Danish Freeride Championships 2009
This Easter the best Danish freeriders gathered in the French ski resort of Les2Alpes. It was at the same time the first club trip of CBS Sport Ski and marked the launch of the presence of CBS Sport Ski amongst the contributing ski clubs to open Danish alpine championships.
The Danish freeride championships were held for the second time since its first initiation last year. The rules of freeride are simple. The riders are presented with a mountain side (face), which consists of scattered cliffs and rocks divided only by short strips of snow. The riders one-by-one challenge the face and are graded in style, technique, speed, control, difficulty of trail chosen and cliffs jump. In other words a lot of different disciplines have to be covered in order to satisfy and impress the judges. Some of tou may know freeride from the many ski movies published each year, where the powder is fluffy, the sun is shining and the conditions are perfect. Besides from the helicopter stressing the riders, freeride competitions are often staged on days where the snow itself is challenging because of an icy cover with deep hard tracks in the snow. Also since Les2Alpes is not back country in Haines, Alaska, the snow cover is sometimes very light posing yet another potentially very dangerous threat as the riders makes their way down the course at speeds up to a 100 Km/h.
The competition is comprised of a qualifying stage and then a few days later a final. 65 men and 7 women raced in separate competitions to qualify for the final round where 20 men + Wild card and 5 women were to prove why the judges found them worthy of reaching the final.
The crowds of people that had gathered to watch were entertained by a DJ and a speed talking commentator, who announced the riders as they threw themselves down the uncompromising face. And the riders did deliver action. Attempts to jump off 14 meters cliffs, back flips and horrifying crashes was all part of the qualification stage. As one of the last riders to take on the face I was sure that I would definitely not survive or at the very least break a leg. I drank a Sommersby to calm my nerves and before I knew it, I was picking up speed. The snow had thawed and the slushy snow pack made it a lot easier than first anticipated. I lost my track down the face and my initial plan of where to go had failed. In my defense it must be mentioned that cliffs and rocks look a lot different from the valley perspective than they do when the adrenaline is rushing and there is no time to hesitate. I managed to keep pace and add in a small speedy drop, which gave me just enough points to advance to the final stage.
The final stage was set in the best conditions available. The sun was shining, nice temperature and up to a 1000 spectators were anxiously waiting for the riders to begin. Riders in the starting line-up at the top of the face were eager to do their best to claim the title. The snowpack had decreased and more rocks had been exposed, making the face even more difficult and dangerous. The first serious accident was soon to be a reality as the first women set out. A girl landed a drop flat on her feet causing part of her lower spine to collapse (My medical knowledge is not too thorough, so please excuse me if I am not entirely correct about what in medical terms happened). She was immediately flown to a nearby hospital and went through surgery the next day. As this was the first serious accident, it reminded us all of the evident dangers that we dealing with. The riders in the line-up were clearly distracted from the competition at hand by the severe accident. However, everybody needed to stay focused on the task ahead of them.
I was one of the first riders in the men’s competition to take on the mountain side and it was instantly full throttle. I knew what my route was, I knew from the qualification, which path to choose. I quickly found a patch of untouched snow and saw the rocks I had memorized to be my way point. Next thing I knew I was sling shot out in the air, clearing a drop, followed by a nice landing and all the adrenaline that had been released on the way down was replaced by satisfaction and relief. Now it was time to kick back, have a lot of drinks and feel good about an excellent week of partying and a bit of serious skiing.
Anders C. Westergård-Nielsen
CBS Sport Ski in Tignes, week 5 2009
436 CBS students met at Dalgas Have early Friday morning January the 5th, ready for a week of skiing, partying, and plenty of fun. The buses were a bit delayed, but we, after a bit of waiting, finally got on the road and off to Tignes. In some buses the partying already started as soon as we hit the road and the music was on more or less all the way to France.
After 24 hours on the bus, arriving in Tignes next morning was quite a relief. It was cloudy and snowing, the ski lifts in Val Claret were all closed upon arrival but Le Lac was open. After having placed our luggage at Melting Pot we only needed our ski passes before we were ready to explore the area. As it was snowing in the first couple of days the snow conditions were absolutely great throughout the week. For after-skiing we all met at Couloir which was great fun.
Sunday was the kick-off party. Unfortunately, it started a bit late but once it started it really kicked off and it surely did set a standard for the parties throughout the remainder of the week.
The Pub Crawl was on Monday. We divided the people into 4 party groups and each group started at a different bar and during the night we “crawled” between the bars. Along the way we had competitions where Frank the Tank ruled over all challengers and prooved his strength in drinking beers.
On Tuesday CBS Sport had arranged an indoor football tournament. This was a big success and a lot of fun. The guard team from DanskiXtreme won.
Wednesday we had the CBS Sport picnic. We had arranged to have our own DJ and he did a very good job. Together with good food and nice weather it created a good atmosphere. We had beer games where the representatives won at first, but once again Frank the Tank showed his skills.
Thursday we had the 90s Party Theme. We had glow sticks everywhere and people created necklaces, belts and had glow lights everywhere. It surely was a crazy party…
Sadly time went by way too fast and after a week of fun we had to hit the road again. But the drivers must have felt our sadness about having to go back studying, therefore they decided to give us a roundtrip in Switzerland and again around Roskilde in Denmark.
CBS Sport Ski would like to thank everybody for a great trip and for a really good time in Tignes. We all hope to see you again next year!
CBS Sport Ski
