FWT Russia

Sitting in the hotel and watching the snow flakes falling down... that is what we are doing today, as ski resort is closed because of too much snow! No joke, started this night and same forecast for the next days. Wish I could bring some snow back home, but exess package is just to expensive ;)

06:00 first gondola up on the mountain

Contest is done, got 6th place overall here in Russia. We have had two contest runs on different faces, an easy first day and an interesting venue for the second day. I ended up 7th place the first day and 3rd place yesterday. I`m happy about my run yesterday, first day was ok but it took me long to pick a line and finally I came to the start just 5 minutes before I had to drop in. Not perfect, but my fault...

my line - contest day 2

My friends Flo Orley and Mitch Tölderer got 1. and 2. place - yeahhh!!

The best run anyway was right after contest. Samuel Anthamatten, by the way winner in ski category - congrats!!! and me did an insane russian spine line. Terrain here offers crazy stuff, from magic treeruns to steep lines like in Alaska... it was super nice days here in Krasnaya Polyana!!! I`ll definitely come back!

"Doppelmayer" gondolas in Krasnya Polyana

Samuel and my "spine line" - so fucking good!!

riders meeting

FWT Russia

Just arrived in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia for the next Freeride World Tour event. Today we could ride some really nice treeruns with 30cm fresh powder - I like :)

Due to safety reason we can`t go for the contest face which was planed, so idea is to have a first run on easy terrain tomorrow and a second contest day on Sunday. Both runs will count together.

I`m not very happy with the venue for tomorrow, but I`ll do my best to find a nice line...

Here some first impressions of the "russian adventure"

unbelieveable:!! Security check before getting in the gondola

constructions everywhere

russian military taking care of the mountains

no words needed...!!

1970`s or russia anno 2011: old school !!

Stefan gets some snack from the supermarket

dirty roads

steet flair...

PowPow session & RedBull TV

After some weeks of spring conditions it seems like winter decided to strike back!! Fresh snow and blue bird - PowPow session deluxe!!

Alex, Burger, Mitch and me had a super nice week riding powder all day long... Steep couloirs, high speed lines, cliff drops and finally cold beer. What else do we need?

me having fun...

Burger and me having even more fun!!

on the way up

Wednesday I gonna go to Rusia, Sochi where the next stop of the Freeride World Tour takes place. They just opened a new resort, which is pretty sick by the way - so we definitly will have lot of fun shredding the Caucasus mountains beside having the contest, planed for Saturday this week.

The 2nd RedBull TV Episode of the Freeride World Tour Chamonix is online - just click on the Logo...

min. 3:40 - me dropping in, ended up 8th place. Ok for the first contest this year after my injury in April.

Happy to be back after lots of physiotherapy and training - riding powder and being out there in the mountains is just so much fun!!

Take care and enjoy the fresh snow, maX

FWT report @ RedBull TV

RedBull TV sended a Film Crew to capture what happpens at the Freeride World Tour. Focus is on the Austrians who are competing with background information about us riders. The first 26min edit has already been telecasted on TV and here is the link to the RedBull Mediathek.

- min 15.00 Xavier de Le Rue talking about me as a strong rider in the Tour...

- min 20:00 Stefan Häusl and me hiking a Steep Couloir at Chamonix called "Les Courtes"

- min 22:50 Face check(Courmayeur), forerunner going down the face

Click on the logo and have fun watching it!!

FWT Safety session

Avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe, "snowpuls" airbag, helmet and back protection - I NEVER go in the backcountry without!!

BUT keep in mind: In case of an accident it`s all about time!! Make sure you know how to use saftey stuff and how to organize the rest of the group...


Mr.Jeremy Prevost, not sure if I wanna ride with you again... Get new batteries! ;)

FWQ 4* Hochfügen

Another time close to the podium... Beside the Freeride World Tour events, I decided to compete also in the 4*FWQ Hochfügen. The contest face is pretty sick, snow contitions were good, specially considering there is not as much snow in Europe as we would like to have...!!

The line I choose was a pretty tecnical and steep one. When I came to the narrow entry I was really suprised of what I saw, there were already so many rocks uncovered by a rider before me, so I could not ride the first part of my line as clean and fast as I wanted. Nevertheless the lower part was good and fast, ended up 4th place. Was a funny weekend!

steep part - high speed :)

exit of my line - pics by chalkjunkie.at

Congrats to Emilien Badoux/ SUI and the other riders on the podium! Good level of riding, I`m sure we will see some of the riders soon in the FWT!!


Organization was perfect, thanks for the original "Tiroler Abend" the day before contest! I´m sure all the riders who have been up there enjoyed this nice dinner including traditional tyrolian music, schnaps etc.

Looking foreward to next year!

FWT Engadin - St.Moritz

2. Mitch Tölderer, 1. Matt Annetts, 3. Flo Orley

Got 4th place in the 2nd stop of the Freeride World Tour, which took place at the Corvatsch north face close to St. Moritz, Switzerland. It`s hard to tell how much this means to me, as after my injury last spring I still have to be very carefull and take it pretty easy. I`m not able to go for big drops, but nevertheless I scoped a line with some nice smaller size drops and a steep technical part in the middle. I could ride the line super clean, fast and it was just a good feeling riding down the face because snow conditions this time were really good! Super happy!!

Finally just 0,2 points made the difference to podium. Beside the main judging there was also a VIP Judging consisting of Björn Dunkerbeck, Ueli Kestenholz, Tanja Frieden and Freddy Nock who judged me 2nd place. Yeahh!!

Corvatsch gondola, where we had to rope down to enter the face

unbreakable Andy Finch after his crash

Andi: "That was awesome...!!" first words he said in the finish... crazy Americans ;)

The day after competition "The Austrians" went up the the Julier pass for a nice hike. The RedBull/ Servus TV joined us and we got some good footage for their 9x 26min TV show, starting soon!! The focus of corse in on the Tour and the Austrians, who are competing. Beside it shows, how we prepare for the contest, how to choose the line, how much fun we have... and whatever else we do - Harry and Stefan are always around to document what is happening.

Yesterday I went to Salzburg to the RedBull/ Servus TV studio. Pristach Matthias(organizer of the 4* FWQ Hochfügen) and me were invited to a studio talk. It was really fun and interesting there, we looked really way better with makeup :)

It was LIVE on Air - link to the show soon, as it`s not online yet.