Since I have already researched the FWQ-organisers’ websites and contacted some of them directly so that I can plan the upcoming winter season, I thought I would share the already published FWQ events here with you:
FWQ 4-Star
La Clusaz, France: 12 – 13 January
Hochfügen, Austria: 9 February
Eldorado Freeride, Andorra: 21 – 24 February
Taos, USA: 28 Feb – 2 March
Nendaz, Switzerland: 15 – 19 March
Röldal, Norway: 25 – 28 April
FWQ 3-Star
Stubai, Austria: 23 February
Chandolin, France: 9 – 10 March
Kitzsteinhorn, Austria: 23 March
In Austria there is also a new freeride series called Open Faces for skiers and snowboarders consisting of six FWQ events of 1 to 3 stars: open-faces.com.
According to the Freeride World Tour, there will be more than 40 FWQ events held during the 2012/2013 season, to be announced on the second week of November. A lot of these events will be one or two star events to make it easier for first-time competitors to start collecting points in the ranking system, since it can be difficult to get a starting place in the 3 and 4 star events if you don’t have a ranking yet from the previous year. This is because local FWQ organisers use the world wide seeding list to help them select athletes from the hundreds (!) of applications. More about that here. Realistically, anyone serious about qualifying for the Freeride World Tour needs to have some good results at 3 and 4 star events to be able to make the cut.
Six female skiers can qualify for FWT 2014: the top 3 from Region 1 (Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania) and the top 3 from Region 2 (North America, South America). So on the FWQ level, there is no competition between the European and the American riders.
Feel free to add any other events you know of in the comments section below!
