Back in June, the IOC received a request to include freestyle halfpipe and slopestyle. With this being an Olympic committee, they certainly took their time looking over everything before they came back for the next meeting. This meeting took place in mid October and the news was promising. All we managed to get out of the IOC was the line that they were “looking favourably on all of those for inclusion.”

That’s not bad right? Heck, that’s pretty good! OK, so they’ve delayed the decision until 2011 but that isn’t too far away and if we look at the FIS World Champs, the signs are even more encouraging.

But a mere few days ago, the FIS announced that they would be accepting slopestyle into the World Championships in 2011. That’s a huge leap forward for the FIS!

As they are an influential body in the snow world this will certainly be a step in the right direction and will push the IOC to take on the event as well. You can imagine in Sochi, 2014, we will be watching the best of the best take on each other in slopestyle and halfpipe. You’ll see athletes like Tanner Hall throwing down with the rest of them making 2014 the most influential year for skiing in Olympic history. In terms of progression anyway!

One thing they have to be mindful of though is judging. The TTR has already hit out at the FIS for not allowing progression within the sport and if this isn’t taken on board, the whole sport could suffer.

We shall see but keep those fingers crossed and I’ll see you in Russia!

Check out these trip report stories for some great information about skiing in Krasnaya Poliana and Nissan Russian Adventure freeride competition. Below is also an embedded video from the competition organisers – pretty amazing terrain and skiing/riding (combined with some “behind the scenes” footage, judging and guiding work,  and few crazy crashes from the competition runs! Backflips and frontflips too, of course…)

Freeride World Tour Russian Adventure, Sochi, Part I

Pro Female Freerider Anniina Karvinen Reporting From Russia

Freeride World Tour Russian Adventure, Sochi, Part II

Freeride World Tour Russian Adventure, Sochi, Part III

Pretty Amazing First Day at Freeride World Tour in Sochi, Russia

Freeride World Tour Russian Adventure, Sochi, Part IV

Very High Level of Competition at the Nissan Russian Adventure 2009 (the results)

My Feelings After Riding in FWT Competition in Sochi, Russia (Anni’s personal blog posts after the event)

The first day started early on Thursday morning waking at 6 a.m. for the breakfast. Then a quick check that you have all your riding equipments with you for the competition: helmet (this year full face is not obligatory), back protection, bacon, shovel, probe, back pack, some water and lunch and of course your Bib number. A minibus took the riders up to the ski lift and it was still dark when we left the hotel. The sun rose on the way up the ski lift, coloring the silent moment with a purple sky. The first day’s competition consisted of a face that had a steeper part of approximately 150 meters, and the rest of the run was natural hills, “half pipes” and freeride formations. The upper part was challenging and made some differences with the lines and runs between the riders. I had a good run on my first day, I ended up in 1st place in the women’s snowboard class, which even I really did not expect. I had the feeling of a “mellow run” but I guess it was my line choice that made the difference. I had a nice chute line in one steep part of the second starting point and okay fluidity during my run. The face surprised me, because watching the lines from below with binoculars, I did not expect the face to be that steep from the top. Finding your line through the rocks was a bit hard at the beginning, but once you had come down 10 to 15 meters from the top, the face was pretty OK to ride.

Eric Themel rocked in the guys’ snowboard class on the first day with an excellent run. A light après-ski with some crazy Russian friends, Vasily Kovalev and Pacha, made some riders crazy with Russian Vodka. When Pacha brought a big can of vodka to our table, I knew it is time to try to escape. I almost managed after a few shots, oh my goodness, Russians with vodka. Vasily is a good friend of mine from freeride events and he was in charge of announcing for Russian audiences in this contest. He has great experience for that kind of work, because he has worked for many years for MTV Russia in Moscow.

