This came in just few minutes ago from our man Jarkko Henttonen on the Freeride World Tour. Jarkko works as a competition judge on the tour and reports to Homeboy throughout the world tour. Read what Jarkko has to say after the first day in Krasnaya Poliana.

Freeride World Tour starting in Krasnaya Poliana in Russia

I went up today. First, in the morning, I joined organizing crew for a venue check. The group, which included FWT managers Nicolas Hale-Woods and Regis Savioz, was lead by French mountain guide Jerome Ruby. Monsieur Ruby is super legendary extreme athlete who used to compete in the Verbier Xtreme in the 90s and beginning of this decade as well, so he really knows what he is doing, which of course is absolutely necessary in order to have people moving around safely in avalanche terrain. After we had scoped the spots, I didn’t need to work anymore, so I joined two Finnish girls, Kaisa Härkönen and Anniina Karvinen, and a Swiss girl Nathalie Zenklusen for some fun afternoon runs in the forests around the lift.

I must say Krasnaya Poliana ski resort is super good for treeriding, and that suits me well as I like riding in the trees better than anything. The lift is kind of slow, it is fairly old, but it offers access to some really cool terrain. Naturally it would be more fun to be here if the top 60 freeriders of the world were not here..

Anyways, the trees here are sick, and actually I thought it was tons of fun watching guys like Winsted, Zachrisson and Magnusson and girls like Anni, Kaisa and Nathalie as well as many others to rip it up just for the fun of it. One of the local heliski guides, who has skied all over the world, thinks this is the best place in the world to do treeruns, and he might be right. I did not see too much of it yet, but sure as hell Krasnaya Poliana rocks!

And the snow in here.. it’s awesome!

I noticed how the snow is really good here. On the top section I’d say there was about half a meter of it, and it was of good quality. Maybe it was a bit heavy. Compared to Utah, that is… I think there is a little bit of moisture in there, which actually is good because you don’t go through, but it was still really fluffy, it sprayed like mad, blocking visibility for seconds at times. The base is pretty thick, so it was bottomless all the way; it was super fun going straight down the fall line without having to do too many turns to control speed. All the runs I did were really, really good, even if there were already a few tracks there.

We worked the second last part of the lift. I am not sure how high it is, maybe about 300-400 meters vertical, but definitely it was high enough for some fast paced speed runs and get your legs burning a bit. It is not that steep, around 30-35 degrees for the most part with some funny short steeper sections and some fun rocks and other features to jump from. So, in my opinion, it is perfect terrain to have a really good time without having to worry about falling. Avalanche danger is naturally there, as it has dumped here during past few days, but in the trees it is not too risky, I did not feel scared once. In the open terrain it must be a different story and I am sure this will be bit of a headache for Jerome.

Top freeriders of the world fell in love with Krasnaya Poliana ski resort

Anyways, having done maybe 6 or 7 runs today, which is not that much considering the size of the area it is possible to reach from the lifts here, I think I am in love with this place a bit… I definitely recommend Krasnaya Poliana ski resort for anybody who likes riding trees. Most guys in the competitor crew seemed to be really stoked about the day and just like myself they think this place is awesome. Big smiles and high fives… 60 best freeriders of the world cannot be wrong.

After après ski there was a riders meeting where the organizers welcomed everybody officially and explained what is going on, and how everything will work et cetera. The riders were also informed that the competition would not be happening tomorrow, so there will be more riding for fun. There seems to be a small chance that the contest is on Wednesday, but that is not confirmed, the decision will be made tomorrow, and will be announced in the next riders meeting in the evening.

That was it for the moment, I will drop a note tomorrow as well. For more about the contest please check Nissan Russian Adventure and Freeride World Tour websites.