LIVE WEBCAST Replay - Freeride World Tour Hakuba Japan 2019

[Music] [Applause] [Music] hello everybody it's time to drop in again it's that time of the year the freeride world to 2019 about to kick off here in Hakuba Japan I'm Martin Winkler and next to me a good friend and co-host Neil Willimon take it away man nice to be back thanks for having me good to see you again good to be sitting here at a world to a competition good to be looking at a beautiful say face and beautiful sunlight here in the Japanese Alps here in Hakuba Japan the face is looking amazing today we've had fresh snowfall in the last few days I can't wait to see what these riders have got for us this face is actually pretty big if you can't see the people at the top at the the start gate by the rock then it's because they're so small on the face is longer than I thought when I first saw it it's gonna be a huge competition day today we're gonna tell you a little bit about Hakuba where we are what we're doing here what we're gonna expect to see today tell a little bit about this beautiful place you're in right now yeah Hakuba lies in the heart of the Japanese Alps and is well known for being a prime winter sport resort being so close to the ocean it has a privilege to receive a massive amount of snow the event window is from the 19th to the 26th but we are very fortunate that today the first day we gonna kick things off there the riders had a few days of enjoying the local food mainly sushi of course and the famous Japanese pal yeah look at these guys shootings I'm a Navarro and joining the powder and the trees it's been good we'll have been here as Japan is famous for lots of snowfall got Christopher to Dell defending champion they're airing through the trees as well and just enjoying the scenery well McFly gets a face test and a taste test of the powder here it's my fellow commentator just loving these elves is huge mountains here people don't really know that about Japan it's amazing I love this place good to be back and especially good to be back with amazing weather we got some nice snowfalls not too much of it like last year we were just buried in snow as you can see from the images which was really too much yes but as snow what it's all about here Japan you heard about the expression chip pal before it was the host here of the 1980 a 98 Winter Olympics Nagano and ever since it changed more to a freeride orientated Resort resulting in Fred will qualify events and now the Farhat World Tour that's right huge progression of free riding in Japan and looking at this footage of the competitions from the last couple years two years ago the first ever freeride competition in Japan and now there's nine this year's it's great to see the potential being realized on these faces these venues and the snow quality that you have here the competition is just fantastic looking at some of the footage from last couple years rain of our career enjoying the snow here in Marcos either some of the favourites for today's competition and Christopher to Adele of course defending champion as well not too long to go now we have got a forerunner dropping in and this magical powder pretty soon I've got some forerunners to show us the venue show us how the snows looking have a we practice for the the drone fliers and making sure that we can see everything the judges are ready we're ready a bit you're ready I'm pretty psyched beyond ready oh yes it's the whole season beginning a winter begins here in Japan and it couldn't start off any better amazing snow weather is accordingly like you know when it snows a lot there's a lot of bad weather involved so we are super happy to have this kind of visibility on the first day of the event window that's right big props to the riders but inspecting during the last couple of days it's been a little bit cloudy coming in and out so writer said spend a lot of time looking at the face from a lot of different angles to make sure they've got their lines right and making the most of the sunny day other venues sometimes we have a sunny day for inspection to make sure they've got the align right and then a sunny day for the competition but in this case it was kind of foggy days for expection make sure we get the one sunny day that we have in the start of the way the window for the competition primetime Saturday thanks for tuning in I think that it's in the middle of the night in some places and afternoon so appreciate having you here and we've got a full runner coming up for you soon yeah you just saw the first images from the start it's pretty packed up there the riders are really eager to see the 4runner just to check out the snow you have to imagine the the riders have been waking up super early to hike all the way to the pad to the to the start from the very bottom you can see the last rider making its way up and the forerunner number one is on its way let's have a look what the snow conditions are like looks pretty good to me so far Roper will calm snow there sometimes if it's too deep and too light then you give a lot of Slough going a little bit of mini avalanches even and this looks good this is a the kind of consistency and deepness that people can ski faster and land big cliffs and just enjoys reading light it's for runners doing right now looking textbook I must say we had a lot of wind the past couple of days even last night when we in the hotel in the valley it was banging the the windows against each other some had a hard night sleeping well but wind stopped just perfect timing this morning and you can see quality of snow it gets even better further down below that's right it's full run loving it here I'm not sure which one it is it might be one of the guides the guys who up super early I think 3 a.m. to 2 it to the top of the face long before the resort open to make sure the face is secure see if any wind slab had developed to create avalanche danger it seems that if any hairs I've released those pockets too risky cutting so big thanks to the guides for setting it up this for runners enjoying it and making the most of it right now one of the foreigners is the wife I believe will partner of Simon Farfrae one of the judges so if that's her then that's Giggy and hello Giggy good to see you enjoying the snow but I don't think it is another snowboard legend called Giggy yeah so you can see here that it's quite bushy at the bottom so this is beyond the end of the judging line so just so you guys know that the venue obviously runs from the top with the riders are starting to the bottom where the riders are finishing but at this point where they're pushing through the bushes is not gonna be found counted it's not part of the judged criteria not part of the judge run we're showing you where the riders have to go to get from that judging finish line to the corral finish line the finish area where the the fans will be the stand will be the wall will they stand in front of waiting for this scores will be so they're making the way over at the moment to that area but just to clarify this is not part of the judged run still it's pretty fun now oh yeah worth getting up at three o'clock in the morning for such a run yeah thanks again to the guides for doing that it's not the first day that I've done it either I think they've been doing it at least two days maybe three or more in a row now so huge props to those guys for securing this venue so we can have the show today because I'm pretty excited about it and you have to know that this run is accessible from the resort it was just not possible this morning for the riders to take the gondola because of too much wind still in the morning when we woke up so we had to take the position to let the all the riders hike up so we are on time for you to present the first stop of the tour that's right Big Ups to the riders we're getting up earlier as well and the hotel that we're staying at putting breakfast cos they've been working a lot to look after all of us so so what are we gonna do now we are gonna check out what they're looking for we can pretty soon and what a contest for a contest of a free sport like free riding is all about it's what we're gonna see next what is competitive free riding well after years of having fun people began to wonder who the best and so it began [Applause] the food skiers held a competition in Alaska next with Switzerland would be extreme Verbier gradually these contests spread across the world and join together does this single tour and so we went global the big show but in the end it comes down to one rider atop a mountain and while safety equipment is abundant the rules remain remarkably simple there's a start on a peak and a finish at the bottom there are no gates no peace no calm and there's no practice run riders rely on a visual inspection and their imagination to create a life [Music] runners are judged using five subjective criteria which means any approach or style has the potential to win Reuters the pressure is immense and the margin between success and failure now over the years competition has driven the sport to new heights and now the only certainty is progression this is competitive free riding this is computed free riding this is the freeride world tour ten years last year 11th year this year pretty excited to be kicking it off here with the beautiful day and last year we tried to have a competition here as well got a little bit shut down by the weather too much snow as we were saying before year before that we had a four star competition here and last year when we couldn't manage to run it here and how about we restaged the competition and kicking horse in Canada so we saw some amazing action there the the riders minute presenting Japan and the Japan that they're just been enjoying the week before it was pretty cool to see we're gonna look at those top five moments here we have the top five actions of that day in kicking horse kicking off with Rachel Croft sending it fast through that chute probably the fastest not only girl but all competitors compared down the mountain barely holding on at one point but why - oh she put on mind-blowing stuff Yan Rossi is coming at number four for our top five favorite moments over the last year and Haku restaged in kicking horse singing there it's huge clip in to the sniper landing landing exactly between the cliffs and rocks so that's exactly what the right of the riders are doing when they're scoping the Alliance making sure the take-off is they're landing for that backflip everything is going on there and the riders - so focused in that minute of laying down the prepared for a day a great venue for the rookies here we see Griffin Muller sending it with a beautiful 360 into that chute already tracked out but that's what the judges want to see committed riding and perfect stomps that's right looking pehota the local of Canada taking down the stop last year with a win and a podium the - stop station King horse this being the Hakuba one where Logan's seen this huge line also into a sniper landing what's a sniper land exact competition look how it looked from him blow it mind-blowing stuff there Marcus ADA on the first book on this action list of course with a creative line at the top and finishing things off with a beautiful 360 stand grab stumped so smooth what a start of the season for him let's see what he can show us today I'm looking forward especially to his run because I think it fits perfectly his riding style yeah that's right he's been here for a couple of weeks I think filming in Japan already with Fabio studio yeah one of the other the world to a writer's running around little german-speaking crew although Marcus you know is representing Italy here's a German speaking Italian so we've got another foreigner coming to show you what the course is like on the other side this looks pretty good on the lookers lifts riders right we can see the riders hiking up at the moment and hopefully this forerunner is gonna go a little bit further riders lift lookers right to show us how the snow is we've got a snowboarder this time you think is geeky yep should be Geraldine wife of one of the local judges see mo she has been competing in the past just as well as similar on the qualifiers but the two made their dream come true they fell in love with Japan and a couple of years ago they yeah made the dream come true and bought a place a spot here and if you want to know more about it go onto the interweb and check out the Kodama Lodge it's a beautiful place ski in ski out just outside here of Hakuba and she knows a thing or two about riding Japanese powder that's right they are based in Cortina here in the Huckabee Valley there's multiple resorts and they're all pretty fun so I recommend checking out all of them are we sure this is Giggy I think we have three four runners today so quite a aggressively wide stance it might be a guy exactly her style but we don't know the names exactly who's dropping in of the foreigners but we know that Giggy is part of the three four runners and we just got the confirmation it is yellow Dean yeah super solid an aggressive really ripping that snow showing I said it looks good on the look is right side as well so this is really promising for the whole venue to be covered in a not incredibly deep but just enough layer of fine powder which is nice to land on if you have really deep snow when you learn in someone else's bomb hole I know what you want and also happy to see that it's not as wind the fact that I was afraid it to be and this is probably a site we're gonna see a little more because it's just that flat at the very bottom and as a Neil already mentioned correctly that the finishing not finishing but the judging lounging judges finishing line is just above so they can take off their snowboard which is unusual for your contest to make their way through the bushy section into the finishing Corral that's right so here is the venue the big triangle you've looked at this one before haven't you lost yet yeah it was impressive looking from the image it's it may fool you because it's four hundred and forty meters of vert and it has a ton of options it doesn't look as long from here from this perspective but we had the chance to inspect it on site when it was just hard packed last year before a big storm coming in and all the riders were very surprised including me how many features and how long this menu is and yeah if we have the long lens later on you can see the little dots of people hiking up you can see them that the reference facing north as I said it's accessible from the ski area from the ski resort and there is left and right there is just terrain like that yeah and don't yeah it's 46 degrees that's pretty steep like 440 meters 46 degrees it's pretty sustained I think that if you can keep your speed up and flow between features you know connect some creative maybe trick hits if you will then I think it'd be really really interesting to watch because this so many talents writers here with quite a lot of different styles and I'm really excited to see what people do to make the most of this mean you know the speeches are bigger than I thought they were that cliff at the top with the the starting is the the triangle cliff up the top there I thought that was like potential her double feature and seeing riders standing next to it today it's ginormous so I think a lot of the features there I thought were like poppy playful well you'll probably track there it might be actually massive since well we're getting pretty excited we hit we have one more full runner coming up got a third full runner I guess they'll go probably in the middle of the face I'm not sure if you could see from the forerunners that have written already in the picture of the face it's quite separated into separate gullies separate funnels so each rider will not be constrained to each of those but have to make a very conscious choice to move between them if they want to exit other features it's a little bit of a traverse and to keep your speed up might be a bit of a challenge so hopefully we see this third foreigner only going down the middle to kind of highlight the fact that it's different couloirs almost fluted spines if you will yeah and if you are an experienced farewell tour viewer and maybe writer yourself you might think there are not many features to hit in there it all seems to be just a nice POW but I can tell you that we're gonna see a lot of airtime today because those spines they can see down running all the way down are perfect transition spots not sure yet which parts are the best to hit that's the what we're gonna find out soon but be sure we're gonna see a ton of action and airtime today yeah that's right I'm really excited for seeing creative writers to find out what the sports I've been scoping the last couple days been a little bit hard to scope as are saying was the binoculars from the other side of the valley and variable light so we've got another 4runner coming and now but just to finish I was saying we're excited for people like drew Tab key the transfer and ADA as I call them to find out where he can hear from into third 4runner on course another snowboarder and the riders watching them from the boot pack big up so the riders for hiking from the bottom of the valley for this one as we're saying it's steep and it's quite long so good warm-up for the riders coming into the top of the venue today watching the foreigner and g1 slashing down the power similar area to where the first round of it looks a little bit wind effect adhere McFly you're right so it's a one of the ridges on the top you can see the old tracks in there it's a good indicator for the for the riders standing on top I hope they have some eyes on it that they can actually see the 4runner going down it gives them a good good hint because they haven't been riding at all in this kind of terrain the last couple of days when we had the big storm moving through and as we know it's all about visual inspection one chance only pursed up for each writer you have to nail it yeah a lot of time goes into this visual inspection you know they're looking from as many angles as they can for as long as they can taking photos ooming in looking on a computer later talking to others about it there's a lot goes into the preparation for these runs there's a I'm sure you can imagine this for enjoying a similar line to the first floor owner I believe but a little bit more in the center of the face you can see the into one of the the cool wires now it'll be a little bit more difficult to get left or right into other features but starting to come towards the bottom now judging line about their past at about 1020 meters ago and now into the trees where the riders will be not penalized at all for slowing down making sure they don't tree don't get caught up on the snow in there just enjoy coming down to the finishing line which might take a couple of minutes yep and these were some Cruiser lines the judges will have a hard time to defer and to rank the others because we're gonna have some a ton of action represented by this all the categories and how this all comes together to a score we're going to show you now this is the judging criteria what the judges want to see or don't want to see five different categories coming up for you so we have an experienced judges panel all former riders and they are judging on five main categories first one up is line here the judges are considering the difficulty and creativity of the line it's always a good sign if you see no other tracks original line and well thought through one is a good that's right fluidity is another important category it doesn't mean that you have to be super fast everywhere but fast compared to the terrain you're riding taking enough key to stay safe it's ending as well control a big one this is not only about the crashes but the judges also consider if the rider is in control all the time don't give the judges Aaron style is one of the most impressive ones it's kind of the favorite I suppose the tricks the amplitude of this huge bag put them through tab key and aura last year this is the kind of thing that audiences generally want to see and of course is well reward in the judging as well but if you're just doing this without having done well on other categories as well you can't get a good overall score and that's what it's all about of course these are the categories but it's about an overall score once go only and it's all about rankings here don't start comparing the scores individual scores to other events it's all about ranking in one individual event that's right other events other categories not relevant for today it's a relevant score compared to the other riders and your category on this day and 90 and this this run at this resort today might not be in ninety at a different resort on another day the judges just want to give themselves enough room to fit other riders in to make sure everyone has the the right ranking at the end of the day and who are those judges that we are going to be judged by today it's a five impressive judges with a very impressive pedigree a bio if you will of history mainly riding on the wheel - riding on the qualifiers having judged 14 or 15 years the Olympics all sorts of impressive achievements by the judges as well as riders who's your who's your favorite judge if I can ask that McFly favorite judge I would say Lola he's probably the most experienced judge on the panel and yeah especially his riding style his his attitude towards the mountain is very appreciated by the riders he's also a technical supervisor by now and so he's very knowledgeable in his field so a little bit a judge of this know what category I believe kid be but most probably okay be deal well let's see yeah do you own another favorite 15 years judging judge the Olympics now the only name in the judging world Gordo as well you seem to know a little bit about of his history he was saying that he's a he's a well experienced longtime sponsored pine japanese writer as well got home on the panel today we've got some experienced writers but i can just hear that i think we're gonna get things going soon so we're gonna show you a little bit about who to look out for in the snowboard category snowboard man comin at you big names big names today got a some superstars that have lain down competition runs in japan before Sammy look key to finding will to a champion very stylish writer tricks in most of his runs and grab suspense as well is really really good one to watch the theme of this season can someone kick off semi-live kiev is thrown three times will to winner Giggy roof definitely is one of them well known for his creative writing last 20 years spec to Delarue as well frozen mind the movie dropping last year really amazing thing to watch it was award-winning at film festivals and yes after these three big names we've got another huge one for you Travis right I guess everyone who is familiar with snowboarding no explanation needed he showed up two years ago on the freeride world qualifier in straight won it with a 720 will we see that kind of action again that's the big question today I hope so I hope so so star-studded names and the main snow but category the first one coming up for you today we've got the whole stylist American heavy and North American heavy snow board Ben stylist coming up for you there's so