Second day in Sochi started with bad visibility

The second competition day was supposed to be on Friday, but the weather turned out to be too warm and the organization decided to hold the second runs on Saturday in colder temperatures. The second day was not as excellent as the first comp day. The morning started in flat light and the visibility really sucked in the morning. We had four possible starting points this time also, and the guides had to certify the riders’ hike on start points 3 and 4 with rope and harness. The ridge was pretty narrow and slippery to hike with ski boots. A big thanks to the guides and organization for paying such good attention to the safety of the riders. I really trust and appreciate the whole organization to make tight decisions about safety and rules in the competitions. They listen to the riders’ opinions and demands through the “riders’ board”, which consists of some pro riders riding the world tour.

The weather turned better before the runs started and I was ready to go. My second run was not very good. I had quite an easy line in a chute again but not any jumps on the way down. I did not want to risk my run with stupid butt checks, but I should have made different choices. I lost a lot of points with no jumps and my fluidity sucked. The chute was steeper and the snow was so light, that I had face shots all the time. I had to do many speed checks in order to see where I was supposed to ride. I was not happy at all with my second run, but I did not expect to get quite that low of points for it. It was very hard to compare one’s run to the others, because we could not see the runs since the goal was so low from the top. It would be excellent to be able to see your runs from the film after every contest, to be able to estimate your level compared to the others’ runs, and to learn how to ride better the next time and progress as a freerider. There is not usually any opportunities to see your runs afterward, because only the winners’ runs are shown. Also, the film guys have a really busy time with their work, so they really do not have time to edit individual runs for each riders. Verbier Xtreme is different, because of its big visibility and few riders. There you are usually able to get the tape of your run.

The winner of the women’s snowboard class was Aline Bock from Germany with a really fluid run with big jumps. She has been riding 12 years as a pro for Roxy and she is bringing some good tricks to the freeriding world from freestyle. Cyril Neri won the men’s snowboard class with two good, exact runs. Jess McMillan and Sverre Lilieqvist were the winners of the ski classes. I give my points to Sverre because he had had lots of pain in his leg just a few days before the comps, and he made his way up to the podium to first place. What a fighter!

I finished in 4th place in the final results when all the points of these two runs were calculated together. I felt really, really sad to have to pay the price of losing the lead and slipping to 4th place. All my friends were saying that it is a good position, but damn, it is not, after leading the competition on the first day! I became really angry at myself after riding like a girl at the second day!!!!! I hope to ride better in Squaw Valley on the 2nd stop of Freeride World Tour and at the 3rd stop in Les Tignes in France. My goal is to ride in the finals in Verbier and it will be a hard mission to accomplish, because only 3 best women will ride there. Kaisa Härkönen finished 5th in the final results of the competitions.

Professional freeriding is a hard job

Competing is very challenging, some days you are strong and you feel like you are in 7th heaven. Then the next day you ride like a girl with no fighting aggression and you fall back to earth with a thud, and you become really disappointed. This all furthers you as a rider and develops your mental skills in general, I believe. Next time you demand even more from your riding and ride more aggressively and fluidly. No matter what, the week in Russia was awesome and I did some of my best riding in a long time with some really good friends from far away. Steve Klassen is always my favorite rider from the USA and has been a good friend for many years. I can not wait to get some more powder turns with him in California soon. Jarkko was happy with the judging and said the 2nd day was easier to judge after getting some experience and that there were clearer differences between all the runs on the second day.

We finished the competition with a wild party in a Sochi nightclub. I saw some crazy riders dancing without shirts, actually I guess it is tradition to rip off the men riders’ shirts in the after party. That is what the guys did to each other at the party, but I guess, that is totally another story… Thank you Sochi and Russia for the great experience!

Learning new things by traveling to exotic places..

The weirdest thing about the whole trip was that you could not really use any credit cards, not even at the airport. The second weird thing were the toilets at the ski center. It was a bit hard to get used to Russian toilets compared to the toilets in western countries; the ladies’ toilets were just simple holes in the floor and in some toilets there was not even a door and you had four of these holes in the same toilet just in a line. It was a bit confusing to use them wearing a ski overall…But it is a good skill to learn something new in your life everyday and to have a good laugh at weird experiences when traveling.

