Industry News
Brains
The Freeride World Tour has announced that legendary big mountain skier Tim Durtschi will be joining the tour as a season-long wild card this year. Durtschi has competed in many different competitions over the years but is best known for his segments in Teton Gravity Research films. The Alaska native joins a powerhouse lineup of freeriders including Tanner Hall, Andrew Pollard, Drew Tabke, and Kristopher Turdell (FWT ’18 champion). The Tour kicks off at a new venue in Hakuba, Japan in just over a month. This year is setting up to be a knockout. Be sure to stream the events live on FWT’s website.
Durtschi was born in Alaska and grew up skiing Alyeska Ski Resort. Despite having spent most of his professional career shooting films Tim says, I have always enjoyed Freeriding contests than most and I am excited to dedicate my season to the tour. The timing is right and I can’t wait. The 33-year-old has competed in the X-games, Redbull’s Linecatcher and starred in many TGR films. The most recent of which, Winterland, was released recently. Tim’s bits in these films often involve him skiing dream lines in lofty places. The mindset required to bag these big lines should transfer over nicely and it will be exciting to see how he brings his experience to the Tour.
The Tour challenges a riders’ ability to look at a face and put a big point line together in their heads. The Tour is unique in nature and exhilarating to watch. Riders do not get warm-up runs. They must simply put a line together from photos of the face. The purpose of this is to emulate real-world freeriding. Contestants are judged on the big airs and tricks they can compile into a seamless fluid run. Tim has some of the best style and flow in skiing today especially on the big mountain. It is exciting to see what such a mogul of skiing will bring to this year’s FWT.
