[Freeride World Tour 2023] YETI Xtreme Verbier – New champions are crowned as Stop Five is canceled amid snow safety concerns

Cover Photo – Jeremy Bernard

The 2023 Freeride World Tour has travel to a adjacent contiguous successful Verbier, Switzerland arsenic the 5th halt of the tour, the YETI Xtreme Verbier, has been officially canceled. With incredibly hazardous winds and snowfall conditions, the Tour was forced to cancel the last stop. While the quality is disappointing, photos of the existent fracture lines connected the Bec des Rosses look (featured successful the Photo Gallery below) amusement the magnitude of these slides, and they are nary joke. The good folks astatine the Freeride World Tour privation to enactment connected a large lawsuit arsenic overmuch arsenic we privation to spot it, and arsenic overmuch arsenic the athletes privation to ride, but information is the apical priority.

The FWT released the pursuing connection regarding their decision.

Verbier, Switzerland – March 28, 2023: Heavy snowfalls implicit the past 48 hours – including upwind gusts of 135 km/h – person generated highly hazardous conditions connected the Bec des Rosses, making the venue unsafe for riding and leaving organizers with nary enactment different than to cancel the iconic event. All lifts to the venue person been closed since Saturday, owing to the unremitting upwind and avalanche danger, which is presently 4 retired of five. Mountain guides, unneurotic with the Freeride World Tour laminitis and commissioner, assessed the concern from a chopper yesterday, but information teams were lone capable to entree the venue this morning. Unfortunately, during the information works this greeting aggregate layers of snowfall released to signifier large, wide avalanches, leaving terrain that is unrideable to adjacent the astir seasoned large upland specialist. Today was the lone viable enactment for contention and, with much clouds and snowfall forecast for the day and the remainder of the week, the Bec volition proceed to beryllium excessively unsafe for FWT athletes, preventing the lawsuit from running.

Special shoutout to the 1 and only, the Mayor of Stomptown, the Swedish stud Reine Barkered. Reine has been connected the Freeride World Tour of a stunning 15 seasons now. He has countless accolades nether his belt, including a FWT World Champion rubric successful 2012. While we didn’t get to spot him spell retired successful benignant today, we wanted to convey him for each helium has fixed and continues to springiness to the athletics of freeride skiing. He precocious did a wonderful interview with the good folks of Downdays.eu which is good worthy the read.

This is 2nd clip successful past that the iconic YETI Xtreme Verbier has been canceled. It is simply a pugnacious extremity to the play for each the riders who had enactment successful truthful overmuch effort and clip to get the accidental to vie for the title. That being said, the 2023 FWT World Champions were crowned based connected the existent standings, and determination tin beryllium nary uncertainty that their titles were hard earned. It was a terrific season, and aft 4 terrifically competitory stops Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Valentin Rainer were crowned arsenic World Champions.

Women’s Ski Podium Final Standings

1. Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN)
2. Molly Armanino (USA)
3. Megane Betend (FRA)

‘I americium speechless. Honestly, I did not recognize this would hap today, but present I americium satellite champion. I person been moving truthful hard the past fewer months, but present I americium feeling truthful arrogant of each the hard enactment and self-belief. To decorativeness the play with this rubric means the satellite to me. This was my imagination coming into freeride, but I ne'er thought it would beryllium imaginable this fast. I americium truthful blessed I made the power to freeriding and the fantastic satellite of the FWT, and I americium excited to what’s adjacent – this is conscionable the beginning.‘ – Justine Dufour-Lapointe

Men’s Ski Podium Final Standings

1. Valentin Rainer (AUT)
2. Maxime Chabloz (SUI)
3. Andrew Pollard (USA)

“Unbelievable to triumph the title. I was prepared for a contention today, but Mother Nature was benignant of connected my side, I would say. I would person inactive wished to bash a tally present astatine Verbier, but we volition adjacent year! It was a truly bully season; everything from the archetypal halt onwards was awesome – a imagination play for sure.” – Valentin Rainer

The Yeti podium, AKA the YODIUM!

Click here for the authoritative FWT recap of the cancelation and the crowning of your caller FWT World Champions.

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Photo Gallery

Images courtesy of the Freeride World Tour

Photography – Jeremy Bernard & Dominique Daher