Now I will go back to my veterinary studies in Tartu, Estonia and ride a bit too. Keep your thumbs up for this Finnish team in the USA in three weeks’ time. You will hear from us soon again!

Ski Men: Sverre Liliequist (SWE)
Snowboard Men: Cyril Neri (SUI)
Ski Women: Jess Mc Millan (USA)
Snowboard Women: Aline Bock (GER)

Amazing kick off for the Freeride World Tour 2009 in Sochi

After the first day of competition with fresh snow and sunshine with an enthusiastic crowd, the 56 riders had a day to recuperate as Day 2 was postponed due to warmer temperatures.

Surprising at that may be in Krasnaya Polyana, situated 40 minutes from the Black Sea, this future Sochi 2014 Olympic site for on-snow sports (all other sports will be in the city of Sochi) does not usually have such mild temperatures in the winter. However, the sun increased the temperature so much that the O°C point was at 3800 meters! With the summit chosen for Day 2 reaching 2200 meters (resort at 500m with lots of snow), the mountain guides decided to postpone the competition day (possible competition days spanned from January 21-24) so the riders could compete in better conditions.

On Saturday, the temperature has comeback down to the seasonal norms, and even with the cloud cover, the riders were able to compete.

On the crest of the top ski lift, after a one-hour walk there were 4 possible starting points (2 accessible with harness only) forming a circle facing the ski lift, the show was particularly spectacular. Suspense was in the air until the end as Aurelien Ducroz (FRA), leader of Day 1, and Henrik Windstedt (SWE) were amongst the last to compete (start list was in reverse order of Day 1).

Overall Results of the Nissan Russian Adventure

Placing 3rd both days of the competition, the consistency of Sverre Liliequist (SWE) pays off. This situation is a bit unusual for him as we have seen in the past; his powerful, aggressive ‘Viking’ style often causes him to fall. His intelligent line choice revealed his extreme agility on various terrains. Aurelien Ducroz (FRA) just missed the top of the podium with only one tenth of a point difference; these are the closest results ever for the Freeride World Tour.

This story of consistency was almost the same for Cyril Neri (SUI), as he placed 2nd and 4th; this proves he really studied his options to take the most impressive and smooth lines that played into his style of riding. This victory is undeniably thanks to his rich experience.

Jess McMillan (USA) is the undeniable winner of this competition with her fast and aggressive lines. Elyse Saugstad (USA) unfortunately fell when landing an impressive jump; she will get her chance to defend her title of World Champion on her home mountains in Squaw Valley USA.

Aline Bock (GER) is undoubtedly the revelation of this first stage of the Freeride World Tour. She broke away from the traditional runs integrating numerous jumps thanks to her début as a freestyler. Gaining confidence from this first victory, she will certainly continue to impress everyone throughout the season.

2nd Day Results

With an unfortunate fall in the first run, Henrik Windstedt (SWE), World Champion 2008, lead today with a perfect run, a line of true freeride expression full of power, fluidity and dexterity with a high level of difficulty.

In the women’s ski competition, Janette Hargin (SWE) lead this run with an aggressive start and impressive jumps including a cliff jumps of around 4 meters. She really used the terrain to her advantage.

In snowboard, the freestyler, Aline Bock (GER) made an awesome début in freeride leading today’s run with a fluid line using the terrain, especially with her jumps.

For the men, Flo Orley (AUT) brought together speed and absolute confidence for his line and magnificent jumps notably a 360° on a cornice and a back flip in the final area.

