It may have a new name and a new location, but the same philosophy is in effect: building the world’s craziest setup and letting a huge squad of riders session it for a week. The Swatch Nines kicks off today at its new home in the Schilthorn in Switzerland—Here’s what you can expect to see over the next week.

Insane concept features

As in years past, the feature design is still front and central at Nines. Over the past few years, the event has moved away from the hard angles and castle-like features that used to define the Nines, going instead in the direction of more organic, flowy features a la Holy Bowly. The end result, as seen in Crans-Montana last year, is a setup that’s more conducive to creative lines, while no less visually impressive.

The setup at the Schilthorn is nestled into an alpine valley at around 2500 meters elevation just below Piz Gloria, where James Bond’s arch-nemesis Blofeld established his secret lair back in 1969 in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”

The first feature in the setup is nicknamed the “Formation Jump”—the idea being to put multiple riders in the air at once, “in formation.” Its highlight is a complex labyrinth of takeoffs that extend not only to the left and the right, but also in the vertical axis, with the channels between the jumps serving as lower-level takeoffs themselves.

Yeah, I know—you’re probably wondering what the hell you just read. But I promise, as soon as you see the first video clips, it will all make sense!

The bottom feature has the unofficial nickname of “Holy Bowly on steroids,” and looks something like a cross between a retro-futuristic Mars colony and an Earthship hippie commune. Aside from tunnels, rails and unique transition options, the highlight of this feature is the central skatebowl. It’ll be sessioned by skateboarders like Andy Andersson and Madars Apse and bikers like Sam Pilgrim and Erik Fedko while skiers and snowboarders fly past.

Due to a lack of snow, the planned hip feature in the middle of the venue sadly wasn’t able to be built. At first cancelled entirely, a smaller, improvisational middle feature has now taken shape, with booters on each side and a Kimbo Sessions-style up rail in the middle.

Creme de la creme: The riders list

As always, the Nines have assembled a who’s who list of some of the world’s top skiers and snowboarders to session this setup. There are the Nines veterans we’ve come to expect (Mathilde Gremaud, Sarah Hoefflin, Andri Ragettli, Fabi Bösch) as well as more recent additions to the crew (Max Moffatt, Finn Bilous, Megan Oldham, Tess Ledeux).

One of the more exciting aspects of the ski invite list is the inclusion of The Bunch, who have brought a small crew to produce their own edit from the event. We’re looking forward to seeing what special flavor Magnus Granér, Per Hägglund and Alex Hackel will bring to the proceedings.

Sadly, Nico Porteous, Jesper Tjäder and Matej Svancer have all dropped out at the last minute—Matej, reportedly, due to a French test that he hast to take to graduate high school! Their absence leaves a gaping hole in the invite list—but also more opportunity for others (like last minute addition Edouard Therriault) to steal the spotlight. Read on for the full riders’ list.

Women’s Ski

Mathilde Gremaud
Lara Wolf
Kirsty Muir
Olivia Asselin
Megan Oldham
Johanne Killi
Sandra Eie
Tess Ledeux
Daisy Thomas
Ruby Star Andrews
Giulia Tanno

Women’s SNB
Laurie Blouin
Annika Morgan
Mia Brookes
Cool Wakushima
Anna Gasser
Emeraude Maheux
Eseniya Stepanova

Men’s Ski
Nico Vuignier
Max Moffatt
Birk Ruud
Andri Ragettli
Fabian Bösch
Finn Bilous
Lukas Müllauer
Pär Hägglund
Alex Hackel
Magnus Granér
Jay Rawe
William Heimdal Bostadløkken
Patrick Schuchter
Edouard Therriault

Kim Gubser

Kai Mahler

Men’s SNB
Pat Burgener
Patrick Hofmann
Moritz Thönen
Clemens Millauer
Jakub Hrones
Fridtjof Tischendorf
Hiroto Ogiwara
Leon Vockensperger
Taiga Hasegawa
Chaeun Lee
Moritz Boll
Juho Laine

Public Day on Saturday, 18 April

Your social media feeds are about to be flooded by Nines content for the next week or so. But if you want to take the next step and watch the action in person, the Public Day is your chance! On Saturday, April 18 Swatch Nines opens its doors for everyone who wants to see the madness for themselves. All you need is a ski pass for Schilthorn (available here). While you're here, you'll als  want to take a couple laps through the Schilthorn public park, which is in fine shape and reportedly open until May!

Swatch Nines Public Day Program

11.00-11.30 am: Training (Event Arena Schilthorn-Piz Gloria)
11.30 am-12.30 pm: Qualifications (Event Arena Schilthorn-Piz Gloria)
01.30-02.00 pm: Warm-up (Event Arena Schilthorn-Piz Gloria)
02.00-03.00 pm: Finals (Event Arena Schilthorn-Piz Gloria)
03.15 pm: Flower Ceremony (Swatch Snow Arena Schilthorn-Piz Gloria)

That’s it for now from Swatch Nines—stay tuned for the GoPro course preview dropping tomorrow.