The 2025 season of the Freeride World Tour, the second season under the FIS umbrella, is about to take off in Spain’s Baqueira Beret resort this Friday. Start time is projected to be 10:00 a.m. local time (CET) and the starting order is Snowboard Men first, followed by Ski Men, Ski Women and Snowboard Women. As usual, the event will be broadcasted live at the FWT website.
The venue in Baqueira Beret will be different this year due to snow and avalanche conditions. The contest will take place on a sheltered peak known as La Bamba outside of the ski area, so spectators will only be able to follow the event via the live broadcast. In the resort there is a transmission on a big screen, so in case you are around the Val d’Aran, you can still enjoy the show with other freeride fans. The move to La Bamba was forced because of high winds in the last week, the new venue is in a sheltered zone above Vielha e Mijaran, the center of the Val d’Aran and only a few kilometers down the road from Baqueira Beret.
The 2025 Freeride World Tour will inevitably see new champions both in Ski Women and Ski Men. Last year’s overall tour winners are both missing this season; Hedvig Wessel since she called her competitive freeski career finished after finally winning the coveted title in 2024 following a hiatus in 2023 and three runner-up finishes before, and Max Hitzig unfortunately due to an injury he suffered in December. The competition is therefore wide open and is promising to be more spectacular and thrilling than ever before with lots of new talent entering the FWT main stage while some established heroes will seek to defend their positions.
In the Ski Women’s field, two former tour champions will make a comeback this year with Italy’s Arianna Tricomi and Switzerland’s Elisabeth Gerritzen, who takes the spot of compatriot Sybille Bleanjean. Sybille unfortunately suffered a back injury just a month ago which prevents her from skiing for some time. Arianna and Elisabeth will see stiff competition from the rest of the field in a quest to regain their titles, however. In particular, Astrid Cheylus from France is a rider to watch following her performances last year on the tour and lately at the Nendaz Backcountry Invitational, where she landed a double backflip.
In the Ski Men’s, the obvious favorite is Marcus Goguen from Canada following his epic battle with Max Hitzig for last season’s overall title. However, with 22 starters the Ski Men’s category is the most contested and the quality of the starting field is incredible. Former tour champions Kristofer Turdell (SWE), Maxime Chabloz (SUI) and Valentin Rainer (AUT) will strive to repeat their former victories while newcomers like Tiemo Rolshoven (GER), who is fresh off a victory at the Nendaz Backcountry Invitational, are eager to make their presence on the FWT felt. Not to forget riders like Weitien Ho (CAN) or Martin Bender (SUI) who had outstanding outings in their debut seasons last year, and with a bit more experience under their belt are now maybe ready for a big success.