many code names in here Blakeley I'm staying on from last year geek guru if he's a legend and the video world Ludo giardia re-qualify Jonathan paid for Chris Kelvin also former competitors coming back mix Dylan row first time on the tour this year but a long history Davie Baer Travis trice and Sammy look key the Americans holding it down and last but not least Qaeda Yamazaki the super local well fight from the three sir from the three-star and unfortunately Thomas Firestein cannot be here I'm pretty sure he's watching at home he had a big flu fever put him into bed had to cancel his flight unfortunately not kicking off the season here in Japan with us that's a pity is one of a few injured riders it will tell you more about later but a best wishes Thomas all the best for your recovery look forward to seeing you in Canada you can make it there get well soon you're missing the great power what an opening start like I'm so hyped because whoo there is so much that is neat to be working for a nexus s for your world to event we are in the middle of nowhere all the elements kind of are against us usually with wind weather snow but it that's what we need we need the snow and for this security safety is a big big priority on the third world tour a lot of things go into that I think we're gonna see a little clip about it is that correct we've had a snowboard and ski safety workshop in the last couple days as well reminding all the riders about the importance of safety and you can never practice too much so that's good to see them practicing and giving a little bit of a public and local heads up on the the knowledge from the local guides things you need to watch out for here especially on the faces around this one we're competing on today I think its head some avalanche danger and last couple days and some some ski cutting to make sure that the wind slabs are released daily safety video by then do we have one anyway we had a great great safety workshop again all the riders take down here at the Brad world to a stop and Hakuba you can never be too safe you can never practice too much so the riders out there doing that today tomorrow morning we have the competition it's really important to have all of your rescue skills dialed and like the freeride world tour does is right at the beginning of season just get it in your heads and hopefully you make better decisions because you remember that there is a big consequence with knowledge and especially practice comes freedom and the ability to go out and feel confident but if the worst-case scenario would have happened you know what to do so Big Ups to the riders for attending the safety workshop as Travis was saying that a knowledge is one thing but practices is another and practice is something that we recommend that you all do as much as you can especially the start of the season when you haven't been on snow for a little while you know you've been riding for the first few days or few weeks of the season and your legs are tired you want to ride all day but you can't do some transceiver searching you know with your friends at the end of those days to get the the vibe at get the the knowledge back and make sure you're used to maybe new equipment or how your friends work you know working as a group is important for safety it's not just about one person knowing the right thing absolutely and please check when you ride with other friends if they know their equipment to not only having the equipment you have to know how to use it and knowledge is a big thing knowing where to ride as well and that's what the riders did when they had to inspect the face and big ups today from Evergreen guides the American with the dreadlocks the start of the video him and his team have really helped us out and sorted out this competition couldn't happen without you and those guys so thank you very much Dave arigato arigato gozaimasu it's good to see the riders enjoying the inspection day can be a little bit a little bit tense sometimes it can be a day where they don't really want to share their secrets you know a lot of work picking the Alliance and so were you gonna go uh on the right skiers rider look is right yeah yeah yeah on the right yeah nice to see the scenes where you have those little packs of friends they they really share the insights with each other then in general they're very helpful to each other so if you have a question as a rookie you can go up to the big names and they definitely gonna help you out but it's always good to see like the the little posses around they really kind of make their plan together usually that's right who is your who is your best buddy to to pick lines because you have to know that Neil has been competing a ton in the past and actually sometimes still you get into a fire yeah every now and again oh yeah I have a go at one just got only Regnier walking past the commentary booth and we saw his brother Cal rig NER in the video just now scoping lines with a man of borrow big shout-out to the Swedish crew that one of the posses it here scoping together Scandinavian crew I should say always well represented new addition from the for the Scandinavian Posse is ahead week and we're gonna come back to her later on but my favorite person scope was yeah the New Zealand curry of course and represent we had a Sam smoothie Charlie Lyons and myself on the world tour back in the day and these days we also have a couple unfortunately a couple out with injury but still Craig Murray representing for New Zealand and Maria Kuzma so it's funny how people kind of stick to the the countries or their language groups for for scoping lines because then I guess it's a little bit more secret from other countries maybe it's good to speak multiple languages so you can dial into the secrets of the other guys but I suppose it's kind of a natural representation to you know you wanna you want your country mates to do as well as well as your friends it's really friendly vibe and people are really helpful and good to each other but a you know the face shake day is the one time I think when it's a little bit more kind of reserved that's the opposite of afterparty I suppose after the event yeah nervous excitement yeah and Sun is moving more and more into the face damn it it's gonna be such a show imagine the writers up there their feelings first event of the season did all the training all the preparation mental preparation payoff lots of nervous start going on up there right now yeah and not just by ways yeah that's right des needs Peter minutes ago to go right now you're about to start all the time you always packed with this crash pant and sometimes with a harness even and then you're like five minutes before the start tension is rising like pee damnit I feel for the girls even more so of enemy yo like pants you know the thing to have a love their pants and and girls do too of course why wouldn't you you know you're snowboarder girls with your your airbags on well fastened your jacket done up over your bear pants and suddenly you go to pee just before the the start or I can imagine it's a stressful time so big ups the to the guys and girls are making it happen ready ready that's the theme of now and to get you even more ready for for this show to come we're gonna show you the highlights from last season you have [Music] [Music] yeah he's a very solid writer we're gonna see that in a minute and Blake ham is getting ready in the start gate he is bid number one followed by his new friend Giggy roof yeah but getting a chair at the big draw of pulling bib number one everyone's excited for someone else to do that little rider fall run you've seen the the guides and the friends and the the locals doing four runs before that but the first rider that you see on course kind of changes the game a little bit you know some 100% going for it someone that spent two or three days scoping where they're gonna we're going to ski or snowboard they've looked at photos that have done all the mental preparation that and the zone and the start gate and when you release them they just send it we just got the info that unfortunately we have not been live with you in your home office or in bed probably in Europe it said one o'clock in the morning a good morning to everyone there but unfortunately we had a little cut from the satellite transmission so we're back on live now we should be back with action very very soon that's right we got our first writer coming up in one minute and 30 seconds so you have not missed any writers although the live stream may have been down for a minute or two then the most important thing is still to come it's Blake ham the first writer on course coming up in about a minute and that's a drone shot Big Ups to the drone crew for giving us it up there has been so much work going into that last few days early hiking in the dark said like carrying skidoo riding there's I can't tell you how much work goes into the behind the scenes of the world tour there's at least one staff member for every writer that you're gonna see today and the drone crew have put a lot of work in to get high-quality images to you from the ear via a satellite it's a amazing stuff and hopefully they can capture some images of Blake ham and the rest of the riders coming down this big triangle venue we have you have for you and Hakuba here today dropping in 30 seconds I'm excited man it's so amazing to see some Sun on this venue so well-deserved after a long struggle last year we were spending not that it's a struggle to ride pal but definitely we had the to event tries like we had already everything was on go to make it happen and then wind and weather it just didn't go play accordingly and now it's on in textbook conditions it's just about to happen we've got Blake ham from the USA or dropping in and 10 seconds pretty excited to see the first rider on this course I'm sure that other riders are as well I think you can see quite a lot of the the venue from the top yeah it doesn't roll over too much there is a rollover to the Lucas right side where it gets really really steep I'm wondering who's gonna send it into that really sketchy and technical area Blake Ham opening things up he's the guinea pig of the event and the season like him on course but he got for us buddy beautiful drone shot here moving across showing the Japanese Alps and the background and play camp for helping some nice know just to get off the Ridgid it seems to get a little bit better a little bit less wind effect I assume yeah as we mentioned before we had a great snow event just before this contest window but unfortunately coming with a lot of wind running up his first feature with a huge backflip over rotating a little bit riding out loud yeah hard to tell what damage did it do and backing it up with a 360 first two hits of how goober first two tricks this is amazing stuff play cam keep it up you're ripping hard oh he has to get yourself together again because pretty sure he he's sight from that huge backflip not sure he wanted to send it that hard because he nearly rotate it or maybe he did it was hard to tell from the dust from the powder powder caught him through a throw up a particle out and rode away quickly so whatever happened it did well to make it look smooth and stylee so a backflip and a three from Blake ham in the first round of the day coming down past the judging finish line now so I believe that his score will be calculated from everything heaven above this not this part thanks to the four runners for putting on this track for him to make his way quickly to the finish line by the time he arrives at the finish line and the finish Corral I believe that we will have a score for him already and it might even be announced but hands up from Blake cam and to play cam first round of the day super-sick if that's a sign of things to come I'm pretty excited oh yeah I think that is a little sign of what we can expect you can see it's completely being blown off by the wind other the takeoffs on those ridges and he's sending it deep so it controlled down on the judging criteria I believe they're gonna call that a crash for their backflip that could be over rotated even put it in a 360 upset with a nice grab has control and technique have been put low I'm not sure if the technique is related to the the landing of their ear or maybe who's riding at the bottom looked a little bit more hesitant down the bottom maybe a little bit more difficult to find his way than he expected or he was expecting to see another feature that looked different from the top than it did from the bottom so score coming in for Blake ham opening things up in a really amazing way super fun to watch fifty four point six seven so over average that obviously rewarding him for those tricks and ears although probably taking off a few points for the landing of that backflip I assume is why his score is not higher sitting first for now after one rider Blake ham opening things up in a pretty impressive way Big Ups to you Thank You Blake ham for that performance looking forward to seeing more rides for from you this year great start but we know the rider up to come from Austria he's gonna set the bar for everyone after he has been riding Japanese palate for years and he has been proving it in video parts year after year the most creative rider and Paulie role models for writers here on the competition so far left opposition yes Kiki lining up his first top feature stomping it clean not quite as big as Blake and not with the trick but putting that landing down four-point square so I think you probably get at least as many points for that ear as Blake Ham did for that backflip because his landing was so clean ascending and now the huge one and riding straight into another feature 60 everything clean so far so Sally wow this is an amazing run from giegi raffia so if our four hurts one trick everything stomped on lining up something else as well coming down to the look is right at the bottom slashing that power Wow you have to know he has been in the snowboard game for so many years but still he gets the goose bumps he gets the butterflies in his stomach before dropping into a freeride world tour competition he really wants to represent well he wanted to do a grab in there yeah usually does unusual flail from giegi but stomping both those first two hurts Erin style high so this would be a good score I think putting four features together stomping all the landings putting in that 360 the only thing I'd say he probably would be disappointed work there's a lack of grabs yeah known for good grab so maybe a little bit of snow that he wasn't expecting you know I've takeoffs of popping you differently you can't grab but roof 87.6 even would have been the 19th grabs right imagine if he would have put kind of versatile he's known for into his run he would have gone through the roof with his score that was super sick 87.6 a foggy roof and like you see it sitting the bar got the next rider coming up soon ludovic gear dear re qualifying after being on the freeride world tour from 2012 to 2015 not wreak wala fiying that year so 16 and 17 and 18 back on the qualifies three years back on the freeride world qualifier and now he has wreak walla fide the the rear uh key the super rookie the ultra rookie Ludo Keo tear dropping in on course in a matter of seconds and Ludo heading out to the look his lift riders right more straight into the Sun where we had the forced first forerunner right in just hitting past the guides there some of the safety and medical team and lining up the first hit with the backflip as well and stomping it I get a little bit of reflecting in our on our screen you probably was a stomp flip in any case which is a pretty amazing thing to start your reeker ear with back on the wheel to it look at the quality of this no another flip here another flip straight back to his feet but unfortunately not the kind of judges like so he goes for another one three flips so far in one run two intentional and storms one unintentional storms but going down again unfortunately from Ludo being back on experienced tour and food will qualify a rider really yeah you're right it was a front flip at the top and stomps it to not very often you see a front flip from a snowboarder not apart nor for a skier in free riding this is a harder trick actually way harder than the backless definitely this comment but yeah it's getting a little bit hung up in that landing there it might be a little bit more punchy snow one defeat kill something so a front punch and then I'm not even sure if that was a backflip that one it's more of a what do you put a Lincoln louver barrel roll on a snowboard that was cold I like that different trickster please excuse us know what is out there we are both skiers we try our best you know the names maybe better than we do but control down for Ludo unfortunately yeah going down twice in that run looking really solid apart from that like promising writing motivate it mmm all three of the first writers have thrown tricks here today Ludo not the only one but throwing multiple tricks 32.3 three points for hunts day due to two crashes getting hung up with the front punch and body shaking a probably unexpected side hit landing my side Hill landing so unfortunate for Leo and his first run back but I think it's also a good sign the momentum is set we see that if you don't have a trick in your line it's gonna be really tough to make the top podium today especially with some heavy hitters still to come just like Travis Rice still up in the podium but before that we have Jonathan Penfield also known for some tricks he has a few in the bag follow him on instagram he does them anywhere everywhere Jonathan Pinfield dropping on lookers lifts riders right of the course just riding past some guys hitting down with a rescue bend for injured riders so hopefully he won't say that again hopefully we won't see that again at all today or anyone but Jonathan lining up the same first as Blake I believe taking it off the side of the grab stomping and clean yeah Jonathan more of a pure free ride big mountain rider I believe like you said got tricks in his bag there you go there's one of them 360 little bit of a washout on the landing but still really smooth putting in a grab off that one so it's definitely a stylee rider as well as a backcountry big mountain shredded charger he surprised us right from the get-go when he came on tour I remember his run in Germany where he started on a knife cliff with I think it was even a seven he wanted to do a five but had to then go all the way to the seven okay maybe he's a style rider as well another 360 in there as well just a little bit earlier in the line and popping around off these fun.we terrain nuggets at the bottom I think it's gonna be a solid run from Jonathan good way to start the season definitely solid run wants to have a score in the bag it seems like but definitely not as pushing as we've seen previous of course pushing to get a good score also means higher risk of a crash right so frontside 360 there even though we didn't see any crash you can see fluidity and Aaron style all about in the red category this gives you a little indicator of what the judges are scoring on doesn't reflect hundred-percent the score but it gives you a little indicator and here we have sixty five point three three four jonathan Penfield so the reason I think that that is above Blake and below giegi is because he didn't have any control issues like plated although Blake went bigger on that first set you know what the trick is well Jonathan stomped it clean however giegi was really charging he was going really fast and and really smooth as well so Jonathan a little bit slower but you know I still could give a good result here today potential podium next up in the start his fellow American Christopher Galvan he's no stranger to the freeride world tour he dropped off for what for one season and rejoined the Wolfpack he is back Christopher Kelvin that's right Christopher Kelvin on course and ten seconds he came to New Zealand to do some qualifies as well I watched him in a four star down in New Zealand in New Zealand force that was a really high level they have a little local singing club so they know and and the sky crest of Kelvin turned up and sent the same clothes without having hit them before like most the locals have I thinking I took a second in the four star there and that was one of the results that put him back on the world tour it's great having back really good friend and riding buddy over the three time world champ Simon Lipke hanging out together probably sharing some secrets of line choice very smooth very stylish rider it's out of the Tahoe region that's right representing with multiple riders on the on the tour this year and many years so going a little bit further look is right riders left on the course it was in geeky roughs tracks or following geeky roughs tracks before but now going out to a different zone that steeper zone that rolls over a bit more as you were saying before yeah hold on it's a little mellow at the top but just a second and it gonna it's gonna roll into very Knollys own as long as he keeps on the skills left side of the venue haven't seen any drop so far not the best decision on a scoring point of view definitely found some beautiful turns to lay down first year into the steep section but unfortunately coming on stuck off the second year that second just said unfortunate really wanted to pump up a score in that steep section but didn't play off as he planned yeah I can remind me a little bit of giegi coming off those those lips and not being out to grab I think he might be a little bit of an expected snow layer in the take-off so which could explain the reason the way the riders been looking a little bit wild in the ear sometimes you know these are really really good super talented riders and when they get an unexpected take off like that it's a it's not for no reason there's something going on in there so hopefully those takeoffs get a little bit more predictable as other riders have skied them before us no button before and they're people coming Nate's can see how they are but and I keep Christopher Kelvin today not being able to stick all those hurts and that control bar will be down in the judging criteria result in the lowest score I think we have the criterias obviously if you are not new to the third world tour you know what the score is gonna be like pretty low because of the crash it didn't have the chance to I didn't manage to to bump up a score high enough to still get away with with a average score which it would happen if you have an amazing run and have an issue like boy cam just like him you're right but something interesting I thought for that the judge might air was a line choice was reasonably high the line choice was rewarded for going out to look his right and maybe a little bit hard to see on your screen at home but that the part of the venue the Christopher Kelvin just went out when the look is right is really steep so all the control control was down for that little crash it was a good line so 29.6 even coming into fifth unfortunately last at the moment with the crash and we still got Kiki were sitting in the hot seat for now we got next big anticipation for the next rider his at first ever will to run Viktor delivery not only brother of three-time