till down first expecting soft snow or land really Square over both feet depending you know on what they expect the snow to be what they think it's going to be and it is a bit of a Gamble and especially in a double stage with a double stage you can't be back if you're back you are going to get bucked off the next ear so you have to be over the front of your board and unfortunately that just stuck that's the best way to go because yeah punch the nose in and him going over the bars there so again we're seeing red in fluidity control and technique as the judges uh you know given their opinion on basically a fall is going to put you in into the those the low side on those categories this guy yeah unsurprisingly a full will knock your points off thanks Derek that's really great point you've made there but the interesting thing here is that this is really opening the door this is going to be a big shuttle I think in terms of the overall rankings you see 42 points there for Michael mourn and we have one Rider to go who probably the writer who needs the big result the most yeah and he's definitely seen the rest of the field do all the things that he needed to happen in order for him to step up and over that cut line yeah as Liam and Michael just kind of catching up on their on their experiences hey guys a little bit of a dark spell out there on this day and cooking horse British Columbia this has been a few men uh taking us under by the shark circling with one Rider to go in the snowboard men's division and it's still all up for grabs yeah so Ludo uh Liam and John Powell so far the only Riders clean as we see here Kami Armond two years on the tour he was uh well the last time we were here he won so he's definitely got a good track record this is a happy hunting ground for Kami Armand this year have been a bit of an unexpected uh drop for him down the rankings but it is still possible for Cami backflips are his specialty uh I he had he had that crazy fall and definitely struggling with uh with a bit of an injury he was very sore after that scorpion in in Andorra but seeming to be coming backfiring hopefully he's all Juiced up on adrenaline now yeah speaking of Juice Stop just giving a little bit of a vocal call out there he's dropping in riding regular down the ridge to the Rider's right one of my favorite Riders to watch on this tour I I feel like he's one of those real surprise packages you never really know what's going to happen where the explosive moment's gonna come I can't wait to see how this unfolds this is like really exciting finish to this division yeah you couldn't ask for you couldn't script a better show here for kamir mon looking for a big result the snow is fantastic he's heading out to the Riders right where we've seen Riders having a great experience snow conditions not so Sharky Cami just slashing a couple of the uh of the skew women as they're hiking up onto uh to get to the Stargate going all the way down passing the rest of the crew way Riders right dropping in here we've seen one Forerunner and one Rider down there taking a different approach though beautiful turns here he's coming in with more speed to this year I've seen some good oh and there it is the backflip and the front flip oh Cameo mind just getting caught up in the power and the landing laying that backflip out and unfortunately not able to hold on to it I wonder it's been a while since we've had powder at a Freeride World Tour event it seems like it's taken some of the Riders by surprise yeah to all those climate change deniers out there it's definitely affecting our world tour it's probably a bigger problem than you guys really let us uh let us Believe coming in mind just bringing in the multiple flips there unfortunately I'm pretty sure he only wanted one of them despite his immense acrobatic ability and you can really see the disappointment all jokes aside like I feel for him that's the intent was there yeah great start here Cami airing out off the side of that and then this heal side slash just looking so nice set in the flip just digging that nose I hope he's all right because there was definitely a fair bit of pepper in there just salt banging himself down the field all right well as Kami Armond makes his way towards the the Finish area into the Finnish Corral uh definitely looking a bit dejected as that was not what he was looking for today Cami needed a big result to keep himself on the Free Ride World Tour so that is going to solidify our results in the snowboard man is a little bit of this is this is kind of the the contrast of Free Ride competition glory and heartbreak all in one shot it really is this is this is the bit of the tour I hated the most you know this is the time where you say goodbye to people I mean you you hopefully see them again but sometimes you don't like and 29 Points foot came on man so this is not his year unfortunately but I hope we see him back we know he's got the talent to do it here so dropping in to see the event scoreboard now that concluded the men's snowboard so you competitive as we take a look at what the day gave us Mexican writer Liam Rivera rookie crash Podium win what a ride he has been on Ludo Gio Dia backing himself up in that Platinum Bib and John Powell as well so we I mean as you said big Shuffle holding Samuel sliding into first and then uh Enzo Hans mid Nick and kamir mon rounding it out yeah exactly a huge Shuffle but I think the thing to me aside from the rookie Liam Rivera's massive result is Ludo Gio Dia really chucking a Stranglehold on that top spot yeah I that was that was really solid riding as we said we saw him go just pure free ride there where the most of the other Riders were adding some of those elements of freestyle into their ride and Liam Rivera with the back to back spinning in different directions and well the judges loving it hopefully you guys at home loving it too I know the Liam Rivera fans out there are going to be loving it so let's see what this has done to the rankings wow that is a massive reorganization so start at the bottom there we have those Riders qualified for the finals with Michael mourn sneaking in in fifth position yeah Holden Samuels the rookie getting his spot into finals John Powell the uh the veteran finding himself now in the top three Liam Rivera the young Mexican rookie sitting second overall and Ludo Gio Diaz now sitting on top of the rankings spectacular day for snowboard men what a great start we're gonna go down this is our unofficial Podium situation right now with Liam Rivera taking the win Ludo and uh and John Powell backing him up sitting together on the podium all smiles there and yeah as we say the contrast for the Riders who are unfortunately going to be leaving us now for the rest of the year but they do earn a spot directly onto the Freeride World Tour Challenger tour where they can battle their way back onto the fwt this year yes and now we have a bit of a reorganization of how it works with the challenges series we take the best from the qualify series and those bumped from the Free Ride World Tour and set them Head to Head all right well let's go down to the finish with our kicking horse Golden BC Champion Liam Rivera what a ride it's been for your first year on the tour Podium last time and with a win now how are you feeling right now I don't know man it's I don't think I believe it yet I'm just wanted to make sure I passed the card and yeah all right well Liam you did it you passed the cut you won the event and you solid or solidified your ticket into the Freeride World Tour finals first Mexican writer on the tour first Mexican writer on the podium and now the first Mexican winner of a free ride World Tour event huge congratulations to Liam Rivera what a way to kick off the day thank you so much all right well snowboardmen lighting the candle here at kicking horse getting us started with a bang and a huge result there for the young Rider and we are going to be moving on to ski men coming up next so how do you do down here uh I went like yeah yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] all right well we are back in our next category kicking out of the Stargate here at kicking horse Golden BC is going to be ski men and fireworks expected as we just saw from snowboard man let's take a little bit of a look at where we're sitting in the overall right now the battle of the max is heating up maximum chip Low Max itzik and Max Palm all within less than a thousand points of each other at the top three Valley Rainer there with a huge result and his first win on the Free Ride World Tour and as we move down we see the cut line sitting right underneath California's Xander Goldman so Jack Nichols the man on the outside looking in right now but very very close scores all the way down to random barcaret so all still to play for here and you know we've got a bunch and then as we see the bottom ranked man Christopher turdell unfortunately not able to make it he got really sick he wasn't able to fly so turdel sitting this one out which is really unfortunate as this has been a real happy hunting ground for turtle he's got a few win winds and podiums out here uh a kicking horse so we'll see who's dropping and when here and who's got to do what [Music] [Applause] so here we have this dot list we have uh New Zealand's finest jemisa bubbleshampton kicking things off dropping down to Jedediah Kravitz we've got some big names in this opening some really explosive Riders Valentin Rainer Marcus Gogan and into the back half of the list we have the Champs the Maxes we have Andrew Pollard always a fine figure to watch and such a face yeah a Paul's been skiing nothing but pow in Alta so he's going to be happy to see some soft snow conditions on the face and then the final Rider of the day Ross tester I think we're going to be uh anxiously sitting on the edges of our seats as all the way through this ski Men start list is just packed with talent and packed with serious serious Podium threats yeah I like how they gave roster's own page like that's how much airtime Ross likes to get in this he's just out there in the ozone where are those only let's punch some holes in that ozone layer oh yeah Ross is fired up and he you know it was one another one that a tough start but came back swinging with a spectacular run in Andorra which essentially we've really come to expect from Ross so we're going to take a look at what you think is going to happen today with the Peak Performance fun breath predictions no surprises there two Max is an attesty Frost tester sorry uh 62 for Max 55 for Maxime and 35 for Ross I'm surprised I kind of you know call me biased call me candy uh I would have thought we'd see Craig Murray one time wanna one time third place taker on this face in there yeah Craig Murray uh an uncharacteristic season on the tour he hasn't put one down yet to to the feet but you cannot count him out one of the best Riders on the tour and and that Perfect Blend for free ride of of incredible skiing skills the charging mentality and such a deep bag of tricks I mean there's there's just there's nobody on this start list that's not capable of winning here today if things go their way every single Rider on on well from top to bottom is is completely ready to go ready to put their stamp on the ozone face loving the powder we're gonna see I think we're going to see a lot of big features we're going to see some tricks go down everybody is fired up the little bit of new snow just doing wonders for the Riders mentality everybody pretty stoked to get things going here for ski men yeah one of the things I've Loved about this face in the past is kind of that that combo style skiing we've seen from people like marcusita just barely even staying on the ground airing from one thing cranky one turn cutting across in the start gate we have the man that's gonna take us into this division jamessa bubbleshampton from the msv MFC in Canterbury I bet there's a whole bunch of very excited people in New Zealand watching this fun fact actually this uh broadcast started at 4 20 in New Zealand this morning uh no surprises there it's starting with a kiwi yeah so the kiwis are getting behind jamasa right now uh he's sitting on a grip of 17th so he definitely wants more if he wins he's guaranteed anything in the top five is good for jamessa to get into the cut and he's gonna kick things off for the ski men's category no surprise going out to the Riders right where we've seen the snowboarders deliver some magic already this morning yeah did you miss it the magic man is really gonna have to pull some tricks out of the bag here he's got a beautiful uh cork three on him so let's see if he unleashes that little beast as he come down to the start of his line going towards his compatriot uh Craig Murray Zone there as well let's see who's gonna get his teeth in two be honest I'd probably keep my teeth uh in my mouth uh it's quite cold out there today minus 12 with a fair bit of uh February cost he's gone even past it right the way to the end we've seen some good times here yeah well following's track just getting bucked out of the track a little bit low I don't think that was the plan for jamessa getting onto that right foot but the old track kind of kicking him out of it is going for the channel Gap there oh and just a touch short I think the inability to get off that other feature wow jamisa Hampton has literally plowed into what looks like the side of a highway of rock I hope he's all right I think he's definitely lost his shoe yeah ski not interested in staying in the game there as you can see by his track the the coming up short on that channel gap diff gave jamessa just a wall of rock to plow into so he's got one ski there for sure I think the other one a little bit higher up on the face as he Unleashed a a ton of Slough in that section oh my my heart goes out to him that is absolutely not what he was trying to do I can 100 guarantee that and I never do that but that is the variability of Freeride comps with soft snow you can see he's just been pushed off his line but that previous track here he gets plowed jamester Mr plow Hampton unfortunately just really not having the season he wanted no just way too slow on that one and unfortunately catching the upside and and that rock just not covered up and then a ton of Slough taking taking jabessa down for a bit of a roller coaster ride hopefully he's going to be able to find that ski it's probably buried under this left coat now somewhere oh you can see it thank you to our drone pilot finding the ski for jamessa it is wedged in there that thing is stuffed into its elbow completely I don't know think about it get up to that that looks horrible climbing yeah that's going to be all good right there tricky for the ski Runner even to get down to so jamessa just uh ditching the ski is going to take the rest of the way down on one ski and we'll get some some Intrepid ski Runner down there to dig that thing out of its pit of despair yeah I I'm looking back up at this line and I just think he's been pushed off his line right from that very first turn after that first air and I think he was actually probably just freestyling from then on completely offline and uh that's that's just it's just you just hate to see it yeah there's just no way with the speed he had that he could get over that I think I think that is still possible if you have the pace off the first air that jamessa was trying to get to to make it over that channel it's the first time I've ever seen somebody try to Gap that channel um you know we've got the famous channel channel gap on the Realty loader in Fever boom but now we have an ozone Channel Gap coming into play uh unfortunately taking a prisoner there in jamessa Hampton not able to clear the vertical rock wall as we can see his ski just chilling there enjoying the Mountainside the early morning sunshine I wonder if we uh down the line just like hang a little like a mini long line under these drones and just like with the magnet you know and just like pluck them you know I think I think that sounds like a good idea it'd have to be a pretty firm magnet but I'm sure he's got a big sheet of metal on the top sheet of his skis it's most of these Riders skiing very stiff skis for the Freeride World Tour so jamessa Hampton into the Finish Line he's got a big grin looks like he's all right which I'm really happy to see is that was a tough one yeah it's great to see jamessa still smiling he's a beautiful man he's a beautiful soul and I really hope we're going to see him back he's got a great skill set there but that is unfortunately competition free ride Glory one day I break the next yeah so jamessa will uh be guaranteed a spot on the Free Ride World Tour Challenger tour and be able to earn his way back is should he so choose I mean Riders you know looking looking to basically make a decision pretty rapidly if they don't make the cut into Freeride World Tour final some of them are going to go on some of them are going to do other stuff but we are uh we are back towards the start gate we'll see uh the next man in the gate is going to be Jed Kravitz riding out of Truckee California Jed Kravitz having his way with the Challenger tour last year first overall 34 years old rookie on the tour is a realtor in his spare time when he's not sending huge Cliffs on the mountain and Judd Kravitz looking for a solid result here too is he has he's had a bit of a tough start on his Free Ride World tank tour camp in 19th and 16th so far Chad Kravitz kicking off his day here golden kicking horse BC yeah Jade Kravitz he can tell me anything really just want to put a steering wheel on them and take him home coming down the ridge there interestingly enough I still believe we have a ski in the face but I imagine they're probably cleared that he's not gotten quite as far down the ridge so it's good to keep things rolling here I think there's going to be a lot of emotion on the line for uh Jed here as he works his way down the ridge he's got all to play for yeah such a happy guy he's always just stoked to be out here with the crew and if you haven't checked out his multi-part film Project ski for the love it's definitely worth a watch and uh pretty much sums up his style so Jed getting right into the guts of it here off the top beautifully finding that transition there and then getting the kind of oh and the big punch front there so the snow conditions just a little bit variable for a lot of these Riders finding Deep Pockets the wind has kind of moved things around a little bit and Riders just seeming to be a little unsure of what the landing surface they're going to be dealing with it's like yeah it's interesting it's hoping to a lot of riders a lot of them were really eyeing up this uh side of the venue because it looks like it has better snow but one of the things you do have to deal with is that cross-loading it is going to have almost more variability to be found and like more snow is great but not if there's a pile of it like just rip the feet out from under jid Kravitz there yeah I was gonna say clamp it but that's the wrong one I you hate to see that yeah not what judge was looking for up there so really strong start into that freestyle Zone I love the way he entered this section just popping right off the top of that perfect connection back with the snow and then here's where it went sideways from I feel like it got a little bit kicked even by that takeoff you can see him wind the windows down I mean just beautifully done here Precision skiing and right there you see him get kicked in the back seat a little bit he lands and it's kind of like a double spine where the snow has been sloughing down there it can kind of create these cones and the and the sort of density of those can be very different and just totally take your feet yeah and that win feature that was the takeoff of his second air I think a little bit more abrupt as you said so once you're out of balance to the back then you try to reconnect with the front and slightly over overdoing it there so Jack Kravitz 36 6-7 good to see him like wearing that well on his chin I mean it is magnificent chin as well so he's slides into the hot seat yeah from a man with a magnificent a magnificent chin himself that is high praise for Jed Kravitz so he's going to take the spot in the dinosaur hot seat there and we take a look at the big picture of the ozone face lots of options we're heading back up to the start gate for our next rider in the ski men's category this man highly decorated he's a Olympian in slope style he's got the deepest bag of tricks possibly in the entire uh in the entire field maybe uh maybe on par with young Finn Bales Ralph valpaner the Italian Rider he's ready to go he's been all over the place I mean you've seen him in the Olympics you've seen him in the X Games he's just got such a great pedigree for skiing and he's been loving his time on the Free Ride World Tour yeah speaking of decorated what a nice tattoo that young man had on his face a completely different style and background to a lot of these writers here but that's what makes free ride so great at the moment I think there is a real kind of shift of the Guard there's a lot of these younger guys coming in and kind of trying to make it their own in exactly he just pops 180 cab one back bouncing around just really playing with that terrain I mean is this the is this the progression of freestyle skiing or Free Ride skiing it's kind of up to these guys to set that and that's what's so fun about it I think yeah and it's such a diverse group of riders that you've got you know pure Free Riders you've got the freestylers so Ralph popping in here with a