Next FWT-event is Nissan Tram Cham Face in Squaw Valley, USA, 27 February– 4 March 2009

The stages of the Freeride World Tour 2009 (FWT)
20 – 25 January: Nissan Russian Adventure- Sochi, Russia

27 February – 5 March : Nissan Tram Face – Squaw Valley USA – New event

8 -14 March: Nissan Freeride de Tignes, France

20 – 29 March: Nissan Xtreme – Verbier 09, Switzerland

The Freeride World Qualifier 2009 events (FWQ)
30 January-2 February: the North Face Masters of Snowboarding – Snowbird (USA) – Sister event of the Nissan Tram Face Squaw Valley USA

5-15 February: Scott Big Mountain Fieberbrunn (AUT), sister event of the Nissan Freeride de Tignes (FRA)

13-16 February: the North Face Masters of Snowboarding – Crested Butte (USA), sister event of the Nissan Tram Face – Squaw Valley USA

15-19 February: Freeride de Chamonix (FRA)

19-22 February: Winter Mysticxperience (ITA) Monte Rosa

20-22 February: The Monster Golden Ticket in Squaw Valley USA,sister event of the Nissan Tram Face – Squaw Valley USA

6-8 March: the North Face Masters of Snowboarding – Kirkwood (USA)

4-7 March: Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships – Taos, New Mexico (USA)

13-18 March: Nendaz Freeride (SUI), sister event of the Nissan Xtreme – Verbier 09 (SUI)

31 March-5 April: Jasna Adrenaline (SK)

22-26 April: Röldal Freeride Challenge (NOR), sister event of the Nissan Russian Adventure – Sochi 2010

*A sister event is a FWQ which will qualify the winners of each category to participate in the FWT event to which it is linked

Everything was perfect to make this event a success, large amounts of fresh snow, blue skies with no clouds in sight and riders ready to take on an impressive face for the first competition of the season.

Visible from just about everywhere, there were 4 starting points at the summit of the ski area offering various choices in runs from open runs, rocky terrain, cornices and cliff jumps. After having accomplished the first section with a bit of sluff (small surface snow movement that can make it difficult to remain steady), there was an area of rolling hills that provided a playground for their creativity with jump options and line choices where all 56 riders were able to reveal their talent.

The face required a lot of preparation from the security team comprised of mountain guides. In the last few days, there was major snowfall at the starting points on the crest which created massive cornices. “Our work modified the terrain a bit revealing icy areas notably when we cleared some high-risk zones” said Stephane Dan. “The last inspection between 8:15 and 9:15 is so important that it is essential to win. There were numerous riders that were waiting for the last visual confirmation before making their tactical decisions even after discussions with other riders during the Riders’ Meeting conducted by the mountain guides Wednesday night.”

Results after the first day of Freeride World Tour in Sochi, Russia

Aurelien Ducroz (FRA) leads the men’s ski competition

Heading down with bib number 6, he has an incredible run. He started at the most difficult area with perfection beginning with a few fluid turns and a jump. With surgical precision, he maintained his ideal trajectory, whereas Henrik Windstedt (SWE), winner of the Freeride World Tour 2008, who took this line just a bit earlier unfortunately, fell. Ending this technical area with a 15-meter jump, he completed the run with ease. Maintaining an ideal speed throughout the run, he chose a run that came naturally for him.

On this mythical face for Russian skiers, Seb Michaud (FRA) was also applauded by the crowd in the beginning of his breathtaking run by choosing an aerial line with a high cliff in the middle where he remained naturally fluid. A truly impressive jump, the largest of the day of at least 20 meters, with a perfect landing. He said himself that the second part of the run, much less technical, was not so inspiring, but the crowd enjoyed the show. Second in the Freeride World Ranking 2008, Seb, at the age of 35, must be considered one of the contenders for the title in 2009.

Jess McMillan (USA) ranks first for the women’s ski competition

She chose the most technical starting point without hesitation mastering the first and most difficult section with fluidity and ease. The challenging zones revealed her notable agility and remarkable ski technique that along with her jumps and choice of line made her lead the competition.

By choosing a less difficult line than Jess, Marja Persson (SWE) skied extremely well in the first section, going almost as hard as the men, with impressive jumps. In the second half of the run, she chose a much more direct line thus speed became more important than control. She will, without a doubt, learn from this lesson and modify her strategy for Day 2.

Eric Themel (AUT) leads the men’s snowboard competition

Raising the standards high for the competitors to follow, Eric traced a magnificent line with perfect execution even with the sluff and mastered his jumps. On the second half of the run, he chose a unusual line through trees that no other rider attempted with perfect control, power and absolute fluidity.

