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Last week I got the opportunity to ride on the world’s biggest freestyle back-country event in Vars.

Great mountains even at 7am!

Events like the Red Bull Linecatcher are the ultimate in our sport. The mix between freestyle skiing and the mountains is one of a kind and the hardest thing in skiing. For this type of skiing, the athlete needs to be in top shape, needs to be aware of avalanches, but also be aware of the risks of skiing in such terrains. It takes a lot of skill to bring all these tricks from the park to the big mountain area and to get away with clean runs, without big falls between the rocks on a steep face. That is why top skiers from all over the world took part in Vars and offered to show their skills to the public. Sage-Cattabriga Alonsa, Cr Johnson, Candide Thovex, Anthony Boronowski, Sean Pettit, Tim Durtchi, Richard Permin, Jp Auclair,…were just but a few names of these great riders.

Tanner Hall broke his tibiae and both knees in the spring, and after 5 surgeries, he still described the event ‘the best event in the season’.

My team mate Cr Johnson shoved me what’s up and at the end took 3rd place..Respect bro!!

After the first day of shredding a meter layer of powder on 2m of base and scooping the line for qualis, I was pretty much lost what to do and how to get down again as big as I can, or can’t. That’s why it was really important for me to take a photo of the face and figure it out that way. On the photo everything looks so easy and small, but when you are out there it’s a different story.

Going through my lines over and over again.

Interviews were the event’s dark side; when you are there you just want to ski, nothing else.

Minutes before the first qualification drop…can you see the line from here? I guess so.

Hiking kept us from freezing…-22 degrees at 7 a.m

The qualifications were heavy. Such good skiing on the Europa’s highest level offered a great show to the public. 12 riders and almost 24 different lines were the point of Red Bull Linecatcher. We killed the face and had a smile on our faces all day long. After qualifications only 2 spots were open for the finals. I couldn’t better Victor and Leo so I had to please myself with only side-watching the finals. In my opinion I did a good job. Did the double set cliff, some small jumps, 360 over the windlip in the first run, a big 360 over the cliff and at the big bottom cliff where I expected a harder impact upon landing. I am happy with this performance on my first ever freestyle/bc event and stoked to get back here next year!

Hucking the bottom cliff and landing it easy