nice playful slash getting down on top of this Cliff that we saw some of the snowboarders loving and a clean entry so far for Ralph evalconer oh he's building speed monster lift 360. struggling a little to hold on to that Landing but you could see him like skipping that fish and just building speed you're like this man's gonna tell me something yeah he was going there and you could see him fighting to regain balance after the landing the snow just kind of catching one ski then catching the other but Ralph Falconer kicking things off with a bang we saw a very similar line in years past from Tanner Hall and I'd say similar kind of pedigree so that's the one that really sucks in those pure freestyle Riders and Ralph looking like having a great time up there I love just seeing this just playing along I'd be way too terrified like yes I could do that but in a competition run hell no lining this one up kind of traditional style off the bat drone struggling to keep up with them and then just sets the three look at that little early takeoff kind of a little cat-like maneuver in the air to get around and get it centered struggling a little bit with a hand down and sort of call that probably about a about a stage two would you say land yeah something along those those lines we'll leave that one in the judging tent but the uh the the line and fluidity really high air and style obviously maxing a little ding in control there from the video judge as we saw Ralph really fighting to get it back he didn't go down though and that's a testament to his cat-like ability to rebalance so the judges definitely got their work cut out for them on that one Ralph belpiner he's going to be stoked to have put down a run because he's been struggling in the in the early ones he had a tough fall in Andorra but that was a good one for Ralph and that's going to be a highlight reel for years to come yeah I can confidently say that will be Ralph's uh best results so far this season does need a lot of ground to make doesn't need to make up a lot of ground to uh make it through the cut though but great to see a real sort of shift in that style and just putting it to his feet in the end yeah and I love the commitment to the speed into that lift and especially being the first guy off it so big horns for the crew at home watching Ralph Falconer throwing it down here and yeah just just full commitment into that when you're the first Rider off a lift like that you don't exactly know what the snow conditions so 53-6-7 there for Ralph Falconer uh the speed you need a little bit of a question mark he's done a great service for the Riders to come behind him by putting that track in yeah looking just uh at live you know not on the screen sometimes I like to look at the mountains in real life you can see just that far he is tracked across the hill with that but I actually think this scope now that the tracks in arrives to go even further further skiers left further down the pitch that was making himself uh comfy in that hot seat for now but who's gonna try and take it from him I think so too so our next rider in the gate is the most recent man with a win on the Free Ride World Tour the Austrian Rider doing it for Scott riding for Peak Performance Valentin Rainer he's had uh he had a season now he had a rookie season on the tour last year didn't quite make the cut but battled back through the Challenger tour and found his way back now and he's sitting pretty way high up in the rankings fourth overall and one of only four men guaranteed through the cut so he's going to be feeling fairly comfortable but I think we're not going to see any relief off the gas pedal from Valley Rainer as now he's got a bit of Confidence from a win I think we're going to see Valley Rainer coming out uh firing yeah I think so I mean with the pressure off there is all the gain here you know this pretty Valentine I think is going to absolutely put his foot through the floor yeah and and just he's got such a fun style to watch it's a nice blend of smooth skiing but with a whole bag of freestyle opening it up right into Michael mons cornice debris with a 360. and straight off this lower one Valley Rainer getting things started be interesting to see where he takes this now he's moving a back skiers left there's some fairly scrubby looking bits he sneaks his way through there side hoe trends for a big Aaron Stomp I like that combo that's really Technical and going huge with a backflip out the bottom and what oh Valley Rainer stomping we've seen that one used as an extra credit Cliff from the side but taking it right off the top with a backflip and a perfect Landing so Valley Rainer backing things up after his last win this is a whole new Valley once a wolf gets a taste of blood they are gonna want it over and over and for Valley trainer look at his face he is absolutely pumped that's going to be a lovely GoPro angle of his knees but what I love about that run is that he's really put it all on the line by cutting through a super technical section to get that big ear if he missed that the rest of his run was gone yeah there was no other way out of there and he had that big double on the approach which the the judges are going to love kind of bringing the the combo now of the true big mountain and then the freestyle element with the 360 at the top and this one that is not an easy take off for a backflip and he is absolutely humming like a quiet boy off there wow I can't believe he got clean he Stomps that with that takeoff yeah it's kind of a lazy boy you see him throw the feet and kind of pause a bit and then go for the flip so no section of that run lacking for features lacking for action and lacking for energy so a score coming in for Valley at 86-3-3 and he is going to take a spot in the hot seat there what a way to get things going for Valley Raynor P performance Rider absolutely lighting the wick on this dynamite stick here at kicking horse yeah driving like an absolute Mercedes-Benz man there with absolute disregard for those around him 86 is a huge score but I think it's well warranted I love that oh yeah Valley Rainer now sitting comfortably in the hot seat but he's not going to be too comfortable as the the start list just keeps on delivering big guns big dogs and plenty of Podium contenders we head back up to this young gun given a wild card for Andorra and delivering one of the wildest cards we've ever seen on the Freeride World Tour 18 years old out of the Whistler Free Ride Club Marcus Gogan I know the whole Whistler Free Ride Club coaches crew gathered together to watch uh watch this young buck shred he's looking for a solid result here he's got a ninth but he's not holding a second result so definitely looking to get things going here for young Marcus Gogan yeah it'll be interesting to see if it's uh all out here for go Gogan or if he's going to hold a little bit back I would say it's pretty hard to surprise This Bitter old full but that 720 that just blew my mind like huge side Hill step over transfer air and just cranking a cork seven off it like I just was like where is this going what has happened to the sport I just I can't keep up anymore well we saw in the highlight video Ross tester was in the hot seat looking at Marcus as he came through the finish going well that's the future Jesus sorry so Marcus just trying to find his landmarks for entry as he comes into this one and a big 360 clean is he going to be able to hold on Marcus Gogan a quick redirect into the back flip Mark is going to clean unbelievable for this young Rider back to back to back and heading over now to this low line I feel like if we're watching like a actually well-made version of Johnny Mosley's PlayStation game where you could just do whatever you want of whatever you want this is just silly he barely touched the ground and just bounced ears and tricks off everything [Applause] wavy inflatable tube men I'm just blown away the fastest run we've seen by far there were no breaks barely any time to get his feet underneath him look at this entry so exposed fracturing the corners 360 and it couldn't be crazier finding his balance there quick read directions the flip I just love while he's obviously got a really great bag of trips just how hard he had to fight to get that bottom ski down to get that turn and to get to that back flip that to me is just super critical maneuver skiing we're seeing that technique you know that man knows how to turn a ski as well as Bust A Move yeah and he didn't get into Ralph elpener's track there so busting a clean track off that takeoff he had to set that backflip so hard his feet were under the snow when he said it let's see if we can hear him to be really really interesting this I think is a really big moment of this division right here right now let's listen in oh it's pretty good snow though eh yeah awesome yeah oh yeah strange visual maneuver there he nervously Waits so here we go score coming in for Marcus Gogan into 92 this [Applause] [Music] is World Junior Champion like three weeks ago tossed a wild card delivers fireworks in Andorra and now he is in the hot seat at the Free Ride the only thing I'm disappointed about is his reaction he's like oh yep fair enough kind of thought that was a 94 but sure I'll take 92. God it's been a tough day you're in the office out here it's hard to impress these guys wow go Gogan just getting it done unbelievable Run for the young Whistler athlete and uh I mean we saw the potential in Andorra and now we've seen a full run for Marcus Gogan he needs to be in the top 10 to move into finals done his bit for that but we don't have even a moment of rest here at kicking horse Golden BC we go straight back up to the top Finn bilis another Rider bringing freestyle into Free Ride he's an Olympian he's got a huge pedigree in the freestyle world but growing up you know the younger brother of a Freeride World Tour standout Hank Villas Finn free ride a huge part of his life as well yeah there's a thing like known for his freestyle but I've seen this guy ripping around the fields of triple cone all his life since we was a snot eating little grommet little tinny as he's known across New Zealand for a variety of reasons I don't actually know no one will tell me nose butter right off the bat there just known for bringing an incredibly playful design but he's also got a really solid pair of feet under him yeah and Finn coming in with a bit of charge here you can see he's got his foot on the pedal as he's going to catch the side of this one and get into a super technical Zone behind the trees I'm sure that was fine probably fine that was very confusing stepping over a triple and now coming into this massive air with a 360. oh man this division is going off right now like the opening moves are a bit strange but this has been a real surprise package that's not what I expected to see so much wow well Finn Bales I mean he's been listening to the judges you know in the first event he went pure freestyle and maybe not as high paced as as the judges want to see in a free ride competition Finn is a student of the sport and he was listening well full charge all fall line and a gigantic 360 at the bottom this piece just boggled me now I've got a better angle and you can see he did have room to sneak behind that tree section there he's basically just airing crosshills semi-constantly into this huge right 360. look how much he had to clear there and just in the landing yeah that couldn't have been more perfect as kicking horse just delivering I think one of the great things about the ozone venue not really a lot of flat Landings here so the Riders loving the connection back with the ground on these big airs as you can see just seamless there for Finn out of that 360 right to bolts and shredding Out Underneath also nice to see he's sponsored by piece I didn't know that was something you get sponsored by but all for that uh big uh big just good to see him listening I think maybe a little mama Emma Bellis has been in Azalea given a little box around there is being like hey you can ski fast maybe stop dancing so much and you know get a little rowdy rowdy rowdy rowdy Finn balor's delivering right now he has uh well there's a couple solid results sitting ninth and Fifth and eighth overall so well within the cut line as uh definitely we want to see Finn back fever Brony was a wild card there and delivering one of the moments of the year with that perfect blunt Court seven and Finn bilis now the judges have their work cut out for them I mean we're only six guys into the field and we're already scores in the high 80s and 90s so Finn Bellis is going to be looking to slot in there somewhere hopefully up nice and high I think really Marcus and Valley the only super clean runs so far so I think we're going to be looking at somewhere in that top three range for Finn as the judges uh lock in their scores yeah speaking of slots Finn really gambling on the slot machine there of that Cross Hill section of just multiple ears it wouldn't have much 83 points that's a very solid score in this field 83 for a Finn so sliding into third Valley Raynor sitting in second right now and young Marcus Gogan in first this is just heated up oh man what a show we're getting here at kicking horse we've been talking for a while the last few events were with the snow has just been a little bit challenging for the Riders about what we're gonna see when we do finally get powder well this is it these Riders have been hungry for this and this next man no different Jack Nichols riding out of Vail Colorado a couple seasons on the tour sitting in 15th right now in a big crew of guys sitting around that 7 000 point mark all going to be looking to bump just up he's one below the cut before the comp so Jack Nichols gonna be looking to make a big splash he's got a big bag of tricks and great turns on him and pretty much every time we see him push out of the gate it is a hundred miles an hour yeah Jack Nichols told me he loved watching me ski when he was growing up which made me feel nice for a second and then really old for a lot longer but I love this guy skiing it is a real range he's got a big set of travel on him look at those pins you could chuck him in a pair of heels up on stage and you'd get a great show and I'm pretty sure that's what we're about to see right now yeah tall drink of water been uh on the tour with his brother uh who we you know we're definitely missing the the Cav nickel Spirit hopefully he's at home cheering Jack on and Jack Nichols getting getting set to kick things off with the bang some really interesting tricks he's got that sort of side flip Lincoln Loop unlock I'm really hoping we're going to see it because it kind of becomes his trademark oh 360. with the corners and still holding on to it so Jack Nichols getting his heart rate up right at the start the Cinematic value of Smashing cornices off while doing a trick I think it's been underrated in judges criteria up to this point taking that same double we saw from Valentine so so silky through there geez you could run a hand across there oh that's perfect and he's going to come in slightly lower with a big backflip Jack oh just a maybe a little short on clear Clint getting on the good side of that Slough cone the difference in angle from Valley was really not huge but the difference in landing well that's just how precise you have to be on the space a really good angle of it there you can see the stomp Landing to your look is right and you can see Jack kind of catching just more of that Slough cone Cross Hill Side bank which is just I mean servers love talking about Banks this is the bank you don't want this is the bank in your face yeah this is being asking for the house back after you've worked all your life to get it Jack unfortunately kicking a shoe in the process yeah just too Flats so Jack Nichols with such a spectacular start to his run this is just brilliant I love this I mean obviously a little squirrely in the air but like working super well to get that round but I loved this this for me is just look how smooth he is geez that's Gillette yeah we saw we saw Valley take that one kind of skiing over the tussock huge backflip just carrying a little further actually we saw him sail over the bomb hole of Valley Rainer no I think actually he's isn't that feeling up there oh yeah wow just yeah I loved that run there's a real shame for Jack Nichols and with the cut happening today that is not what he was wanting but man I love that skin that is exactly what I was expecting to see from this young man and I really do hope he goes back to the challenges and puts his heart into it because that was really impressive that to me is a beautiful blend of power skiing and trickery not just skiing the features and doing something yeah yeah super strong riding from Jack Nichols so he's gonna have to regroup after that one as we move on down the start list here at kicking horse Golden BC delivering everything we hoped it would and Rayna Barker had the mayor of stomptown 20 years at of competitive Free Ride never mind uh you know skiing at all 20 years 40 years old 14 seasons on the tour and still evolving with the kids we saw him redeem himself he had a slightly over rotated backflip in the first cop and then perf perfect in the last one Brandon Barker had always wanted to watch yeah running backwards has been on the tour so long it was originally filmed in black and white one of the big regrets I have about commentating today is not actually being in the start gate with them I love competing with this guy he's a massive analyst of the sport super well spoken and thought member of this community and also a great leader for the younger ones making sure the writers are being looked after in their best interests are being respected by the organization as they do Rhino Barker has been a true leader I mean what's going to happen to stomp town after the mayor leaves yeah they're going to have to elect a new one I guess is there going to be some kind of like vote all right so Rhino going into this Zone popping off there that Landing delivering and really clean off that Miranda barcode explosive and get in the side Hill that one's proven really tricky to get to after that Crosshill air so far really only Marcus Gogan getting onto the right foot quick enough so Ryan Barker are now carrying speed across to this side Hill extra credit feature at the bottom and you can see by the body language there Rhino kind of knowing the experienced campaign that he is that he's missed that that into me is just an example of the really exacting Precision you need at the moment with these conditions with this venue he was just a bit further skiers right on that transfer and that made him just a bit later to get that right foot down he misses the critical backflip here it's unfortunate I really hope we see this guy in Ruby like I'm putting the coil out now that you need can you have the Very extreme without this man like this is he's I think the greatest competitor on that face yeah absolutely in this one you can see it just the way it kicks and he just took that extra second to find balance and that was the second required to get on the right foot and get over there a strong line for Reina still getting a piece of it which is solid and finding the good side of that Landing really clean there and then finding himself a little low for the bottom one but still a solid solid run for Rayna Barker and with you know the combination of of crashes and control issues that we've seen it you know it's it's still going to be probably well that's really great dear I'm glad you think it's going to be something it would be very very strange if it was nothing 6 '5 for rain at barcode so into fourth so far just about halfway through the field so not quite what he was looking for but Rana barkerhead he's done as you said he's the number one advocate for the Riders on the tour he's been on the on the professional freeriders board for pretty much the whole time it's existed so just as you said I mean he's he is the ultimate advocate for the riders for making sure everything comes together for everyone well the pace is just non-stop as we move back up a bell Moga Spanish Rider every single time he pushes out of the Stargate you just sit on the edge of your seat known for unexpected action Abel Moga he's only it's his second year on the tour it feels like he's been around forever because every time we see him go he just delivers far more than you could ever imagine he is kind of taking on the mantle for the team Spain as uh after the retirement of imar Navarro and Abel Moga getting things kicked off now yeah I think uh it was really great to see I'mma Navarro like promoting Abel Moga to to the World Tour this guy's got a great style really aggressive very creative eye for lines which uh obviously Amo is known for but this man this is a man in his own right and I'm very excited to see where he takes us on this technical face exactly oh hooking up on Rock but somehow managing to stay on his feet like a cat out of a bag and now coming into this lower section that we saw payoff for many other Riders and just a little bit short there for about Moga losing his skier you can see even in the bomb hole there Sam just rocking that Landing yeah he's lost both skis actually one instead sayonara Bell I'm off to the finish line for some saki that first deer had him running like Carl Lewis to try and clear the Rocks that's like that's the problem when you have this kind of variable snow is it super hard for the writers to understand just how far they're gonna go everyone going super creative and basically if you look out past the screen try