Free ride festival

FREERIDE FESTIVAL

the Dutch & Belgium Freeride Championships

Freeride festival

Ten years ago we started with the first Dutch Freeride Competition in Goldeck, Austria. It was a fun freeride competition with a lot of good ski- & snowboard talents from the Netherlands.

Besides organizing the competition part we started with organizing side-events as well. Snowsafety clinics, a freeride test-center and of course some great apres-ski party's followed. It was clear, after a few years this freeride competition grew into a larger freeride festival with a lot of spectators, guides, ski- & snowboard brands.

The last three years we organized the Dutch Vertical Skimo (Ski mountaineering) as well. This is a skitour race on time against each other with a starting point in the village and a finish at Sunny Mountain.

New this year is that we organising the official Belgium Freeride Championships as well. We're looking forward to a great edition in Kappl, Austria from 15 till 22 March. See you there!

Judgement Criteria

Each run will be judged by a panel of 5 judges. Two of them are judging the snowboard categories and two of them the skiing categories. The head-judge is Paul de Groot who will be responsible for this as Head of Competition. They judge every run on 5 criteria;

* Line-choice: is this a unique line? Different or more technical than others? Difficult

* Control: Control is crucial in big-mountain riding. Having it means success, while losing it can be fatal. That's why the judges can be unforgiving towards those who don't demonstrate enough control during their competition run.

* Technique: The question with this part detailed part of judging is whether the athletes have benefit from a good riding technique. While others need more slide-slipping to come down in a safe manner.

* Fluidity: Is the athlete riding their line in one run or does he/she stop all the time? The goal is to ride down in one way without confusion, hesitation or interruptions.

* Air & Style: if the athlete takes cliffs does he stick them or is this to much risk for him and causes a crash? This judging part diverse good freeriders from the rest of the field and can become a quite interesting part during the finals.

Clinics & more

During this Poederbaas Freeride Festival there are a lot of side activities which you can join as a visitor of this event. We focus on Snowsafety clinics which will be given by our valuable ski- & snowboard guides. With their many years of experience they share their knowledge with the visitors and athletes.

Besides the snow safety clinics you can test skies & snowboards from all the big freeride brands. Do you want to learn how to freeride ski- or snowboard? Sign up for the freeride clinics and we'll hook you up with one of our guides.

Questions about the program & timings? Wait till the end of November and we will show you when & where to tune in!

is this event something for you?

Everybody is welcome during this Poederbaas Freeride Festival! You can join all the clinics, side-events, the riders meetings/dinners etc. If you are a good skier/snowboarder you can even join the Dutch/Belgium Freeride Championships as well!

What's a good skier/snowboarder?

We always say that if you can ride a red slope continuously downwards without hesitation/stopping than you can join this competition in a good manner. If you have any questions about your participation please don't hesitate to contact us!