The Freeride World Tour Challenger Series stopped in Austria and offered an absolutely worthy face with the Zamangspitze in Silvretta Montafon.
Event News
Challenge accepted
FWT Challenger Silvretta Montafon: Paul Dentan and Lou Barin take the win
After the first stop of the Freeride World Tour Challenger Series in La Rosière, France, the tour moved on to Austria. The Zamangspitze in Vorarlberg’s Silvretta Montafon provided a spectacular backdrop for the second competition of the series last Saturday. The face is already known from the Open Faces freeride contests, and proved to be the perfect playground for the riders from the Challenger Series after the Junior contest in January.
Face check: The Zamangspitze is a freerider's delight and a contest classic in Austria thanks to events like the Open Faces freeride series.
Luca Jainichen
Back in January, the youth showcased their skills at a Junior-only event here. Now it was the turn of the Challenger riders to secure valuable points for the FWT ranking. The top four results of the Challenger Series will ultimately decide who earns the coveted tickets for the 2026 Freeride World Tour. With each stop, expectations, tension, and pressure on the riders grow. After the dominant start of the French team in La Rosière, where they triumphed in three out of four categories, the question was whether they could continue their success streak, or if other nations would step into the spotlight.
Style points awarded.
Fair conditions after start delay
At the start of the day, the riders faced somewhat flat light conditions, causing the organizers to delay the start by one hour. This turned out to be a good decision: After the delay, the weather cleared up, and the riders were able to take their runs with better visibility. On a challenging face like the Zamangspitze, this is certainly a critical aspect for performance and safety.
Lou Barin stakes her claim on the top rung of the podium as the peanut gallery looks on.
Ski Men: Dentan takes the win after a fall in Rosière
The ski men were first out of the state gate in Silvretta Montafon. The contest started off explosively, undeterred by the challenging cliff combination in the upper section of the face. Some tackled the cliff with huge airs, floating effortlessly over this first challenge. However, not everyone could keep their balance on the landing, causing some to lose their chances for victory right at the start of their run. Meanwhile, two rollers in the lower section of the face allowed for varied tricks – both the winner and the runner-up performed a backflip, and some 360s also went down. After his fall at the first Challenger event in France, Paul Dentan (FRA) showed nerves of steel and catapulted himself to the top of the podium. He was joined on the podium by Paul de Pourtalés (SUI) and Victor Hale-Woods (SUI).
The ski men's podium: Paul Dentan, Paul de Pourtalés and Victor Hale-Woods.
Moritz Ablinger
Ski women: Lou Barin follows her brother’s lead
The Barin siblings, Cesar and Lou, achieved a sibling victory, with Lou securing the win in the ski women’s category while Cesar won the snowboard men’s division. Lou’s win comes after a third-place finish in La Rosière, making her a strong contender for the overall ranking in the Challenger Series. With two 360s and a wide double cliff in the upper part, she showed her class and landed her run as planned. The women’s field increasingly sought out the extremely steep upper section, and although some falls occurred due to high compression, the ladies skillfully made use of the terrain. Zoe Delzoppo (FRA) took second behind Barin, followed by Eva Battolla (SUI) in third.
Ski women's podium: Lou Barin, Zoe Delzoppo and Eva Battolla.
Moritz Ablinger
The FWT Challenger Series by Orage continues with the next stop in Nendaz, Switzerland on 1–4 March. View the complete schedule of Challenger events here.
Rewatch the full livestream from Open Faces Silvretta Montafon here.
Open Face Freeride Contests YouTube