to double half of the entire venue yeah unfortunately a little a little bit of a rock snag on the first takeoff as you could see it just catch his feet up and then he he managed to kind of hold it together there but didn't then have the speed for this long one and clipping Rock the ski gone right away and into a tumble the real shame you hate to see it look at the passion in his in his arms there just he wanted that so bad I really love this guy's writing I think he's one of the real powerhouses again that eye for a line really present there just being able to find that that double angle and Link it together but just not quite having the speed for that final one I even think just like a couple of meters to the right he would have been into that snow cone if you look at these venues a lot of them had like a bit of a Slough coming down which is filled filled those Landings in bed as we can get out to those kind of Landings you're gonna have a better time but just a bit close to the rocks and he tags The Rock and that's it yeah and I think for him getting that direction that we saw Finn take was was challenging after essentially fighting for control out of the landing of the last one so a bell moga's got a bit of a Expedition ahead of him to get a ski we'll see if we're going to send a ski Runner or if uh if he's gonna go the full mountaineering route and toss a boot pack right up the middle of the ozone face well he's storming up there but uh I feel like it would be kind of a nice room he doesn't need to do any more running he's already around about half a kilometer I think it's Paul there is just above him so he'll get the pole we'll get a ski Runner to collect his ski so really seeing the different sides of the face the wind transport on the snow playing a pretty big factor in in the outcome uh of this competition here today unfortunately Abel Moga getting hung up on that first takeoff and then the rest of it was pretty much just into survival mode yeah exactly and what I found really interesting about that is like these are two Riders uh Finn and Abel that got almost like polar opposite Styles both finding that similar section to uh to air through albeit in slightly different manner uh and that's what I love about these competitions at the moment is this real kind of Shifting of the Guard this kind of real I think explosion of creativity we're not just seeing guys going this is the winning run I don't know why they're in some kind of pan you're a German accent but like there is a wide spread of creativity on offer here and that to me is a huge part of the sport yeah I agree and it's it's I think maybe one of the best parts of free ride right now is the diversity in in Rider backgrounds and Rider Styles they're all packed with skill but a bell Moga he's you know he studied under the under the wing of IMO Navarro he's got that charging style but with the bag of tricks Finn bill is coming straight out of the slope style freestyle world but still showing you know and I think this run and and what we saw happen to a bell is a Real Testament to the quality of Finn's run that he was able to navigate through all of that and actually manage to find a clean way through yeah if and billish is basically like Gordon lightfooting through this throwing the fins out the back with that we 20 channel of hers and uh just dancing his way to Glory within 83 points we can see a ski dude now sort of he's got a bit of an expedition ahead of him as well to get there all right well as we wait for a Bell's ski to get collected and our next Riders to drop here at kicking horse Golden BC all of that um foreign Ed his lost ski there from his tumble so glad to see that he's all right from that unfortunate result for Abel Moga is he is one of uh one of the typical delivery men of the Highlight Reel moments here in the Freeride World Tour and that one just coming up a touch short and immediately that ski was out of there yeah cool Jeff Bezos that delivery's gonna awry from about Moga unfortunately man can ski on one ski pretty well though do you know what I think we need to have on a down day is a one-legged figure eights uh did his own ski just take him out it did yeah unfortunately you might want to talk to your team manager that Ski's got some issues there's some real Penthouse hate in that ski angry angry but the way that a bell treated it unfortunately uh yeah sometimes when you get a we get a head of steam up it's hard to slow down when you're on one foot uh so a bell Moga is going to collect his skis there and get himself down uh unfortunate day for the young Spaniard as he again you know just typically known for for these moments that we we cherish on the Freeride World Tour and that not the day that he was looking for so so far as promised glory and heartbreak here in the ski men's category we've seen some absolutely spectacular runs and we've seen some tough tough ones go down yeah speaking of having a full hit of steam up looking down the list ahead of us I'm sure it's gonna get cranking again we've got Carl renya Erickson manupana Craig Murray Leaf Mama Simone Maxim chablo coming up soon it's an absolute swingers Fest of Heavy Hitters well here we go back up to the top Peak Performance Rider Scott Ryder Carl rigner Erickson the Swede he's missing his travel buddy Christopher turdell who as we said unfortunately coming down with an illness and not able to uh to make the journey to Canada so Carl Regner holding it down he's got Reyna still to to Mentor him on team Sweden but him and Christopher are definitely a bit of a Duo here on the Freeride World Tour so Carl always showing up with the big tricks and the high-speed Free Ride Style yeah as expected 360 right out of the gate from Carl this man needs no mentoring I think he's got one of the sort of most diverse and creative runs on the field also a very smooth ride and we're looking him coming to this double section here taking a slightly higher approach it's going to go more four line absolutely massive oh perfect clearing the Rocks as he said more fallen so a real nice connection with the transition there super fast run for Carl Regner there uh you know we talked about it early oh the flat span open to the Finish I am a huge proponent of mini flips I think there should be like a mini book to where you can only get two feet of ear and I want to see like you know we've had bigger but just been around for a long time there to me keeping things a little simpler not so many tricks as we might expect from them but really smart skiing he knows he's going through to the final stops yeah the 360 really backing yourself with that and then straight into kind of turning the cornice air into a double and then I really like his take on this you can see the tracks from the other two guys going the other direction and ending up going quite a lot bigger clearing that last Rock line and then just opening it up down through the powder and yep it's not Monday but a Mini flip from Carl Ragnar Erickson into the finish uh if you are a region two free ride fan you'll be used to Riders having to come to a complete stop before the judging uh finishes these Riders once they're through the arch they're good so that's not going to count for for Carl's run that was just for fun thanks for clarifying that uh really interesting run there probably a bit more hard charging good to see him like he's known for his tricks but he's got a beautiful turn on him coming from the Frozen North of Sweden been a big fan of this guy skiing for a while it'd be really interested to see where that run places them basically faultless huh it was good so all right score coming in for Carl right now Erickson a 79 so moving into fourth a solid solid score there for Carl as he was really looking for anywhere in the top 10 he's going to be guaranteed to be into the finals and we really want to see Carl on uh on the next stop says he's always fireworks when we get to when you get a Swede to Fever brew and you're guaranteed somebody's gonna hit the eagle and that just Stokes me right out big question I had with Marcus uh sorry with Kyle there was what's under that beanie has he got a can of beans for later on because he's full of beans he is full of beans so here we are looking at our standing so far the young whistle Rider Marcus Gogan sitting on top Valley Raynor in second but we are not pausing my new Barnard another young kiwi making a big splash on the Freeride World Tour having a great season last year on The Challengers and having uh you know coming off a real tough one in Andorra but Manu Barnard one of the most stylish Riders doing it uh for team dinosaur and he's got a deep bag of tricks I love watching manuski it's a really playful style of skiing I've I've watched this guy growing up he is one of the nicest kids I've ever met coming from great stock out of Wanaka with that beautiful parents uh Hugh and Leticia I love watching this guy ski and I'm really excited to see his take on the space he just works his way down they're just kind of bouncing around I'm sure he probably got something bopping in the headphones he's got his groove on yeah super smooth always stylish as Manu now heading towards the corner she's you'll sometimes see some of the Riders kind of move towards the cornice it gives them a look at where they are in the face and then they make a little turn so Manu with the entry now coming high on this thing turning getting himself set up a little hop turn taking his double he's going elsewhere Manu keeping us guessing getting a little bogged I think I remember seeing there's a bit of a flat spot in there that's just caught him out a little bit this is probably not quite going to his plan unfortunately but I'm curious to see where he's taken he's working down towards his nose we've seen sent to the Moon before and at 360 through the channel so Manu taking his time to get into it through that Ultra technical section but then delivering right away as he's trying to get high enough to catch the last piece of this feature he does airplane turn Landing right in the hole under that rock that Rockwell definitely a low flat spot but Manu with those long legs able to handle it using every centimeter of travel he's got in those sharks yeah I don't know what he's been feeding him but he's definitely shot up in height of late uh bit of a tricky one there for Manu unfortunately I think getting a little caught up uh with his line but just delivering with that 360. I love seeing that creativity I love seeing something different he's bopping around giving a little play on the out run there mate I'm proud of you and I hope you are cheers yeah as we can see here he's just working down that rock spine really difficult kind of almost like a hand drag entrance there just pushing off the Rocks fighting for that interest look at that set kind of a hand drag almost yeah over that Gully that was a cool move there for Manu and then catching the last little bit of this one straight into the Rockwell but handling it like a boss or a little dark and fluidity as it was tricky and it you know it looked in in the early stages like the snow was way deeper there than he expected yeah that ski getting taken out behind him but I would have loved to have seen him actually hold that pose and just cross the finish line on one ski in a glorious kind of flying eel maneuver I think that really could have brought a few more extra points out of the judges but I'm just speculating I love to speculate let's see what they have to say about this he's a happy little creature most days anyway all right score coming in from Manu Bernard so a 68-0 moving him into fifth so we're gonna see what that what that does uh overall Manu looking for a strong result here doing his bit little hung up at the top but the rest of his run really spectacular so my new Barnard wrapping up his day here at kicking horse and we head straight back up to the top this field absolutely stacked and we've got back to back kiwis dropping out of the start gate and this man we can expect something spectacular Craig Murray getting ready to kick things off it's been a tough start for Craig Murray but you can never count him out and he has had some of the most spectacular moments of any Riders ever on this exact face so Craig Murray getting ready to launch the rocket out of the starcade here at Golden BC yeah I think Craig has uh really set the bar on this face or what is possible here and I am super fired up and seeing the pants I don't even need the towel on my steel seat right now to keep these loins warm this guy has got me fired up well Craig Murray going back to his happy hunting ground down the ridge we've seen him delivered down there before and guaranteed we're going to see something special out of Craig Murray yeah Craig likes to warm up with three toe touches and one cat Cow though he's a bit tentative with cold kneecaps as am I in the booth here but I'm sure he's going to warm us all up very shortly 92 points to take the top spot I think that's definitely still on the cards with what we know this guy can do yeah absolutely so Craig Murray coming into this entrance that's starting to been had seen a little bit more traffic and a little snagged up there are we going to see him go kind of a similar direction that we saw manugo or completely the other side so going the full extreme skiing route Craig Murray punching through the spines that one a little bit too uphill for him to continue with momentum but right away back into the Big Air there and blowing a shoe off his foot there I was talking to Craig earlier in the day and he said he was going to sort of assist the Zone uh during the comp we can see massive amounts of rock in his Landing there I hope he's all right those atomics that has taken an absolute whipping there struggling to get back to his feet that's a real shame I think we're expecting fireworks but you can see with the conditions like this that can just get you unstuck a little bit yeah it's it's kind of the nature of the the ozone face right now subscribing to where there's smoke there's fire anywhere where you see a lot of a lot of exposed rock odds are pretty high that there's a whole lot of not exposed rock that's just lurking under the surface and you can see Craig's entire bomb hole more than a ski length is just rock probably about maybe just last night's snow sitting on top of that yeah I bet he was kind of betting that snow had been coming off that and filling that in but it's just not filtered in as high as he would have liked great angle on that air there you can just see just coming unstuck that's a bit of a heartbreak there and so close to Valentine's day as well what a shame just kicking his way up the slope trying to retrieve his kit I think I mean this man comes from absolute pedigree stock of athleticism so he'll be able to get that himself no worries I'm sure his parents actually are still I believe hold the records for the multi-sport event in New Zealand uh of the coast to coast which crosses the South Island beautiful people as well Keen Outdoorsman the Murrays are absolute weapons brother Charlie an Enduro bike racer now just known for maximum speed and style which we'd see in Craig skiing as well yeah and Charlie Murray no slouch on the skis uh as well a super strong skier we saw him in the Juniors and the qualifiers and then going the full Pro biker route and definitely uh that is paying off for young Charlie but unfortunately for Craig as he Mountaineers his way back up to a ski that's going to be the end of the day if you lose your skis it is a no score and Craig was another Rider who was looking for a big result today to cross the cross to the good side of the cut and make his way into fwt finals yeah that is the thing with crunch time that you really can't hold back here it was all or nothing for Craig today and unfortunately he's been left holding an empty paper bag but I'm sure he's smiling this guy has such a bright future I'm sure everybody has seen probably one of the most Monumental ears of all time which is a huge thing to say with that double flat in Alaska with MSP Productions Craig also creating his own series down in New Zealand with a beautiful film about the club field scene in New Zealand with Highway 73 go check that out online it just showcases what I love about New Zealand skiing so much and I just love seeing what this guy does in the mountains yeah so we're seeing the uh some of the ski women making their way up to the top it's a relatively at least on the scale of the Freeride World Tour a relatively short hike from the top of The Stairway to Heaven chair up to the top of ozone so some of the women arriving nice and early to get themselves into the Zone Olivia McNeil they're getting set for her big debut once the ski women kick off but we are still right in the heart of the ski men's category here in the ozone face at kicking horse mountain resort Golden BC delivering a big day for us we're definitely seeing snow conditions on different parts of the face come into play with uh with the Riders out there it seems like the the gullies and the low points are filled in nicely there's a few spots where the snow has been deposited by the wind but also finding plenty of spots where the snow has been stripped off by the wind and it's always a roll of the dice for the Riders when they're choosing their line yeah exactly and coming up next we have a rider with a completely sort of different style you would say a bit of a bit of a throwback really hard charging with that beautiful line absolutely drilled to the floor with speed and leave Momo what can you tell me about him I love love love watching Leaf Mama ski I've been I've been kind of exposed to him since he was a junior he was one of the standout Junior Riders on the ifsa uh tour here in region two and you know I remember the first one of the first times I met him was at World Junior Championships in capital Austria and he skipped the entire upper set section of the venue and hit the biggest cliff on the whole face out the bottom landed it clean and then got eaten up by Avi debris at the bottom and I was like who is this kid from Alaska that was wild and his debut on the Free Ride World Tour was one of my favorite runs of all time uh he won the Peak Performance radical moment for it perfect skiing almost looking like a World Cup ski racer down a narrow icy cool wire and then a massive double out the bottom and one thing we haven't seen much of from Leith that he's got under the belt is a big bag of tricks he's he's the full package here but for me the standout aspect of leaf Mama skiing is his his ski technique the turns he makes to make me so happy so here we see the AK Master he's a fisherman commercial fisherman in the summer and spends his Winters rallying around a combo of Alaska and alyeska Resort and down in Bozeman Montana Leaf just getting those final preparations done before he drops in here yeah I'm a big fan of leaf skiing myself like it's great to me to see this real mixture you know like really showing good ski technique I still think there's a huge place for that in Free Ride competitive skiing being able to show that Mastery of the turn the full speed the absolute control and technique not just a bag of tricks this is the full show here and I think this guy is as you say the full packed package I'll be looking to see what he's got unleash there he needs a big result of himself you know a top four placement guarantee them in the in the next two stops I believe so huge cheer for Craig Murray he is a rider favorite and for sure a fan favorite kicking horse having a bit of uh a bit of a tough day or providing a bit of a tough day there for Craig but as you see the spirit lives on in Craig Murray always happy always uh you know just just kind of bubbling with joy and one of the probably guys who just loves skiing the most out of this whole field official and I mean that's the thing with taking horse you've got to grab it by the haunchers and that does mean sometimes you're gonna get kept yeah you get you get by a kicking horse and here we see the rest of the ski men's field and some of the ski women making their way up a chilly day here at kicking horse perfect Sunshine uh it was a bit of a bit of a question mark as the forecast coming into today was really up and down and and quite variable changing but the the organizing crew for free ride World Tour just absolutely nailing the day you know there was some thought of running yesterday and then it ended up being a little bit murky today we've got perfect Sunshine we had a nice little Top-Up of snow Sam smoothie and I in the booth just loving the show shout out to Anna smoothie uh we're missing you here broken ankle unfortunately not able to travel over from Europe so we got Sam in the booth holding it down for the Smoothie family at the Freeride World Tour yeah exactly they asked my dad to commentate but he pretty much doesn't really get much past until about six months deep so grateful to step in you know cleaning up Anna's mess and just trying to do my best here but we miss you Anna and you know that was my chances here this year well it's great to have you back here with the tour family I know the Riders were stoked when uh when Sam smoothie walked into the writers group enjoying uh enjoying the fruits of Revelstoke for the winter yeah I'm a big fan of fruit to be honest I mean I come from Cromwell and we have a pile of big fruit there but someone that's got big fruit is leaf mama so Leaf is going to be the next guy out of the gate as we're just kind of holding on here you can see Max hit Sig rocks rust tester and a Paul Andrew Pollard up there just