A Local Winner for the Freeride World Tour in Chamonix
Chamonix Snowboarder Jonathan Charlet Wins on Home Turf
The Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North Face hit Chamonix last weekend and event organisers, riders and spectators were all treated to Chamonix at its best.
With impossibly blue skies, glorious sunshine, decent snow conditions, and a first place finish for a local rider, Chamonix Mont-Blanc really put on a show to be proud of. The last minute decision to switch the venue from the Hotel Face at the Brevent to the North Face of the Aiguille Pourrie seemed to pay off as the riders found some amazing, crowd pleasing lines.
Chamonix local - Jonathan Charlet - took first place in the Mens Snowboard category with a fluid run culminating in a massive air at the bottom of the venue. American Drew Tabke won the Mens Ski category while Christine Hagrin (SWE) and Laura Dewey (USA) took first place in the Womens Ski and Snowboard events respectively.
After three events, Tabke is at the top of the Mens Ski standings and Squaw Valley's Ralph Backstrom is leading the way in the snowboard rankings. We spoke to Ralph ahead of the event about life as a professional snowboarder and his goals for the 2013 Freeride World Tour.
The Tour now heads back across the ocean to North America for the Kirkwood stop which takes place on the 27th of February. The fifth stop will be in Fieberbrunn in Austria at the beginning of March before the Tour Finals take place in Verbier at the end of the month.
Chamonet's buddies Seven Twenty Productions put together a great video of the event with a local focus on the Chamonix riders - Jonathan Charlet, Aurelien Ducroz and Leo Slemett - check it out above.
To hear more from 'Douds' Charlet, check out our Leading Locals section and to keep up to date with the Tour, check out the official website.