Cyril Neri (SUI) proclaimed that he was riding for pleasure rather than put himself under the pressure of the competition; and this mind-set worked well for this 3-time winner of the Verbier Xtreme who was present thanks to a Wild Card. He had a fluid start even with a grab on two hanging cliffs and a spectacular jump near the bottom of the technical area. He then performed a back flip on a natural pipe which attests to his remarkable creativity on all terrains which leaves Eric leading only by a thread.

Annina Karvinen (FIN) ranks first of the women’s snowboard competition

She chose a difficult line and performed well which attests to her rapid progression. Close behind, Nathalie Zenklusen (SUI) headed down the slope with no hesitation and a perfect line; just a slight lack of speed made the difference.

Reigning World Champion of the Freeride World Tour 2008, Ruth Leisibach (SUI) unfortunately was injured while training the day before the competition.

A few quotes after the first day

Aurelien Ducroz, Nissan Sports Adventure athlete, current men’s ski leader “I had a lot of pressure after Henrick (Windstedt) fell taking the same line I had chosen. I had defined my line and I decided to take it without hesitation. Everything went perfectly. I jumped exactly where I had planned and I was able to pick up speed to continue the rest fluidly so I could play with the terrain notably with jumps. However, my story could have been different because I just got my equipment at midnight last night; I have been waiting for them for three days… they got lost somewhere between Geneva and Sochi. I was so happy to see my skis this morning that I knew nothing could stop me today!”

Seb Michaud, 2nd in the men’s ski ranking: “The top of the slope was everything I love about freeride…pure lines on fresh snow, technical difficulty. I chose this line and did exactly as I had envisioned it. The bottom half, less steep, was just not as fun for me. Ten years ago, I would have given all my energy to win, but today I didn’t do anything exceptional at the end. That probably cost me the leading position and I am fully aware of it!”

Looking out the window in the morning I saw that the forecast was right: it was perfectly clear sky, no clouds nor wind what so ever and I rushed to get ready for riding. I did not quite make it to the first chair, but there was not that many people going up when the lift opened, and only a few competitors made it up early. Aniina and Kaisa joined me and we rode couple of nice runs in the same trees I´d been riding earlier. Then we headed over to the same run that the girls did with Steve.

FWT Sochi contest slope is in good condition

What they had told about the run before, that it was super good, proved out to be true. The slope had nice steady 30 to 35 degree incline, perfect for going fast, and the snow was rippable. Even if the snow was somewhat more compact than yesterday it was still pure powder and even with a snowboard I was sinking into it a fair bit. At times it was plowing overhead, blocking visibility completely for seconds.

The descent was maybe about 400 meters high, and there was all kinds of fun features, like banks, lips and rocks that we could play on. As I´ve been held back by a pretty bad heel injury since 05 I haven´t had too many proper pow days, and it was great being back on the real stuff.

The bottom part of the route was a narrow river bottom with fairly steep wall above it, on the opposite side from our descent. The place is definitely a terrain trap of worst kind, and I´ve heard that there has been some serious avalanche accidents there. Luckily it seemed that most everything from above had slid during the night, as there was big piles of fairly fresh looking avalanche debris. The snow that had slid into the gully was still fairly soft, so I figured it must have slid only a couple of hours before. We only had to traverse the bottom for some minutes, so I felt pretty secure about the whole deal. Nonetheless, it was still a bit spooky, even if riding at the bottom was still a lot of fun, too.

Riding the FWT contest slope and hearing some bad news

Sometime around 2 pm Anni and Kaisa decided to go have a look at the contest slope. I hooked up with three other girls, Jamie Burge, Anne Enderud and Charlotte Hagen for one more run in the same place. For myself this last run was the best, as I did not fall once and managed to pick a nice way down through the trees with some fun jumps, I even managed to stick a nice little double jump line and made it to the bottom of the run through some really tight trees really fast. I was stoked.