kind of trading stories I don't know if they're giving away Secrets or holding it tight to the chest there yeah that's the thing isn't it these these little breaks can be quite tough for the Riders as well you know you've kind of been prepped you're like all right one minute to go I've got myself ready got my kit together I've got my mental set and then you've got to wait for two minutes that could be a really tough thing to deal with you know it can play on you like you know it's like staring into the abyss for too long you got to get going sometimes I hope that doesn't uh play on Leaf's mind too much but he's an experienced operator he is yeah he was a solid Junior Rider up through the qualifiers and uh and now on the Freeride World Tour it's it's really cool to see kind of the evolution of Free Riders as now a lot of riders coming out of Freeride clubs out of Juniors and they're coming onto the tour but with a ton of experience already their their season compared editors and speaking of that we've got an opportunity now to catch up with a very young but very seasoned Rider we're going to go check in at the hot seat with Whistler Free Ride club's own Marcus Gogan Marcus what a great way to kick off the day only the fifth guy down and that run I mean it was a little touch and go there how to describe that turn off the second air into the backflip into the backflip yeah I definitely didn't think I was gonna make that air whatsoever but uh managed to get on that downhill ski and pull it together it didn't really go as big as I wanted to go but I landed so I guess that's all that really matters and hopefully we can make the cut with that so we saw you weren't quite able to get into Ralph's track there was one track on the takeoff but you were just a little above above it describe setting that flip with your ski your legs pretty much boot deep in the powder deep in the powder yeah I really had to push my feet through the lip I was also like after that turn on my momentum kind of slowed a little bit so I really had to pop and push my feet forward and kind of just like pretty quick flip I think guys looks like yeah I almost hit my head off to take off but it worked out okay so yeah I'm stoked super stoked uh worked out okay the understatement of the day so far here in the ski men's category Marcus Gogan holding it down in the hot seat just about halfway through the ski men's field so congrats so far still a lot of talent up there to come I want to see what happens when he's like actually impressed with himself like that just makes me shudder in my state what was he got planned for us what kind of devil was tricks has he got up his sleeve yeah for sure Marcus Gogan always his own harshest critic and working out there for him as he said it was a it was a hard push to get on that downhill ski and uh you know coaches out there that's why we do the drills on the down days when we don't have powder so you get that bag of skills up to par with the bag of tricks we are ready to go here Leaf moment 22 years old rookie on the Free Ride World Tour we've we've uh we've been gushing about his skiing and now he's ready to show us and back up what we've been saying yeah exactly I am expecting full sploosh on this gush here so he's dropping into the face really interested to see what his line choice is as he's dropping a bit more Central through the venue than we've seen from a lot of the Riders of late yeah Leaf moment loves the hard charging style he likes to go big and I think we're going to see him into uh maybe the not so playful Zone as he gets things going here with a big big handful of speed going super technical there this is definitely a thin section of the face is leaf Mama making his way through so techy jeez Willa cause he is just dancing his way through that thing what control and just just agility really slide to his left and into the log and Beholder section unfortunately getting bucked onto his side off the takeoff as the mountain just erupts to his left Leaf not able to hold on to that as you said such quick feet as he landed it looks like on a pretty big pile of rocks but he's got both skis and he is skiing out so hopefully Leaf is okay from that that was quite a dramatic moment there for the young Alaskan Rider just not quite able to hold it we you saw the quick feet getting down to that section cat-like reflexes for leaf Moma as the mountain just exploding beside him yeah as someone who's unfortunately landed on too many rocks himself I can tell you that is not what you want to be doing stating the obvious of course but I'm hoping is all right there's a tough cookie look at this just look at these turns just ripping through this tight technical section just left right dodging that tree between his legs getting the takeoff putting it to his feet dancing past that tree super technical skiing there and you can see over on his left side oh he just got blocked by that a little bit more uphill than he was expecting and leaf getting rolled onto his side taking it to his they breed him tough in Alaska hopefully Leaf's gonna be all right down there just trading stories with the crew at the Finish yeah that guy's obviously been eating his salmon he's just really had to hold on to that Wrigley one look at that line just super direct that is a man who likes four line charging skiing finding I think probably one of the most technical places in the space to dance through as I'm watching the absolute anxious drips run off Derek's nose yeah that was that was intense relief happy to see him in uh in the Finish area the characteristic smile on his face I just want to know I want to see a cross angle of that bottom here he was close to some of those rocks as he flew across that massive ear Now set me right is that one of those ears is that the air we saw Logan pahoda hit yeah I think so for for leaf I think he was kind of aiming for that exact same nose and we can see the damage that little slide that little pocket release about 50 meters wide above a really technical section that's going to come into play for other Riders is that as a Zone we would have expected some people to get into to that bottom here just ski is right of where Leaf was skiing yeah exactly so hopefully the Riders at the top are going to get that info so they know what's happening there because that took pretty much all the snow off that section of the face uh kind of a big hanging pocket now the Crown Lane looks pretty deep so a big chunk of snow guys there yeah that's the thing the guys here that can uh cooking horse have done a really great job of controlling this face in really tough conditions this year we've got numerous uh suspect layers and they've worked really hard to make this face as safe as possible uh full credit to those guys but as you can see it's just an unsupported slave above a large here it's super difficult to get all that set on properly with the snowpack that we're dealing with right now so score dropping for Lee for 39-6-7 so again another Rider not quite the day they were looking for so Leaf Mama now has wrapped things up glad to see him safe and sound at the bottom that was an intense moment for the young Alaskan we're seeing the start gate here kind of a nice one for the Riders a lot of these start Gates on the Freeride world tour at knife Ridge barely a spot to get a toe pick and this one a nice flat Plateau at the top of the ozone face as we zoom in onto our next skier out of the gate the young verbier Rider doing it for Scott as well Simone Peridot coming on with a really strong campaign so far on the Free Ride World Tour he was saying at the very beginning of the Season that because he's young and he's got his whole crew of young shredders in verbier that he feels like he needs to send it for the boys back home and he's definitely been doing that but smart riding as well for Simone perdon he's only 20 years old another real tall rider a long leg is a strong leg and simal definitely demonstrating that so far here on the tour as he thumps his chest Tarzan style and pushes out of the gate you gotta love a good bit of chest thumping in there sometimes it's nice you know just get the get the testosterone flowing a little bit get that little extra bit of boost and I think this is a day when you really need it when it's coming down to crunch time yeah so Simone's sitting seventh overall right now kind of Happily above the cut and a few of the guys that were looking to you know shuffle things have had tough tough runs here at kicking horse so but I I have a feeling we're not going to see someone hold back at all with a 360 off the cornice wow he took that deep as well and he's just working his way back down to this next feature keeping the flow going really nicely look at that quiet easy style he has on the turns really nice powerful skin you can see he's eyeing up this section here we've seen a lot of people come through a little bit of snow no way are you kidding me spinning onto the part of the double but just a touch too far and unfortunately connecting with the rocks look at the cat like moves from Simon Peridot just skiing it out on one ski unfortunately the the pad of that double not delivering a padded experience and taking his ski for a ride with him that was a bold move there from Simone Peridot yeah it really was I think almost it looks like he went a bit long on that 360. I think he'd probably would have wanted to you can see his tracks there I think he would have wanted to touch down a couple of meters higher to give himself that room and potentially have a better Landing look at all those sharks there nom nom nom nom nom they've just eaten up that ski yeah that's a mess and you Simone would have wanted to be airing over that whole section and if he did get down lower definitely cleaner I a great entry in all the way down and that cornice debris wasn't there earlier some of the other Riders kicking that off and here we go you can just see him sitting the 360 there it gets it around nicely just lands dead on rocks I hope his heads are right there he sort of Dove it in through another section just beside those Christmas trees there man this uh this mountain is really proving to be a tasty little morsel that wants to eat them up yeah taking no prisoners here the ozone face that's going to be a bit of a project for the ski Runner to go collect that one right underneath that double so Simone peridot the no score again for uh for another Rider so yeah ozone ozone definitely delivering a couple Riders getting bucked here hopefully Simone perdon is all right that was a tough spot to land yeah it's a real shame he's been a really consistent Rider with six and seventh places so far I think like a run like that could have really put him up in a similar position so we can see the ski dude working his way across to where the ski is clinging onto the rock that doesn't want to go home you know caught up in a little uh little old little old tree there the Alpine trees uh you know they don't have a lot of growing season so they grow them tough stubbly and and grabbing simonski as he went by so we have Maxim Chapel in the start gate one of the few people guaranteed a spot in the finals he's our current world number one wearing the Platinum bib because obviously the bibs that got a golden kicking horse are golden and we'll see what he's going to have to say with himself here no wins this season came onto the tour last year with an absolute Blitz of Fury talk us through that yeah I mean he had a he had a bit of a rough start in the first event and then came back swinging with a win in Andorra and then backing that up so he's got a win here in kicking horse from last season and he's going to be looking to uh to put a w on the board he is sitting first overall right now but as you said to him no wins uh he's got a fifth and a third and he Maxim or he Max palm and Max hitzick all super tight uh stacked up at the top of the rankings only 21 years old and Maxim chablo already with a tour title and a win in verbier under his belt in one season so Maxim Chapel is going to be looking to uh to back up his win here in kicking horse with another spectacular run that's what I do find crazy these days is these young guys are seeming so experienced such a talented bag of a variety of techniques and tricks and the full setup of skills that you need to compare this I honestly thought he was six years older than that having seen what he's been capable of well it's it's a testament to the whole Junior program Maxim one of four Freeride Junior world champions in the ski men's field he Max Palm rocks Ross tester and Marcus Gogan all Freeride Junior Champions oh hand drag 360 to start things off straight into another Cliff beautifully creative start there from Mexico and he's absolutely humming cork seven is he gonna get it new shorts it unfortunate so we've seen that takeoff be tricky for the Riders as the snow deep it's really stacked up on the takeoff and you can see Maxim's feet just getting a little hung up as he set the seven and then the rotation just not quite there what I like about this is Max knows he's through to the next two stops so what I can see he's doing for those going for the top spot he doesn't need a low result he's looking for that overall title to back it up from last year which is an incredibly hard thing to do so he's gone all out here today that cork seven does not quite sit in the rotation to bring it back to his feet massive shame there but really great intent from the young guy well this hand drag 360 over the exposure off the cornice really backing himself as if that one doesn't work he is in Doom and then you can see him you get hung up on the take off of that and the rotation just not quite there for Maxine yeah you can see the frustration on the young Rider there super talented guy though so we're gonna see linty more from him in this year's tour and indeed the future also love to see some pastels coming in it's a really nice variety from you know the uniform black big fan of black myself but I'm loving that jacket I wanted to I I did push all right well Maxine yeah definitely a little bit bummed on that one as he was looking to put down another one of those highlight reel runs shout out but he's definitely in good spirits he found one of the rare spots on the on the face that you can land on your side and be completely fine that ride or looker's left side definitely it's a little deeper so a 49 there for maxim chaplow as we are taking the best two out of three that's gonna be a throwaway for Maxine I really liked with that uh handrake 360 The Cliff that he caught this beautiful piece of uh transition that really helped him build the speed into that cork seven but just not getting that set off the takeoff that he'd been looking for as we cut back to the top yeah Marcus Gohan Valley Raynor Finn bilis Carl Regner Erickson and Manu Barnard holding down the top five currently but we still have a talented group of riders up top and this one it is the Battle of the Maxes this year Max Palm he is another one 20 years old he came on as a wild card last year and and really proved that wild card with a win uh which seems to just be the way now seeing you know Marcus Gogan kind of on the the same program so max Palm he had a great run in Andorra and then unfortunately just got too stoked at the bottom throwing some of those shifties and going down so max Palm gonna be looking to uh to kind of redeem himself on that one as he just plays with the razor's Edge on the side of the corners yeah it makes blowing a kiss to me in the start gate as I asked for he's such a cute guy where's he gonna take this he's going more Central here with the new oh lift 360 loses the ski out the back but pulls it back together in a very technical piece of agility right there into the slide path of that piece before the snow in there is going to be absolutely heinous let's see who he deals with this takeoff scrubbing a bit of ski working towards that takeoff smart skin there commentators he fights it wow he has really had to work to hold on to that one I'm not sure if he knew that that had gone yeah I mean it you'd be hard-pressed to still go in there you could kind of see almost by his body language when he dropped off the crown line onto the bed surface that he was not expecting it to be looking like that and then from the rest of uh the rest of the way down was just holding on to it yeah full credit to the guy there what I like about him is he's got a really good ski technique you can see him fighting through that big surface that's not a bid you want to lay down and the handrake 360 into that just like absolutely blowing my mind look how Sharky that takeoff us pre-olly over the Rocks into the Bezos fighting like an absolute bull rider to stay on top of that thing look at the hits he's taken with his knees that guy's got young tendons yeah and and you know Max has spent a ton of time in the in the preseason this year in the gym kind of bulking up 20 years old so he's really just growing into his into his body and kind of filling it out and I think uh that was well worth every single Squat and sit up he did because the strength and the ski technique got him through that so you can see control a little bit down but he was able to hold on to it so it stays on uh on the green side of the scale for Max Palm there yes I'm sure the fans here in British Columbia know Green is good we're waiting for the score to see what they're going to deliver on that really tricky one for the judges I think definitely some control issues there I don't think it's going to challenge the top spot speculating Sam here probably shouldn't be doing that but there's a long wait here a nervous weight it's probably one of the worst bits I think you know he's happy to be down he's landed a reasonably good good run I imagine this is a man with exceedingly high standards not going quite how he wanted but I would say it's better than what we've seen from some of these guys on this really tough day of competing it is yeah and my Palm one of four men who are guaranteed with the results they've already got to be into the final so uh we'll see if this is going to eclipse the the 12th Place that he had in Andorra with that unfortunate fall but either way he's going on into fwt finals so max Plum yeah you said that his standards for himself are so high that that's probably not going to match what he was hoping for today but he's down and he's on his feet and in a field on a day of a lot of Falls unfortunately for for some of the Riders still potentially going to be something to hold on to so seventh so far for Max Palm with a 62. we do have plenty of riders to come as we look to cut back up to the top who are you excited about in the next few people coming down well I love watching the next rider in the gate ski getting Max just getting a hug there from the Peak Performance team manager Nicholas Lundgren he's uh always supporting the Riders but this guy riding out a sugar bowl in California one of many Tahoe Riders on the tour one of the best spirits on the Freeride World Tour another one who has a medal from Freeride Junior World Championships took a break from competing for a bunch of years and kind of came back to it last year with a new mindset of like I'm not in this for for results a minute because I love the community and I want to hang out with the crew Xander Goldman though always dangerous when he kicks out of the staircase yeah I think he's definitely one of those guys that sort of intrinsically motivated by the line by the mountain and the skiing he wants to portray it not not necessarily the results or what the award indeed the scores are going to come in it he's there to put on the show that he wants to do and skis skis for the love and skis from the heart I think yeah and he's such a happy guy if you get a chance to hang out with him and chat with him he's just he's got such a great spirit always having a good time a rider favorite everyone loves hanging out with Xander as he's kind of looking at where he's at on the cornice spotting uh spotting the inruns the visual inspection when you look at it from the bottom it's really hard to see anything from above the corners now Xander may be getting a little bit of a bonus by by seeing some old tracks or other tracks from Riders going way down the ridge here to the Rider's right yeah it'd be interesting to see what he makes of this entrance here right side 360. going a bit for this gears right nice and smooth through that air there working his way grabbing another one off the side of that one to give him more chance at this one no way screaming Steven 360. yes so screaming semen 360. you cannot understate how risky that is skis crossed in there we saw him do a straight screaming semen in Spain and upping the game with the 360. this is the Xander Goldman that we came here to see and that was absolutely spectacular the 360 off the corners above the exposure that gets the judges by the throw right off the bat and then backing it up with that huge air exactly just like getting the judges going getting those points going immediately you want to be raising the meat with about raising that excitement of the judges and he just kept providing excitement and like I don't think anyone here was expecting I don't know Daniel well I don't think like screaming semen Glenn Play Because got me be loving that if he's watching today Glenn you should be this is brilliant stuff yeah we'll take a look on on the replay but Xander known for spinning both ways pole plant with that as well and the takeoff there Candide style I love it and there you can see he doesn't take it off the nose takes it to