world champion savvy that early pretty sure he's gonna watch at home middle of the night in Europe here he comes Viktor delivery victory with the movie frozen mine last year starting off with the big year straight out of the start gate what happened there a lot of dust in the in the air maybe a little bit of control issue unfortunately for Viktor similar Blake am throwing up a powder cloud that a head exactly what happened it might have been good it might have been bad so backing it up with a nice 360 as well you could see the landing was a little harder than he expected as we mentioned there was a lot of wind on the face continuing with a beautiful 360 yeah a nice backside 360 from Victor got the drone following it down here is the drone shot of a drone shot just like you're Travis rise movie you have to know they're all natural hits nothing shaped nothing prepared all visual inspection only one chance only to ride this face for all the riders and Victor putting the landing gear down on that one really stomping that hard I think it was a little bit flatter or maybe harder than he expected but yeah really put in feature still enjoying that Japanese POW water talented rider check out his latest movie you gonna be blown away not only about his freestyle segment or skills he has the full package big mountain ice axe is out and then another trick another double cork it's insane the combination of skills he has that's right so this big year off the top can we see what happens in the landing gear looks like you might have had a bit of a control issue the judge only judge what they see so they might not be able to take him down on the control but they do has a control issue here as well so those two things combined might be the reason for that technique also down similar to play cam overall on the judging criteria they're having a shredding run with big ears and tricks better coming a little bit unstuck on some of the landings not full tumbles oh yeah it's a even though the snow is amazing to ride you can see it is variable especially on the takeoffs and it's surprising you you have as we said one chance only and that's why it's reflecting in thirty five point six seven that's right maybe the judges could see a little bit more of the landing of that verse here than we could on the screen with the binoculars and and replays that they have so I'm sure that I've made the right decision there unfortunately for Victor the rookie from last season impressed me with his solid and consistent riding no not rookie from last two years ago sorry I was mistaken that's a happy camper I love his attitude Davey beard from USA that's right from Alaska he'd known down here to Japan just popping over the ditch running fast enjoying some first big slash turns side hits nice method from Davey beard really tweaking it out and then a mute I believe on the next hit so no tricks you but really start grabs so you know when you see use people like get gear off not grabbing and David beard comes along and grabs it's pretty impressive stuff you know as maybe the takeoffs have been a bit more smooth out by other riders performed but I'm not sure if anyone had hit those two hits so definitely no one's hit that one nice backside 360 tail grab and just looking super smooth down here is just cruising always a good sign if you don't have any tracks in front of you means originality you found that Sun spot right in the middle of the face another mute grab gets his board super sideways on his grabs really tweaks them out now getting into the way steeper part at the bottom look his right size his left side yes enjoying that pal that your power that it's famous for as you can see it changed a little bit top to the bottom sorry I was mistaken he's more in the in the central part of the venue he missed out on the very steep part he's already in the bushy section the trees where the judges stop judging David yeah into the open field keeping a speed up and join the slash turns yeah the biggest chunk of his score will definitely come from the top part super nice my food loving his casual style and especially this hit here in perfect pow just flowed in that back three with the tail grab really nice see how dope the kind of stuff from the other side of the belly in flashlight so well done from David beard got the score coming in seventy three point three three sitting in second place just behind geeky roof right now alright we are pretty far down already our snowboard stacked or legends stacked snowboard list and do you roof soon no see for now yes he knows that he it is a hot seat especially when you have Travis Rice coming after you post our winner two years ago no event last year so previous Japan big comp winner with the big three in a big seven a little bit of Internet tomfoolery for how excited it was about his run but if me want to ration the passion I'm not about to start now and neither is Travis just if you are the one or two people in the world that don't know his name just go and look it up the fourth face or the art of flight and that's what are we gonna see what is he like with a seven yeah and another grab already ripping down the space halfway down it has been no time at the seven already took so much speed into their head are we surprised no just excited cruising into the lowest section already knowing that he has a big part of his solid score done now he's not backing off at all here we got the speech deep section where other people had some problems with staking a claim still having a little bit of issue going for the back run oh my god it was amazing he ticked all the boxes to not only excite us but definitely the judges and this score it will be going through the real speed style amplitude a seven and a back flip got into that steeper section on the look is right as well and like there wasn't easy section as well you see who's fighting that but he for anyone Christopher Kelvin going down in sinless diction with the slightly unpredictable takeoffs it seen but Travis putting it straight to his be near the highlight definitely of his run the seven natural hit as we mentioned gonna see a lot of transfers but he is besides do tab key of the ski side the master of transitions all those flyers Grainne I think it's gonna be a huge school I would not be surprised if this event we're putting in grabs well as Craig's score coming up for ya and here we're little issue was actually nothing at all you're gonna see a Travis trice geekier podium yes we are 95 points very deserved judges pushed the score to 95 of course contently still another 5 points to the maximum of 100 available that's right we got three hard head and riders yet to come not only to Thomas points 9 is not starting so out of Travis and Travis is a guarantee podium now even if Sammy and kite of both top his score and somehow push giegi off the podium it has been a hard-hitting snowboard field so far and we've got the defending World Champ de kum Sami lucky on course not a surprise that he's three-time World Tour champion and if there is someone who could challenge the 95 top score from Travis fries just previously seen it is him going big over that lip huge that's so blind as well Sammy coming into another hit also transferring lifts right hits across these ridges in the middle of Covino is such a good way to go great to see these talented athletes making the most of it and Sammy spending a three off that one making the most of the venue just look so so linear what was happening here should've stayed in here hey yeah yeah what happened Sammy this never happens to you puts in another 360 though god he must be bummed all the perfect snow and the terrain he loves to ride and then on a just casual frontside turn his nose digs in no obvious reason why must cookie or a bearable snow as you said maybe already focusing on the next on the next feature this is a cool one though tripling down through the tree oh and got second bit of a uphill landing there yeah Sammy super-creative run I think it must be some variable snow on those ridges because Sammy loop key does not go down easily throws his hands up their knowledge is it wasn't his day but don't worry mate you'll be back he knows some damage and big damage has already been done by doing the cartwheel at the mint in the mid section of the venue here opening up his run with this transfer frontside three do we have a replay going down no this looks so solid in the air I totally jinxed it by saying [Music] frontside 3 backside 3 triple I mean it was a pretty sweet line but how it can go from I'm doing a top top line it can throw you off in a second well that's the things the first competition of the season and if you want to win like Travis trice might do today here we are sitting in the hot seat then you need to put it on the line you need to be throwing tricks and going fast and jumping big and if you don't do that then you know you might not get a good result of this competition and then maybe you can when the tour over offers you need to be getting all the code results and gauges leaving is no void and the hot seat shot Travis pointing it out giving each other a hug the pros he doesn't mind he's dogs just had a good day riding powder in the Sun in Japan you know what it might be a little bit of a revenge time because a Giggy he was a stealing away the wind at his own event at the supernatural and ultra natural I didn't know that but they're very good friends great riding buddies a lot of respect between each other that's right it's great to see the camaraderie and the respect between the riders all of these advances a lot of encouragement people cheering for each other as they start helping each other scope their lines getting stoked for each other consoling each other you know these guys really look out for each other a family here on the Fred will tour it's really good to see one more last rider to come for the Snowbird category to wrap things up for our first category and what a bunch of action we've seen thrown down especially from this man out of Jackson Hole Travis Rice amazing run from him just as amazing as around two years ago when he won the forester so score for semi low key thirty five point six seven six place at the moment is quite tight down there and it might actually matter points at the end of the day but someone joining the freeride work to a family now kata Yamazaki winning the three star here last week wild card onto the stop of the freeride world tour here in Japan he is from Hakuba he's the super local and he is on course great drone shots showing with Japanese helps of its whole mountain in the background going look as rat riders lift so far towards Samara that geek erupted as we mentioned in the pre-show this is only a little glimpse of what the Japanese Alps in the backdrop have to offer there are tons of riches just like we have the competition venue on this guy as a local I wonder if he's written this menu before he's hitting out further and further to the look is right riders left with a steeper part of the venue as as you were saying before a couple people found a little bit tough in there it's a it seems to be a bit more exposed to the wind and may have created a little bit more variable snow Christopher Delvin going down and Travis trice fighting his way through so let's see how it goes for Keita today definitely following the good snow good quality powder but of course if you want to pump up your score should get into the air or doing something really creative he gets the powder skin better what a hunter award for now it seems like it seems like a beautiful wave top to bottom throwing his hands out there I think he might have not found what he's looking for Slash's yeah it seems a little bit his point to go I mean like really nice powder slashes seems like he was hitting out the purpose to the locals writing the venue I imagine he was probably hitting to that sleepers only better not getting off the ground not putting any tricks or grabs and so I think he's disappointed he hasn't found his features that he was looking forward wrote some really nice no and he'll don't compare you can actually see on the very right side of the venue you can see his run you can see his line and as it is a piece of art or is is is an art form snowboarding and skiing in the backcountry and a master of art of this art is sitting in the hot seat and he will be staying there and being on the top of the podium in the price of the prize giving ceremony tonight because it was the last rider we've seen for today in the snowboard man category that's right we haven't got the scores in for Katie yet but the judging lines were in the red indicating he will not be overtaking Travis Rice or probably anyone else on podium so Travis Rice taking on the one at the first ever world to a stop in the Hakuba Valley last year we didn't manage to pull one off this year we've already got the guys snowboarding done and Aaron styled down their locator but the other lines in the green so they see how it compares Travis trice just about ready to celebrate sure he'll enjoy the party tonight last time anyone the Forester he bought a drink but literally everyone in the bar stood up on the bar and he added out next rounds on me three on must have been a couple of thousand at it run had a good time Thank You Travis Katie Yamazaki forty-four point six seven so that's behind Blake ham and in front of the other guys that had serious control issues coming in six today cater first it will to a comp welcome to the family nice to have you along and I believe that means we have first place Travis Rice second place we have also super big-name geeky roof and third place got Davey beard backing up his two podiums in the first two competitions last year with the podium at the first competition yeah so Big Ups to everyone riding today the play came coming out of the gate so hard huge back but I think that might have been the the biggest hit so far in there and the guy snowboarding today but Travis Rice know that seven from Travis must have been bigger it was a different type it was it was a transfer like heading a ridge to the side of a lot of speed and staying here for a long time but uh Blake ham huge backflip off a cliff and the four line to start the day off set the tone for the day and it has gone just like we thought it would huge hits from amazing riders and here we are with overall ranking of today's competition Travis trice no surprise with a 95 top score followed by another legend Ripper Giggy roof and finishing or rounding up the podium with David Baird from the US of A thanks to the show guys it was impressive to watch pretty American dominated top five there big ups to the North Americans coming over here and killing it next up we got the guys from the skiing already set in the starcade ready to drop in and trying to challenge the show from the snowboard man ski man category stacked with some amazing riders also some last-minute wildcard surprises that's right unfortunately had a few injuries and the skiing guys category before the season has started so it's been a little bit of a change in the lineup but still some big names we were expecting to be here some big names that we didn't know we're going to be here got a recap coming up of what's going on ski guys category I'm gonna show you a few of the names we're gonna watch out for of course it's a huge field everyone has the potential to win but these are definitely the names we have to watch out for especially here in Hakuba Christopher to delve the turtle the defending world to a champion throw his big backflips but that's not his main main thing I would say his main main thing is just ski incredibly fast through technical zones and doing huge year's backflips if he wants to but this guy's with the tricks read on a very consistent basis another one Marcus ADA with creativity and gnarly lines potential anytime he shows up he showed it several times and especially this highlight of the season the part of three of the bottom clip in there will be a finals that's right heisuke-kun snow key tie ski as he is known he is the local rider the super rippers the power surfer the guy who won the four star here when Travis run the Forester really smooth daddy writer like to put him a lot of grabs and I would not be surprised to see him through multiple tricks today here's another guy does multiple tricks Tanner Hall no one has to explain to who he is he is a legend of our sport hadn't experiences and successes in all categories of free skiing halfpipe bigger free riding you name it and now he's back and he's aiming for the big title of the season he will be with us for the whole season as a wild-card that's right good to have you Tanner good to have you all of you guys here's the stylist Michal Bimbo's drew tab key Eric Paula sorry Eric followed Andrew Pollard I'm thinking about different American skier that I like Carl back after entry last year wildcard back onto the tour because he was injured when he qualified you also winning the three star here and qualify himself the tour Liam Pfeiffer Canadian rookie yarn pulling onto tour after the injuries that we had he came fourth in the top three usually qualified but had so many injuries that force made it through this year welcome Rana Bar Korea 10th year in a row on the tour welcome back rain it's great to have you Marcus eater the superstar Lee won and his buddy Fabio who rides with him here in Japan for filming Tanner like we said no he's no introduction kay back on the tour as well like local wildcard for the stop yarisis SuperDuper swish rider politically Patterson the young gun from America did good in the first two stops last year hope he has a good one today I'm a guy Christopher - Adele Craig Murray Tom Pfeifer Griffin mothers just such a steak feel like you said anyone could win here today and varrick garlic and leaves limit unfortunately on the list but not in the start gate they are watching from home unfortunately injured for this event hopefully there will be back all the healing vibes to you guys we get back to unfortunately also have a few other riders that can join us and they even are out for the whole season but decision first on the rider on course McHale Bimbo's opening up the ski man category memo's winning the last two events so if he ones this want to be three in a row not sure if it'd been done before but winning the verba extreme and winning the stop in Austria to put himself second overall sending it fast really really fast rider and taking this one pretty deep as well these weren't huge years but he went so fast off of me turn them into huge years so Wow I'm sad to see what he's got off the the larger features down low if he's gonna ski this fast the whole way and there's a big cliff boom he's clean passing all the bumbles from the previous nova category that's what he's known for and he's hailing down that roof that run yeah miko this is sick loving watching this you're just so fast and smooth you're coming off a confident time when he was two competitions putting in some Shifty's riding extremely fast just looked super strong it's lake steel right there he's already at the finish at the judging area and he's down that was Rico time you have to know we're not timing there is a no clock they're racing but definitely the category of fluidity of the judging criteria is a big one and definitely that's on the plus side on his run here like his takeoff is out of the screen when he lands like he turned that small feature into a long job and that's definitely his biggest clip of his run stomping a clean double yeah it's really creative writer and loved is here over the shoot in Austria last year so i called the same playing with this venue looks like he just skied down doing turns and happened to go off massive cliffs while he was skiing along a little bit surprised that we didn't see a back flip of him because he can do even doubles from natural features Wow love to see that in the world tour gone mate score coming in Aaron style technique was down on the the judging buzz so indicating the school won't be super super high but 70 points pretty solid for first person out of the gate I think here as I've been a previous judge I know that they have putting this score as a as a base because yeah the the experienced judges they know that we're gonna see a lot of more action especially on the Aaron style segment and to have the room to allow the correct ranking that's why they put it in 270 the score of 70 next write-up in the start gate drew tacky previous will to a winner very creative writer the transfer Nader on a transfer a quarter so here we go I think he's going to do some big side hits today with transfer Nader Neill refers to his skills to transfer from one side to the other up mountains like this one goes definitely into that category and this menu offers a lot of possibility to just do that yeah drew I think he wanted to get into skiing across the course at Brighton know it's saving every transition as deep as he can and I think you might have found some variables knowing that seeking landing where as one of the skis came up behind him it's hard to finish the sentence with so much actions back-to-back oh another fast run could see the different styles between Miquel and Drew's you know Mikkel also a fast skier also a stylish skier likes the same things big but true just being creative on the other side of the venue hadn't really seen any one right here yet snowboard man but drew going over there and making up his own style doing his own thing being creative and original which we see it would be an important thing on this course today absolutely seeing no tracks coming out of the forest is an indicator of originality here we have his top section stomping a clean little surprised again about not seeing a back flip but yeah he is the man of Becky's employees yes running in andorra last year's famous backflip and a big three this year taking some transitions pretty deep but like we sort to start with snowboard category a little bit funky take offs in to get people not looking as smooth in the areas they usually do control a little bit down for drew so let's see what the score is it seems to be coming in now and I'll be interesting how it compares to Miko yeah pretty similar I would say a little bit more on the plus side on the air in style so 75 otherwise pretty pretty similar that's why they're not too far from each other 70 and 75 first two scores of the ski category still a lot of riders to come some heavy hitters but now we're gonna have our first rookie coming from the world qualifiers North American the Americas section Andrew Paula got to Pollard's Frisch on the tour this year Andrew Pollard and his sister Jacqueline pod they have both qualified from the North American Fred will qualify as last year so good to have them as a sibling team on the two of this yet welcome to the both of them excited to see how it goes for them I bet he is pretty psyched I'm pretty nervous right now we even have two siblings coming in from the qualifiers two sizzling yeah two sets of siblings you're right [Music] so and repeller dropping in 10 seconds short 10 seconds there he's on course now nobody watched rutecki growing up as a skier in previous competitions and now he's competing against them the rider after I'm skiing so fast that he's out of the frame on the drone changed