Freeriding is a style of snowboarding or skiing performed on natural, un-groomed terrain, without a set course, goals or rules. It evolved throughout the sport's formative years as a contrary response to the highly regimented style of ski competition prevalent at the time. Snowboarders primarily refer to freeriding as backcountry, sidecountry, or off-piste snowboarding, and sometimes big mountain or extreme riding.
Verbier is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais. It is a holiday resort and ski area in the Swiss Alps and is recognised as one of the premier off-piste resorts in the world. Some areas are covered with snow all year. Skiers have settled in the Verbier area in order to take advantage of the steep slopes, varied conditions, and resort culture.
Freeskiing, or new school skiing, is a specific type of alpine skiing, which involves tricks, jumps, and terrain park features, such as rails, boxes, jibs, or other obstacles. This form of skiing resulted from the growth of snowboarding combined with the progression of freestyle skiing. "Newschoolers", or those who specifically ski in this style, as opposed to traditional freestylers, freeriders, big mountain skiers, and racers, are often found in terrain parks, which are designed specifically for tricks.
Chad's Gap is a 120-foot (37 m) backcountry gap located in the Wasatch Mountains, approximately 0.6 miles (0.97 km) northeast of Alta Ski Area, in northern Utah, United States. One version of the structure's discovery has it that Chad Zurinskas, a local Utah resident after whom the gap was purportedly named, discovered it as a gap between two piles of mine tailings in 1999 and arranged with filmmaker Kris Ostness to make the first successful jump. The first successful jump was done by Candide Thovex. Tanner Hall aka 'Ski Boss' blew both his ankles to pieces by coming up short on the gap. He recalled it to feel like someone had loaded his ski boots with dynamite. His quote "my ankles are broken, my ankles are broke" has become famous in the snow sports world.
Candide Thovex is a French professional skier, filmmaker and entrepreneur.
Sarah Jean Burke was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a five-time Winter X Games gold medallist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event. Burke died following a training accident in Utah in 2012.
A ski film is a motion picture with sequences of expedition, recreation, competition, or acrobatic exhibition on snow skis. These non-fiction action sport films capture the experience of an athletic outdoor snow sporting culture. Ski films typically present one or more techniques, locations, or skiers. Categories include the feature, documentary of competition or other event coverage, instruction or technique demonstration, retrospective history, travel guide showcasing a region, or a short subject. More than 200 such videos debuted in 2006. Notable examples are listed at the Ski and Snowboard Film Institute, or have received awards from the International Ski Film Festival, X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival, IF3 International Freeski Film Festival, Newschoolers magazine, Cold Smoke Winter Film, Powder magazine, or similar.
Jacob Wester is a Swedish freeskier.
Charles Gagnier is a Canadian freeskier, best known for inventing the Octograb in 2006.
The International Freesports Film Festival (iF3) is a film Festival dedicated to screening and rewarding freeskiing and snowboarding movies. Held annually at the end of October in Montreal, iF3 was created in 2007 by Félix Rioux, Doug Bishop and Jean-Francis Durocher. As it premieres the best movies of the past season, iF3 has been referred to as the "Cannes of the ski world!" by ESPN and won Quebec action sports Gala Maestro's event of the year in 2010.
Mirabelle Thovex is a French snowboarder. Thovex started snowboarding when she was 8 years old, and has been on the French national team since the age of 15. Thovex competed in the women’s halfpipe event at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Karl Fostvedt is an American Freeskier from Ketchum, Idaho. He is sponsored by Dakine, K2 Sports, Anon Optics, Lethal Descent, Full Tilt Boots. He is known for his urban, backcountry, and big mountain skiing abilities.
Poor Boyz Productions is a North American entertainment company which specializes on Freeskiing, Wind surfing and Standup paddleboarding films. The company was formed in 1994 by Johnny Decesare and is headquartered in Redondo Beach, California. In 2012 Poor Boyz began producing freeskiing videos in association with Red Bull Media House.
Alexis duPont is an American professional big mountain freeskier. She is a Freeskiing World Tour contender and former Junior Olympics competitor, who has been featured in several films such as Warren Miller’s Wintervention and Tracing Skylines. Her mother, freestyle skier Holley duPont, was one of the first women to land a backflip on skis.
Kelly Sildaru is an Estonian Olympic freestyle skier.
Nico Porteous is a New Zealand freestyle skier and an Olympic champion. He is New Zealand's youngest Olympic Games medallist, having won a bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics at the age of 16. He became New Zealand's second Winter Olympic gold medallist, and first male, with his win in men's halfpipe at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Sarah Höfflin is an Olympic Swiss freestyle skier. She won a gold medal in big air at Winter X Games XXII, and won gold in slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Mathilde Gremaud is an Olympic Swiss freestyle skier and eight time X Games medalist. On February 28, 2023, she became the first freestyle skier to hold both slopestyle World and Olympic Champion titles after winning gold in both events.
Reine Barkered is a big mountain skier from Duved, Sweden.
Eileen Feng Gu, also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, is a freestyle skier. Born in the United States, she has competed for China in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events since 2019.