the left more so he can sit up for this oh that did he grab that scream this evening as well and spinning it the other way so right three off the corners and then the left three with the screaming seam and yeah it looks like he did catch a grab there and just exploding into the powder losing his foot there but absolutely cat-like reflexes for Xander Goldman this guy yeah that guy obviously stretches his hips the spirit of skiing alive and well with Xander as finding a brand new take on this face and absolutely going huge on that one so the judges having their work cut out for them from Xander Goldman and he is a happy man in the Finish area yeah really really interesting to see what the judges make of that he's got Tricks he's got a smooth strong riding style he's gone that fast uh look his left side which with C score super well today and in the past that how happy are you to be a commentator not a judge right now I thought it was really good I enjoyed it yeah it's always nice being a little bit of Paparazzi on the side listening in all right well score dropping for Xander Goldman is 76-0 so into fifth for the Sugar Bowl Rider and Sandra coolman all cheers in the Finish area big fist pump for Marcus as he makes his way off the 76 points for Xander yeah Xander needing a top four finish to guarantee his place in the funnels but he's made a very strong case for that and in a day like today it's gonna be really interesting to see how that plays out in the overall standings I really hope to see him there I'm loving watching and skiing yeah that was a great one so here we go back up this man granted a wild card early on he's been a fixture on the qualifiers and the Challenger tour Oscar Mendez a solid solid entry on to the Free Ride World Tour really backing up that wild card with a second place he's got the some of the best backflips in the game and Oscar Mendon I expect uh we're gonna see him out to the right and into that good snow Zone also really nice to see The Return of the goatee here today I'm super happy about that sometimes it's nice to have a little bit of bristle on your chin gives you that little bit of extra padding if you're going to Chuck your knees into your face but I don't think this guy does he is known for absolute bolts Landing big ears and super explosive skiing yeah so Oscar making his way all the way down the ridge just chopping a chunk of that cornice off as he went by I think it was far enough behind he may not even noticed it and now Oscar into the guts of it yeah I'm wondering if ski patrol has requested the Riders do a little bit of control work for them as he's working his way fluidly through this technical Zone flying off that and just stomping it super clean working his way back skiers left I'm really excited to see where he takes his next fish into this big piece of technical riding full line huge here and square onto his feet and Oscar getting up nice and high with a ton of speed and the highest take of a big transfer Oscar clean and just right in the side of that crown line now hold on to it no tap keyed oh that is a crying shame I each stomped that into some of the worst snow in the venue and he looked clean and I oh my God I am I am heartbroken for the guys that was an absolute Beauty run that high takeoff really getting the surprise points for going higher and bigger and faster off that large bottom feature that is an absolute crying shame you hate to see that oh into that deposit he had all the hard work done such a strong top section going so fast through that technical section and taking it way out the further you get from the bottom of these Cliffs the safer you are and this one going absolutely massive and now it's just to ski it out and that's the thing I mean to me as a competitor you don't want to be leaving points on the board any line himself up for that big ear and I think trying to make that turn in the debris might have been his undoing sometimes it's better just to point it through the muck and just hold on Embrace and you wanted to control it but sometimes you kind of especially kicking horse you've got to let it back and that's cost him there unfortunately devastating there for Oscar Mendez as he had such a solid run all the way through until he got into the debris pile so no score for Oscar as his skis came off that is heartbreaking you can just see the body language he is absolutely floored by that one mate I feel weird at this at this point in the tour you know this is the real tough thing for the riders that it is make or break moment at crunch time and that's just come unstuck from a little bit but this is definitely a rider I expect to see big things from the future I think he is really one of the future writers for us on the tour well that was so strong so we go back up ski men not done Andrew Pollard a Paul skiing out of Alta Utah we had his sister a fixture on the tour J Paul Jacqueline Paul are going to be watching at home cheering on Big Brother uh 14th right now Andrew another one looking for uh looking for a result here to put himself up well that said 14th but actually 10th um in the standing so a Paul with the trademark antenna there and getting things started we had a big Art Exhibit Andrew designing all the bibs and all the posters for the Freeride World Tour he is as passionate about art as he is about Free Ride skiing a great season in Alta Utah uh 500 plus inches of snow every time he leaves he's got a hard time going as they are just having a not just Majestic season of snowfall down there in Utah yeah Apollo to me is one of those skiers that is super enjoyable to watch you never quite know where he's going to go line wise exceptionally creative skier and person as you mentioned about the at and just you know it's great to sort of learn a bit more of these writers outside of just their ability you know turns out they're all actually like humans pretty awesome humans at that Apollo kind of taking the mantle from Drew tabke always creative always kind of moving sideways and getting it over that section into the Gully so smooth and fast for Andrew Pollard with a 360. oh how casual was that that looked like one of the cleanest takeoffs and Spins very stylish very tight in the air absolute nailing of the landing he's just put that he's just put that one out there and I'm I'm really so I love watching this guy ski he always to me makes it look easy almost kind of like that Ronnie Barker red thing almost sometimes maybe the point of like was that that hard you know it's like and but that was like we've seen people set spins off that get it round he made that look so easy so clean giving us loot to the crowd that's one for the purists I think so smooth always just technically beautiful and I think the the moment of that one for me was the landing of the 360 and exploding out of the powder Cloud didn't even look like he'd left the ground I love this angle look how big he's gone on there catching that transition from the spine there and holding a ton of speed setting that 360 looks like getting a bit of a safety grag there and putting that down cleaner than we have seen loving it hey Paul just putting down a classic apoll line so smooth as you said mix difficult look easy so we're looking here at our overall standings where is Andrew gonna slide into that top five Xander Carl finbillis Valley Raynor and Marcus Gogan holding it down at the top right now so a lot still to come here but Andrew Pollard has done his been in a classic eight-ball style give it to me hey Paul requesting somebody to give it to him I assume he means the judges for them I think that's going to be a really well scored run though I don't want to sort of put words in their mouth yeah I lost it all right score dropping for apollon 81. himself into fourth he's happy with that Andrew Pollard hey Paul really just kind of needing to be in the top five to guarantee his spot and obviously there are other ways it can shake out but to guarantee his bot into Freeride World Tour final so he has done his part here on the ozone face Free Ride World Tour ski men delivering fireworks now we only have two men to go but they are two men who can have a very very big say in the rankings today and with two men to go that means Marcus Gogan guaranteed to be on the podium here at the Free Ride World Tour which is just spectacular another rookie on the tour this guy his ride has been uh like a rocket elevator rocket-powered elevator couple wild cards in the qualifier last year wildcard into fever broon wins that he's on the tour now he's sitting in second overall Max hitsig Austrian Rider riding out of Germany another one to watch out for and definitely a Podium Contender that is really getting down to the business end of things here with all to play for I'm just I'm like really buzzing to see where he takes this a rocket parrot elevator though sounds like a terrible idea if anyone that's been in an elevator he's working his way down the far right yeah just kind of scoping out those Corner spots as he sets his way in with a 360 clearing the cornice debris so max hitsig now heading out here so there's Riders right very Steep and into a really technical Zone turning it into a double he loves his doubles only why single when you can double just really and it's one of those things where you can really prove more points the judge is going massive off the bottom with the biggest air of the day and a backflip so casual a gigantic statement for the young Austrian Rider teeing that up right off the nose of the George Rodney the usosaki pyramid and Max hitzig taking it with a backflip and the cleanest stop you could possibly hope for somebody picked my jaw up off the ground because that was absolutely ridiculous that sit on that flip it looked like he just set himself to God in the air and just laid back looked and waited just the patience the absolute composure in the air to hold that at that speed of what's potentially not a great takeoff this season going massive into an already somewhat bombed Landing the Riders are just absolutely blowing my mind out right now every single Rider this looks like a junior comp just running into the finish here at a dog pile Max hits it the the judging criteria lit up absolutely like the Vegas Strip taking this as a double and then just gassing into this pyramid right off the top Lee Moses Sith Morrison get a call out that is just movie style skiing there and tough can just look at that skydiver mode and the landing just absolutely perfect fighting for it doing that stand-up setup Max hitsig delivering on the promise as we wait for the score to come 8767 for Max hitsig unbelievable run so Marcus Gogan sliding out of the hot seat and I think he's gonna be all right with that as Max hits it just delivered one of the most spectacular moments on the Free Ride World Tour we've only seen one person stomp that air ever so to take it with a backflip like that and land it like that wow oh my God I I'm more than mildly stunned for words on that just we're not done and this one is another one that we can expect a big big day out of Ross tester another Tahoe Rider he's been living in Utah but definitely a Californian at heart Free Ride Junior world champion in 2017 very very close with Christopher trudell two years ago for the overall Title Here on the Freeride World Tour and a second place at the last event Ross tesser gonna be looking to fire us up I'm still struggling to talk oh my Lord he's working his way down the skiers right at the venue I mean this Zone really is seeming to provide the goods in terms of big scores be super interesting to see what he makes this what I love about Ross is he's kind of always got the foot down he's not casual he's fast he's fluid he's exceptionally controlled and we know he can go massive yeah and another one with great ski technique as he enters in and just pins it into that same cool wire we saw deliver for apoll and now he's coming in with a big head of steam 360 up there putting it down clean he's working his way across to the left he's not going to be able to make that last piece of feature though so just getting some nice shrelpy turns there earlier yesterday Ross told me he was Keen to put it to his feet this game I didn't think he was going to go full guns blazing he's here for the overall totally he wants it all he's a Hungry Hungry Hippo and he's put down an absolute Banger I think he has and all Ross needs to get into finals as a top 13 today and I think he's safely in that mixer spent with the with the amount of crashing that we've seen out of the scene man so Ross tests are doing kind of exactly what he needed to do still a bang or run there but he's just checking in with Max headsig there are you okay in the head bud little squirrely but we can hear him say a little squirrely I love that that's your version of a little squirrely but damn you can climb a tree fast get in this 360. almost looked like he was setting for the screaming semen in the three as we saw from Xander Goldman these two guys growing up in very similar parts of the world maybe screaming semen threes are just normal in California I don't know I can't think of anything worse to do in a free rock competition but given those big skis it has a bang he's stoked he's put it down I love watching this guy ski and I think that's going to be a great score and just well done Ross there yeah big smile for Ross tester doing exactly what he needed to do as he said he's in the hunt for for the overall he has a 20th under his belt from the first event in pakira where he got absolutely ruthlessly attacked by sharks and a second so I think safely gonna be dumping that 20th Place result with that run as we wait for the judges to slot that in and see where it's going to come in uh to the overall I bet those judges will be quite happy to see the back of the ski means feel to be honest there's been a lot of great runs here a few issues you know some big crashes it's been the explosive show that we expect from this division as we look at the overall status right now of the rankings so Valley Rainer really backing up his win Finn bill is sitting in fourth Marcus Gogan the Young Buck in second and Max hicksig with so far the move of the year the move of the Millennia maybe that backflip off the George Rodney pyramid unbelievable the top three that's going to be a tough nut to crack there for Ross tester and then Finn bilis and apoll holding down the top five so just an incredible show from ski men here we go with the school it's a 77 he grabs a seventh easily ditching that score and ensuring his place through to the next two stops of the Free Ride World Tour the rest of the crew so let's see how it shook out here for ski men kicking horse Golden BC Max hitzig grabbing the top spot young Marcus Gogan on the podium with a silver medal Valley Rainer backing things up Finn bilis closing in on that top three eight Paul Carl Ragnar Erickson Ross tester Xander sliding into the top eight Manu Barnard there and Rene Barker at rounding out the top ten and then here we see pretty much that's the line where everybody else had significant issues as we move down the uh the bottom here of the Finish sheet jamessa Hampton unfortunately one of many riders getting eaten up with a no score as we head down this is your Podium here in Golden BC kicking horse Max hitsig Marcus Gogan and Valley Raynor the two austrians Overjoyed to be on the podium together it is an absolute over running from The Young Turks here oh all right well let's see how things have shaken out a big shake up here as Valley Raynor taking over the top spot Max hits it and Maxim shall blow Ross tester taking a big jump up and Marcus Gogan moving himself comfortably above the cut line Oscar Menda even with that tough crash still sitting pretty on the good side of the cut there uh that is just absolutely unbelievable simole Peridot is going to be the last guy qualifying into verbiage Xander Goodman unfortunately on the bad side of the bubble as well as some huge names in the Free Ride World Rayna Barker and Abel Moga Craig Murray all on the downhill side of the cut so this is the tough part of the Free Ride World Tour when it comes down to crunch time glory and heartbreak once again all right well we are gonna head down and catch up with our winner Max hitzig you have got a screw loose punting a backflip when you were scoping that were you thinking that that was gonna work it's gonna work um no I wasn't sure if it's gonna work but I saw it three years ago when yusu saki did it and I wanted to go for the pyramid and that was the reason why I did it today well you did it and you stomped it and you secured yourself a win on the Free Ride World Tour here at kicking horse Golden BC the first time you've been here and walking away with a W congratulations Max thanks Eric I'm so stoked yeah well just getting another look at that moment I think we are gonna see that go absolutely viral Max hitzig locking down the win here at kicking horse [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] well we are back and we are nowhere near done we have completed both the men's field in snowboard and Ski and we are going to be rolling straight into ski women let's see where we're sitting in the overall rankings the cut looming above the kicking horse stop at the Freeride World Tour Molly armanino the rookie out of uh California South Lake Tahoe holding it down to the top Justine Dufour La Pointe our Canadian Olympic hero and then down we've got uh sabil and Elizabeth tied in fourth which puts Olivia McNeil a standout Rider on the on the Freeride World Tour on the bad side of the cuts she's going to need a solid result here to get herself uphill and on to the good side we're having a look here at Elizabeth Garretson preparing to kick things off and our start list right now just a who's who of Freeride women Molly arminino she's sitting in first in that Leader's bib she's going to be kicking things off for the women Justine due for La Foie gonna be dropping second Delilah Quinn brought another Rider out of Tahoe and then we move down through the Who's Who and the two verbier Riders Elizabeth and sabile going to be closing out the ski women's category as we are up at the top a brand new category no less fireworks expected from these women the best free ride women on the planet getting set to set things off and we'll have a look at what you thought at home was gonna go down so just didn't do for La punt really earning uh the the fan vote here 64 percent of you think she's gonna be on the podium Elizabeth Garretson the Freeride World Tour Champion uh 58 and then current reigning women's ski Champion Jess Hodder with 49 this has been a great delivery for Jess Hodder she loves the venue here at kicking horse she's uh you know she's another one who's been running a bit of a a bit of a tough scene this year so far but coming back to a place that she loves that's delivered for her in the past I think we're going to see a strong run out of Jess and a good day she's excited she's got her head screwed on right and she's looking to uh to put down a big big one today yeah I just popped out for a Wii uh meet me in the faripaku and it is cold out there today so hopefully those girls haven't been uh too badly battered by the southerly wind that's blowing across the top of the face we're gonna see an absolute Throwdown here at the ozone face on kicking Horse Mountain it's a beautiful day to be out in the mountains all right well the Scott Rider Molly armanino is going to be the first one out of the gate she was absolutely charging last year on the qualifiers earning her spot she had an unfortunate frostbite injury hopefully her toes all right in this cold weather but earning herself a wild card for the Freeride World Tour and the big scream in the star kit getting herself fired up Molly leading the tour and the only one of the ski women guaranteed into finals I love that just a big scream get the heart going get yourself pumped up and she works herself down the ridge here towards the Rider's right Lookers left of the venue look at that scenery it was an interesting look into into the mentality of Molly armenino one of the really most self-deprecating writers last night at the opening ceremonies the announcer asked if by coming in in the leader's bib she was feeling confident and her answer was very simple and to the point she said no yeah Ricky diamonds uh local failed Lounge singer really struggling with his questions there as a presenter but uh that man sure does know how to entertain and entertainment we are bound to see please stay away from that bus of a cornice so Mario manino coming into this technical entrance we've seen a bunch of the men go into she's kind of really known for super technical lines straight lines always charging so Molly looking for this kind of back door entrance into the really steep Rocky section we saw Craig Murray go in that way it's very technical very tricky just pointing it out of there and oh getting tangled up a little back slap and then just not able to pull it back together for Molly armenino that was bold and in the exact fashion that we have come to expect from Molly yeah I like that line choice though uh of just pointing it out you know like oh and she goes down again some of the chunder there you can see falling from the up high has just taken her skis that's unfortunately gonna be a no score there as we see her I hope she's all right but I like that like the straight line in those tight Rocky sections and often be the smarter maneuver wild bold you know it's it's easier to run out of a rock when you're going straight yeah get in and out of there quick you don't want to