LAS Hosts Its First-Ever Freeride Competition

This week at LAS, we hosted our first-ever Freeride event! With the LAS Freeride Team gaining popularity and achieving amazing success, this competition is significant for the school’s skiing and snowboarding community! The event took place with great conditions, with 10-20 cm of fresh snow having fallen over the week. With around 60 participants from different schools, this event was a fantastic way to challenge and celebrate our amazing Freeriders! 

Students in the Freeride club have been practicing for this event for the past few months. It has been great for them to interact with other experienced skiers to set high goals and achieve their personal best. Through our structured sports program, our athletes learn the value of hard work, perseverance, and teamwork. With competitions all around Switzerland, joining different teams at LAS is a great way for students to travel around the country, meet new people, and achieve their goals.

During this competition, located on our home turf, competitors tackled an approximately 200-meter face with a 30-35-degree slope featuring natural terrain elements such as trees, wind-formed features, small rock formations, and a cliff band along one side. While participants utilized these features to enhance their runs, none of them were mandatory, ensuring a diverse range of styles and approaches. 

A panel of three judges scored the runs based on the Freeride World Tour (FWT) criteria, evaluating factors such as line choice, control, fluidity, technique, and overall impression. Safety remains a top priority at LAS, with two mountain guides stationed on the face throughout the event.

Allowing students the opportunity to develop and showcase their skills was an excellent way to challenge them during their practice sessions. We are lucky to have such talented skiers at LAS, and it was fantastic to see students from different schools tackle this terrain! We are really proud of our students for pushing themselves and achieving their personal goals. Well done Freeriders!