"Endless Winter Snow"

Freeride World Tour

Ski Men and Women to Battle it out in Snow-Covered Kirkwood, California

The Best Riders on the Best Mountains in the Ultimate Freeride Competition

Verbier, Switzerland February 23, 2011 The top Freeride World Tour 2011 athletes are in the Lake Tahoe area preparing for all-time conditions at this weekend's North American Freeskiing Championships Kirkwood 2011 by Swatch, The North Face and Sierra Nevada.

The North American Freeskiing Championships Kirkwood 2011 by Swatch, The North Face and Sierra Nevada

Freeride World Tour 2011 men and women skiers are tuning their powder boards in preparation for the next event of the tour. The North American Freeskiing Championships Kirkwood 2011 by Swatch, The North Face and Sierra Nevada is scheduled to take place this Saturday, 26 February, at Kirkwood ski station located just south of California's Lake Tahoe.

Has Henrik Windstedt (SWE) fully recovered from his badly bruised ribs to protect his lead against his closest competitors? Will FWT women ski leader Janette Hargin (SWE) have what it takes to continue her string of five consecutive podium appearances against North America's best skiers and the top women league of the Freeride World Tour? Clearly, the North AmericanFreeskiing Championships is a key event in the run for the 2011 Freeride World Champion title.

Keep an eye on FreerideWorldTour.com for all the latest info.

The Freeride World Tour is collaborating with the North American Freeskiing Championships, an exciting event featuring the top riders from North America as well as the athletes competing in the Freeride World Tour.

Weather permitting, qualifiers are set to being on Thursday, 24 February with finals scheduled for Saturday, 26 February. The Freeride World Tour athletes are automatically qualified into the finals.

The venue for the Kirkwood event is an area called The Cirque, which is a 260-meter face at the top of 2987-meter Thimble Peak. The face is heavily featured with the possibility for cliff drops of all sizes, multiple drops and fun rock hits.

Kirkwood has been getting so much snow recently that on 19 February 2011 Skiinfo.com proclaimed, "Kirkwood has received the most snowfall in the world in the past 7 days" after the resort received almost three meters in one week. This abundance of fresh snow on top of a 445cm base should provide the kind of soft landings that will allow the riders to launch big airs and throw down their best tricks.

To see the Freeride World Tour riders' entry list, click here.

The Freeride World Tour 2011 six stages

1. Nissan Freeride de Chamonix-Mont-Blanc 2011 by Swatch (FRA)

Date: 22 January 2011 - Men / Women - Ski / Snowboard

2. Nissan Freeride Engadin St. Moritz 2011 by Swatch (SUI)

Date: 30 January 2011 - Men - Ski / Snowboard

3.a The North Face Masters of Crystal Mountain 2011 by Swatch and PrimaLoft (USA)

Date: 7 February 2011 Men - Snowboard

3.b North American Freeskiing Championships Kirkwood 2011 by Swatch, The North Face and Sierra Nevada (USA)

Date: 25 February 2011 - Men / Women - Ski

4. Nissan Russian Adventure Sochi 2011 (RUS)

Date: 5 March 2011 - Men - Ski / Snowboard

5. Swatch Big Mountain Fieberbrunn 2011 by Nissan (AUT)

Date: 12 March 2011 - Men - Ski / Snowboard

6. Nissan Xtreme Verbier 2011 by Swatch (SUI)

Date: 19 March 2011 (Finals) - Men / Women - Ski / Snowboard

Women's Main Events 2011

1. La Clusaz Radikal Mountain (FRA)

Date: 16 January 2011

2. Nissan Freeride de Chamonix-Mont-Blanc 2011 by Swatch (FRA)

Date: 22 January 2011

3. Big Mountain Hochfügen (AUT)

Date: 5 February 2011

4a. The North American Freeskiing Championships Kirkwood 2011 by Swatch, The North Face and Sierra Nevada (USA)

Date: 25 February 2011 - SKI ONLY

4b. The North Face Masters of Snowboarding 2011 by Swatch, Kirkwood (USA)

Date: 5 March 2011 - SNOWBOARD ONLY

5. Salomon Extreme Freeride Championship, Taos, New Mexico, (USA)

Date: 5 March 2011 - SKI ONLY

6. Nendaz Freeride (SUI)

Date: 12 March 2011

7. Nissan Xtreme Verbier 2011 by Swatch (SUI)

Date: 19 March 2011 - FINAL for qualified riders

8. Röldal Freeride (NOR)

Date: 30 April 2011

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Media Content & TV Distribution

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For each event a 26-minute highlight (event day + 7 days) will be produced. A 3-minute news format (event day), rough cuts (event day) and interviews are also available.
- Behind the scene clips & interviews: available from the 2011 season here.

Freeride World Tour Media Relations:

International Media:

Josefine As
+33 679 04 23 46
media@freerideworldtour.com

UK:
Nadine Carle+44 7905 25 24 60
nadine@montagnes.co.uk

TV Distribution:

Quattro Media

Susanne Lenz

media@4msports.com

+49 (0) 8093 - 572 21 (direct)

+49 (0) 177 - 736 36 72 (mobile)

Note to editors:

About the Freeride World Tour

The Freeride World Tour was launched in 2008 and following three full seasons it is recognized by riders, the ski industry and the media as the pinnacle of the sport. In 2011, the best freeriders, men, women, skiers and snowboarders alike, will visit some of the world's most renowned ski resorts in pursuit of the world title.

For 2011 the men's tour has expanded from four to six FWT stops with events in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc - FRA, Engadin St Moritz - SUI, Kirkwood - USA, Sochi - RUS, Fieberbrunn AUT, and Verbier - SUI. The women's events have a new schedule for 2011 that includes eight main stops in La Clusaz - FRA, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc - FRA, Hochfugen - AUT, Kirkwood - USA, Taos USA, Nendaz SUI, Verbier SUI and Röldal - NOR.

The riders' best three contest results from the Freeride World Tour 2011 will count towards qualifying for the season finale, the Nissan Xtreme Verbier 2011 by Swatch. Freeride World Champion titles will be awarded using the four best results from the six FWT11 stops including the Nissan Xtreme Verbier 2011 by Swatch.

The Freeride World Tour is supported by Freeride World Qualifier events around the world where the same criteria for security, contest format and judging is applied. The FWQ events' biggest aim is to feed new talent from all over the world into the elite level tour.

www.freerideworldtour.com