spend too much time in those Rocky zones and unfortunately Molly kind of getting a little bit of a back slap and then just an odd one the ski getting kind of stolen from her now it's just wallowing around in the powder because you see this side of the face it's definitely a lot deeper the wind kind of depositing things I mean you see the cornice on the top of that section there's a reason that's there the wind comes from that direction it pushes snow in well I love these shots look at that straight line just catching something there I think it looked like kind of gave her like maybe something under the snow as she landed on that just pushing her into the back seat and then we'll see what's stole her ski there just a touch out of balance and then a little too aggressively trying to escape from that uh from that Avalanche debris you lay on that ski when you're going that fast and put it out of the fall line that hard and unfortunately getting just tossed over the bars so Molly you're gonna make her way up and grab her ski so I guess if there's a if there's a silver lining for this Molly does have a guaranteed ticket to Freeride World Tour finals so while she is in the hunt for the overall she still has two second places that are gonna count this is gonna be a throwaway result for Molly so she's still going to be sitting pretty uh once things shake up after this working hard there to get up there nice and quickly hope she's doing all right the frustration's got to be built there by now but um we're gonna see plenty more from this very talented rider in the rest of the tour stops this year and um hopefully she can get that back on and uh get some power turns on the way out little Redemption turn you know yeah sometimes you just need to get the spirit back up after after a tough one like that so Molly armanino going down that's going to be a no score for her and that will uh that will count as her throwaway results still scoring two second places from the first two stops so the rookie out of South Lake Tahoe unfortunate and and to her day but it's not going to bother her too much as she is moving on to Free Ride World Tour finals as we go back up to our next rider in the gate Justine do for a lapuant she is holding on to a grip of Hardware an Olympic gold medal an Olympic silver medal in Moguls for Team Canada in Canada she is an absolute hero in the ski world and even transcends that living in Montreal so she's not even based in the mountain is but she kind of had a big splash at the beginning for for a wild carded onto the tour from her freestyle background massive backflip in the first event which we kind of all expected but then the Free Ride elements of her skiing really shining through and the rest of that first run and in her second run in Andorra where she took the win so sitting second overall Justine do for that point on course here at kicking horse that's a beautiful pronunciation you've got there and I will be definitely trying to leave that to you as that is not my strong suit with the uh Francais she's working her way out to the Lookers right we've seen very few Riders go here so it's gonna be interesting to see which line Choice she makes again on this kind of Sugar City Traverse the writers aren't really being judged until they get over and start their drop-in line uh properly so she works her way over not a little pole clack there you know just keeping the spirits High yeah Justine definitely a great spirit she's been loving her transition into Freeride just loving the spirit the community an extremely exposed Traverse here as she gets over the top of it she's got the skills and the talent coming from the World Cup Mogul background knows how to turn a ski getting things kicked off on this air a little bit Punchy there looks like definitely the snow conditions over on this side a little less consistent yeah but you could see I mean Landing in hard icy Mogul she put that down absolutely bolts getting that next one going a little bit back there but just holding on nicely and controlling that speed beautiful cut that turn there throwing the spray up working her way down his own we've yet to see really much traffic on but this is the near below that we love to see we're seeing great success here from writers in the past yeah extremely technical approach Justine pointing it clearing the Rocks bit of a back slap there but she's out arms up section of the mountain and we see on the other side but Justine coming out of it clean judge is definitely going to notice the back slap but all in all technically solid run for Justine to four left one I think really smart skiing as well she's managed to find three good ears some great turns some cinematic skiing she looks stoked she should be great to see knee pad designs coming back into Ottawa you know it's great about track what these knees are doing she's a happy Champion yeah the Peak Performance Rider there just wave into the crowd you just heard her say that was so big as the writers you know they're scoping this visually and there's always that moment where you get into the air we're like oh what have I done what decisions in my life leave me here look at that angle that's great getting a bit of a wheelie on the skis but fights back into the front seat mogulski is obviously always in the front of their boots she's fought there she comes back big ear out the bottom hand down back slap there but look at that the joy exploding out of her you'd love to see that expression oh yeah and you could see that when the lip on the takeoff just had a little bit of kick so just you getting pushed pushed good slightly back she's all good her mom nervously watching at home or I think her mom's been a little bit less behind the transition to Free Ride as uh unfamiliar to a lot of people in Quebec but Justine really bringing free ride into the Quebec ski community so that's exciting for them so she's gonna be first right now with a 75-3-3 a solid score there the judges loving that line yeah a very solid score and with the fall in the first place this is the first properly ranked uh run so this is the bar that the rest of the Riders will be ranked against and she has hit that bar very high right well Justine taking her place in the hot seat she's going to be hoping to hold that down for a long time but of course a talented field of women still stacked up at the top gonna be looking to push her out of between as Justine settling in yeah giving it a little pet I'd like to know what kind of like uh animal skin they have on that seat what are they running there some some Caribou maybe Caribou gone all right well we had to back up another member of the Tahoe crew 19 years old one year out of Junior on the qualifiers and finding herself in the Stargate at the Free Ride World Tour Delilah Quinn unfortunately suffering uh of back injury just before the Andorra stop and unable to compete so she had to withdraw from that she said she's better than she was there but still not quite riding at 100 so hopefully Delilah is going to feel comfortable enough to put down a solid run here on the ozone face of kicking horse heading out to that skiers right Zone let's see what hey there Delilah's got for us yeah it's always tough when your your body doesn't cooperate with your schedule it's a reasonably important part of being out of ski I've unfortunately dinged myself one too many times as well so hopefully she's feeling all fired up making some beautiful turns down through the power there lining up in here getting that take off putting it down clean oh you gotta love start throwing a few buckies in the air hey look at that just enjoying the skin it looks like she's having some fun I'm really excited to see what she makes for this lower Zone here some big ears possible and she works the way through this Zone yeah kind of checking up getting out here onto the Rider's right and coming into this set track Delilah taking off clearing the Rocks nice and clean so Delilah having a great start to a run and one more feature below her she wants more she's got it off the nose there foreign just coming out of that back slap it's it's so hard when you bounce up from a back slap to stay centered in the fall line and unfortunately just getting pushed off to the side and Delilah losing a ski on that one so that is going to be a no score for the young rookie 19 years old I have a lot of faith that we're going to see plenty of delilahquin in our future I love this top section fluid strong skiing laying nice turns throwing the Sprout this transition I like this just like pin that there and straight into a nice turn you're like showing that control showing that technique this bottom one just getting a little back getting back with the way that we have the snow kind of funneling down sometimes it builds these sort of Banks and it can be really inconsistent and a lot firmer and you're setting your stance as you take off once you're in the air you can't quite tell until you hit the ground yeah and with as you said with that Slough cone there the snow rolling away on both sides so just tipping out of that back slap we start just being able to come out of the back slap dead square and over her feet but with the with the shape of that for Delilah unfortunately going down and Delilah one who needed a big result uh here to put herself onto the good side of the cut so unfortunate there for the young Rider but only 19 years old and as I said one year out of Juniors so bright future for the Young Tahoe Rider yeah I definitely think as we cut back to a shot of the face you can see we've got a little bit of cloud cover there but the viz is still good for the Riders as we look up to Jessica hotter says triple cone New Zealand but she's from the North Island I believe having made her way down south Jess has put on an absolute show the last few years I've loved watching her development as a writer huge fan of her skiing and just such a lovely person as well yeah a huge fan of her personality her spirit and just hotter the reigning Freeride World Tour champion and this has been oh the mountains out here on the ozone face the last time she competed here she won um she's had just such a great string of results here on ozone and and in her Free Ride World Tour career one of the strongest gears another one who can bend a ski that she's got that perfect Free Ride blend of the full send mentality but great technique to back it up yeah growing up in the north island she is no stranger to variable conditions that is probably one of the toughest places to learn to ski with immensely icy slopes most of the time in hideously volcanic rock Jess hotter does need a big result here but I have maximum faith in her ability she's been spending a lot of time filming with the blank crew and I'm really excited to see what those guys have been putting together fast fluid skiing she's been working on an aerial game as well with some great tricks and style just really trying to pull all those skills together and we're down at crunch time I'd love to know what she's listening to DMX maybe maybe yeah some hype up music to get her fired up for this run is just hotter just getting ready to light it up she's uh pretty much looking for the win that's gonna be that's gonna be uh what what Jess hodder's got in her mind she had a great run going in Andorra all the pieces clicking and unfortunately on her last huge error at the bottom suffering from a front punch in that variable snow conditions so she's just getting ready to get herself uh get herself out of the Stargate and down to business here on the ozone face you can see her just singing along thank you oh man I hopefully I'm thinking in the future like we're all going to be chip writers thanks to Elon Musk and we'll just literally have like a visual representation of what is going through Jess hodder's mind right now I am super fired up about this well I would love to get a look inside Jess Hunter's head she's always one she's she kind of downplays her ability and and really sells herself short but just hotter you got a couple of fans here in the booth and a ton of fans out there in Freeride world big hauler as Jess Hodder reigning Free Ride World Tour Champion kicking out of the gate yeah here we go making our way down the center of the venue it's great to see some variety and line choices here look at that shot wouldn't it be nice to be like the Drone pilot just for like one run just to get this ultimate shot the whole way down great skiing from Jess just beautiful turns she's working her way out towards Sugar City yeah so as we've heard this section is going to be kind of a little bit of leeway from the judges for not going super fast it is extremely Rocky and Technical very thin as that side angle wind has kind of scoured the slope it's definitely put snow in places but it's removed snow from other places so Jess just being sensible and careful to get across to kind of the meat of her run as she comes across and now we're going to see things start in Earnest for just hotter taking this first year similar to what we saw Justine putting it down nice and clean making her way through some little Christmas trees oh it just fond fond memories of her absolutely obliterating this tree landing on it last time getting off it there clean again flew it through the section of tight nasty little knee bite of trees yeah making these turns look pretty the jazz is above a meaty chunk of this competition face as she comes down into this tree section there's only one way out as you come down there's a couple of tracks just making her way in she's gonna have to release from the fall line as she does same Zone as we saw Justine Dupont and Jess going down Landing directly in the bomb hole made by Justine Dufour Le Pont and just not able to hold on to it that was a heavy impact for the champ unintentional screaming semen there in the run out that is absolute heartbreak hands to the sky competition free riding can just be so brutal you don't know exactly where that Landing is when you can't see it especially like a fade away takeoff like that you have to hold your speed to get there and just unfortunately stuffing it into the bomb hole I did that myself just the other day it's so hard to avoid when you can't know exactly where that is so we look at it again yeah we see Jess's approach and there's not a lot of options for takeoff angle as she drops into Justine's track and there's no other way for no other place for her to land than directly into that impact Mark so Justine packing down the snow when she landed and so instead of powder uh Jess Landing in a much firmer surface and that is a heartbreaker for just hotter oh so that is competition free ride I'm listening I hope she's gonna keep her turn up because we know I mean this is out raining through our world tour Champion too humble for our own good there is all the future in the world for her in this Sport and I cannot wait to see what she's been doing in the backcountry with the blank crew great to see some support here from the Riders so those two have become fast friends Justine before La plant going down to New Zealand in the summer to do a four-star event and a two-star and her and Jess immediately clicking they've been uh travel companions on the Freeride World Tour and you saw them sharing a line there but we go straight back up to whistle Free Ride Club Alum whistler's own Peak Performance Rider Olivia McNeil Olivia going absolutely Haywire in Andorra with one of the biggest Heirs of the entire day all Fields considered and now she is another one looking for a big result here as she wants to get herself onto the good side of the cut we've got that tie for fourth between Elizabeth and sibil so Elizabeth sorry Olivia heading out here to the skiers right seems like from what we've seen so far this side delivering a bit more of a pleasant riding experience for for the athletes yeah it's definitely been a trade-off you know it's a short beside the venue you can stack the features but it is incredibly tight precise skiing so it's kind of to me it's it's kind of all nothing you know it goes well or it really doesn't but I think Olivia's looking calm collected skiing nicely along the ridge here and I'm expecting big things she's had some reasonably consistent results but here today it's crunch time and she needs the big one yeah so that Poppy Style just really trying to get her mind and body into the run because as soon as you get to the cornice it is fully on so a few pops around the along the Ridge Top to get the get the legs fired up and get your brain into send mode exactly and that's one of the tough things with these is sometimes you've got you've been on top you've got cold legs and you're just starting with the bang right away she's working down and towards this Rocky section here we've got some tracks for her to follow it's tough to make sure you get the right take off putting it into a double there with a turn in the middle and now catching on to this track as Olivia moving on to this bulky future Landing oh just holding on to it almost getting folded there trying to get across the channel and she does just maximum fight from this battler just working her way through that that was some technical stuff and some tricky conditions with those with those tracks earlier having knocked a bunch of the snow out of the way and railroading you somewhat when you got deep cold Snow White this those tracks can be a real hindrance and she just fought through that really strong performance there and we saw that channel Gap gobble up jamessa Hampton earlier Olivia it really looked like both of them had a hard time actually carrying speed into it with enough Pace to actually get over it catching the uphill side but just handling it with the full length of travel in her legs so Olivia going in for a hug there with a Peak Performance teammate matchy matchy there in those white suits as we cut back to the top for a bit of a close-up with the Drone slightly Rocky takeoff there and just getting it dialed nicer she works back left finding that uh takeoff getting the other you can see backed a little bit but just strong to stay over at skis Works across the hill catching like a redirect side Hill Landing like that is tough and just handling it yeah I guess she wanted to step it up from the flat Landing in Andorra into an uphill Landing here at kicking horse but managing to uh managing to hold on to it all the criteria lit up in green there so a couple little issues there for for Olivia but clean and moving into second with a 70.67 just almost exactly halfway through the ski women's field so we're gonna see what the other Riders have to say on that one but that was a strong one for Olivia McNeil and a Real Testament to spending some time in the gym before the season make sure that core is strong as the ground is going to try to steal your skis out from under you yeah she works out there's been some games there for sure just maxing that leg power to power through those tough sections kind of almost bringing like an urban redirect with that channel Landing yeah yeah cat like reflexes there as we move back up to the start a chamonix local here Megan betal dynastar Rider she's uh you know she's a professional ski instructor and she's running the controls on the agui de midi All Summer Long Megan baton she's had a bit of a struggle early on she had a great season on the Challenger last year and with a tenth and a fifth so Megan looking for a big result here she wants to get her spot cemented into the Freeride World Tour finals Megan kicking out of the gate doing it for the French crew 10th and a fifth so fast they'll be looking to improve that and I think we've got a good chance of that today with where we are in the pack strong skiing see where she makes she's gone a more central line really nice turns here finding some good power making him look good fluid look at that power yeah charging through this section as she comes past this upper little Zone that's eating up a few Riders a unique take on it and a really really sensible move there strong riding here for Megan baton she has got the pedal to the metal coming into this lower section I don't know if I'll call any of the sensible this is fast fluid aggressive four-line skiing holy moly look at that section just grease that turning it into a triple there for Megan betal exactly what she needed to do and she's gonna be fired up yeah using every ounce of that technique she's got and firing at the Finish you can see her hand just a fist bump there she is going to be elated with that run that was charging top to bottom scheme for Megan big big Deliverance here for me gone under the gun under the pressure she has come out firing beautiful skiing look at the way she controls this straight across the full line into good turns through a technical section lines it up gets the air she set herself perfectly to hit this rock hits her skis she doesn't give she is just pointing it that is pure prere skiing you can tell that is a shammy woman with a ton of power yeah that line tracker just showing pure fall line and the fluidity absolutely maxing out the top of the scale Megan baton the dinosaur Rider absolutely flying there you can see on her base they're a big chunk taken out you saw it almost going to unintentional Iron Cross but Megan holding on to it super strong another Riders put the hours in at the gym to be able to hold on to those moments I'm a big fan of that I am a big big fan of that all right well that's all and she slides into the hot seat so Omega doing exactly what she needed to do here at kicking horse she needed a big run and she delivered it there top to bottom absolutely