00:00 What the f***?
00:02 When I wear my binoculars, I'm a judge.
00:05 I'm no longer the friend with whom I'm going to share a beer in the evening,
00:10 or with whom we're going to discuss a line.
00:13 It's my job.
00:15 It's generally accepted that in judge sports,
00:18 the people doing the judging have no clue.
00:21 At least, according to hundreds of highly qualified experts on social media.
00:26 At least, according to hundreds of highly qualified experts on social media.
00:30 However, everybody does agree on one thing.
00:44 An idea so ubiquitous, a belief so ingrained,
00:48 that it has become a sort of mantra.
00:50 I think the level will increase every year.
00:52 Free skiing has made huge progress these last five years.
00:55 Riding has evolved dramatically.
00:57 Lines that we were not even looking at five years ago.
01:00 There's a progression in freeride that's amazing.
01:03 Things we didn't imagine five years ago.
01:05 There's an emulation, motivation, progression.
01:07 It's been almost 25 years since riders went down the Bec des Rosses
01:17 to do the Verbiers Extreme.
01:23 There was a mountain, there was always a judgement.
01:25 Yet the level changes, the way down changes.
01:29 I remember the first tricks, it was extraordinary.
01:51 Evolution is crazy in such a short period of time.
01:55 The speed of the guy who goes down the Bec des Rosses
02:07 at more than 100 km/h on some passages,
02:09 it's pretty crazy.
02:19 It makes sport evolve,
02:21 while at the same time the athletes,
02:23 each new rider will take it and add it to their sauce.
02:26 The historic lines in freeride competitions
02:39 are rarely lines that we copied.
02:42 They're people who invent, who create.
02:46 The world's first freeride competition
02:49 is held in the Bec des Rosses.
02:52 And Marion Letty, last rider of the day, taking the win.
03:06 Putting down a run that everyone's going to remember.
03:12 I think the reason Verbiers Extreme and the World Tour
03:15 attract top riders is the fact that they will progress
03:19 by riding on the Tour.
03:21 Every time there are wildcards coming,
03:29 mega riders, you think,
03:31 "Wow, the guy's going to come, he's going to destroy us,
03:33 he's so strong, you saw him,
03:35 he made such a movie, such a video part, etc."
03:37 But the competition is something really specific.
03:41 You can't be there, redo the line two or three times,
03:43 wait for it to snow again, redo the run,
03:45 and then this time you put it down,
03:47 and everyone thinks you do that every day,
03:49 when you actually put 10 boxes in your mouth.
03:51 Here you have one run.
03:53 When you're at your home mountain, you do one, two hit here,
03:57 and then you take a lap and you do the same one, two hit.
04:00 But I think the Tour is instrumental to focus that development
04:04 and put it into actual big lines.
04:07 Max Eder, he is a legend of the sport.
04:11 Look, he's lining up.
04:13 Oh, he's got a three!
04:15 The recipe hasn't changed.
04:23 Take the who's who of freeriding,
04:25 put them on a steep face,
04:27 then watch progression take place
04:30 as they unleash their creativity
04:32 on the blank canvas of the mountain.
04:34 It's definitely not a blank canvas.
04:37 There's shit that works and there's stuff that doesn't.
04:39 The snow, the timing, the light, the rocks,
04:42 you're not really free to do what you want to do.
04:45 So quit it with your blank canvas bullshit.
04:48 In 2022, we saw the appearance of Max,
04:57 Chablot, Palm,
04:59 and they showed what is now the base,
05:04 very strong in the steep face,
05:07 and also very good freestylers.
05:09 They do both, they do everything.
05:11 They do it very, very well.
05:14 We always say that the mountain is something of experience,
05:26 and it's going to take years.
05:28 And now the guys are coming and they're breaking the record, really.
05:31 Spinning into the couloir, bouncing off that like it was a bogey.
05:35 Big Becky pulls it around, rides up so fast.
05:39 It's like playing PlayStation.
05:41 Cross, circle, button, tap, tap, tap.
05:43 Video games 20 years ago,
05:45 it was impossible to do what they do now in real life.
05:47 I'm back at my seat.
05:49 They're the younger generation that grew up on Freeride Team.
05:52 They're used to having coaches and being smart and calculated,
05:59 which I think is really cool.
06:01 Laying out the backflip and connecting.
06:03 Marcus Goguen.
06:05 It's the future right there.
06:07 Massive off the bottom.
06:10 Oh, he can make it.
06:12 They're kids who were born watching videos of the Freeride World Tour.
06:18 For most of them, they have a hard time realizing it,
06:23 and saying that they're there and they're making history.
06:27 This new generation has taken the Freeride World Tour by storm.
06:31 These athletes may be the ultimate freeriders,
06:34 perfectly adapted to their environment.
06:37 The endgame of three decades of backcountry Darwinism.
06:42 The tour serves as a unique platform
06:45 to showcase these rising stars' progression in real time,
06:48 with global audiences bearing witness.
06:52 Ten, nine, eight, seven.
06:57 Well, that's not the way I see it.
07:00 I see people throw up on the start,
07:06 because they're really, really nervous.
07:09 So many things at stake, so many things at play.
07:13 It's all coming down to this.
07:15 What the f***?
07:17 (beep)
07:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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