the long lean shot because this guy is what I expected maybe different to what he expected but still scheme so fast down here knowing a trick or two about competing keeping up the flow and the momentum is always a good sign for the judges that you're motivated you really want to go for it and hitting outlook is right the steep part of the video we saw Chris Galvin come on stuck on Travis trice managed to hold it together on how we'll go for our first skier in this part of the venue and Rapala following tracks nice shifty looking smooth through there but not taking the biggest of years maybe that section looks different to how he speak to do it from the top it can always look different how it looks from underneath but doing a cool double unfortunately getting a little bit of a side slap at the bottom of that last feature of his run yep getting bucked off at the very last feature on his double I'm the second pillow I damn it he will be bumped because the other parts of his run where it's a super fluid cruzi great features in there just in that little segment but managed well and you have to know this segment at the bottom here is the steepest of the venue yeah solid ski from Andrew there I think it must be something in that part of the venue something funky going on in that shady steep pillowy tree area cuz I've seen a lot of people having a little bit of trouble there it's not the first one unfortunately control here and sound technique being low as a result of that is he getting on those bottom pillow so it was pretty smooth fast and stylish run until that point but I think they were really heard a score in me that he's would have been similar for me to the first two riders drew and Miguel Burt unfortunately will be below 50 in this case you are spot-on unfortunately the start of the Fred will to a career campaign for Andrew Pollard is not going according to plan but there is always one resort you can cross out what do you call it in English you can throw away throw away that's it Kyle Rigney Erickson welcome to the free I will to it you have waited a while you have competed on the world qualifies for a long time qualified yourself to the 2018 will to a got injured here in Japan missed the competition season and now you are here getting on course were in a fast cutaway drone struggling to keep up first gear solid and stylish what's got for us today already with a backflip at the top section stomping oh yes what a way to start off your world to a career taking the same year as Jonathan Pinfield Blake Ham but on the general thin pin field angle little bit wild in the year these takeoffs must have something funky in them because these this many good riders don't all do that same kind of our mobile for no reason you know yeah all right and it is also the nervousness of a first stop off the Fred will to it coming into play as well pretty sure traversing his cross my servers I on a feature over there brother all a just arrived and big shout out to him I bet he's watching from the bottom or late also very close to qualifying for the world to I'd love to see him there one day to Carl also to fuss for the drone he's just getting right on out of that shot and down to the final cool one now does he have another feature for us or is he already at the end of the judging zone I think that's kind of it definitely the biggest part of the action was shown phone call at the top unfortunately he couldn't keep up the momentum off his great start so it's not gonna be one of the top top scorers of today I can tell you that but the first trophy definitely the first trick first trick that we've seen backflip and out of the gate on his first feature so I think that'll treat him reasonably well it'll be interesting since you slowed down a little bit and the second part of his run now though compared to the other guys that ski fast and fluid with no tricks judges criteria coming up of course the judges only compared now to the runs we've seen so far but they also take into consideration what is possible from to be shown from the writers to come so Aaron style bar down there probably reflected in the little bit of arm waving that he had an ear on one or two of the Hertz cars usually super smooth stylish and fluid so like I saying I think the the take offs might be a little bit funky somehow coming in at sixty one point six seven sitting third for now not that far behind me Kelvin Bose Andrew hanky but a lot more talented riders to come so I'd say that probably be an impact result in the end you know fifty being your your average perfect score perfectly average going where you end up in the overall ranking or in the ranking of today is always dependent on the sometimes a fifty that can bring you into the top ten sometimes a fifty can be very close to the bottom of the pack that's right and use the sake on course now the Japanese write a winning the two star here two years ago but unfortunately not being able to make it to the Forester so good to have him back I guess you've won the three star this time so two competition ones here and when's and Haku ball already taking it deep off the top up with the 360 similar transfer to drool a little bit of X let's see one of the skis coming up but super solid start from you oh yeah that's what you call a great start unfortunately not the cleanest of the landings but showing some confidence and motivation yes super fast taking their seeking hit deep and ging out to the power fields now this one looks nice always tweaking always showing some confidence in the air no I'm waving whatsoever going for the safety grab I wonder if this part of the course could be a little bit Sun affected maybe underneath not the power itself but taking it deep just missing a bush in the landing holding it together really strongly it looks like this a little bit funky on skis maybe more so than a snowboard but great run from you and really fast super fast super good to see the local rider representing oh yeah he flashed that run and I think one of the best runs so far with combining tricks fluent riding here we have the top section unfortunately with one ski in the air we call that one states to something like landing yeah I'd call it one I don't want to be a judge today I liked his run but they might hurt him for that landing at the top going for the safety grab on that one though so the judging criteria looking good for line and fluidity the fluidity was really good at that did enjoy that about his Rhonda was super smooth and nice to watch so can we have the possibility for a first ever Asian podium and a freeride world to a stop pretty cool to see the possibilities there especially as we have another heavy hitter could to come with ties good kusunoki but here we have the score of uses a key with a 78 0.33 and currently in the hot seat it sends him right to the top here a three star here and nice to add a world to us thought wouldn't it not an 80s though the judges indicating that they think they have probably more big runs to come whether they will have to put people in between the 78 and the hundred just between 70 and 75 that's they're saying they don't think they'll fit that many people but Tim between him and was a true yes yeah here we got up next so Liam Pfeifer the Canadian rookie getting the GoPro on get an angle set he's just gonna go he doesn't carry this wants to be on the course he in mice piece of his like he's getting out of the gate enter the zone superfast down this part of the venue into the power field don't be confused later on we're gonna see a similar name another piper his twin brother also qualified for this year's parade work to her let's see what the couple can there she great trend short drone short here showing the the fluted spinal nature of this venue and Liam hitting out to look his right hook the the slightly funky snow that some of the other riders have found out there doesn't get him hung up but he's doing good so far slashing that power as you mentioned what a shot what a power day was a long been here had a good chat with Liam and Berkeley about the difficulties of qualifying through the the North American four-star FWC and they've really had to fight for it so I'm sure he's pretty psyched about being here today first ever world to a stop here in Hakuba and guys be aware the riders from North America they're not used to visual inspection it's a little different format there this is the first time usually they ride without having had hands on feet on on the venue yeah first of a world to a run potentially first of a visual inspection and Liam has stoked to be down nice to power /e pre Irie remember the the look is right and steeper than the Lucas lyrics of the venue so probably get a bit more points for the line score of going out there but just super solid you know a good skiing nice control finding creative ears could be good scuffle in with the double in the shady part there no tricks so far definitely the game plan wants to put down a solid score for the first Fred will to a stop of the season off his career let's see what it ends up in which kind of score four lines in the grain one in the rear not very far into the rear but just same the fluidity was a little bit lower a little bit of hesitation just making sure he found the right line which is good you want to find your right line you want a ski where you want you know we saw one of the snowboarders the Japanese sought snowboarder not finding his line and being quite disappointed about that so it's definitely better to make sure you find your lining if they're to cause you a little bit of hesitation then so be it and next time try to avoid that hesitation as well as finding your line but good start to to the if TT career for Liam got the score coming in soon but just for now I got you sitting in the hot seat and good to have Japanese rider sitting in the hot seat at the Japanese stop it's pretty cool to see will be pleased and you with the peak performance beanie on his head as well as the peak performance banner in the background got a couple of big performance riders here today I think Thai ski both the Japanese man ski is a on peak performance Liam 565 0.33 coming in fourth at the moment a bit of a side side shake of the head I think that means I'm not happy but I'm not sad do I have to stay here and hold my skis in front of the banner a little bit longer but no it must be great to be down and welcome to the freeride world tour good to have you guys had a great rookie year last year was not easy to qualify with only 12 riders that's right and another rookie coming up now Jana do max about the role he came forth on the f/w in region 1 last year that Eurasia region skiing the dynastar and one of the only riders on dynastar here apart from rain Ibaka reared I believe keen wildcard on to tour as a result of the amount of injuries and the guys skiing so good to have you here yarn welcome he arrived the night before the first possible competition to hell Friday and starting with a big 360 stopping it yep definitely a stomp not sending it as far as the backflip of color on you but this second hit definitely in the fall line in with high speed yeah landing just next to the bomb hole from Blake locks and I Blake ham Oh coming a bit unstuck via though take off get in the best of them followed him on that one yeah there must be something funky going on on the take-off Co variable snow layer or something and some of them because you know yeah it's a super solid rider scene I'm riding on the qualifiers and always looks pretty solid and never seen him really come unstuck like that before without any warning so nice run from yarn welcome to the world tour nice 360 up the top and started out and joined the power probably be a little bit disappointed about that coming on stuck on there that pillow in the middle of verdun welcome welcome to the wheel tour it's not your ass it's maybe a first run but it's not your last lap last one last run what's happening to me a few lines in the red here in the judging criteria lion judges like the lion but of the criteria not as high for the score a little bit backseat on that middle ear as well it's go coming in now seventh at the moment for yondu marks blood roll not the best day on but there'll be plenty more days you'll hear for the rest of the season mate you have a full season will to a wild-card so we will see you in kicking horse in Canada and a week or two so yarn down you and the box seat and the hot seat sitting pretty there in front of you true teen McHale bimbos former free ad will to a winner and a current will tour Xtreme Verbier champion so pretty impressive place to be for the local rider and another heavy hitter another former champion coming on up Miquel Bimbo's was not the right graphically this is rayna bar career he is on course now is also a super fast rider really solid strong like the big mountain style and too fast for the drone coming into same top hitters carl also with the backflip banging it's deep it's dumping clean that's exactly the way to start to a season oh yes a veteran and everyone calls him the free-rider the only one who wants to not only one but one of the were writers who wants to just have gnarly terrain but he proved everyone wrong what the backflip he's been working on his back flips lately sorted on his Instagram you can follow this guy who's always got interesting content is a getting over to the look is right over the venue now it's more the terrain he's usually into the steep gnarly stuff managed to chuck a big back woman is now is into the more technical area how much style did he put into that here that's his home turf steep and gnarly terrain the doubling down through that rocky section they're making it look super easy as you've seen quite a few riders having traveling that steep section not for mayor of stomp town Lorraine Ibaka didn't collar agnya two of the crew representing for Sweden silver crystal butter Delta to come and in the Scandinavian here we have the highlight of his run right out of the gate with a big backflip something a clean you have to wave a little bit with his arms to slow down the rotation sending it deeper than expected doesn't crack here Taria coming just looking so solid this guy that's no maybe a little bit variable and that a rocky you poppy forest section but I think you might be sitting on top and out here we have everything in the green line and Aaron style usually he does it with sending big gnarly cliffs but this time it was a big backflip of a natural hit right out of the gate yes interesting to me through Reina has Aaron style was quite a lot higher than his fluidity which is it's usually the other way around for him I guess I was because he had put a little bit of traversing and to get across from their top feature where he backflips to the bottom section where he's keep the the steep and slightly more technical zone better cold that he's getting the Aaron style up these days because if he can combine that then it's looking at another you know really big season for him and there's a live appear on the tour 10 theater yeah seventy six point six seven Reina Barker it's sitting second at the moment so just behind you Sasaki I guess they like to use three and so at higher fluidity I suppose probably what took it for you / Rainer and that uh in that way you know he's only marginally higher but he went out to look his lifts after the the top they managed to trick and I keep the fluidity a little bit higher so Big Ups to you after some huge heavy hitters you know his makeup bimbos drew to have key car ignite Erickson you know Rana Barkery and yeah everyone has been before I'm the amazing rider so to be on the top at the moment it's amazing another rider who can definitely set the bar for the riders to come is the Italian Marcus ADA in the start gate Marcus EDA from South Tirol one of my favorite skiers I'm gonna say he's gonna put it out there there these guys are all my favorite skiers but Marcus just putting it sideways and enjoying the POW like there it's just such a pleasure to watch and will we see a seven of him I wouldn't be surprised don't wanna jinx him flats flats been three really nice flat three Japan Japan his name of the grab we also in Japan but just wanted to clarify that huge transfer through 16 not the cleanest of the landings that was so sick though I don't think the angle really did it justice that was a pretty huge transfer and now just absolutely sending it through this double down area that we saw Andrew come on stuck on before looking a little bit wild myself for staying on his feet for now and hopefully the whole run down of course mark is following a track from you Sasaki I believe so really cool creative mind so if I putting in ass pretty good just for fun maybe intentionally getting caught up in a tree but I think he's already passed into the judging line so getting a little bit wild in the bottom half of the run huge flat three nice ear nice 360s so coming together for Marquez here I think that transfer in the middle with the 360 I want to see that from another angle cuz that was pretty damn rad Wow well I could action within seconds of each other even though it's a really long run but so many tricks linked right after each other just criteria coming up and it's Paul looking pretty good technique the only one that's not all the way into the green probably because even furs getting a bit wild and rowdy down the bottom there but with that line fluidity and hearing style being up there I think it's gonna be really solid score here could be first for me for me to have been surprised by the judges in the past so I don't want to jinx him but I definitely for me the score to beat for now he ticked a lot of boxes aggressive riding you can see the little bridge all the way to the finish Corral score coming in from Marcus either out for reasoning confident he'd be sitting in podium contention right now there's something I'm interested in is that the snowboard men all came out firing a big traction this looked super confident that's not I think it might be snowboarder smoke magazine is still doing a super good job in here though eighty six point six seven nobody uses hockey out of the hot seat getting a hug from me Coburn talking about big time what a solid score the judges rewarded the heavy heavy action loaded run off Marcus data even if you said technique was a little down because of his rowdy run at the bottom but his good good friend now in the start start gate the Austrian pavia Judah out of four albergue local rider from silver etymon tough on your home area yes representing I'm gonna give you patriotic about New Zealand when Craig Mario run so you can you can say whatever you want here and don't be surprised about another few stylist tricks with that you're just going down hard to see that water talented rider unfortunately he was sick just a week before that's such a nice caught three off that top head looked like he was gonna be sold landing it's like one of his skis maybe talk a little bit differently maybe the snow is a little bit funky he can do this trick in his sleep has done so many natural hits with a flat 303 cork 3 sorry no worries due to both of them oh yeah yeah just just it doesn't look like he has any control issues just got a little bit hung up on that landing off the the first thing I thought he landed in a clean section but maybe like caught the side of someone else's bunghole landing or track or something but this is becoming a popular ear now Big Ups to use the sake for opening it up because it is sniper doesn't quite snipe it catches the tree hope he's okay yeah a little bit scary for me now because it's now gonna be a track going off that drop into the tree you know because there's tracks going left and right of it and one going straight at it so really hope that the writers have done their homework they know execu what angle to take off that kind of drop cuz it's tough tough take up there not a lot of space and you say yeah it's just I think the land wasn't the perfect angle and it's hard to know that from the top you saw it in the air and got a little bit unlucky on there on the landing yes you have another chance another day and I'm looking forward to um taking that he's a really fun rider to watch so almost we are exactly halfway through the the guys skiing now and the next big name coming up oh yeah here we are the man who needs no introduction but we're gonna give him one anyway after the score comes in Fabio scooter only five points unfortunately Fabio I think that tree I think would really have knocked his score don't scare the judges is a pretty solid role and I was scared I guess the judges were too so it's the reason for the very low score for Fabio he takes a lot of premieres on the freeride world tour and definitely we didn't have anyone having that many X Games medals around his neck in the past of course he's no stranger to free riding he has been kicking or hitting back country kickers and big lines in Alaska for years now and now it's time to show his skills on the freeride world tour Tanner Hall on course Tanna lining up this first natural hurt that we've seen other people trekking off already what do we got huge 360 nice cork three nice grab the cork three two stomping it lining up another hit straightaway worth the back flip and stomping that one too coming a little bit unstuck on the run-out a little bit of a side slap it was it and a 360 as well cork three backflip 360 putting in a nice grab there to style on his way down here grab two shifty how many tricks can you do no surprise that we see a ton of tricks he has them all in the bag up to a triple backe he has them all up another feature on the bottom here a little bit blind and their bottom take off kind of hard to see what you're doing coming to that bottom area tena lining up another feature bouncing off something into the end of the judging area wicked run from the first will to a stop for Tanner Hall good to see him here good to have him here nice to see a show like that see how creative you can be input how many tricks into a run like that yes I started line up here today just one of the many big names and I wonder how that school can compare with the others it was a pretty pretty styling pretty smooth I'd say that his fluidity will be high and his line choice as well but maybe the control be a little bit lower mainly because of the run out on a specfic that we just about to see sending it deep on his tails then had a little control issue just after trying to hold on on his tails but straight into a 360 it didn't hesitate at any of those jumps just so Sullivan here's such pleasure to watch 10 hole 81 points taken and the ski we in right now pushing you sake to third and sitting just behind our current leader mark asita no surprise to have two very creative and tricks skilled riders on such a venue in the top two spots currently in the hot seat mark Ceyda out of Italy second place 10 Hall USA and it was so nice to hear that he has the goosebumps he has the butterflies in his stomach so much experience of competing on the big levels and now being back in the competition in the wearing the bib yeah a long time since antenna whole wearing a bib looks little bit windy up at the top now and the cometary booth dump the bottom where you we don't see a breath of wind maybe a tiny tiny bit of branch moving and