On Thursday, the Freeride World Tour鈥攖he top big-mountain competition听in the world鈥斕齮hat its first event of the season will run this weekend in Hakuba, Japan.
This year鈥檚 show will be the second-ever official FWT stop at听the popular Japanese powder-skiing mecca. (Last season, the Hakuba comp was canceled due to inclement weather.)听
Sammy Luebke, an American snowboarder who has won the last three tours, will be defending his title this year. If he nabs the overall win, he鈥檒l set the record for most consecutive and overall wins in the FWT鈥檚 history.听
On the men鈥檚 ski side, Tanner Hall听has come out of retirement to compete on a wildcard听entry. It鈥檚听a surprising move for a skier who has focused entirely on filming for years, and he鈥檚 the highest-profile athlete to compete on the tour since Candide Thovex won in 2010. He鈥檒l be competing against skiers like last year鈥檚 champion, Kristofer Turdell, a 28-year-old听from Sweden who has been skiing on an international level for nearly a decade.听
The women鈥檚 field includes a couple of exciting rookies to watch, like American Jacqueline Pollard, who grew up in Utah and has posted impressive results on the qualifier circuit over the past few years. Japan鈥檚 Ayana Onozuka, an Olympian who took bronze听in ski halfpipe at Sochi in 2014, will compete this weekend as well, marking her first official FWT competition.
A few other wildcards to note: Kye Petersen, a professional freeskier from British Columbia, and Travis Rice,听a legendary Wyoming-based snowboarder, will join the stacked field of athletes.
You can watch the live webcast on the FWT听, , and . The elite competition begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning in Japan, so tune in at 4:30 p.m.听MST on Friday to watch.听
Next, the tour heads to Kicking Horse, in Golden, B.C. See below for a complete list of venues and dates:
January 19-26
Hakuba, Japan
February 2-8
Kicking Horse, Golden B.C.听
February 22-28
Fieberbrunn, Austria
March 2-8
Vallnord-Arcalis, Andorra
March 23-31
Verbier, Switzerland