The athletes of the Freeride World tour are heading to Engadin St. Moritz, Switzerland for a brand new stage of the newly-expanded Freeride World Tour 2011. Engadin St. Moritz, in the southeast corner of Switzerland is famous as an exclusive playground for celebrities. However, it also offers outstanding freeriding that is easily accessed from the extensive lift network.

The event will be held on the north face of the Corvatsch where the riders will reach the venue by a rappel down from the gondola station followed by a short hike to one of three starts at the top of the face at 3127m above sea level. The 550-meter face features an inclination of 45˚-60˚, which makes some of the highest and steepest riding of the tour.

French Lead the Chase But For How Long?

Will the French continue to dominate the men’s ski and snowboard events as they did at the first event of the season? Frenchmen Adrien Coirier (2nd place men’s ski) tells us he’s ready, “It’s taken me three years to come back from injury and that has been pretty hard for me but I’m now back at my highest level and I feel really, really good. I’m looking forward to the competition at Engadin because it’s really steep and that fits my skiing style. I’ve never competed there but I’m not feeling any pressure about it and I’m looking forward to seeing the venue from the bottom on Saturday.”

This event also marks the first time a telemark skier will compete in a Freeride World Tour event. Joonas Karhumaa, a Finnish native now living in Andermatt, Switzerland has scored one of the highly-coveted local wildcard spots.

www.freerideworldtour.com

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