leave shaking better it looks like dices Guay will be happy to get off that Windy Ridge into the smooth power and down to the finish area where we are sitting on this planet everything he does tries to style it out that's right writing complete performance wildcard into this event no surprise also being a passionate snow surfer how surfer it put some really Sally down runs down will tour us yeah I love his tail grabs off cliffs lookers looks right cutting a little bit back towards the main ridge feature in the middle coming from the North Island Hokkaido where they even have more snow than here in chip-in Hakuba but obviously not as much Sun as we enjoy today not as many Alps so getting out to the steeper section as well now look was right so what's Travis bouncing through there unfortunately his highlight of is Ron he wanted to really nail that bottom section very technical area but not the first person have trouble in there now dice que no able to put down what he wanted to do today but so great to have you here love watch your riding a super stylish smooth gear I see you on the world tour again sometime just for now your competitor at use us uses iki sitting in the place podium so what what's going on there's no layer here he pops off and then coming off the next one it's just way harder than I think he expects is gets a little bit bucked into the backseat before he takes off and if you already backseat when you take off it's it's no helpful and it yeah that's a the the wind effect or the wind effected snow had a lot of wind with snowfall you get a little more response that you think you're getting especially in the steep part so ty ski sitting tenth of the moment just in front of Fabio studio but I don't believe thank you for the performance do though Iran that skis here is putting their body in the alignment putting themselves through mental and physical stress and we appreciate it we appreciate this the show on snow we got next who's this guy he came as a rookie two years ago and is a solid force very consistent he has a few tricks in the back and especially his line choice is something I remember from his runs in the past few years always solid creative and going big nice 360 tail off that first heard a little bit of a side slept maybe in the landing kind of landing side he'll pretty tough to just on that clean but puts up a powder cloud and skis out of it not charging at this side hurt super sick transfer first person to do that cutting straight back across the four lines make sure he gets as many features in as possible really working that rich left to right right to left getting into the trees where it gets steeper and steeper and he's familiar to such terrain being out of whistling Yanis this was actually my pick to win today ooh have you bet have you done the fun bet oh the pig performs fun bit yes I have and you can do that at home too yeah I'm just charging through this pal hearing the tree to his left oh yeah that's experience with his young age probably he takes a good look at the faced with being a smart guy not only on skis but only also off skis that's right he's a mathlete mathlete yawn he's doing a master's in physics oh maybe he's finished it now but a smart guy smart skier really cool bottom ear I like that a lot that's the section that lots of people ski through and no one else has hit that ear so you know it takes a lot of finding that kind of stuff you know it looks like you yeah of course you just get straight into it when you're watching it on TV at home but looking at it from that other side of the valley and in see me fall for a couple of days you know you got to be pretty sure about something like that pretty pretty big ups to this guy for finding it hitting it and stomping it unfortunately the earrin style and technique is down probably as a result of that control issue on one of those other ears but overall impressive performance from this man big big bummer if you have a full run and one issue just takes you off a good score what a shame but you better go down trying then not trying it all that's right young bit of a perfectionist I think you'll be a little bit disappointed with that today but super solid skier who's got the rest of the season in front of them you know I would not be surprised to be skiing in Verbier his hometown which is the finals of course top 12 guys qualify for Verbier was 13 last year but you did the number of injuries that we've had and the guys skiing category is only 12 going through this year an order P to be able to take wildcards back as a result of injuries there's peeps Benner pick up some peeps they are the new safety partner long black diamond of the free world to it Jana else is coming in at six at the month 7.62 but not a bad score I believe that's still in front of me car bimbos who rode first and didn't have any control issues you know he rode fast and fluid and and did some some cool ears was tweaked out shifties and things but at yarn with his creative run you know sending two different hits it hadn't been hit by anyone before and they're stalking really clean well they might had a little bit of a control issue or one of his landings I think maybe because of the angled landing husband has his stomp legs sitting in what was that theft or sex at the moment still pretty good to be up there had some we have a solid pack around the 70s 70s to 78 and then of course the two top guys so far with Marcos Aida and Tanner Hall separating themselves off the pack with a 85 and a 81 next up Berkeley Patterson he is back on the tour he was a rookie last year really impressed us with his first couple of stops seems it really hard has good tricks as well was consistently injured last year and still competing and doing well so it'll be exciting to see what he can do this year with a fresh body always known for going fast and fluid taking airs bigger than some of the other competitors and also throwing a trick in a two and this is the venue to do it sick flat three and stomping it a little bit of a hands down but I don't care that was an amazing hit to see no one else's flip that I don't think putting the tail grab off the top here flat threw off the next one just looking really so lady must be training hard because he is skiing strong ripping it as I said full speed as usual putting it sideways Aaron off that too this is a combination of Maca cedar and Miko boom bows you know the skiing fast and not caring if you wave your arms around a little bit but checking some tricks looks gnarly as well maybe a three here keeping it solid wants to get a good score for the beginning of the season he knows he wants to have one in the bank more events to come but what a solid run we've seen so far from him and he's down at the finish just past the judging line nice basically putting in that tail grab at the top sitting up to come around for this flat three boom grabbing it your hands down but not back down so that won't take too many points off a score I don't think ya control still in the greens and the yellow greens but much much better than being in the red so I think we're looking to be good score here for Berkeley today come back and strong after a podium finish or a fourth place I believe that the first stop last year yeah good have some some North Americans killing it and the guys skiing Kerry we got a lot of North Americans killing it and the guys snowboarding category but as you were talking about before I think the the first time visual inspection it's a bit of a difficult thing for World Tour rookie and Berkeley Patterson coming on 67 points hitting eighth place at the moment maybe the the angle that we had wasn't as good as what the judges have for his landing on that flat three but overall solid run looking to top ten for the first round of the season because we are now three quarters of the way through got five riders left and Berkeley Patterson sitting at the moment in the top ten and that is where we are looking at the beautiful Japanese helps a little bit of wound around the ridges at the moment hopefully it's not too cold for the athletes up there they've been up there a long time it's a bit tough of you you know you're walking up from the valley bottom in this case it was a little bit too much one for the early lifts to be open at 5:30 together at least the top of via the lift system so they've all been bootlegging from the bottom and as you can see it's pretty long venue you know 440 vertical meters and that's that's just a venue you know to the finish line of the judging so that's not counting all the other parts of getting up to to where we are there was a little bit of the parcel a bit of a snowmobile but quite a lot of hiking so hiking getting squeezed in hold the top down keep your legs Rome's roll trying to keep the legs warm trying to stay ready and then just be in the zone and an on point to lay down a fire run like quickly just has sitting at bottom waiting for a score we already have it I don't know if he has yet but Marcus EDA is still sitting in the hot seat for now giving quickly of what up and high five some heavy hitters still to come a minor Votto the wild card kite Petersen Christopher Torres Greg Murray the Kiwi the second part of this the siblings Tom Piper and finishing up with Griffin mother still to come that's right very gorrik and Leo slim at not competing today but both hoping to be back with us at the 5th of T stop in Canada that is at kicking horse which is in Golden Bridge Columbia so we've got another couple of injuries as well unfortunately at the moment just to tell you a little bit more about that out for the season we have 30 seconds we have actually a mind of our dropping but just quickly out for the season we have Hank Billis unfortunately Sam Lee even malikov and also Constantine Ortner so huge shoutouts to all of them Big Love get well soon to all of you we can't wait to have you back on the tour because you're super sick skiers positive professional personalities that we'd love having around so let's look at mio Navarro for now well we seen love to all the guys that can't make if the whole tourist stops and then we'll let you know about the the one to a stop and juries apart from the two we just told you what a second i'm oliveira look like he's having a little bit of the gopro issue right now hopefully it doesn't break his concentration too much we saw the liam five-foot before just I'm not dealing with this and leaving the Spaniard from the Pyrenees mr a mad Novato always good for some spectacular lines very creative on first sight I'm pretty sure he was like what shall I do in this face he's not the one with the biggest tricks in the bag but definitely some amazing solid skiing boots if you want some proof just go online and type in the South lines have a look at this double yeah holy crap I didn't even know if he knew he was gonna land that while he was in the air you put the landing gear down must have the transceiver on full scene mode [Laughter] he's gonna overshoot that first section but no perfect timing stop the hell out of that flat pillow I mean of our pure free rider like you said the South lines really impressive project in South America where he super sins and taking the same approach here in Japan today going into the NAR no surprise that he chooses the riders left side where it gets really steep and not so far off his the terrain he's used to right from the Pyrenees nice getting a little bit backseat through that section just like everyone else has pretty much that's gone through that zone must be something going on with the snow but keeping it together skiing strong solid run from high my really creative a double up top legs are still from that guy yeah let's see that again looking forward to it so bounces off a pillow it's pretty much a triple oh look at him compress into that and core strength to stay on his feet through all three of those impacts use Spanish a little nugget you are made of steel top to bottom legs and core judging criteria coming up there was a double as well so he's done a big double and a triple and his legs must be shedded or maybe not maybe he's incredibly strong it looks like it like Joyce super high physically super fit this guy riding all year long South American Northern Hemisphere snow is his element oh yeah that's what you can do if you are not doing any tricks you go out and find the biggest double and stomp it clean super impressive and next up we have the defending will to a champion we have Christopher Tyrell standing the start yet right now another representative the Scandinavian crew have already had Carl Regnier Ericsson and we haven't had a rain of our career already coming through I would say Scandinavian state of Swedish because we also have hit of acquittal writing for peak performance like we see that banner sitting behind Marcus EDA and the hot seat how many writers do we have left to go after Chris off to though have Craig Murray Tom Pfeiffer Griffin Muller and then a couple of guys on the stylists were not starting so will we see Marcus either taking a victory for the first time since Italy five or six years finishing his yeah yeah that was sick so 73 for I'm a Navarro sitting and six at the moment and I think you'll be happy with that for that run although there's a lot of chat before this competition about how you had to be doing tricks to be doing well and I wasn't sure if that was true and let's see how am i proving that right here we have the reigning world champion and it was predictable because the solid skiing he showed from the get-go when he showed up at the farad World Tour was so impressive Christopher total out of Sweden yeah and I give a bit of a rant about the competitions he's won in Sweden before he started competing on the qualifiers once we start watching him descends massive backflips and stomping then super clean as usual he makes everything looks so easy with mock skiing everything is so smooth probably his legs just don't move at all that's why it looks also easy yeah it looks like he puts in grab because he's bored you know hanging out in the air waiting for something as well grab my ski just hang it out up here these do something so smooth like you saying having fun enjoying himself in his playful venue also heading into the steepest section no surprise please don't hit the tree he's done his homework there you go that's exactly what I was talking about he knows exactly what angle he was going for there's three or four lines off that and it's so easy to follow tracks but he said no I know where I'm asking further Ryan it'd be a fresh landing there he's a smart guy 30 down past the judging finish line heading towards the finish Corral super super smooth line it's just so how did not give him a good score and it is on a consistent basis that's what he does waking up just skiing strong everyday all the time and of course growing up in the northern north northern part of Europe snow is not always the best you learn how to stay on your feet still maintaining to try tricks whatever the conditions that's how you become a good skier go out there and ski in all conditions you will eventually maybe become the turtle the turtle the man the consistence gave Navion but which one are we talking about with God Christopher - Adele Katrina battery we've got Carter ignite Ericsson we've got a Hedwig this'll for consistent Scandinavians is somewhat of a theme going on there but before we see any of the other Scandinavian ski although we've seen the three guys from the skiing in this category we have a different sky sky ax this guys good description actually we have kai Peterson coming up do you know how it is you should I can i Peterson who is he didn't he just get like the powder award ski of the year yep and he is also competed one if dub T event before back in 2012 and rebel Stoke and he won that so he has a hundred percent success rate right now and will to a competition to see if he can keep it up today as the score comes in for Christopher to del seventy five point six seven then we have another 75 just before cuz we're 75 was me called bimbos and we had two I'll say me if I point something so it's getting real crowded net 35 sorry do not know all the scores by heart but definitely in there not one of the top top scorers not sure what was the problem with that everything was clean but the judges know better here we are with preparing ourselves for the next rider to come and it's a wild card that's right a famous one yeah got some some big name wildcards in this competition partially result of injuries to the qualified riders happy to have them here high fives going around like I saying great to see the camaraderie crystal potato gonna remind to go stand in front of the sponsor wall will layer we wait for in school we already have a score I wonder if he does as well but you got to go stand in for a little while everyone about how great the Cooper Valley is wait going hang out the rest of the riders may enjoy givers later yeah maybe we can use the time and talk a little bit about our next rider a very short notice wild card from Canada Kai Peterson even no stranger to the freeride world tour he appeared once 2012 if I'm not mistaken on the big daddy in Revelstoke and he is back for a chap anis top of Legends what snow conditions he loves Japanese snow hasn't been here for many many years pretty Zealand looking and the Stargate there actually looks like Craig Murray so with the Chi as light or hopefully skiing today is the question but a shot we just saw of the Stargate we do have Craig Murray in the Stargate and it appears that Craig will be starting before Cuyahoga I will just be starting later on but big up to Kai hopefully see him soon and pick up see Craig this guy is just absolutely on fire taking home seeking man you know him better but I know him for two years now and he just keeps impressing me all the time and I'm not sure to us just saying he could be a next guy Peterson Kiwi guard no joke this guy he has all the tricks in the back and goes to Travis Rice this is unbelievable stuff from the young New Zealand the youngest ever on the world tour last year he is a second season on this corner super rookie still he is just riding so hard so strong so confident of everything where is he going now here's the momentum app looks like he's cruising when he's not seeing this in between herds he just looks so relaxed gun straight into that steeper zone hopefully in my eyes he'll get over to the same here that a yawn Rossi's bound because that was super safe it is pointing it through there so quick and smooth nice wedding in a grab famously grabbing every single hit that he does Craig Murray rad run absolutely rad run of course the big meat of his score will come from the top section I would say a little bit unfortunate to not follow up to this amazing action we've seen off that first wind lip yeah we've seen other riders kind of stepping up the game further down below too but Kevin just missed the grab going for it though but what a stomp got a little egg in there run out as well a you know just making a turn off a smaller ball skiing out from the Cork's even offer natural hurt you know today's work Craig Murray and this is where it gets tough for the judges you have such a highlight action and unfortunately not to to put put down drag run at the bottom but still we've seen some other hitters that kind of tick the boxes at the bottom section more just like markers more features on more tricks so where do you put them now you have this amazing highlight probably the best and hardest trick we've seen so far in the ski category as you said the Travis trice equivalent of the trick same spot same trick yeah yeah I think the Craig was alright but I don't think you'll be annoyed maybe the top 5 but just not enough features I think their bottom right part of the venue like it had more features of bigger features I've got seen a lot of really good writers go over there looking for something that I don't think they really found so kind of traversing over there I guess as well which I her train of our career score a little bit too so creativity has been the name of the game today and Marcus had really had that so that's what set him up in the first place for now another really creative rider that we love seeing movie parts and competition lines from is Kai Peterson and although he was mixed up before Craig Peyer it looks like he's starting one person after Craig Murray Kramer may have just got down throwing a cork Stephen tail grab and copies into the gate now we'll see how it compares you know it's a thought will be the other way around with big shoes to fill but Craig throwing down the gauntlet to Kai Peterson perfect the day Kai means food and Musil and English so and so impressive newzealand pull me out of Christchurch use a club filled skier and click on ski excusal over in New Zealand the drinking club with a skiing problem skis just as a party's shout out to the boys representing from Craig Mary sitting in fourth right now it's dipping 0.33 just edging out the four or five people that we have between there and seven points I think maybe in five or six people so just just popping them out with that corpse even tail and the cool little flashy features down the bottom it's great start to the season for him respectful being on point with the call-out for the total score and here we have the skier of the year in the powder Awards dropping a huge movie the name kai Peterson out of Canada very familiar name to some historians in this freeskiing world son of travel Pederson exploring the world on skis from an early age on ya heading that first year out of the gate I think the victor to the rule was the only other person we've seen coming and switched to the stop it he is switch five stumping and clean haven't seen that for ages on a free world two events super nice grabbing it out on that next transfer hurt and now traversing over another transfer really Sally run from Kai so far kind of having the same Traverse thing that a lot of people have had they're trying to get out to that now their bottom section but let's see what he's got for us down here cuz it looks pretty rad boom into the pocket but having a control issue pulling it back together staying on his feet strong just both skis in the air one left one right but still on his feet creative lines finds takeoffs anywhere it's bouncing through that section it's getting pretty cut up now send a lot of people come through what wood was pillows now I just kind of know what do you call them track pillows massive moguls getting a little bit caught up in that takeoff as well there must be something funky with go and snow going on in there cuz guy Peterson is one of the smoothest riders around still getting a little bit buck I think the snow might be a little bit harder on those pillows underneath but staying on his feet backing up the switch five up the top with some strong solid and smooth riding down the bottom no surprise to see some real innovation I remember Fabia Studer in the early years of his competition he showed a switch five and here we have another one in competition from Ty Peterson such a hard trick yeah huge names in skiing crediting today we've got a tanto got Kai we got defending champions we've got former champions you know and like look how strong he is to stay on his feet like that that's why so