Their names are Andrew Pollard, Reine Barkered or Justine Lapointe-Dufour. All of them participate or have participated in the Freeride World Tour, but few of them manage to explain what it actually represents, as the feeling felt seems so unique.
What the FWT is a film presented by Alpina Watches that unveils the astonishing story of the FWT, including a behind-the-scenes look into the colossal effort it takes to run an event. For over 15 years, the FWT has been at the center of freeriding, helping to launch the careers of some of the biggest names in freeriding history. It has also been an integral part of the evolution of the sport itself, owing to the endless stream of young talent each year that brings new tricks and novel approaches to competition.
For more Freeride World Tour videos, visit https://www.freerideworldtour.com
Follow the FWT:
https://www.instagram.com/freerideworldtour/
https://twitter.com/FreerideWTour
https://www.facebook.com/FreerideWorldTour
https://www.tiktok.com/@freeridewtour
What the FWT is a film presented by Alpina Watches that unveils the astonishing story of the FWT, including a behind-the-scenes look into the colossal effort it takes to run an event. For over 15 years, the FWT has been at the center of freeriding, helping to launch the careers of some of the biggest names in freeriding history. It has also been an integral part of the evolution of the sport itself, owing to the endless stream of young talent each year that brings new tricks and novel approaches to competition.
For more Freeride World Tour videos, visit https://www.freerideworldtour.com
Follow the FWT:
https://www.instagram.com/freerideworldtour/
https://twitter.com/FreerideWTour
https://www.facebook.com/FreerideWorldTour
https://www.tiktok.com/@freeridewtour
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [ Sound of waves ]
00:08 [ Music ]
00:29 The Bec d'Oraz and Verbier, Switzerland.
00:32 The temple of free riding.
00:35 This is where everything began nearly 30 years ago.
00:42 And where everything ends.
00:43 Every single winter in late March.
00:47 [ Sound of people running ]
00:53 This mountain evokes countless emotions.
00:57 Running the gamut from elation to despair.
01:01 Bizarrely, the attraction to riding steep slopes has gone global.
01:08 Start gates are popping up on mountaintops around the world.
01:12 [ Speaking in French ]
01:20 The recipe remains unchanged.
01:24 Incredible scenery, steep riding, winners, losers, parties, and all the rest.
01:31 [ Music ]
01:38 No one's ever done that.
01:40 The lifestyle, the highs and lows, the community.
01:45 It looks like a unique experience.
01:48 Yet no one can agree on exactly how to describe it.
01:52 In the end, it all comes down to a simple question.
01:56 What the f***?
01:59 [ Music ]
02:04 [ Beep ]
02:06 Describe the Freeride World Tour to someone who doesn't know anything about it.
02:11 Yeah, the Freeride World Tour is, it's actually really hard to describe.
02:15 It's kind of unique.
02:17 Like, it's clear but it's not clear.
02:21 There's a starting gate and a finish line.
02:23 And whoever can balance the risk and reward and ski the hardest run, the smoothest, essentially wins.
02:30 [ Music ]
02:34 Abel putting himself on top of this massive pillar.
02:37 Bang!
02:39 [ Music ]
02:46 Boom, Marcus!
02:49 [ Music ]
02:51 What is going on?
02:53 What you see on TV is so beautiful.
02:56 [ Music ]
03:00 The absolute tip-top riders pushing themselves in huge terrain.
03:05 [ Music ]
03:12 The tour can definitely make or break your career.
03:16 [ Music ]
03:19 It's the top, it's the only thing you want to have access to.
03:23 The day you win the title of world champion, you're a bit on the marble.
03:27 There's something, it's hard.
03:30 [ Music ]
03:32 Ten years ago, I was that little kid going to all the riders, getting some autographs.
03:37 Young rider, Max, is he going to come around?
03:40 Max with the double clean!
03:42 The first double backflip in Freeride World Tour competition.
03:45 [ Screaming ]
03:46 And yesterday, I was the one giving the autograph and they showed videos of me on the TV.
03:52 And that feeling was just insane.
03:54 [ Screaming ]
03:56 [ Music ]
04:00 The girls and boys dominating the Freeride World Tour nowadays weren't even born when this all began.
04:06 What's the secret to longevity?
04:09 What kept Freeride World Tour going all these years? I think it's its leader.
04:16 [ Music ]
04:20 The year is 1994.
04:23 A bright and ambitious young man named Nicholas Hale Woods has a visionary idea.
04:29 To become president of Landlocked Switzerland's surfing association.
04:35 [ Music ]
04:44 The Swiss Surfing Association definitely has a future.
04:47 Fortunately, Nicholas Hale Woods together with friend Philippe Boutet had another much better idea.
04:54 To bring the world's best mountain surfers to Verbier, Switzerland.
04:59 The Extreme Verbier is born.
05:03 [ Music ]
05:12 It's the good shit.
05:14 [ Music ]
05:30 Born in the 90s is a risky term when it comes to sport, especially fringe sport.
05:36 [ Music ]
05:39 There's a lot of born in the 90s fringe sports that aren't around anymore.
05:43 And we don't see a lot of rollerblading these days.
05:47 [ Music ]
05:50 Competitive Freeride has kind of ridden the wave and it's stayed, I think, in a huge part.
05:58 Because it's just so beautiful to watch.
06:00 [ Music ]
06:06 [ Speaking in French ]
06:11 As of year one, when we saw the first edition of Verbier Extreme, we felt that there was a huge potential.
06:17 [ Music ]
06:20 It became clear very quickly that we could go as far as freeriding in the Olympics.
06:27 [ Music ]
06:30 But there's been very, very tough moments when finances, sponsorship doesn't cooperate.
06:36 [ Music ]
06:38 Weather doesn't cooperate.
06:40 But at no moment I felt like we were going to shut down.
06:44 It has a potential that we have a responsibility to not let down and to grow.
06:52 [ Music ]
06:56 And then the final step, or the last before final step, is the merge with FIS.
07:03 [ Music ]
07:05 New events, a bigger network.
07:09 That brings us to the next level.
07:13 [ Music ]
07:16 The ultimate step being the Olympics, most probably as of 2030.
07:22 Nearly three decades after the inaugural edition of the Extreme Verbier,
07:26 the Freeride World Tour has grown into the global freeriding circuit.
07:31 [ Music ]
07:33 It's where the planet's elite riders come with dreams of rock star status,
07:37 glamorous lifestyles, and eternal freeride glory.
07:42 [ Music ]
07:44 Okay guys, let's go fix this binder over there quickly, okay? Go.
07:47 This is not the way I see it.
07:50 [ Music ]
08:01 What the [bleep]
08:03 (beep)
08:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]