Written and directed by Dom Daher and co-directed by David Arnaud, What the FWT is a film presented by Alpina Watches that unveils the untold and astonishing story of the FWT, including a behind-the-scenes look into the colossal effort it takes to run an event.
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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 Stargates 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 ]
01:41 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.
01:53 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. 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. Bang!
02:38 [ Music ]
02:46 Boom, Marcus!
02:49 [ Music ]
02:51 What is going on?
02:53 What you see on TV is so beautiful.
02:57 [ 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 a 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 world champion title, 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! 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 shot 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's 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 ]
05:11 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 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 thunder over there quickly, okay? Go.
07:47 This is not the way I see it.
07:50 [ Music ]
07:54 My name is Johnny Ray, and I'm in charge of the mountain operations on all of the events.
07:59 It's the setup of everything that is seen on the mountain,
08:02 from the start gate to the production tents to the finish line.
08:05 [ Music ]
08:10 The perks of the job I would say is the flexible work hours,
08:13 [ Music ]
08:16 the team spirit,
08:19 [ Music ]
08:21 we get to spend most of our days outside.
08:24 [ Thunder ]
08:27 All the accommodation and the travel is included in the package, so it's free.
08:31 [ Music ]
08:36 The glamour of the Freeride World Tour, yeah, you live out of a suitcase,
08:40 you eat when you can, if you can, you're always dehydrated, you're always jet lagged.
08:45 [ Music ]
08:48 [ Foreign Language ]
09:02 [ Music ]
09:04 Live competition coverage has been the Freeride World Tour's signature since 2013,
09:09 but taking broadcast production to the backcountry hasn't happened without a few hiccups.
09:16 [ Music ]
09:19 And when disaster strikes, it usually starts with a seemingly innocuous phone call, just like this one.
09:28 [ Foreign Language ]
09:45 [ Foreign Language ]
09:55 [ Foreign Language ]
10:15 [ Foreign Language ]
10:29 [ Foreign Language ]
10:42 [ Foreign Language ]
10:51 [ Music ]
10:53 You learn quite quickly that plans change all the time, and you just end up adapting.
10:59 Three, two, one, with you.
11:02 Well, good morning Freeride family, we've got 30 minute delay at the moment while we wait for the light to clear out.
11:09 I would not say this is a job for everyone.
11:12 The sort of mental flexibility required,
11:15 [ Music ]
11:18 the ability to quickly change direction and do something that you didn't think was going to happen,
11:24 like a competition in a different country the day after tomorrow, those things are taxing.
11:30 This is going to be our final update of the morning, unfortunately, due to difficult light conditions,
11:36 we are going to shut it down for today.
11:38 That's right, mother nature has not played ball.
11:41 [ Foreign Language ]
11:56 [ Alarm Ringing ]
12:01 Welcome to Freeride World Tour Hotline.
12:06 Having trouble holding your competition? We're here to help.
12:09 To put your competition on hold, press one.
12:13 To postpone your competition and smash your operational budget, press two.
12:18 To cancel your competition, press three.
12:21 To move your competition to a different venue in less than 36 hours, please hold the line.
12:27 [ Music ]
12:34 All of our miracle operators are currently unavailable.
12:37 Please try again at a later time.
12:39 [ Music ]
12:43 [ Car Engine ]
12:46 [ Music ]
12:48 Alaska 2015, Freeriding's ultimate destination,
12:52 and the Freeride World Tour's first attempt at holding a competition there.
12:57 [ Music ]
13:01 Taking advantage of a short weather window, the production team sets up camp on a remote ridge facing the competition venue.
13:07 [ Music ]
13:14 Bad weather closes in, forcing the crew to camp out and look after the equipment,
13:20 while waiting for an elusive bluebird powder day to run the competition.
13:26 Little did the team know, they would spend the next nine days cut off from the world, waiting for the skies to clear up.
13:34 [ Music ]
13:55 [ Music ]
13:57 It turns out, their efforts were not in vain.
14:01 [ Music ]
14:08 Hello and welcome to Haines, Alaska for the fourth stop on the 2015 Freeride World Tour.
14:17 [ Foreign Language ]
14:35 [ Music ]
14:37 After a long wait, Alaska finally delivered, possibly the greatest Freeride World Tour event to date.
14:45 [ Music ]
14:52 [ Foreign Language ]
15:04 [ Foreign Language ]
15:10 [ Foreign Language ]
15:17 [ Music ]
15:27 We arrived on the Freeride World Tour, it's just an incredible experience.
15:31 It's like you got invited to the carnival, the flying circus.
15:36 You get around with all these amazing people to amazing places and just having a good time together.
15:40 [ Music ]
15:45 Then we do competitions every once in a while too, which can be cool.
15:49 [ Laughter ]
15:51 I just remember watching the event and being like, I just want to be one of those cool kids, you know.
