The Freeride World Tour has witnessed an exponential increase in the skill level of its athletes over time. Some riders now possess technical skills that the pioneers couldn't even dream of. Conversely, newcomers have grown up drawing inspiration from the FWT's images, before becoming its players in their own right.
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00:00 What the f***?
00:02 When I wear my binoculars, I'm a judge.
00:05 I'm no longer the friend with whom I'm going to share a beer in the evening,
00:10 or with whom we're going to discuss a line.
00:13 It's my job.
00:15 It's generally accepted that in judge sports,
00:18 the people doing the judging have no clue.
00:21 At least, according to hundreds of highly qualified experts on social media.
00:26 At least, according to hundreds of highly qualified experts on social media.
00:30 However, everybody does agree on one thing.
00:44 An idea so ubiquitous, a belief so ingrained,
00:48 that it has become a sort of mantra.
00:50 I think the level will increase every year.
00:52 Free skiing has made huge progress these last five years.
00:55 Riding has evolved dramatically.
00:57 Lines that we were not even looking at five years ago.
01:00 There's a progression in freeride that's amazing.
01:03 Things we didn't imagine five years ago.
01:05 There's an emulation, motivation, progression.
01:07 It's been almost 25 years since riders went down the Bec des Rosses
01:17 to do the Verbiers Extreme.
01:23 There was a mountain, there was always a judgement.
01:25 Yet the level changes, the way down changes.
01:29 I remember the first tricks, it was extraordinary.
01:51 Evolution is crazy in such a short period of time.
01:55 The speed of the guy who goes down the Bec des Rosses
02:07 at more than 100 km/h on some passages,
02:09 it's pretty crazy.
02:19 It makes sport evolve,
02:21 while at the same time the athletes,
02:23 each new rider will take it and add it to their sauce.
02:26 The historic lines in freeride competitions
02:39 are rarely lines that we copied.
02:42 They're people who invent, who create.
02:46 The world's first freeride competition
02:49 is held in the Bec des Rosses.
02:52 And Marion Letty, last rider of the day, taking the win.
03:06 Putting down a run that everyone's going to remember.
03:12 I think the reason Verbiers Extreme and the World Tour
03:15 attract top riders is the fact that they will progress
03:19 by riding on the Tour.
03:21 Every time there are wildcards coming,
03:29 mega riders, you think,
03:31 "Wow, the guy's going to come, he's going to destroy us,
03:33 he's so strong, you saw him,
03:35 he made such a movie, such a video part, etc."
03:37 But the competition is something really specific.
03:41 You can't be there, redo the line two or three times,
03:43 wait for it to snow again, redo the run,
03:45 and then this time you put it down,
03:47 and everyone thinks you do that every day,
03:49 when you actually put 10 boxes in your mouth.
03:51 Here you have one run.
03:53 When you're at your home mountain, you do one, two hit here,
03:57 and then you take a lap and you do the same one, two hit.
04:00 But I think the Tour is instrumental to focus that development
04:04 and put it into actual big lines.
04:07 Max Eder, he is a legend of the sport.
04:11 Look, he's lining up.
04:13 Oh, he's got a three!
04:15 The recipe hasn't changed.
04:23 Take the who's who of freeriding,
04:25 put them on a steep face,
04:27 then watch progression take place
04:30 as they unleash their creativity
04:32 on the blank canvas of the mountain.
04:34 It's definitely not a blank canvas.
04:37 There's shit that works and there's stuff that doesn't.
04:39 The snow, the timing, the light, the rocks,
04:42 you're not really free to do what you want to do.
04:45 So quit it with your blank canvas bullshit.
04:48 In 2022, we saw the appearance of Max,
04:57 Chablot, Palm,
04:59 and they showed what is now the base,
05:04 very strong in the steep face,
05:07 and also very good freestylers.
05:09 They do both, they do everything.
05:11 They do it very, very well.
05:14 We always say that the mountain is something of experience,
05:26 and it's going to take years.
05:28 And now the guys are coming and they're breaking the record, really.
05:31 Spinning into the couloir, bouncing off that like it was a bogey.
05:35 Big Becky pulls it around, rides up so fast.
05:39 It's like playing PlayStation.
05:41 Cross, circle, button, tap, tap, tap.
05:43 Video games 20 years ago,
05:45 it was impossible to do what they do now in real life.
05:47 I'm back at my seat.
05:49 They're the younger generation that grew up on Freeride Team.
05:52 They're used to having coaches and being smart and calculated,
05:59 which I think is really cool.
06:01 Laying out the backflip and connecting.
06:03 Marcus Goguen.
06:05 It's the future right there.
06:07 Massive off the bottom.
06:10 Oh, he can make it.
06:12 They're kids who were born watching videos of the Freeride World Tour.
06:18 For most of them, they have a hard time realizing it,
06:23 and saying that they're there and they're making history.
06:27 This new generation has taken the Freeride World Tour by storm.
06:31 These athletes may be the ultimate freeriders,
06:34 perfectly adapted to their environment.
06:37 The endgame of three decades of backcountry Darwinism.
06:42 The tour serves as a unique platform
06:45 to showcase these rising stars' progression in real time,
06:48 with global audiences bearing witness.
06:52 Ten, nine, eight, seven.
06:57 Well, that's not the way I see it.
07:00 I see people throw up on the start,
07:06 because they're really, really nervous.
07:09 So many things at stake, so many things at play.
07:13 It's all coming down to this.
07:15 What the f***?
07:17 (beep)
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