I was beat too, and I had to call it a day. Which I would have had to do anyways as the lifts closed. It was rad to be able to do a whole day without any real rests and ride quite hard, and I felt really satisfied. What brought my feelings down a whole lot was the news that I got, about Ruth Leisibach. I learnt that Ruth had hurt her knee pretty badly. She´d been riding in the trees, of course, and had hit a branch hidden in the snow: her board went under it and she went over it, and the branch did not give in. Instead her knee did. Ruth had managed to ride, or rather slide down from the site of the accident without outside assistance, so it was not super bad, but it had been really, really painful. Ruth is a really strong girl and a rider, one of my favorite snowboarders for sure and it is all too bad that she got hurt, as she just had recovered from an injury. She was taken to a hospital in Sochi, and from there she will be flown back home to Switzerland where her knee will be operated. Let´s hope it is not really serious and that she´ll be back on her board soon.

From the mountain I, along with everybody, headed over to Hotel Vertikal, where we had judge´s meeting, PFB meeting and rider´s meeting. As the forecast for tomorrow is very good as well, and as all the security work on the contest face was done today by the guides, the organization committee had made a decision that tomorrow is game on! Meaning we have to wake up really early and head up to the mountain already 7.30 in the morning.

There still is a fair bit of all kinds of organizing work to be done in the morning, but the plan still is that the first rider drops in on the comp face 9.30. The weather forecast says the temperatures will rise quite a bit during afternoon, which has an negative effect on snow stability and so the contest must be over by 1 pm. This means that everything must run without a hitch, really smoothly, so we must be ready as early as possible. Hence, wake up call is around 5.30. Which in turn means that I gotta go to sleep more or less right now. Anyways, it is exciting to get to see and judge my first FWT event.

Unfortunately I forgot to charge the battery of my camera yesterday, so I could not take any pictures today. Luckily the organizers have hired Jancsi Hadik, one of the very best ski photographers in the world to shoot pictures for your viewing pleasure and they can be checked out at the Freeride Word Tour website.

I started my riding season in Finnish Lappland in Pyhä ski resort in December 10th. by working with Alaskan Husky dog farm for five weeks. It was really a dream job for me, to get some good experience with big working dogs and long dog safaris in arctic Lappland. We drove the tourists from all over the world (even from Japan and Australia) with Husky sledges and snowmobiles in Finnish wilderness.

Temperature can sometimes go down to -30 Celsius degrees in northern Finland but this Christmas we had only around -10-15 Celsius degrees. It was really comfortable temperature to work eight hours a day outside with the dogs. The owner of the company has 124 dogs in the Husky farm, and every one of them has a specific name, nature, training system and place in the team, when they pull the sledge. I worked in this farm 6 days a week and went riding in the evening in the local ski resort. I got a bit colder in January, and after that it was not that fun to go riding in -28 Celsius degrees with freezing wind.. So those nights I preferred to stay inside with a warm cup of Chocolate.

At the end of my working period in Lappland I did a good trip to Tamok in Norway with my friend Sami. We wanted to ride some faces and good snow before traveling to Russia for the Freeride World Tour qualifier. We had the local guide Aadne Olsrud, who owns some of the mountains in the areas we were skiing. Aadne was an excellent helping guide for “tourists” from Finland and he and his family treated us like we were part of his family during these 3 days we spent in Tamok. He took us riding in a peak called “Sjufället” and we hiked up 800 meters vertical in 2,5 hours. it was my first hike of the season and I was feeling really OK. Untouched snow with snow shoes and really good run down. Thanks Aadne, we really respect you hospitality for us.

