First Freeride Talk presented by TIROL: A look at the backcountry of the freeride sport
Last updated on 21.03.2022
Freeride World Tour debut winner Max Hitzig, Olympic giant slalom champion Viktoria Rebensburg, Red Bull Skydive Team pilot Marco Waltenspiel, ex-snowboard pro and photographer Tom Klocker and snowboard freestyle ace Werni Stock: a high-calibre group met last Tuesday at the TUI Blue Fieberbrunn to talk about freeride sports together with host Stefan Steinacher.
24 hours after Max Hitzig crowned himself FWT debut winner at Wildseeloder, the 19-year-old Vorarlberg native gave an insight into his emotional world. “I can only slowly realise it now, what I get to experience. It’s madness.” Viktoria Rebensburg and Marco Waltenspiel agreed in the talk that it is really hard to set a playful-looking run in the snow. “It’s steep, narrow, the snow is different. You can only see the face from a distance, the high speed and the tricks – it’s an incredible achievement to ski like that,” said Rebensburg.
Content creators inspire hundreds of thousands on the net and in front of their screens
But not only Hitzig, also snowboard freestyle ass Werni Stock celebrated his contest debut at the FWT in Fieberbrunn. This is completely new territory for him, after all Stock has dedicated himself to filmmaking in recent years. In the meantime, he generates content that is called up and watched by millions of people. The fact that the production of media content is a very big topic in freeride sport also became clear in the conversation with Tom Klocker. He inspires around 240,000 people with his content on Instagram. “I want to motivate people with my pictures for the sport, but also for the enjoyment of nature,” says the Zillertal native.
In any case, the first Freeride Talk presented by TIROL has awakened the spirit of adventure. One hour of talk with top-class guests – that cries out for a second edition.
At the end of the Freeride World Tour, the Juniors were in charge in Fieberbrunn last weekend.
The best up-and-coming freeriders in the world showed their skills at a 3-star event at Wildseeloder.
The starting signal for the young guns of the scene was given at the Wildseeloderhaus. With strong international participation, impressive tricks were conjured up in the snow in the various age categories for both boys and girls.
David Tschurtschentaler from Fieberbrunnen took a surprising home victory in his category.
The 16-year-old David Tschurtschentaler from Fieberbrunnen managed to do an impressive line on his home mountain, which made him the winner in his category: “I am extremely surprised, but of course also happy”, explains Tschurtschentaler. A look at the list of results in the U18 category shows how internationally strong the line-up was in the Juniors competition: Vetle Gangeskar (NOR) and Sonja Taudien (SUI) were ahead on skis, Vaughn Hardwick (AUS) and Teodora Ilieva (BUL) on snowboard.
The 3-star junior competition at Wildseelder marked the end of a more than successful freeride week in Fieberbrunn. The World Tour Contest on Monday, the Freeride Talk presented by TIROL, live bands, DJs and a whole host of freeriding programmes made it clear once again why Fieberbrunn is the hotspot of the scene. And this for at least another five years – the contract with the Freeride World Tour was extended accordingly.
