I was lucky enough to get an invite into the first stop of the Freeride World Tour at Revelstoke, BC at the beginning of January. It was a little bit short notice, getting the invite a few days before Christmas, but with no snow on the ground in Tahoe, I had no problem saying yes.
I had a feeling we'd be shredding the same face that my late brother Arne tore apart in 2010, and I couldn't help but check out his line (below), and considered trying to slay it.
The problem with Arne's line, is that he makes it look so incredibly easy and effortless. Seeing the face in person, I knew it wasn't, and knew that I couldn't do him and his line justice. Also, the snow was super sugary on and around the rocks, so it didn't seem like a safe line to ride.
I found another line that was pretty much straight fall line from the start to finish, and that's never a bad thing. From my video, you can tell which part of the line I was uncertain of, as I hesitated a bit to make sure there weren't any hidden sharks and to make sure I was in the right spot. This may have hurt my fluidity score a bit, but I'll put my safety over my score any day of the week.
As you can see in my video, I ended up on the top of the podium! A very special win for me since Arne also had his first comp win on the same venue. I had had many podiums in the past, including a 1st at Kirkwood the year before the TNF Masters tour started, and numerous 2nds and 3rds over the past 3 years, but this one definitely takes the cake.
Just a couple more days and I'm off to Chamonix and Courmayeur for the next two stops on the Freeride World Tour!
Here's another angle of my run from MSI/The North Face Masters