15:59 It's good, I mean we're pretty much just skiing with our friends, that's all it is.
16:04 You guys are just watching, it's just a big show.
16:06 I mean we do this shit anyway, whether you guys are watching or not.
16:10 Probably even cooler actually on some of the free ski days, like I've seen the biggest stuff go down outside of the contest.
16:17 We just got the news that the comp is pushed even further, so no comp on Sunday, which means more warm up runs, more powder skiing.
16:24 Just push it.
16:26 [ Music ]
16:29 [ Foreign Language ]
16:33 [ Music ]
16:36 [ Foreign Language ]
16:43 [ Music ]
16:46 [ Foreign Language ]
16:49 [ Music ]
16:52 I remember my first World Cup that I did in Mogo when I was 16 years old.
17:00 I was so happy and I was so excited and I never thought I would be one day able to feel that way again.
17:07 To feel like I'm alive and I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do.
17:14 [ Music ]
17:18 [ Foreign Language ]
17:25 [ Foreign Language ]
17:39 [ Music ]
17:43 Since the beginning, the extreme verbier has attracted distinctly different personalities, elevated to rock star status by the fans.
17:53 [ Music ]
17:55 This is definitely the biggest crowd that I've ever played in front of.
17:58 [ Music ]
18:01 [ Foreign Language ]
18:16 [ Music ]
18:29 [ Foreign Language ]
18:45 [ Foreign Language ]
19:00 >> Whoa, I feel alive now.
19:02 [ Foreign Language ]
19:09 >> The riders, they're definitely still screw loose at best just for doing what they're doing.
19:17 >> Let's fucking go.
19:19 >> It's the same people, just a new generation of those same people.
19:22 [ Foreign Language ]
19:24 >> Everyone on the Freeride World Tour cherishes the fun times and the flamboyant traveling companions.
19:31 But a deeper bond has always united the riders.
19:37 A bond that's inextricable from freeriding's very perilous nature.
19:42 [ Music ]
20:00 >> They're kind of in this collective danger all the time.
20:05 It's such an intense period because the stress and the nerves are pretty full on.
20:11 And I think that bonds them super intensely.
20:15 [ Foreign Language ]
20:44 >> At every event there's some factor, weather, snow, we're on, we're off, we're on, we're off.
20:49 But they're just going through the ringer.
20:52 And then to have to get the head right and go on competition day is so intense.
20:58 And they go through that together.
21:00 They travel together, ride together, compete together, laugh and cry together.
21:04 [ Cheering ]
21:07 [ Foreign Language ]
21:16 >> Elizabeth Garrison jumping from fifth place to taking the overall title.
21:22 It was mathematically possible.
21:24 [ Music ]
21:26 >> It has become this instrumental part of my life and shaped the person I am today.
21:34 [ Music ]
21:37 >> I met my wife on the free world tour and so without the tour I wouldn't have my son I suppose.
21:45 [ Foreign Language ]
22:03 >> That's not the way I see it.
22:05 [ Foreign Language ]
22:09 [ Foreign Language ]
22:21 >> It's generally accepted that in judge sports the people doing the judging have no clue.
22:27 At least according to hundreds of highly qualified experts on social media.
22:33 [ Music ]
22:39 [ Laughter ]
22:42 >> However, everybody does agree on one thing.
22:46 An idea so ubiquitous, a belief so ingrained that it has become a sort of mantra.
22:52 [ Foreign Language ]
22:54 >> Free skiing has made huge progress these last five years.
22:58 [ Foreign Language ]
23:10 [ Music ]
23:17 [ Foreign Language ]
23:31 [ Music ]
23:37 >> The people who were building it and truly making it up as they went, they were like hey look what we're doing.
23:46 Can we even do this?
23:47 Who knows, let's find out.
23:49 [ Music ]
23:51 [ Foreign Language ]
23:57 [ Music ]
24:06 [ Foreign Language ]
24:14 [ Music ]
24:21 [ Foreign Language ]
24:28 [ Music ]
24:35 [ Foreign Language ]
24:40 [ Foreign Language ]
24:48 [ Music ]
25:05 >> And Marianne Lety, last rider of the day taking the win.
25:09 [ Music ]
25:14 >> I think the reason Burberry Extreme and the World Tour attracts top riders is the fact that they will progress by riding on the tour.
25:23 [ Music ]
25:30 [ Foreign Language ]
25:42 [ Music ]
25:58 >> When you're at your home mountain you do one, two hit here and then you take a lap and you do the same one, two hit.
26:02 But I think the tour is instrumental to focus that development and put it into actual big lines.
26:09 >> Max Ada, he is a legend of the sport.
26:12 [ Music ]
26:23 >> The recipe hasn't changed.
26:26 Take the who's who of free riding, put them on a steep face, then watch progression take place as they unleash their creativity on the blank canvas of the mountain.
