The 2023 Freeride World Tour has begun! The Tour’s first event, the Baqueira-Beret Pro, lived up to the hype! We look forward to following the events all season long and enjoying some of the best freeriding and beautiful mountain landscapes that modern competitive skiing and snowboarding have to offer.
Moving forward, we will keep you updated on each tout event. We plan to share venue details so you can learn about the incredible mountain landscapes the FWT uses for their venues, highlights from each event, and competitor spotlights so you can learn a little bit more about the inspiring riders responsible for pushing the sport of freeriding forward.
The 2023 FWT Season
The 2023 FWT season is already underway. The Baqueira-Beret Pro was the perfect start.
It includes five events across various countries– Spain, Andorra, Canada, Austria, and Switzerland. It will include men’s and women’s divisions for skiing and snowboarding. At the end of the season, the riders with the top three scores across the five events will be crowned the champions.
- Baqueira-Beret Pro, January 28th- February 2nd in Catalonia, Spain.
- Ordino Arcalís Pro, February 2nd in Andorra.
- House Golden Horse BC Pro, February 17-22nd in Golden, Canada.
- Fieberbrunn Pro, March 11th-17th, in the Tirol region of Austria.
- Xtreme Verbier, March 25th- April 2nd, in Verbier, Switzerland.
Venue Details: Baqueira-Beret
The first event of the Freeride World Tour was just finished at the Baqueira-Beret ski resort located in the center of the Pyrenees mountains in Catalonia, Spain. The Baqueira- Beret resort is Spain’s largest and highest-elevation ski resort, with most terrain being 2,000 meters above sea level. The Baquqeira- Beret ski area is well-known for its high-quality backcountry terrain, which is why it was the first stop on the FWT.
The crown jewel of the Baqueria-Beret terrain is the Baciver, a north-west facing face filled to the brim with fantastic natural features like cliffs and bottomless couloirs. The riders will have one opportunity to safely and stylishly descend from the 2,644-meter peak of Baciver to stamp their name on the leaderboards.
Event Highlights
The 2023 FWT season got underway with some insane riding. The riders stomped backflips, frontflips, and giant airs over intimidating cliffs one after the other. Between the rambunctious Spanish spectators and the extremely entertaining terrain, the Baciver made the perfect opening crescendo for the rest of the season.
You can watch a full replay on the FWT Website. But here are some highlights.
Men’s Ski Winning Run
Women’s Ski Winning Run
Men’s Snowboard Winning Run
Women’s Snowboard Winning Run
Competitor Spotlight- Abel Moga
After the Baqueira- Beret Pro 2023, Abel Moga was named the Rider of the Day. Abel is a 22-year-old skier from Vielha, Val d’ Aran, in Spain. Son of two parents who operated a small hotel in the Val d’ Aran, he grew up skiing from a young age. When he wasn’t helping his family business, Moga fine-tuned his skiing abilities by exploring every inch of the fantastic terrain in his home ski resort, Baqueira-Beret, and learning from his mentor Aymar Navarro, a legend of freeride skiing.
He has been competitively freeriding since 2015 when he debuted in the Freeride World Tour Junior circuit. In 2018 he placed third in the Junior Championship, qualifying him to compete in the FWT. In 2022, he competed in his first FWT season, placing second in the Baqueira-Beret Pro and seventh overall.
Despite placing seventh in this year’s Baquiera- Beret Pro, Moga, the hometown hero, was voted Rider of the Day because of his wild run and massive frontflip (the only of the day), cementing his place in the local freeriding history books. Congratulations, Abel!
Current FWT Rankings After The Baqueira-Beret Pro
| Ski Men | Ski Women | Snowboard Men | Snowboard Women | |
| 1 | Max Palm (SWE) | Addison Rafford (USA) | Michael Mawn (USA) | Katie Anderson (CAN) |
| 2 | Oscar Mandin (FRA) | Molly Armanino (USA) | Holden Samuel (USA) | Anna Orlova |
| 3 | Carl Regnér Eriksson (SWE) | Sybille Blanjean (SWZ) | Ludovic Guillot-Diat (FRA) | Erika Vikander (USA) |
For a more in-depth look at the current rankings of riders for the 2023 season and previous seasons, visit the FWT website.
What To Look Forward To
Follow along as we spectate some of the most modern and legendary freestyle riding that both skiing and snowboarding have ever seen!
The upcoming 2023 Ordino Arcalís Pro Freeride World Tour event will be held in Andorra on February 2nd. Let’s cross our fingers for some more shreddable conditions! See you then.
I am a rock climbing guide & freelance writer. I enjoy combining the physicality of my work as a guide during the climbing season with the more cerebral and reflective practices of writing during the winter months. I am originally from California but currently reside in Albany, NY, with my partner and dog.