now you nailed Free Ride skiing to a T ight that that like gives me chills you love the emotion you love this like this is competition free ride at its best super big result super necessary and she just delivered in tough conditions I love the way she she stood up for that triple strong skiing into it but then just kept it full line set herself up for success and held on didn't even look that hard beautifully graceful strong skiing well straight back up to the top already dropping in Sun Valley Sun Valley Rider Addison Radford she's already got a win and then a tough crash in Andorra so she's uh you know she's definitely cemented her spot here in the Freeride world tour with a great result right out of the gate another young rookie making a Big Splash in this talented field here on the Freeride World Tour she's rided with so much style always and uh just a pleasure to watch her ski yeah getting the grabs in those earlier events really going for those bonus points great first year super fluid off the top there working your way down getting the next one putting it to her feet clean she's making a case nice little grab there for Friday Radford as she comes way across to the skiers right into this section across the Gully and she's got a bunch of features underneath her and some really really nice looking snow as she gets on top of this channel moving down into the lower section you can see a couple of those bomb holes from earlier Riders turning it into a double Eddie raffert taking that one long and super clean nice creative choice to taking the earlier inches with the cornices and working it back through completely new line we've seen from any Rider today finding some nice snow finding some good features putting smart strong skiing to the cat to the fourth yeah really really really strong run Addie Radford another one coming out of the freestyle world into free ride and then took a little break from it after a couple a couple goes on the qualifier came back to it last year with a kind of new mindset and really seeing that she's carried that into her Free Ride World Tour Journey a great run from Addison Radford really different run from what we saw earlier in the season let's take another look at this top but super fluid off the top on a blind deer which is really hard because you can't see Stuffle finds the next one goes for that right-handed safety grab as well and just works it back across the hill yeah I'd say bringing a more chargy element into her riding than we saw earlier on and that one she carried so far off the second stage of that double a really really strong run so ski women as we've come to expect just delivering every time this field heads out of the Stargate they're just firing and Addison Radford making a strong case for herself it's going to be interesting to see what the judges make of that are those white mitts there just uh I think there's sort of almost a blow back to like the mobile scene of like showing your knees she's got the white gloves showing she's going for that grabs a little bit of a highlighter on that that is a great way for rice to add bonus points to show style to show control in these tough lines well in Addison both on snow and off snow just oozing style in everything she does and definitely doing that on the face here getting the grab on that air and then into that that double really really technical to get into it you can see and then pinning it off the second stage loving that I think smart line Choice as well when you consider how many oh okay so we are getting a look at exactly what the judges are looking at right now as the judges locking in on all of the elements matching up the riding against the criteria this is their their kind of opportunity to have a replay it's a really valuable tool for the judges as Addison Radford into second with a 77 so the higher charging style they're paying off for Addie but a big threat fended off for the lady in the hot seat there Megan baton so Addie moving into second she's going to be looking at a spot on the podium if she can yeah indeed judges cutting me off there in the middle of my sentence which they love to do and it's probably a wise idea but what I was trying to say was smart line choice at the end of this big field of riders finding a fresh line finding fresh snow all right well we are heading back up to the top she is the 2021 Free Ride world champion her last result here was fifth she's sitting in fifth right now actually in a fourth place tie with fellow verbier compatriot sebile Elizabeth Garretson always stylish always a different take on the face it feels like the verbier Riders just have a style that kind of carries out of their background from verbier having spent uh half of my life in Bravia I think it's one of the greatest places to learn free ride and Elizabeth has been a real student of the sport I Love Her starts very quiet she's a small writer but it's very powerful skiing smooth stylish creative lines and big ears it's it's kind of almost like one of those Rides Again light running like makes things look easy yeah and and always really fast you know you can count on Elizabeth yeah for a high speed run and straight away pinned off the cornice there coming into this section we're seeing a few more tracks in this section we saw it pay off for Megan baton Elizabeth taking a very similar approach stomping on that one really good flow here like through a technical section keeping the skis moving beautiful technique really strong riding very clear and precise to where she's going working towards a similar line taking it back across the hill towards the double similar line choice so smooth so strong Elizabeth Garretson a solid solid Run for the verbier rider the 2021 world champion Elizabeth Garretson making it look quick and easy and we know it's not easy as we've seen this face taking no prisoners out there today a really really solid Run for the Peak Performance Rider at a verbier I'm a huge fan of her skiing I love watching what she does out there really great line choice I think really smart skiing she looks happy she definitely should be this is great again setting yourselves up up for Success taking a slightly different approach getting it across Hill showing the control of the turn clean smooth aggressive four-line skiing and just dialing it in yeah I think maybe one point of difference there on the approach to that line between Elizabeth and Megan beton there was an extra turn out of that upper air where Mega went dead fall line and kind of taking it as a triple Elizabeth really locked talking in that control turn but then you saw it on the on the run out she was fully in control standing directly over her feet so different approach not better or worse but just a little bit of a different look at it so Elizabeth it's a second with a 79-6-7 so a really strong score there for the Swiss Rider big hug for her friend and fellow competitor Megan baton as we now have uh Mega guaranteed to be on the podium wow and actually Elizabeth also guaranteed to be on the podium with only one Rider to come here in the ski women's field but this is another big threat the women really delivering here in tough conditions it's so hard to go as one of the last divisions when there's so many tracks there's been so much damage done to this ozone face Elizabeth Under Pressure getting that result and really driving her case home we know she's so good in those final two stops yeah absolutely and that's where she wants to uh she wants to get herself into that position where she can go home to verbier and lock down another win she's got one under her belt and speaking of Victories on the back de Ross this young lady has one in her rookie season taking the win last year at home a really special moment for her and uh you know solid slew of results so far with a third and a fourth has her tied with Elizabeth Garretson in the overall standings so sibio Blanche Jones she was really nervous this morning just kind of feeling the pressure of the cut and everything she said she wasn't really scared of a run but just scared of the bigger picture and it's hard for Riders to tune that out and just focus in on what's directly in front of you it really is there are so many uh extra forces at play here it's not just your riding ability this is The Big Show this is the big time it's crunch time on the Thriller rule tour we've seen her deliver huge performances Under Pressure she's fired up in the start gate I can't wait well she is out of the gate and on course here on the ozone face and another Rider opting to go out here to the right season number two two on the Freeride World Tour for sibio blanchall and so far so good for this young Swiss Rider as she has definitely cemented her case as a tour Rider the last rider in the division with 82 points to take the top spot she's working away to the skiers right we've seen a lot of high points delivered I'm really interested to see what she makes of this there's still plenty of good lines there but there's also I'm gonna stop that sentence before I even finish it yeah so sabil just making her way down the corners with a good head of steam you know we see the Riders just really trying to get into the run and going even further than we've seen most Riders go we saw Olivia out in this section earlier on and now sabil coming in with the charging style that she's become known for yeah coming from burbya charging is the mentality there set by many years of high performing throw and look at that agility finding both those Cliffs fighting through that tough Landing getting another area at the bottom super strong skiing there into the shade firing out the bottom yeah really direct line there for severe Blanchard she does not mess around she kept it in the fall line which has uh proven to be a winning formula here today on the ozone face at kicking horse you don't want to get your skis too sideways on this one she didn't really bother not fast forward aggressive basking straight down the hill in our job done yeah that was an aggressive run from the Swiss Rider second year on the tour you can see her just stopping the music there she's gonna have a chat [Music] seems mildly known fast it's just another day in the office Mr Bill look at that fighting through the rocks and just putting it down I love the strength shown there like a little bit of a controller show on that Landing but just back in the front of her boot straight away great angle as we see this here yeah and able to fight through the landing on this one to direct herself still down to the next feature so I'm going watching anxiously as the last possible Challenger for her spot on the hot seat made their way down that line tracker showing just how direct sibil's line was as she nervously waits for the score nervous moments as well for Megan baton I do not envy either of them there's a lot at stake here you can kind of see it on the face the judges are going back up just to check something here a lot to like about this run though they're rewiring up the hill I've never seen someone skip backwards so fast in Free Ride ultimate switch skiing there up the hill as they're just winding it back this tool extremely valuable for the judges to get looks at the details they're going to be having a look at that one stage one stage two stage three backslap you know little deductions for each of those things but the rest of sibils runs so solid what I liked about that is she immediately did get back in the front of this the front of her boots Put the skis across got that kind of bonus error at the bottom and just kept it moving and showed her strength look at the fluidity there very high control a little down let's see what the judges make of it yeah for sure are going to be a little ding with that back slap and especially in a field that's had some really really clean runs there there you know Perfection is what matters here the judge is really considering where they want to slide that one into I feel for it you can see the emotion she wants it we know she can perform in the final stop verbier is at home that's where she wants to go that's why we've seen her shine home Home on the Range sends the bill there so such intense moments this crunch time event with the cut looming above everything like a big gray cloud it's so intense and you can see she's just like kind of got her fingers and toes and everything crossed that the score is going to come in to put her where she needs to be and if anyone has actually tried it's immensely hard to cross your toes in a ski boot those will be performance fit for the performance that she needs that she's shown on the space day she's made her case it is a tough place to be in I feel for her right now I am much happier freezing my butt off in the commentator's tent right now oh intense moments and the ski women delivering once again right up to their full capabilities across the board so many strong runs as we're uh we're just seeing the judges really kind of taking their time with the scores one and two you know this is extremely extremely important and they want that accuracy we're watching exactly what the judges are seeing having a look at that channel Gap from Olivia McNeil so I think they're deciding which one of those is going to come out on top so many factors going to the judging those five categories so critical as we come down to these kind of crunch moments in uh in the ski women's field yeah that's the really tough thing uh here we have the score dropping 69.3 six positions what's the bill belongs on so Seville not stoked with that one 69-3-3 as she heads out so that means that this woman is going to be a first time free ride World Tour winner Megan that time delivering on the day as we see what the ski women's field gave to us today Megan baton the French writer out of chamonix with an 82 taking the win Elizabeth Garretson Addison Radford and the two Canadians there rounding out the top five Justine and Olivia sabil blenjo just hotter unfortunately going down in that bomb hole and Delilah and Molly armenino having a tough day out here on the ozone face so uh once again heartbreak and glory in the ski women's field as the ozone face taking no prisoners across the board it's just so tight when it gets down to these things you can see the disappointment on Seville and it contrasted with the absolute Joy of Megan massive congratulations to that Rider well let's see because this is going to be a huge shake up what this has done to our overall ranking and the cut we see Addison Radford taking on the golden bib as tour leader Molly armenino bumping down to Second Justine defore Elizabeth Garretson jumping way up at megal Baton sliding into that last qualifying spot for the Free Ride World Tour finals unfortunately everything below fifth is going to be looking at heading on to the Challenger tour sabil there at the end Olivia McNeil and the other Riders so here are your top three from the Freeride World Tour here at kicking horse in Golden BC Megan baton a first time winner on the Free Ride World Tour and delivering under pressure today that to me is one of the massive stories of today absolutely putting one down pinpoint aggressive pure Free Ride skiing and get getting it done when she absolutely had to a huge result for the French Rider taking the win here and moving herself up and on to the next two stops in the Free Ride World Tour finals fever broon and verbier coming up and we are going to head down into the Finish area to check in with Megan Megan your first win on the Free Ride World Tour and you did it on a day where you had to do that tell us about your mindset coming in and choosing that line what an incredible performance thanks Derek uh I knew I have to do a 10 or two to qualify for the final so I went uh gobigal gomo and uh I'm stoked that it worked all right well Megan beta delivering on the day huge congratulations for the dynastar rider a great performance under incredible pressure what a fantastic run Tim you said pure Free Ride top to bottom absolutely pinned and just delivering under such an intense pressure situation kicking horse Champion [Music] thank you [Music] thank you foreign [Music] well that's a wrap on all the skiing here at kicking horse Golden BC but we are not done we still have a whole category of snowboarding to come the snowboard women the last field dropping today and there's a lot to play for we're going to take a look here at the overall situation big picture right now Katie Anderson just having her way with it this year two comps two wins Coming Out Swinging Anna orlova with a great comeback and Estelle rosolio the rookie on the tour sitting on the good side of the cut but it is extremely tight between her and Tiffany peritone and then Michaela Davis Meehan she is an absolute sender she's had two tough finishes but you know we've seen her deliver absolutely banging Free Ride competition runs so anything is possible as we just saw with Megan baton in the ski women's field let's take a look at the order they're dropping in so we have Miguel uh Michaela davis-mean starting things off uh estara Rizzoli or Tiffany peritone and all over and then Katie Andersons we have five writers today there is all to play for it's going to be incredibly interesting to see what these Riders do with this space as the last writers of the day will they go all in for the big win or will they try and play a smart tactical game well I think we're gonna see a range through those strategies I think this woman is going to be going all out because for her a win is what it's going to take for her to get into the finals we're going to take a look at what you thought at home in the Peak Performance fun bet Katie Anderson with a resounding vote from the fans at home 88 percent of you Tiffany paddle Town 75 and the rookie estola Estelle rosolio locking in 60 of the vote in the Peak Performance fun bets so uh Tiffany peritone she is reigning Freeride World Tour Champion right now 75 percent of you expect to see her on the podium today yeah and it's going to be great I think the thing for Michaela here is that it's simple She's Gotta Go Hard she's gotta put it down it is all on here we know she's a great writer and it's going to be super interesting to see which feature she go to what part of the zones and how she does it yeah Michaela has relocated from Australia to Revelstoke for the winter and Revelstoke having a great uh great season so far we've seen her throwing huge 360s off cliffs it's in her pocket if she can just lock down a full run today but it's not going to be easy and not just because it's difficult to do it but because the rest of the field is so strong and we do have to mention Erica vikander who's a strong Rider in this field had guiding obligations in Japan so not able to show up here for this stuff so Erica we miss you in the field but Michaela Davis mean is going to hold it down here and kick things off for the snowboard women a little throw our hands there let's see how Keen she is to throw hands with this ozone face and take it to it working her way out to the Riders right there gonna be down the ridge there's been a lot of good scoring runs I know I've said that too many times already but I've started to run out of words I've just kind of had my face melted off me today a little trickier when you're on a snowball with this flat section and also just with the blind roll away I'm gonna see what she makes of these cornice entries definitely adding another sort of element to be considered for the Riders yeah and Michaela riding regular foot so she's got her back to the cornice which has got to feel a little nerve-wracking just kind of knowing exactly where your heel side is or Hillside edges in relation to that big looming cornice and we saw you know chunks of it cracking off in some of the other fields so you definitely want to give it some space yeah I would say Michaela's looking to crack one off herself here and she works her way out towards this entrance oh yes I like this I like this right into the Steep exposure strong toe side turn towards this mandatory ear putting it down lining up another one come on yes strong riding fluidly into the apron finding some nice snow there really strong start there yeah banging it off right off the top aggressive and then into the power Fields I think there's a there's a really a really wise move here for Michaela staying out of that Slough path The Abbey debris and riding the powder out two big Stomps off big features right off the top to get the snowboard women's category Kraken that's really tough going first because you are the bar that the wrestling will be rated against strong I would say pretty thoughtless riding uh good line choice and really fluid as well which I like to see no messing around here for this gal no that was exactly what she needed to do she chose a line where the snow was good she wasn't messing around with Sharks two big features and then a clean run out through the powder so Michaela Davis me and making a strong case for herself I like this here just getting it done finding that clean take off reaching for the grab can't quite see if she gets that on the backside it across the slope Big Air finding a nice clean Landing strong riding into this battlefield throwing up the spray and the hands she's here to fight and not even a moment of worry there was no nothing nothing about that run that wasn't Flawless so Michaela doing exactly what she needed to do Under Pressure blowing kisses to the crowd they love you out there Michaela Davis me and now going to wait to put down or wait for the judges to put down their score and the score that the other Riders are going to be looking