up there wise movies are so amazing because it's just such a cat he's down and speaking the matter water it seems so after all of this after all these huge lines from the heavy hitters big tracks over scene today as we kind of expected but still blows my mind we have two riders left two young North American skiers one a rookie one a rookie from last year and has three qualified to the to it so Tom five for the brother of Liam fathom so a lien make his way down the look is right side of the earlier already I wonder a fir they scoped together and maybe they will the canadian twins choose the Semite do you think there's Intel coming from the bottom to the top to tell them how that Ryan was like there is no reception in the valley here so they either they have radios but definitely it is we have the trio the roadshow being happy campers because one of them is on top of the podium in the hot seat right now mark seeded is making sure he gets his skis nice and nice in closing to himself in the hop seat the hop seat pottsy can't either of them knock him off can either of them knock tanner or no I don't think it's possible for Marcus to get knocked off the podium now I'll plan to stick around on this she always speaks to the wall getting a high-five from Travis to heavy-hitters school because the car judges still discussing I'm sure they're gonna see some replays we have his line literally do with that control issue but that's the thing I mean he was on 67 Craig was on 77 and between those two there's you know five six seven good riders so there's that that little difference between control issues how many features whether you did it reversed keeping that fluidity up there's there's really little things that can make such a big difference to your score and that's part of the difficulty of choosing a line Tom Pfeifer on course the rookie out of Canada his sibling twin brother already had its run down the venue we wonder if they have any communication between them probably via radio to guide the other brother down and he did a good job with that she 360 of that main lip and going into another transfer air right after nice the way to go the way to start Tom five for having a cracking run so if I think it's been quite different to his brother lambs I think Liam went quite a lot for the look is right so Tom being creative I'm not sure if anyone had that second transfer that he just did before I haven't seen anyone do that yet today so really cool and created from the rookie already in the bottom section of the venue going again as we've seen many tracks before him into the steep section to the ski is left if there has been until and I gave it until I would say go further look is lift to where Jana resisted a sec yeah cuz everything look is right is cut up and bucking people but as it is if you have your line nailed in your mind stick with it looked a bit to have to shut it down coming out hard out of that little shoot so well done now a little bit of controller shoot coming into that section though unfortunately just making me think more and more this knows a little bit funky in there I kind of think my hood has gone a little bit though but of course he also gained with the choosing very difficult terrain different9 here the top section definitely the big meat of his score will come from this 360 super nice the top it here as well many people have that as you said going straight into another ear those combos that's what the judges want to see you're really styling all of the hurts grabbing or tweaking you know a little shifty a little cross up up in this bottom one as he comes down into the finish line given it fun nice run from Tom there but the interesting thing is that he had that little kind of hiccup at the top of that technical section and you know like we always say don't scare the judges you know if you skill the judges then they'll penalize you so it looks like judging from the judging criteria these these green yellow bars all in the positive they look pretty good reflect I'm getting a good score but if it's slightly lower than he might have hoped then I think it will probably why you know having a little fall above exposure is much worse than judges eyes I think then having a small full below exposure alright we are coming to the very last rider of the ski man category and currently in number one spot we have Marco Zeta out of Italy second spot if I believe out of my head it is Tana hall and third too close to call too close to call there's a live is someone getting a hug from his brother 79 point 60 minute don't need to remember who it is Tom Pfeiffer's in third congratulations to the rookie from Canada he is looking stoked getting a high five and a hug from Marcus either potentially joining him on the podium there's only one more rider to go imagine that as a rookie coming onto the podium and a third place behind tan hole and Marcus eater it doesn't get much better than that in terms of starts but congratulations to Tom Pfeiffer super-sick run from him they're really creative at the end of the creative guys skiing field he found a new stuff so well-deserved third place at the moment the only person that can knock him off that point is who he proved that he was the rookie to beat last year what a season for him super solid with his best friend Barca Peterson rocked the show and impressed us all going all the way to the very extreme and now back for another friend world to season that's right I love his threes as well the way kind of like tweaks the maggot puts a bit of a shifty into them so I wouldn't be surprised if we see a shifty three off his top bit instead a huge baggy going down big after huge so confident yeah I think you must have liked Gupta Traverse track or a bomb hold or something to go down I know it looked like your front punched on landing and it didn't seem like you own under rotated so unlucky from the rookie too many hits on that top here and starting last he got the better of [Music] so enjoying the power on the way down there why not right he was using the summer months to your home country share some lines with fellow Sam Lee unfortunately not with us this season due to a broken leg and baby a couple weeks ago but Griffin mother went down to New Zealand skied at Mount Olympus with Craig Murray and the boys similar kind of styles you know like look relaxed but seemed it on the features and coming through here the the technical area at the bottom that seen a lot of people come through and get hung up on and unfortunately Griffin does as well but the damage has already been done with a big slam after his huge backflip and maybe I'm sure Griffin doesn't mind if we take the time the work there were time he gets to the finish line to do a little shout-out to the boys that cannot be with this season they have been qualified but cannot be here because of medical issues just like Sam Lee oh man what an injury just a couple of days or weeks ago yeah he was on fire as well so Griffin coming into the finish line floated and controlled down as a result of those two crashes I think you're totally understand that Scott he'll be disappointed of course but he'll have three more opportunities at least to get another score in Canada and Andorra and in Austria so looking forward you next round Griffin yeah super stylish ski are really fun to watch and fun to straited with as well shout out to the boys that we've been riding with in New Zealand eating the Scroggins skiing the lines good malla 19th place today 7.6 events so that wraps it up it wraps it up for the ski guys category today we have a rookie on the podium that's I don't know not a surprise but we couldn't predicted it as much as we could predict in Marcus eita and Tanner Hall big names big names and they proved to be the big names because two of them I'm the very top of the podium we're gonna see the overall score off today in a minute and of course it is reflecting the overall ranking of the freeride world tour at the same time being the first stop of the 2019 season here in Hakuba Valley Japan that's right sir Griffin Muller making his way to the finish line now you're gonna see the results for the entire field and a second and shout-out to Leo's limit and but it great and not being able to make it today due to injury Marcus leader number one first victory since his home country call Mayo won and 2013 I believe it was Tanner Hall second first ever competition on the field worlds were taking home a secret place well done tom Pfeifer also first if accommodation but coming as a full rocky third place behind two big names well done and the local uses a key to fourth place how good is that oh yeah one redemption last year he had a big bubble at the restaged event in Canada and followed in fifth place your buddy and I would say the future of our spa Craig Murray out of New Zealand followed by one big veteran another one big named Christopher to Dell and rainy bark reading six and seven that's right mark cedar in Town Hall is big you know video names and we've got Rana Barkery Christopher to Dale Andrew tab key is form of Riyadh World Tour winners and putting a current world to a champion users are key and Tom Pfeiffer first ever competition home to freeride world tour taking a third and fourth I'm a Navarro analysis are the seasoned veterans taking a top t in place of the first competition of the season they'll be stoked ski men have a second page a lot of heavy hitters not having the best day of their season McCabe Bimbo's with a solid 70 Superbird run Kyle Peterson the wild card well known to this kind of terrain didn't put all his run down as planned with the 6733 buckley Peterson liam fight for Col rainy rainy Eric's and following up Andrew Pollard out of USA the rookie young Duma Budong unfortunately 17 18 19 20 they're all had some big big issues in their runs just like Thai ski yeah a lot of crashes today and fabulous well Lord of crashes and control issues did I think it must mean something franking going off the snow so big up so the guys in the top team that managed to but everything perfectly to their feet most of the people and the the second ten didn't manage to do everything exactly how they wanted some kind of control issue involved in almost all the runs Michal Bimbo's first out of the gate today Big Ups to him did a good job of opening up the lines and I forgot to give him a shout out about his winter activity YouTube channel that just hit 150,000 followers this week so looking forward to the next runs from these guys Berkeley Patterson pickups to him I'm gonna say his name right I'll let you two go the first time you see it wrong but yeah the second time I thought it correctly that's all good and yeah looking for to these guys having another run another day and showing what they've got because I they all have great potential and I'm looking forward to seeing that realized in the future shoutouts to the people can't be with here today with us here today entry as we're saying before even Malikov who podium the first two stops last year at injury these two guys very correctly us limit also art dude injury but only for this stop Rachel Croft also missing the stop and one other I believed we have someone else not here yeah Thomas how much time tomboyish down no we already mentioned them at the beginning unfortunately with a big shoulder injury out for the season and assembly folly watching out of the hospital bed get well soon you'll be be back with us yeah and regards to Hank as well we miss you man we love you we want to have you back on until one day so we look forward to that we gots the New Zealand crew and well done boys really amazing show today from the guys skiing category next up we have snowboard woman snow but women a little recap of what we've seen last year on the same stage as we've explained before it was restaged in Kicking Horse Mountain Resort but the ones to look out for for this season definitely the current Fred World Tour champion man will Amanda out of Vienna now resident in Innsbruck from Austria what a solid season for her Malian hearty on her heels very creative writer freestyle background now living and residing in Germany the mecca pre-reading in Europe yes very different styles between those two so cool to see them compete against each other kids - your plastic kind of big-mountain shredder by kana Hama also a different style coming from a board across background and also it's good competing in border cross she competed here when she won the four star two years ago and included on the whole world - a past year so the local rider out of a professorship and sponsored by Nagano snow shuttle this taken us from the airport to our hotels here she is also one to look out for today with podiums and I think it went on the world tour already she had exactly coming in with a win last year with her wildcard and kicking things off here will be the French now residing in Germany mommio healthy second in the starcade Nicole Kelly one of the rookies and all over the Russian already very experienced Fred will to include qualifier Ryder and Oliver in third by kana hammer the local rider a good success here before so hoping to have another one for her we had a yarn sorry you Sasaki coming in third on no sorry on forth on the the guys schemes I'd be great to get another good result from a local rider and the Japanese crew Erica Vai Kenda who's now I said wrong the entire last season so apologies for that good to have you back before eating again as you're saying the defending world to a champion mono Amanda looking forward to her on this venue today I think it could Souter quite well and Maria kuzmic back on the world tour after seven year hiatus I think she's been on the world tour before but it was a time ago 2010-2011 so a long time between stops in the world tour for Maria Koosman looking forward to her having her back but first up on course in a second it is Mary and Artie the defending champion from 2017 looking to take her title back off man remodel and she is just dropping in right now on the lookers left of the course going right out to the power making sure she gets some good turns to start a season off oh yeah first turns always the most important ones to get you into the mood into the zone she chooses wisely going forward 360 not sticking it clean unfortunately showing her freestyle background right from the get-go coming into another hit quite a big one actually she's gonna sing that off the nose gives a little grabbin little ND grab a believe so it tricks off the first sets from both the snow would woman and the snow would man you know play cam with his backflip on the first run Marianne RT with the 360 neither doesn't quite stomp but just such a good sign for the categories that they're just starting things off with tricks no hesitation and power slashes look at that yes enjoying the snow knowing where to place a turn and there's still plenty of space left it's a huge terrain a lot of options of course a little cut up by ski and snowboard man categories but as you can see fresh landings to be had putting another nd grabbed their cruising on past the drone right if you want to hear that gonna go Jake it was before he's flying the drone that's filming and Mariner T grabbing it out again enjoying the snow at the bottom getting a little bit cut up at the bottom of that funneled chute I think she's passing the judging criteria line right about now but awesome to see starting off the woman snowboarding category season with the 360 not quiet putting down how I think she would have liked to but Big Ups freestyle is the future what the categories here we have her attempt unfortunately a little bit off on the on the landing backseat had to but check that landing definitely not favorable for her score and she knows but you better try yeah it's cool to see freestyle straight at the gate I remember when there was a 360 on the very extreme from ones category and it was a big deal and now it's the first hit of the season control a little bit down there because of that crash on the or but check on the 360 landing bit all the other line fluidity Aaron style and technique and the yellow to green line so the judges like the the wrist of her run that she was smooth and flowy and going for grabs off pretty much every hit so 50 55 60 I would say is kind of where the judges really start off with a placement score where they think they'll see people both above and below her and the rankings overall you know not a bad run from Marietta you start off the season absolutely and as we explained at the very beginning in the pre-show that you should not compare between categories or between events the the score numbers it's all about rankings in the end the numbers only help the judges to make up the right ranking that's right if they give someone a 50 its first out of the gate it's saying we expect half of the field to do better than that the other half to do worse you know they're not saying that half the field is gonna crash or the half the field is gonna see that it's just you know 568 today it's the five just the vibe you know and Marion ot 68 on the first competition of the season for someone whose first competition ever it is is a rookie Nicole Kelly coming out of Canada she is 30 year old rookie as never too late to be a rookie first year on the sewer here after qualifying through the North American qualifying series last year looking forward to getting out of that win that's up and stacking on the top ridge inside zone the the mental state the UN in the start gate compared to the one you and when you get to the finish Corral about two or three minutes later it's a crazy change and the reason they're getting in the zone is so that they can put down there exactly what they want to do through the Iran which is obviously in in front of the world in front of you audiences at home so I hope you're cheering her on Nicole going look is right out of the start gate writers left it haven't seen that that much although the couple the first writers didn't the guys know what category get you rough for example we know that set and getting off that's that side of the air that he also I think you're I'm wondering how much of his line she could see from the top but it's good to get a couple of pointers from seeing other writers unfortunately means it's tracks and bomb holes that you're following keeping the momentum up very fluid fluid so far finding the right stashes of snow to slash some POW there's still plenty of it available and across the whole resort if you're thinking about coming down to how Koopa Japan there's a little bit of power for you to heaven Nicole enjoying it right now stomping really he had heavy on that is pretty impressive strong legs from The Canadian rookie very solid rider she knows already a thing or two how to impress the judges yes stomping again really solid legs washing a little bit after that yeah but uh I know it seems pretty solid so far the kind of reminding me a little bit of mine Raimondo just charging and know what taking no for an answer even if you ride into a trio 360 out of it as tase the burn ban to sum up her feeling about the venue and she said solid trees so Nicole Kelly just testing it out I think she'll probably attest so it being correct but putting down a solid run unless it didn't her up definitely the top part of the venue until meet off her score as we have Aaron style in the green fluidity a little bit in in the in the Reds but overall I would say a very solid solid run but no as solid as Mary Nancy I'd say Marian although she also had a control issue and a little bit of a butt cheek she was a little bit faster a little bit more fluid I think you might have seen in the judging criteria that Nicole's scores were down there but solid landings really stomping that but maybe a little bit fast between their features would put her input in contention more often or this year cuz it's a bit of a step up to the girls on the freeride world tour these snowboard ladies I've been sending it and Wow the level is high these days have images of potential terrain for you to ride make yourself a tourist if you are a shredder of a local resort here you can be a tourist again with a foreign science foreign language and foreign power foreign power an amazing foreign food the Japanese food in Japan is better than the Japanese food in other countries they've got to say the authentic freshness here it's it's pretty good come on down check out how kuba look at those mountains you want to ride them next one up in the start gate the rider from Russia and all over no stranger to the competition scene she has paid her dues on the qualifying series four years some of the years really really close to qualify but then finally she's on and she is a force to be reckoned every stop that's right she was here competing the Forster a couple years ago when it was a fight between her and mine remodel to get onto the crowd will too and I'm really glad to see that both on it now because the totally deserved to be here the RIP and Russian rider showed me around to a home resort of Shirish resort but a a good resort that she likes to ride at and singing is like this just like she did that place she does it at this place - they're both powerful and resorts with nice ears to hear and transfers like that one really nice transfer from Ana they're making great use of the terrain that's what the judges love to see very confident riding yeah I'd say the difference between this one in Nicole's is that it's just been a bit faster you know like Nicole was stomping all those runs really solidly every hitch oh my take that I'm strong and then Anna's doing that as well but it's a little bit more confidently just a little bit more smoothly that's exactly what that fluidity category is about and so I think that the points she ones in the fluidity category will probably put her above Nicole even though you're wondering hey there boys don't big ears you know what's what's the difference I'd say that's what it is going to the steepest own as well the more now the technical zone that a lot of the guys ski is come unstuck in but Anna just flashing her way through it so far technical zone and he said where we have seen a lot of skiers and snowboarders going down already and she's cruising down that technical zone storm dropping another drop so if she gets that one down I'm pretty sure we're gonna see a very solid score that was a really nice run really really nice run from the Russian Ripper and Oliver really stoked to see you have said to not see her country compared Treatt Yvonne malikov also here is also a great personality and a really stompin roping rider but if we can only have one Russian here today at least I'll put down an amazing run Big Ups to you and big props to Yvonne as well looking forward to having you back when your knee is bitter it is looking so confident on those ears it hands like really moving when she lands you know yeah I'll put them down please vines go really high can you through that steep section well done as well she knows how to take all those boxes to impress the judges and I'm not surprised if we have a new leader yeah I would be surprised if we don't have a new leader Sione 8.33 they go really really good score for haneda take some beating for the rest of the field today we've got four more riders including the defending World Tour champion