Within 30 minutes you can go from Courmayeur to Chamonix by taking the tunnel just through the Mont Blanc massif. The difference between this two places is much bigger than the distance...
The whole set up for the event here in Chamonix in huge and it`s great to be one of the riders who is qualified. It`s always a good atmosphere in the event village at the center of Chamonix where BIB draw and price giving ceremony take place.
face check
my line in Chamonix
Luckily the snowboarders start first again, this means also that we have to wake up very early on contest day: 5:30am breakfast time, 6:30 first gondola, 7:00 start hiking in the dark and finally 9:00 we are supposed to drop in.
Knowing that the snow is good, I decided to go for a line that could be good enough for a podium. I started good, had some fresh turns and went fast and clean till the double drop, which was my last feature in my run. Unfortunately I had a butt check, which was not good at all - 12th place.
always important to scope the line with different angles
"on mountain" riders meeting
upper part of my run
After watching the other riders, I went up to Aiguille du Midi together with Christina, Otto and Laura who came here for the first time. We enjoyed the great panoramic view up there and went down the "Valleè Blanche" - a 2800 vertical metre descent to Chamonix.
After missing the first FreerideWorldTour event in Revelstoke, I had a good feeling about competing in Courmayeur, Italy. Right after face check on friday weather moved in and the contest was postponed till Tuesday. Not too bad, Courmayeur is a good place to stay and we got some nice turns during that waiting period.
espresso break with Stefan and McFly
This time snowboarders started after skiers, who are about 30 competitors. As the venue did not allow so many different options, I choose a line I felt comfortable with, even if there would be quite a few tracks before I start. It could ride pretty much as planed and finished 6th place with a solid run and not taking too much risk.
Contest postponed here in Courmayeur till weather clears up. Most probably on Monday or Tuesday, we will see. Different face than the last years - looks nice too, more playfull. Good vibes in bella Italia!
The FreerideWorldTour starts right now with its first event in Revelstoke, Canada. Due to bad visibility and snowfall the contest is postponed till friday most probably. Check www.freerideworldtour for live stream, like all upcoming FWT stops this year. Good luck to all riders for the "MacDaddy" face, a venue that looks really great!
Unfortunately I didn`t go there this time because of an old injury that hurts again quite often. Luckily I still manage to ride a lot, but it needs patience, physio and quite a few kilometres on my hometrainer after riding in order to get the pain out of my foot. So I still do not feel hundert percent fit to compete, especially if there would be three FWT events in a row - Revelstoke/ CAN, Courmayeur/ ITA and Chamonix/ FRA. That`s why I took the desicion not to compete in Canada, but starting the second event. Courmayeur seems to be a good place for me anyway, as I got second place in 2012...
In the mean time I enjoy good days with new lines in the tyrolean alps, do physio and work on getting stronger. Togehter with Johannes Hoffmann I started to shoot some lines for the new film project we have, after the great success with "Time for the whiteroom" last year. See some impressions from the last hike here:
Joi hiking up
which direction to go? ...I guess better to the right!
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