to achieve yeah she needs a big result here but she has absolutely made a strong case for this delivering Under Pressure like we saw in the last division the nervous wait for her begins it's kind of nice though when you get it done you've made there's nothing else you could do like she's put her case out there made a strong strong start to this division all on the judges now I loved Lily Bradley's take on on that feeling when she was oh the the judge is absolutely loving that yeah Lily Bradley saying when you cross through that big fwt arch at the bottom it's like exiting from a haunted house that you've been stuck in and just the feeling of relief and Elation that you get to feel once you're in that finished area especially with a really good run behind you is uh I mean that's that's the feeling these Riders are chasing so we have to score 83-3-3 a massive score for the first Rider of the day in the snowboard women's field Michaela Davis mean and doing exactly what she needed the Aussie Rider taking her spot in the hot seat yeah to keep my speculation to myself this time I was thinking 80. the judges agreed I love it when I'm right it's so nice feels good to be right we go right back up to style rizzolio she's a DJ she's a coder 37 years old she's been a fixture on the qualifying tour loving being on the Free Ride World Tour of kind of finding her home in the in the family her and the other snowboard women have been rallying around up here kicking horse enjoying the powder and uh really looking forward to her she's got that go big mentality too seems to be kind of something in the water in France that just gets gets you Sandy never been a fan of the water in France myself but she's got a third and a fourth and I think she's going to be going for the top spot because that's what she's here to do right absolutely yeah and she had she had a big send in the first event that kind of didn't work out and then in the last event just toning it down it's hard for Riders to find that line how much do you need to go how much can you stick you know when you're up at face check and you're looking at a run if it's a hundred percent chance of stomping maybe it's not quite enough if you're looking at a 50 50 dice roll maybe it's too much so finding that kind of clean balance with a run you can stick but still enough to get to blow the judge's mops off then you're going to be looking uh yeah you're gonna be looking to find that delicate balance and Estelle finding it in Andorra and she's going to be on the hunt for it here today yeah especially when you've got a bunch of mops like the judges we have with only one set of decent here on Rachel cross the rest of them looking like a Motley Crew but they're doing a great job here today and in tough conditions I'd hate to be a judge it's also hard when you're one of the earlier Riders to pick that balance because you don't have anything much to gauge against she might have seen Michaela's run there she knows she's got a Goldberg but it's really hard finding the line let's see what she makes to this getting ready to kick off her campaign here kicking horse and she is out of the gate and on the face working your way into the more of the central zone here look at that that beautiful Golden BC scenery bit of chatter there on the board this place has been fairly hacked up and the wind has definitely played quite an effect here on the snow actually makes her way into the meat of this run yeah especially on the Ridge Top so it's still airing off the cornice and now this is where that Ridge Top snow that's been scoured from there has been deposited so a little bit of a nicer riding surface Estelle's stacking up the features keeping it pinned getting heel side there disappearing into the pow Cloud potentially missing a spot there that she was looking to hit as she struggled to hold that turn but strong riding as she works her way across the Zone really milking the turns here and finding some nice snow which is tough at this end of the venue coming into a more technical Zone you can see her scoping where she's going to entrance into this Zone we've seen some great writing from the woman before yeah this Zone really delivering for the ski women and Estelle now keeping it pointed in the fall line turning it into a double and now zooming out on the long powder apron just leaving that beautiful straight line track behind her pinned into the Finish very different approach from what we saw from Michaela fall line Technical and through the Section with plenty of rock and small tree features finding a nice couple of ears keeping it in the fine staying away from trouble not potentially quite as much air a very different approach but very interesting riding and a strong faultless Style yeah those heel side turns in the top you can see are completely disappear into the cloud one tow side turn and then pointing it off the nose of this a nice clean to run out for Estelle so again judges gonna have their work cut out for them on that one as Estelle rizzolio now waiting to see where that's going to slot her in but a strong one for her the thing with the cold dry snow we have when you crank one of those turns you often blow off a clown your face on a normal day's riding great fun when you're trying to pick a technical line super unhelpful turns out being able to see is quite useful yeah you you you pit yourself and all of a sudden you lose vision and it might only be for a couple of meters but it's enough to just lose the exact precise view of where you're trying to go uh so as you said maybe missing a feature there judging criteria all looking pretty solid they they're loving the line fluidity good Aaron Styles solid all the way across the board so we're gonna see what kind of number that's going to put on the board for Estelle rosolio as the judges consider their sort of ticking the screen there you can see some nervous discussion going on what score is going to be coming through for her here I hate this bit as a rider you can see her wanting them that she wants it give it to her let's see what they have to say 75.33 sliding her into a second position a great run there from Estelle and well earned points yeah strong Run for the French Rider so Michaela Davis mean fending off a big challenge for her spot in the hot seat but we are just getting started still three of the best riders in the world up top Tiffany peritone she's the reigning world champion riding out of verbier she was a rookie last year and took the title this year she's had a bit of a rough start so she's sitting in fifth she's going to be looking to bump herself up uh sorry excuse me sitting in fourth gonna be looking to bump herself up into that third place spot there's only three of these women going to be making their way into the Freeride World Tour finals it's a super brutal part of the year it's a lot of pressure on a very pressure cooker of a situation literally makes this dish as she drops in interesting start going out right oh we've seen a bit of that today but there's plenty of good points to be made out there so Tiffany another regular foot Rider with her back to the cornice cruising on down the ridge the backdrop here the Purcell mountains just glowing here in this morning sunshine it's been a gorgeous day at kicking horse a little touch-up of snow that we've seen giving the Riders just that extra bit of confidence to really go hard and uh and pin it through so Tiffany now coming down over top of the corner so she makes her way looking for her entry into this face see how far she's going to work down here we saw it work super well for Michaela I wonder if she's going to go for a similar entrance and she cuts back on that Hillside turn dropping into a similar Zone but pulling further Riders right finding some fresh and a fresh entrance no main feat and a nice air there off the bat clean stomp into the darkness of the shade finding yet another air reaching over the crowd but just getting back by the powder so Tiffany going down and now over top of this feature is she going to be able to stack up anything else coming out of the pal Cloud just rolling off of that one so that's really unfortunate almost hard to tell how deep the snow is in spots the wind has been moving it around it looked like that was just a bit deeper than Tiffany expected and the nose of the board just sinking under the surface yeah you can see the disappointment in the body language it comes out the bottom there really great start there finding a fresh air which is super difficult at this stage and just unfortunately sitting there stance a little too forward rolling over bars here at king or sometimes you get yeah that was a tough one as we saw I mean we're we're way down in the field we've seen all of the snowboard and ski men and all of the ski women we've got a nice crowd gathered here at kicking horse cheering on the Riders but to be this deep in the field and still find a completely untapped Zone impressive scoping there from Tiffany peritone the reigning Freeride World Tour Champion not gonna be her day today so another big one fended off there as we see Tiffany coming in spraying the powder that first air absolutely Bolton and it was the second one where it all comes undone [Music] just a deeper patch of snow that variability in windy position me coming here Achilles heel as the wind absolutely howls around us here on the ridge we're about to lose our tint I think so score coming in for Tiffany Peloton they're into third with a 53-6-7 so another one fought off by Michaela Davis me and the Aussie Rider sitting pretty in the hot seat and with only two Riders to go Michaela gonna be guaranteed to be on the podium but it's not a Podium is not a guarantee for her to make it through the cut she needs the W to make that happen so we still have the top two riders in the current overall still to come perhaps Michaela's experience with the blowing dust of Australia's Barren Outback giving her the slight edge here in this cold light dry snow that we have been cooking horse BC as we see and all over in the start gate all smiles Anna orlova is another one in a kind of similar fashion to what we've seen from Ludo gyo diet she was a writer who would qualify onto the tour and then not quite make the cut come back through the Challenger re-qualify It's been a couple of Journeys for her around the block but now she's kind of clicked into her her own Rhythm and is finding herself sitting second overall on the Free Ride World Tour so Anna orlova really locking in her style and finding uh you know great success so far in the 2023 campaign yeah it's uh it's a real Testament I think that sometimes you know these Riders do learn even more as they have to go back through the Challenger Series to retake their place on the furrow wheel tour but there's a lot of good learning to be taken from there you learn a lot about your writing about how you like to compete it's all very specific for each Rider there's various ways of doing things and you just love seeing a success story where they fight for that and really power through to do it yet again and take this spot where they deserve to be yeah exactly going kind of back to the drawing board in cremeier where she hails out of and finding uh finding the ability to just lock in on another level of riding and it'll over way out to the Riders riding fully a couple untracked sections and pinned through that upper section getting him back across the hill looking for this air we've seen a fair bit of traffic traffic on struggling a little bit with speed there into a very shocky zone right into the direction we've got a little bit of a slab has cut off there hopefully she's managed to hold on up top I can see her still on the top of the screen so she's managed to fight her way above that really strong there in a dicey situation from Anna all over yeah I slept into that Gully and managed to stay it was the high point they were releasing and Anna olova in a nice safe spot but uh just having a little pause is I think she just got a little bit on that and they're just finding an error in those trees wow the strength of the woman there to like sit that little slab off and then fight for a few more ears she's just kept going through that it'd be interesting to see what the judges make there it's kind of something outside of your control and you have a little stability issue of that you can see her kind of gesturing like what what just happened yeah so those high points uh where where the snow falls away on both sides definitely not much holding the snow up there so you do kind of risk it a fair bit when you go into those zones and oralova great start really fast and just a little bit hung up as you said Sam into this section I love the technique there it's just on that heel side here it's just fight to make that take off Put it Down clean find a fresh landing and stomp it smooth interestingly sort of a tricky one to judge I would have thought [Music] yeah I don't know quite know what to make of that myself she's been dingy you can see on the fluidity there she feel a little hard dumb like not hard done by but you can't understand that in the situation she was given great Mountain scents to stay on top of that pocket Yeah Anna orlova happy to see her safe and sound in the Finish Line just kind of trading trading War Stories there with Michaela Davis me and as the two of them looking back up and now the nervous wake begins Judgment Day it's country cut to a view of the judges wrestling with mitts I never understood how people could win let's see fingers are there for a reason well I think today if any day is a mitten day is today up here on the Ridge at kicking horse so the judges definitely having a look at that one Anna or lower the fluid he definitely um gonna be gonna be dinged for that one she had even even before she got kind of stuck in the Gully trying to move across that so 68-3-3 for Anna orlova sliding her into third position five riders in the field three spots into the finals Michaela davis-mean with a big big campaign a big case to get herself in there she had a big hill to climb she's done her part but the most dangerous rider for Michaela's campaign to get into finals is in the Stargate right now two starts two wins for Katie Anderson while that was possibly not what Anna will ever really had in mind it's still sitting in third which is putting the pressure on Katie to deliver here as those two wrestle for that top spot big moment for the final run of this big day in free Road competition yeah so Katie Anderson riding out of Fernie BC another one who didn't make the cut last year back through the Challenger tour she won The Challengers and then she came back with a whole new Katie that has been Unstoppable so far this year on the 2023 Freeride World Tour season uh to be totally honest with you what we've seen from Katie this year is what I've been expecting to see from Katie the whole time that World Cup border cross background she's so strong on her board but riding from Fernie she's comfortable in big terrain and she's comfortable in in good snow yeah exactly Katie started off the season with the big don't argue chucking and full-on no holds bars approach right through the entire field you can't really argue with two wins right off the bat as she makes her way out to the Rider's right side woman those legs up I bet she oh dumping the nose there oh that is heartbreaking for Katie Anderson we've seen this section with that that wind sculpted snow so a couple Riders have little moments but that's the first one we've seen just get gobbled up by it then once the nose on your board goes under you are well you're straight over the bar so Katie Anderson is going to need to reset her head before she drops into the Steep section coming off the cornice now a newish entry finding that similar air that was served just before powering off that super strong Landing getting another air a little bit of a washout again so unfortunately commentators curse of the pick don't argue because having a bit of the last laugh here unfortunately yeah that's this division a bit more interesting that is tough for Katie Anderson and she's pretty much past the features now she's gonna ride out in the powder I I honestly a weird one for Katie losing the nose at the top and then I I have to wonder if she was just mentally a little bit rattled coming onto the face yeah I mean to be honest looking at that first crash I think it's one of those things where you'd probably not even thinking about that part of the Zone you're thinking about the medieval line you're thinking about where things are going to get dicey maybe just slightly too casual on that top that where you really think by this stage in the field you'd be just cruising along you know it's just one of those things sometimes you just turn off a little bit on the easier terrain I've seen it before with the snowboarders uh and other events and that's just super unfortunate yeah you could kind of see her board with a little Ripple the board went up and then coming over the back side of it the nose just diving nice entry into the face for Katie Anderson coming down to this chunky One landing onto the heel side into the next Air and it's this feature that actually gets her unstuck the board bouncing out forward yeah kind of an interesting one there I just wonder if that's the second time we've seen that smaller ear get people unstuck so a 33 Point ride there for Katie Anderson yeah uh rounding out our women's snowboard division not what she could have wanted today but it's going to be an interesting look at the rankings as things change up all right well we'll see what our big picture from today's event looks like Michaela davis-mean under pressure and delivering with an 83 Point run Estelle roselio and Anna orlova that's your top three Tiffany pereton and Katie Anderson unfortunately both going down so a really really interesting date and huge credit for Michaela similar to what we saw in ski women just performing Under Pressure day here in kicking horse so you see the the crowd braving the chilly temps down in the Basin luckily they're sitting in the sunshine gotta say a bit jealous of that Sunbeam shining down on the crowd at the Finish area we're going to take a look here as we go back down to see our ceremony here those are your Podium finishers in the snowboard women's category Michaela Davis me and Estelle rosolio and Anna orlova is your top three results today from kicking horse and Sam I'm on the edge of my seat as we are going to look in at what this has done to the overall rankings as we see it shake out here Katie Anderson holding on to the top spot Anna orlova and Estelle rosolio and unfortunately Michaela davis-mean needed Anna or Estelle to be a little bit lower for her to jump over and into the qualifying spot so she did her bit but she needed them to do their bit and by such a slim margin so as Estelle Anna and Katie moving on to the Freeride World Tour finals and we are going to go down and check in with the kicking horse Champion Michaela davis-mean delivering under pressure with the win Michaela described that run for us Stellar run from top to bottom oh it was amazing the snow was so good um I had a backup run that I was gonna do but I blew that one off I wanted the Rockstar run and glad I did it well huge congratulations locking down the gold medal here kicking horse golden delivering on the day congrats to Michaela Davis man you you cheers all right well we just see what it took for Michaela to lock down the W here a beautiful powder experience wrapping up the snowboard women's category [Music] [Music] well as expected the kicking horse Stop In The Free Ride World Tour delivering fireworks end to end starting with snowboard men rapping with snowboard women top to bottom unbelievable show today yeah as we expected huge fireworks from today massive runs massive ears Stomps big crashes as well it was a really tough one for the crunch time yeah roller coaster of a day and we want you at home to have your say you're going to go online at vote.freerideworldtour.com and vote for who you thought was the rider of the day it's your chance as an audience to have your say in the outcome here of the kicking horse Golden BC Free Ride World Tour stop Rider of the day who's it going to be winning those black diamond Golden Gloves may I don't know there has been some absolute claims to fame here I think we've seen some things we're gonna think of for a long time there's been a couple of massive years that I think we're really stick in people's mind and yeah huge congratulations to the riders today in tough conditions putting on a beautiful show well a big thanks to all of you at home that's going to do it for us here in kicking horse stop number three is a wrap we are heading to fieber brune for the next stop Freeride World Tour finals coming up with a fruit a two-run format thanks to you a huge thanks to the Freeride World Tour team and the team here at kicking horse mountain resort resort and Golden BC a banger day we'll see you in Austria it's party time foreign [Music] thank you [Music] welcome to Austria Bieber brune is the spot for the first stop in the fwt finals new format two runs everybody gets two goes really just working it and perfecting wow cork seven downside and perfectly Landing that [Music] was probably fun to watch what a Showman

Channel: GoPro Snow

Views: 226,505

Keywords: gopro, goprosnow, snow, mountains, winter, snowboard, ski, powder, skiing, snowboarding, pow, epic, hero11, goprohero11black, hero10, max, mini

Id: u2PNFu03Ejo

Length: 220min 5sec (13205 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 18 2023