and you can see from that smile on her face that she's happy she knows she's done a good job here today I thought that preparation in the last few days well done Big Ups Anna take a seat and then who knows we've got what karna Harmar coming up now she is the winner of the previous competition that we've had in Japan that's how she well carded herself on to the tour last year so yeah a challenger I think that um and was also a competition that Forster a couple years ago here so what kind of on course now as I said in the presentation she has erasing a background in border cross very solid on her edges but she should be surprised us on the very first event with a switch 180 yeah that's right cab 180 bow not this time she got hooked up massive got hooked up on one of those branches just before the takeoff yeah unfortunately control issues at the start of the run will hurt your score and she in her home country the first ever fried World Tour event going down in gray conditions and unfortunately already at the top of her on not delivering so to see that what kinda bet you silver fun person to watch I'm pissing ride with fun personality yeah what kind of filling out the writer bio you know I thought I being secretive the the Japanese write up I was in really give us as much information as some of the other guys and it's fine because we normal Aslam we could talk about them but I was wondering if she wanted us to tell people at her birthday is cuz it's a the end of the end of the seventies and I wonder if I mention own or not and uh under fun facts about herself she wrote in capital letters old know I heard a on the snowboard here today yeah the crunchy snow maybe on the slightly sunnier side of the vineyard for the look as lifts give him the best of her and breaking her rhythm like you're saying making her way down past the into the judging line just at this point makes should be bit disappointed unfortunately yeah a little bit of a run what he call it a run of shame to the finish line she knows all her fellow Japanese friends and fans are watching she wanted to impress not only the judges but also the viewers so unfortunately not this year but if she rise strong the other couple of events we will have her back next season yeah yeah front punching on that air at the top unfortunately that'll Otis go put it in control quite far into the red so nothing should be troubling Marion that's he or and all over hot seat next up Eric weak on the Erica Vikon did the Viking Erica the Viking week and I still don't know if I'm saying her name right I know that are saying wrong or last year but it's more important that she puts down a good name I mean Eric if I can not live okay Craig this Ron yeah erricka dropping in for her non practice practice run first on tour this year for her returning out to a successful rookie season last year going out trapping that power a little bit further right than where everyone else is skied because it looked like it's getting a bit cut up on the left side coming past the safety team now lining up that win look slashing some power stones we haven't seen so many people get into the middle of the central core out the top and she's been rewarded with some fresh snow for that if you just tuned in we explained a lot the snow conditions it was a lot of wind over the last couple of days with combined with snowfall so the top section of the Run is little wind affected in some of the ridges for the takeoffs but if you're smart you can find the good power there's plenty of it left unfortunately just got hooked up on one of those tracks yeah I think those Traverse tracks might be setting up a little bit you can see that they're kind of in the Sun and when people have written and a warm that can kind of go a little bit harder than the self snow around them so I think she might have got caught up one of those unfortunately look at that Powell though where it's not been skied it was just super nice and she's making the most of it I like her dropping to the chute before as well connecting the dots nicely the bottom section definitely way better yes move off that bottom here I like their former slopes our rider think so maybe she broke herself just before she was meant to go anywhere really good in the in the park and changed to free right now and showing us a smooth park style on the powder can we just past the judging finishing line I believe now they should be a little bit disappointed with going down higher up like I saying the snow is a little bit tricky in some places today and it's a little bit hard to tell I think exactly where it's nice and where it's not as nice in most of the places but that makes it even harder when it's a patch that isn't nice when you're not predicting it if you coming out to the finish now as we zoom out and see the big triangle the venue that we're riding here at hopple on e and here we see the replay of Erica by Conda charging through that field no hesitation here we might see that little nope there was a little bit of a hookup so don't be surprised if the there is a little deduction on her score averaging out on a 5000 third at the moment so knocking Nicole Nicole Kelly off that a potential podium spot got a Manuela Mendel coming up next and after that Maria Kuzma so two more riders to go at the moment we have and all over sitting at first we have Marian Artie and second and we have Erica vicodin and third so Russia and then France and then America it's a very international competition we have here today and it's cool to see that we've got people succeeding from all the different countries and really happy to see a Japanese result in the main skiing and unfortunately not and the woman snowboarding today but a really impressive riding from riders all over the globe and that's what we're about today coming together here and beautiful Hakuba look at those mountains in the background don't you just want to go and tree them cuz I do so I hope you don't so I can have all these here we have the current Fred will to champion out of Austria born in Vienna now residing in Innsbruck Manuel Amanda in the Stargate what a season she's coming from like she had to reek wallah Phi into 2018 and then what happened then then she won she just took away all the big stops and if you're not sure what McFly means by wreak wallah fiying she was on the world tour in 2017 and she didn't wreak wallah fie she didn't get the results you wanted and then at the same time as doing the world tour stops I think even after she went in back and did some four stars want all of them and requalified herself for the world tour and that was what we're talking about the Anna and mine who were fighting for the world to a sports and now they've both got them they both deserve them I'm pretty sure that and it's gonna podium today you know she was she's first and only two whereas Leah such guarantee podium spot is the classic fight of mine reverses Anna and I'm looking forward to see what she's got comparison here she is out of the gate man will Amanda she is known for going big very solid she can ride all kind of terrain all kinds of snow yeah it's good she can't looking a bit tracked here she comes into the steepest section of the top area she's already been in Norway shredding in the dark in northern Norway this the season and December with the snow would sponsor furberg and Percy at home and the Scandinavian crew and put on a film tour as well to show the movies that her and her friends have have filmed over the last couple seasons and you know preparing and competing on the world tour just keeps self pretty busy this world to a champion now getting into the middle section of the venue where it gets more powdery she didn't choose the powder turns at the top yet but now she gets into the slash turns but everyone loves that's why we're here for it that's why we are in Japan that's right money lining up a drop stomping it clean she rides a lot with the Kiwis in Innsbruck actually she's the Austrian living in Austria and riding with almost exclusively Kiwis so shout out to the funemployed crew that she lives with in the Kiwi house on an rein and beautiful powder tunes just like you're saying you got to find the right spot to get the right turns if you're the second-to-last category here today 30 or 40 riders been before you and she's still finding the goods and making it look easy yeah why don't know what else finding this man this looks like a great place to be riding oh yeah you just have to be a little smart smarter than the others and then you can enjoy the Japanese power there is plenty of space all around a lot of options still to hit one house will computer school ways though I think she's passed the judging finishing scoreline now but the thing is they're all over got into the steep technical section on the look is right at the bottom man who got into the steep technical at the top but I'm not sure if it's quite as score rewarding as an addiction at the bottom so she sent these ears stomp them look at that it just looks so casual and throws up some powder spray you can tell her how confident she is by her arms being down the whole time she's not waving them around so she saw it but these these green scores these yellow scores they're all positive but do you think they'll challenge the top spot don't think so definitely a solid score for the beginning of the season for the current red world to a champion but to take off or take out the hot spots like get a spot on the hot spot definitely she would have needed to show a little more especially at the top section of the venue yeah good run super solid did everything she tried to do is exactly like she wanted to do it I believe but she's sitting second now behind Anna because anna went to the steep and one gnarly stuff on the look is right at the bottom but still second with one rider to go guaranteed podium and a first stop of the season not a bad result at all knocking Marion Aarti down into third and Maria Kuzma our last rider today out of New Zealand after being on the wilter in 2011 I believe coming back for 2019 looking for that podium spot to knock Marion anthe off and she spun course same top section is my room and also if I getting into the steep and more technical but seems like as we've talked about it a lot previously a lot of wind at the top section of the venue but the snow gets better and better by the meter of descent the rider gets down there's a little bit more lookers right further look as right than mono went more over to where giegi went and I think Nicole Kelly also had this one so you're getting off that solid probably scoped the line with her boyfriend Roland Molly Brown another super sectional but out of New Zealand he's here supporting her after coming second on the f/w last year and not quite qualifying so maybe next time for him this time for her so if I'm looking good looking very good finding a nice spot to land in there slaying some power turns in the Sun Marius still knows a thing qualified I think with the best possible score yeah three wins and the qualifiers she knows what's up since she was last on the world tour she went to university study architecture moved to New York and did some big deal jobs her and her boyfriend Roland both work in the air now both back on the snowboarding five love net slash turn I'm out surf style they live in Bali the surf influence is clear and her snowboard you can tell how much she's enjoying it look at that oh yes surfing that way of getting pitted this is just a pleasure to watch earring off that one just making it look so smooth not trying to do anything that's like you know gonna buck your style or have a hard time just enjoying the crap out of that putting some ears and strolling them clean probably the most lessons I've seen from anyone today good to see how much fun she's having just riding solid you know the snow nice Maria nice trying to think you passed the judges finishing area now so well done good to have a solid run and the bag put it on your feet the whole way down I made it look good for the first run back after seven or eight years it's amazing stuff all the lines and the Green Line being the the most rewarded of those ones I kind of like the fluidity and technique and control as well but things be good score overall how do you think it's gonna go do you think it will be very natty and get her onto the podium I think it's a podium for sure but I I'm actually even calling out one of the top spots yeah do you think should get in front of one of those who goes I don't think she can front of Ana but she could get in front of mine who so looking at it I would say sick into fourth I'm gonna go real conservative out of the seven person field of snowboard woman and say comfortably between second and fourth yeah and then makes it way down they've hiked up that in the last few days as well they've been hiking to the bottom of the venue to see as much of it as they could when it was cloudy beautiful sunny day today I don't think we've talked enough about how incredibly stoked we are to have a beautiful blue good powder day on the first day of the competition window to get this event Japan so stoked just as eager as Maria to see the score is a Nicole Anna because she's the hot seat score for Maria Kuzma is sixty six point three three and she's behind us behind matter of points there's a two-point margin I think yeah Mary was on 67 or something I think sodium sport but still a successful welcome back for Maria Koosman and fourth at her first stop after the last competition I think and how many years ago being crashed down a debris field of every watch so there we go and all over the Russian taking a first spot today Manu mandals second Marion air to third really never get one point six seven points to Mary Koosman and forth Erika Canada perfect fifty there and Nicole Kelly in walk Anaheim Rama grounding out the field but really preserve the the performance from there's no wood woman today cool to see a trick off the first feature by the first rider and the rest of the riders backing it up with solid stomps and big lines what do you think about that yeah what in the bag already unfortunate for the local shredder but kana Hama not performing as she was wishing for but I'm all over very deserved win for the Russian just freaking out right now face will to a podium but wow she looks like she's melting right now she's good performance today looking forward to next one mixed up ski woman coming at you [Music] skee women we have the ones to look out for of course the current world will to champion our III commie Arianna in the full first name and she is not shy of doing any tricks in competition vessels the Norwegian mogul skier second ever visual inspection was when she got invited to compete at the Verbier extreme and she did good there so she's be given a will to a wild card for the whole season this year and not a rookie anymore by far Jackie Paso bringing a lot of experience maybe maybe into her last season of her freeride World Tour career and she wants to go big as usual and take out the freeride world to a champion yes she does she does I read you co me opening things out today defending her world to a champion as the first rider out of the gate Elizabeth Garrett some star right out of Sweden Jackie Paso Supercenter Juliette Willman just banana smoothie to win her spots were in the f/w and region one ayane honor winning a jana sorry winning the three star here and japan hedwig vessel the wild card Jackie Pollard also qualified on the if tub cue through the America hazel Birnbaum God she's seen as the double and Verbier couple years ago still stands out in my mind more bits another big center big ears out of Verbier Switzerland also rise with it Elizabeth Garrett sent and Rachel crop I do not believe is competing today out with an injury but hopefully back for the Canadian stops are really excited to see these girls evil walking I don't think is he either hopefully she'll be back for Canada on the start list here but under the will not ski category area evil walk net and Jackie pair so important together an incredible movie if you have not seen it yet go and check it out it's called evolution of dreams and it's got probably the biggest sins and stomps you'll see from chicks and a skiing movie but first up in the game right now it's Ariana's for coming your f TT 18 champion first-ever girl to spend a 360 and if TT competition on skis and she's just about to keep on course and out of the wind here and Huck of the valley did your power stop of the world to her and don't want to call it out but the venue definitely allows a trick or two especially if you are called Madi she call me she's been riding a ton with her friends with the promise crew out of Innsbruck being influenced by their creativity and I called it out of 360 to start things off oh yeah just the way she finished and solidified her win on the Fred world - last season that's how she continues coming into this next set we've also seen some tricks of it that was a Blake hand backflip at the very start stomping an ear off there has been a really good feature haven't seemed that many people heading here but IRA making the most of it just looking so smooth and solid down here so far so happy for her she's feeling good in her skin as its directly translated from German sorry for that totally make sense in English as well holding the tails but in a strong way is like landing wasn't as expected I'm gonna stay on my feet I don't care that's where you see confidence and trust in your abilities yeah and she's been riding a lot of powder in the season she said it was hard to leave Innsbruck in Austria the people run stop is coming up in a couple of months and there has so much no right now so she was uh yeah it's nice to go to Japan but Austria is good too and I think she's looking a pretty good score here even though she's the first one out of the gate I'm gonna call it that she's gonna have a good day and maybe not come to Japan after all and that's actually what every rider has in mind to ski well for them for themselves if they know they've done a good run it can only be a good day no matter the score that's true that is exactly true man you're skiing for yourself at the end of the day and Erin style is right up there I think we're gonna be looking at a good score for our economy here first out of the gate and like you see it inspired by the project pom his crew nice three off the top absolutely stomped it and that bombed out landing big ups for that there's a lot harder than after your first person to hit a great movie with her in the crew in Norway last year doing lots of freestyle on the back country in this obviously paid off that love of ears and freestyle tricks of natural hoods she's just having such a good time out here Big Ups to the Italian girl she backed it up at the bottom of the venue ticking all the boxes pretty sure that the the writers judges will award that with a big score next up and the gate we got Elizabeth garrison and she is a super fun rider to watch she is a super fun personality and she is on course it's got a great sense of humor a great style on skis I wouldn't be surprised to see a trick out of her as well as she makes her way down through the slightly cut up section now on the Sun excusing it good even though it's probably a little bit heavy towards us went elope and taking that deep as well very solid skier from Verbier Switzerland so happy to see her back solid had a little hard time at the very beginning of her Fred will to a career not qualifying but now she is a force to be reckoned I think she found her flow she's always a little hard on herself perfectionist you know but she's putting down a pretty perfect run so far so be happy with it yeah I think she did the same as mono mono she didn't wreak Walla fie during the season but she just did the qualifiers at the same time and put herself back on the tour she's very determined focused while also being relaxed and fun stomping their ear to she's a pretty small person you know she's quite young and small but she just skis with this maturity beyond rears you know like we're saying the snow is can be a little bit funky you got a couple of the guys skiers got caught out but so far the girls just looking really solid you know just making their way down through the end of the finish so I think that's a roundabout will pass the the judging finish line so not sure if that little stops gonna mean anything for a score or not so if you just tuned in we have the venue the big triangle which opens up with a lot of features just a little recap here slo-moes of the last writer Elizabeth Garretson out of Switzerland and you see a lot of open terrain at the top with some features of transfers and a lot of small natural takeoffs really bottom you have a lot of trees and bushy area until you actually get to the finished Corral so the finish line is not the finish of the judging it's a little further up so Elizabeth Garrett some 75 points coming in a second for now you think that 75 points is the kind of score that would put you in se caen that sounds about right she's also only the seeking right out of the gate so second is you know it's seeking out of two at the moment but you know two pretty good runs you know like oh yeah don't let the school's gonna feed you too much but you know if the over seventy the pretty good jockey Paso on course now the veteran rider out of his it Sun Valley and she's heading to the first big drop going with she's always been one to push the boundaries away the size of of cliffs speed of lines now tricks just like her husband Rayna Barker had backflipping that first year under rotating a little bit and front punching back to her feet but skiing it out big ups have we seen a back foot from my check and a work if EE competition we have seen attempts on it but I can't remember or in a picture any stomped backs of of women yet in the third world to competitions we've seen it in qualifying events but not on the big league I really killed to see Jackie always pushing boundaries going look his right option now finding some nice snow in there yeah longtime computer on the freeride world tour sending pig ears and sometimes having big crashes and had a couple bad injuries but always made a way back to them is so strong and determined that strong determines how you stomp their ear as well that was super sweet where is this zone why does someone else been there yeah so happy to see Jackie finding a new zone not being like bummed out because obviously she is the girl that looking for the biggest cliff of the venue the gnarly lines but this obviously venue doesn't offer those big cliffs and exposed sections it's all about pow heaven and she takes the most of it just under rotating I'm not getting her head into the neck enough not quite giving the pop-up the take-off I think she was looking for but stomping those ones I forget sometimes she's a former mogul skier as well her and hit big missile both former Olympian local skiers or professional mogul skiers in the World Cup circuit and yeah I'm sure she's done a couple backflips in that competition circuit - so cool to see her taking it to the backcountry score up for Jaclyn Paso with a 64 still not too bad considering the crash after her backflip next rider up out of France Juliette real man and she is residing in France