I took my other younger dong Luca “riding” with us, and he was loving the powder as much as we did! This day was good practice for the upcoming events and faces. It felt that I still have the skills to ride some fun faces, even it was about 8 months I did it last time. It was time to say good bye to Norway and Lappland and head back to Tartu (Estonia) via Helsinki to do some exams before we would start the freeride world tour. It was pretty hard to open my school books after excellent 5 weeks with friends, dogs and mountains. But no can help, duties first. Histology, anatomy and dog course. Nice exam session in three days and then I was on my way again, some where where I have never before been before…

Travelling to Sochi Russia and entering the Freeride World Tour

Greetings from snowy Sochi, Russia! Just couple of days ago we arrived in Sochi in order to ride the first Freeride World Tour qualifier race. I am travelling with my friends Kaisa Härkönen (also participating the freeride contest) and Jarkko Henttonen, who is judging the tour snowboard classes. We started the trip from Tallinn on Friday morning and drove from Tartu (my studying city) to Riga, which is the capital of Latvia. We save a lot of money this way in plane tickets instead of flying from Helsinki, over 600 euros.

We arrived to Krasnaya Polyana on Saturday evening and had a really good sleep in the snowy village. You could not see much at the night time, but in the morning there was waiting a nice surprise, fresh powder waiting waiting just there to draw some fresh tracks on the Russian forest. It is my very firs time Russia and I am really happy to ride in this exotic Russian place with the worlds best freeriders. The snow conditions in mountains are great, approximate 3 meters snow layer in the best places.

Nissan Russian adventure will take place at the ski resort Krasnaya Polyana in the Western Caucasus. Krasnaya Polyana is the host of the alpine and Nordic ski events of the 2014 Winter Olympics with Sochi as the host City. Sometimes called the “Russian Courchevel” , Krasnaya Polyana is the most sophisticated ski and snowboard resort in Russia, located just 45 minutes from the Black Sea, and well known as one of the President Putin’s favorite holiday resorts. It is very famous for spectacular heliskiing in the Caucasus mountain range.

Riding the first vertical meters in Krasnaya Polyana ski resort

We could enjoy this magnificent ski resort today, even you could not see much of the beautiful surroundings on the snowy day. I just can not wait until it clears up a little bit to see this whole beautiful terrain around us. We went riding with all the riders who had already arrived in the resort before the competition. About 20 rides were enjoying the fresh play grounds of the mountains. I was riding with the snowboard girls and we were really lucky to get two local “guides”, Andrei and Alexandre to take us in the good off piste runs. There were few chair lifts open on the half way to the mountains and you could do nice easy forest lines all day. It was only a bit busy with the crowd, because it was Sunday and the locals were skiing with their families and enjoying the perfect skiing weather with soft landings. These two local skiers, who were born in Sochi took us riding with a little hike and then we could draw some untouched lines through the mellow nice tree lines with many pillow lines and different formations about 800 meters vertical.

As we ended the day one could read riders smiles how good it was. REALLY GOOD. I had my second powder day of the season and it felt excellent. I feel really healthy and strong at the beginning of the season. I have been lucky, not to get injured for many years after I broke my Tibia and Fibula with open fracture 2003 in Verbier. Wet clothes, big smiles and some good Russian meet in sticks with potatoes made the day quite a perfect. I was really stoked of my first day in Russia.

It is pretty challenging to use your body language, specially if you need to ask some really specific stuff, then you have to use you imagination. People really do not speak English here, only way to get answers is to speak Russian or use your smile and forgiving face that you can not speak the locals language. I think this little challenging thing makes traveling in Russia a bit more fun and pushes you to make effort on the things more than just speaking easy English like in other ski resots in Western countries.

The Russian letters are the next challenging thing. I was really pleased that the menus in the ski restaurants were in English too and the names of the hotels. I had asked the name in English of the hotel I was staying, otherwise it had been a little bit too big mission trying to find out where I have to go back after the first riding day.

Happily ever after a good riding day it was good to go to bed about thinking it would snow two more days before it will open up for the competition next week. The rest of the riders are arriving here today and last tomorrow. We will have the rider`s meeting tomorrow night, when we will find out a bit more what will happen next week. Good night Sochi and I wish to Homeboy Ski blog readers very good skiing days all over the world. Keep up your fingers to our Finnish freeride team!

Special thanks to my sponsors: Kari Traa clothing, K2 Snowboards, Suunto, Dakine, and KASK.