26:37 >> It's definitely not a blank canvas.
26:39 There's like shit that works and there's stuff that doesn't.
26:42 The snow, the timing, the light, the rocks, you're not really like free to do what you want to do.
26:47 So quit it with your blank canvas bullshit.
26:50 [ Music ]
26:55 [ Foreign Language ]
27:17 [ Music ]
27:26 [ Foreign Language ]
27:33 [ Music ]
27:43 [ Foreign Language ]
27:49 >> I'm back at my seat.
27:51 >> They're the younger generation that grew up on free ride team.
27:55 [ Music ]
27:58 >> They're used to having coaches and being smart and calculated which I think is really cool.
28:03 >> Laying out the backflip and connecting.
28:05 Marcus Goguen.
28:07 >> This is the future right there.
28:10 [ Music ]
28:16 [ Foreign Language ]
28:29 >> This new generation has taken the free ride world tour by storm.
28:34 These athletes may be the ultimate free riders perfectly adapted to their environment.
28:40 The end game of three decades of back country Darwinism.
28:44 The tour serves as a unique platform to showcase these rising stars progression in real time with global audiences bearing witness.
28:53 [ Background Sounds ]
29:01 >> Well that's not the way I see it.
29:03 [ Background Sounds ]
29:06 >> Welcome, welcome, welcome to Fiber Bridge.
29:09 Kicking horse for Kira Perret.
29:11 Extreme verbiage.
29:13 It's pretty magic when it all comes together and all the stuff that everyone did to make it happen is happening.
29:18 [ Background Sounds ]
29:27 >> You can hear on the radio that the 150 plus people that have a role are all in an event mode.
29:34 That's a satisfaction that gives me goose bumps.
29:38 [ Background Sounds ]
29:40 >> Volunteer, pilot, director, it doesn't matter who it is.
29:45 Everybody is actually giving the most out of himself.
29:48 [ Background Sounds ]
29:55 >> So many things at stake, so many things at play.
29:57 It's all coming down to this.
29:59 [ Background Sounds ]
30:07 >> The realities of living life on the Free Ride World Tour differ from one person to the next.
30:13 Competition days are the great unifier.
30:16 [ Background Sounds ]
30:18 >> Riders, judges, and staff.
30:21 This is what they all live for.
30:24 [ Background Sounds ]
30:38 [ Foreign Language ]
31:03 >> It's the most demanding job that there is.
31:07 So I like to push myself because I'm always building up some images in my mind that I would like to do.
31:12 And if you succeed to do them, then I'm like a happy kid in the helicopter.
31:17 [ Background Sounds ]
31:21 >> The most intimidating venue in sport, the [inaudible]
31:26 This is the grand finale of the Free Ride World Tour.
31:30 >> I see people throw up on the start, on the way, on the hike, because they're really, really nervous.
31:37 The worst part I would say is one, two minutes before the start gate because you're not ready to go, but it's almost your turn.
31:45 [ Background Sounds ]
31:48 [ Foreign Language ]
31:58 [ Foreign Language ]
32:04 [ Music ]
32:07 >> If you win the extreme, that is something that just cements your place in the hall of fame.
32:12 [ Foreign Language ]
32:17 [ Background Sounds ]
32:24 [ Foreign Language ]
32:32 [ Music ]
32:37 >> When the satellite feed is working and the camera's not blurry and I'm not bumbling my words and it's not minus 30 and the powder's good and the riders are firing.
32:49 When things are just clicking, there's just kind of an effortlessness to it.
32:56 [ Background Sounds ]
33:00 >> The crazy thing happens as soon as you drop in, that nervousness is just switched to some sort of autopilot.
33:07 [ Music ]
33:14 >> It's a really crazy feeling.
33:17 [ Music ]
33:20 [ Foreign Language ]
33:29 [ Music ]
33:45 [ Background Sounds ]
33:51 [ Music ]
34:09 [ Foreign Language ]
34:38 [ Music ]
35:04 >> These are the magical moments that forge everlasting memories.
35:08 But there are times when nothing goes according to plan.
35:12 [ Background Sounds ]
35:17 [ Background Sounds ]
35:46 >> Okay, good morning.
35:47 I just had a call from Claude Arrin who mined the Bec d'Héros and basically the whole mountain came down.
35:56 It is unrideable in safe conditions and we decided that the event is cancelled.
36:07 [ Applause ]
36:21 >> After 30 years, the extreme Verbier is cancelled for the first time.
36:26 But not much changes really.
36:31 The champagne flows and the world champs claim their crowns while the ops team digs holes in the snow.
36:37 [ Music ]
36:41 >> So to go back to our initial question, what the [bleep]?
36:47 Well, it's complicated.
36:51 [ Music ]
37:20 [ Background Sounds ]
37:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]