Germany Germany France place to be if you are freeride professional getting psyched now after pretty amazing story actually she had seven surgeries in 2016 2017 and then qualified for the World Tour in 2018 so welcome to the world tour after coming seeking and just missing out on a spot in 2016 had a tough year 2017 and made it a great year in 2018 so base of luck for 2019 and your first hit on the world tour getting a little bit bucked on that takeoff I don't think that's exactly what she was trying to do but laying down some race carve turns and there's power field skiing stream first and very confident very solid skiing maybe a little bucked off on that Ridge but she proves that was just a little funky thing she's heading to her first drop probably the fastest skier of the women's ski category so far yeah I think so she's judging picking your line quite full line down the mountain try and lay some hits together but in a way that doesn't make a need to traverse getting chairs from the bottom there's a lot of welter athletes at the bottom now and they're all stand together in the finish line cheering for the athletes that are still to come clipping a tree just like Nicole - Nicole Kelly did but just ignoring it like Nicole Kelly it's staying strong enough eat finish line now I think she's about the judges finish point you can see they had to start controlling the speed to not get hung up in the tight guys with the trees but a first run in the world so you think she'll be happy with every every run kind of way you wear your ski solidly is a good run I'm pretty sure she wanted to add on some more features as she knows how to impress the judges she didn't include too many features in her run maybe she was too fast for herself but definitely a very solid run for her first appearance on the parade world tour yeah I think so too is the re and elizabeth garrison sitting in the hot seat they're having a chat re sitting in first at the moment I think she will still be sitting there first after this run Julie at Willman gonna join the potentially on the partido with 68 points the judges like to run like you were saying really really fast and that's a that's a big thing to be able to do probably would have one to take an ear off that top spot like you're saying I got hooked up and maybe they're tricky snow but overall great start to with if the if web T career for jilly at Willman the place right now the happy camper re tree call me in the hot seat and she's the girl to beat with a 360 right out of the start here we have next rider from Japan the wild card winner of the 3 star qualifier a Jana Onizuka thank you and a little cool air out of the top nobody else has had that Oh start for her on the worst-possible just losing a ski on the second turn home crowd yeah that sucks after a cool little creative top here as well I think he kind of landed and came straight into a lot of traversed tracks that maybe she couldn't see from the top no one else has hit that little top here and you know she took it on even though she was that late in the in the field and that many traverse tracks under the under the cliff in her landing I've kind of been my downfall there Persky is we ways above her maybe they'll seen someone to grab it for her maybe she'll itself but after winning the last week I think she doesn't you have to fly to America for the X Games today like I'm pretty sure she's leaving from this competition to go to the airport you're right yeah she's a professional skier that needs to leave by noon so thank you for making the time between your X Games scheduled to compete on on the freeride world tour Ayana I'm sorry it hasn't gone well for you but I'd love to see you back sometime because you're obviously really stylish smooth ski and you've got unlucky clipping a traverse track this time best of luck at the X Games as well hope you make your flight leaving here at noon or earlier to drive to Tokyo Airport and make your way back or over to America to compete and a completely different type of event next rider up I think this is the first official freeride world tour appearance as a full time full season competitor of hedwig vessel and I think we can expect a lot in the future don't want to jinx her but the style of riding I've seen from her in the past lets me predict some big results yeah she's a strong addition to the Scandinavian crew here for professional mogul skier and she's dropping in at 30 seconds they tell us over our producers intercom but she's just putting her skis on at the moment so I think it might be a little bit longer I want to talk about a little bit more anyway I want to say that she is a really talented mobile skier really talented big mountain rider and threw a backflip at the Scandinavian big mountain Championships which is off a cliff as well it was pretty impressive to watch I saw it with my own eyes and she did that one year it crashed came back another year it did it again stomped it one that's one of the only free competitions that she's done I think you know it was at that time the a four star and no at the the roll dial four starts in home country and I think she did reasonably well did it was a first-ever visual inspection and after those few good results demonstrating she was a bit of a natural talent at big mountain skiing she got invited to the Verbier extreme so after these few competitions which had done pretty good including freestyle tricks seeking Eva competition as a visual inspection which I can't really explain how difficult that is ski to the Verbier extreme one of the most intimidating competition faces in the world ever and now she's on the world tour as a full-time participant so welcome to the sport welcome to the world - a hit whistle looking forward to seeing what you got maybe your back foot at some point in the season I'd be excited to see no pressure no pressure no no just saying yes hey reversal on course and ten seconds were seeing a back flip already today from Jackie Paso Jacob Paso is an honorary member of the Scandinavian crew being married terrain Ibaka reared so maybe they've scoped us together maybe they've talked about it do you think they'll do the same thing maybe she got inspired and potential hit strong skiing through the top section to the cut-up snow can be quite heavy once it had a bit of Sun on that so looking strong so far super Zach took that deep laid it out the surprise was this size yes then mode she was in transceiver in full scene mode today from Hedwig vessel lining up another ear scheme fast off these features getting to one of these cars now a little bit kind of cut up that snow in here so hopefully it goes well for it seems pretty strong and unperturbed so far look at the course drink this ski through a take-off unfazed by their kind of Craig Murray style just kind of looks like she's cruising like hits features and seems tricks and in between that just looks like she's relaxing but it's actually seeing superfast skiing no many more features at the bottom but what line at the top it's huge back loop holy moly setting the tone challenging the judges I think the battle is on yadi and head big for the season I'm calling it absolutely that was crazy topic from both of them not as many features below from here big I'd say you know re got on some other cool features as well she like really played around and made the most the bottom of the venue he'd be back to pop the top let's look at this book full speed full scent mouth Dom so strong country tour so amazing stuff hit with vessel but the thing is that she didn't have that much more to a run one of the first big backflips I've seen from a girl on a free I'd world to a competition so that's the thing you know do you think she'll pep re for that backflip without other as many other features in her runners are ahead or do you think re will with the 360 and and the other features hold onto a spot in the hot seat that is a big question definitely she sent the backflip way further than the 360 of re but you're right it was not as complete as we've seen from re where she read skied very playful at the bottom section compared to Hedwig skiing very strong and solid and fast actually it was run really fast but like there was a in the middle calf thought she might take a little bit more off the nose and take it a bit bigger if she's get off it really fast no hesitation but it could have taken a little bit larger so that's the kind of thing the judges look at in the comparison of people you know are you making the most of a feature or not and you know I mean the first and most important thing for me is super sick amazing runs from these girls I'm really impressed with the level today I didn't think that I'd see big threes and big backflips from girls and one competition and I'm pretty confident that hit Vic and Ariane all be first and second and big props to both of the money the helmets got two or three more riders coming up after this as well so Wow already here we hitting stack feel today from the girls third here for hit big vessel today I'm gonna have to take their all back so who do we haven't see him in still yeah yeah I was freaking out about that backward I might have got too excited about it spot on podium definitely well dessert are you staying Stoke though this is hugs and high-fives and smiles like it's a good vibe today in sunny Japan gosh you don't know how long we've been waiting for this last time we were here how long was it 10 days of no Sun just to try and get a competition done and this time it's happening so massive 140 run over all mixed up but we got next one up we have one of the rookies Jaclyn Pollard the sister of Andrew Andrew Pollard already competing in the ski man category previously Utah super nervous because all of her friends and family is watching primetime at home what has she got to offer for us today getting into the technical section at the top making her feel a little bit more at home because they compete on skied out venues usually in North America the the ski inspection so first-ever visual inspection and a major competition for Jaclyn today best of luck to her with it I know it's a super intimidating thing to do for the first time so get your feet off the ground land them on the ground stomp that landing get your confidence up right now already I bet she's feeling better you know they've got their first year under the belt starting ski into the flow and join that powder the vibe starts getting high as you come down right yes yeah I think the butterflies are out of the stomach out of the tummy and now she can get into her zone of solid skiing getting into good snow as we said the snow has been wind affected on the top but getting better as the altitude drops finding away across to the lookers right side of the venue maybe looking to get into that steep of technical zone as well still finding a lot of fresh pow you had skiers left side of the venue that's right after so many riders before as well it's so cool to see how much good snow there is left and good snow left all over the resort here if you want to come check it out looks like a good season shaping up as Jaclyn comes down towards her last feature I think she's lining up this bottom cliff and a stick technical section got one more air for us into the chute nice well held on to and that tricky snow zone were ever seen a lot of the guys skiers come down so I think she'll be pretty happy to get down first ever will to around first if a visual inspection and a major competition and what went on her feet gets down gets the season started off in the right direction I think she'll be happy with that oh yeah get the butterflies out of her tummy because visual inspection is a huge thing as they mention all the time it's a it's a different ballgame here at the third world tour where there is no chance to get your feet hands on it before the event everyone has out one try one attempt only and everything you or all they offer is eyes on event that's right so just to explain it a little bit for people who are unsure the topic that we're talking about fifty nine point three three four Jaclyn Parker anis itting and six got thirty seconds let hazel Birnbaum starts gonna try and wrap this up real quick in America in the four styles you can ski through the venue before it starts cuz I open areas to the public and Europe you cannot visual inspection versus ski inspection difficult tasks to get used to when you change hazel Birnbaum Nick's Rider and the star K American rider but with experience of visual inspection one of my favorite riders actually I love watching hazel she just charges so aggressively such a strong powerful confident and aggressive skier just a great person to watch and see what she's got for us here today yeah definitely one of the category classic big mountain rider strong and fluid going into the gnar usually of course today there is not much of an era you have to find creative lines will she offer us and the judges exactly that it's been a popular error this one over here getting off there and the same direction as geeky roofed it and cutting straight skiers a lift towards the lookers right side of the venue where it gets a bit more steep in typical down the bottom doing the power for now that you can see this stuff stuff and the Sun starting to get a little bit heavy O's not getting thrown up an ear as much as the stuff in the shade you know the /e turns like that you know you can see how soft and nice the snow is but unfortunately a lot of the features are in the Sun so that's where the riders having to go here again finding some beautiful snow to slash some turns getting pitted at they would say in surfing terminology [Music] anyway down a nice no learn something up and to that same steep technical sections we just saw a Jaclyn poet come through and earring off that so solid really bending your legs on landing she looks like she's pretty untroubled by that and oh cool double down the bottom as well at a nice little double and the very very top section and a nice double to finish it off so saw it run from hazel Josie Birnbaum get the season start on the right way that's what you want first score underneath your belt kick things off for the season another four events to come you have to know trying to get the third World Tour champion title you have to be consistent ideally in all five events but there is one throw a result so she probably keeps the little more risky maneuvers for later in the season look at this or this backdrop and there is options options and options all around us to go taste when the Sun comes out the mind explores this place has got so much potential travis rice made most of it in one of his movies recently I think that that opened up a few people's eyes to the terrain that Japan has to offer often hidden by clouds and heavy snowfalls but as here and Hazel Byrne Browns just made the most of it with the current fourth place Morbius last ride of the day after a successful competition I'm not gonna I'm gonna knock on wood and say this we haven't had any competition injuries we haven't had any problems we haven't had any distractions we haven't had me really bad wind or snow conditions we haven't had anything really go wrong today and I really hope that more bass is gonna show us a sick run finish it off in the right way we've been an incredible competition here in Japan today finally in the Sun on chorus mode bears out of Switzerland Denver be a local she has proved in the past that she is a solid skier and talking to Fred will took competition fellow competition competitors everyone says she can go big of course there are not many possibilities here on the venue to have those exposed cliffs where she loves to take up and there are plenty of those in where she lives in Bellevue but will we see a creative line out of mod bests the first appearance on the food world - a for her finding in here through there in the middle section skiing fast reminds me a little bit of Julie at Willman I think they ski together the Shred buddies and skiing fast and controlled and looking to line up some features seems to be a common theme for these two getting into a completely new zone no track so far great combination there yeah finding some good snow very steep section the steepest part of the then you know hesitation with some Slough sending it Wow super sick disregard for those rogues that was awesome how did she scope that why did nobody else Kier that was like where is it been hiding this is smart choice line of choice really no you are the last down the mountain so better be creative because then you have the best run of your life even with big number 200 yeah oh that was really really impressive I was hoping I hadn't jinxed it by saying I hope this last run goes well after such a successful competition but she totally proved me right finding a completely new zone and skiing it's so fast and powerfully just looking so OnPoint there and exactly like you say McFly finding his own that no one else's ski - even in your last bit of the whole competition rounding things out and such a cool way to see and really highly wolfram the gills today would not want to be a judge everything in the green maybe the air in style could have been pushed a little further but it is the the bottom part which is the big part of her score in the end in the top she was not hesitant but definitely not throwing it out maybe had to get off the cobwebs since she is putting a big scores out second and her first event more best seventy eight point six seven one step behind re Treecko mean what a heavy heading woman's feel today incredible what an event ah this is just such a privilege to be a part of this is sunny power today in Japan we don't get this very often and I'm so happy to see how everyone has made the most of it amazing lines from Blake ham coming out of the gate with a huge back look very first thing two more best skiing the last run of the day and finding complete in the new zone at the very bottom and being super creative and impressive has been an incredible show to watch today and Big Ups to everyone involved I never thought I would see a backflip from a girl sent in an f TT competition and not podium the level is just going through the roof unbelievable action the ladies have thrown down proved everyone wrong playful terrain they just stepped up the game and look at Elizabeth running to her good friend Maude vests on her first ever appearance on the free world tour hugging through the finish line and they're both on the podium are they awesome I wasn't sure if those worth it got knocked off now but Wow re re more than Elizabeth in is at the top three I think it is and then it's head week and I think that hit big might have even maybe you've never to talk for but water level from the girl skiing today it's so good see these hugs they can't even let her get to the finish line yet the cameras waiting for her to come and take her skis off and stand in front of the board wall at the bottom but she's too busy getting congratulated by her friends and competitors someone asked us to explain what a what's written on the top of the helmet in French you know Elizabeth complied in two years is a no brainer headache list she asked me to do a big shout out from her personally I'm pretty sure he's still watching yes and following the tour huge shout out to you buddy another person not here cuz of injury is Rachel Croft not skiing today because of a league problem I believe she will hopefully be joining us in America but that's our candidate but our each caught me backing up the will to a title win last year and then some Swiss forces mudfest the rookie and Elizabeth Garrett's and her best friend both residing or riding in Verbier finishing the podium heydrich vessel the Scandinavian the world to a wild-card out the mogul skier with the backflips throwing a huge backflip really impressing us with that not finding quite enough features down the bottom though still skiing really strolling and taking the fourth anniversary event disappointed but happy is probably what I guess she'll be a fourth in a first year event is great would have been wandering a podium with the trick amplitude like that but still pretty good hazel Birnbaum top five today and think no white of her usual caliber but good way to start the season Juliet woman getting hung up on the first feature of the day and still putting down a solid run to come top six Jackie pair so it's even Jacqueline Follet a Jana Onizuka coming ninth losing his ski unfortunately and Rachel Croft coming 11 Ayanna flying straight to the states of leave for the X Games a couple of days later you're in IC halfpipe incredible stuff from the ladies snowboard and ski side if you haven't bit on the other stops yet hopefully you bit on the stops today but if you haven't done them for the future ones you can do that with peak performance fun bit have a look for it on the world tour website freeride world tour calm and a bit on your favorite riders maybe you've got a bit more of a feel for it after seeing how they perform today and seeing who you'd like to perform better next time and sign up and win free performance gear that you can get narrated by our peak performance rider now it's a Hillary crystal telling you all about it my name is Heather guessing and I want to stand from the top of the podium as a freeride world tour champion with peak performance fun bets you can choose whoever you think will win by doing so you have the chance of winning prices from peak performance follow these instructions to enter the pen back now who would you bet on [Music] [Music] well today what an impressive performance from all of the categories and what a blooood party day in Japan we weren't sure if the weather forecast was right today I think we were too nervous to believe it was gonna be this good but no here's the weather and the snow being this good the performance from the athletes the whole team the crew a mess of things even involved in pulling this thing off a big big up for all of the crew sitting behind us making this all happen and of course the attitude and the performance of the riders great first up couldn't ask for more blue skies great power Thank You Japan thank you I got though because I'm us mixed up what do you got we got kicking horse waiting for us unfortunately not with me I'm gonna watch from home but you're gonna see some amazing action coming life from you from kicking Horse Mountain Resort Canada next up up wait [Music] [Music] thanks for joining us guys it's been a pleasure to have you with us today I'm glad that you got to witness a special event it was a real pleasure to be a part of and big shout out to all the riders for throwing down so hard going to have you with me McFly thanks for joining today and I will see you in Verbier when you were commentating the next stop exactly nothing left to say then sayonara and arigato gozaimasu arigato

Channel: Freeride World Tour

Views: 566,021

Rating: 4.5924258 out of 5

Keywords: Freeride World Tour, freeride, freeriding, freeski, skiing, ski, snowboard, snowboarding, FWT, powder, snow, Backcountry, mountains, outdoor, FWT18, 2018, Verbier, Valais, Switzerland, Suisse, Xtreme, Finale, Finals, fwt19, 2019, fwt210, japow, travis rice, tanner hall

Id: aXQnYTHspiE

Length: 211min 9sec (12669 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 19 2019