Superwomen Sunday in Andorra

Gold for Jess Hotter and the allover lead for Hedvig Wessel after the second stop of the Freeride World Tour.

Sunscreen and stomp legs was required in Ordino Arcalís, Andorra, as the second stop of the Freeride World Tour went down on Sunday. Just a week after the premier in Spain, the KORE riders from HEAD were ready to take on the spring like conditions on a brand-new face, high in the Pyrenees. The men’s category was first out, but you must excuse us gents, we’ll start with the ladies.

Even though the sun was shining bright from a deep blue sky, the conditions were not easy. Unpredictable snow and all sizes of rocks scattered over the venue fooled more than one rider.

But it didn’t bother Jess Hotter. She was dancing out of the start gate as the first skier in the women’s field, charged with confidence through the soft snow, popped off a couple of cross court airs, gave us little scare with a big cliff drop to a close-call-next-to-a-rock-landing, took the hot seat, hugged every single skier that came down after her and kept dancing all the way to the top of the podium. WHAT A PERFORMANCE! And what a fantastic comeback after her scary fall in the first stop of the tour. This also moves Jess to the third place in the overall ranking.

Hedvig Wessel made no mistakes and landed two big cliffs on her way down, showing off some super consistent skiing and seriously strong legs in a more classic big-mountain-style run then we’re used to see from her. Hedvig’s skiing was considered fourth best of the day, a score that also sent her all the way to the top in the overall ranking. Way to go girl!

In the men’s field, swede Carl Regnér put down a very tidy run. All fall line, no BS, super fluid with great control and a laser sharp backflip was enough for the 7th place of the day and a solid 3rd in the overall.

Local skier and wildcard Joan Aracil started off strong but went down on backflip attempt, hitting a cliff halfway through the rotation. Report states he was conscious when he was sent away with the helicopter to the local hospital. It looked scary and we hope you’re feeling OK Joan. Our thoughts are with you and your family.

Rookie Abel Moga was next out after Joan, but the waiting didn’t seem to affect him at all. It was full speed fall line skiing from the get-go. After stomping his first cliff he directly pointed his skis to a massive gap that he cleared by an inch. The bottom section, with a huge cliff mid through was equally impressive, but the judges didn’t feel his performance as much, sending him down to a 13th place. The Spaniard is however shadowing the top in the overall standing with a 4th place.

Last man out among the men was kiwi Blake Marshall who was entering the main face a bit lower than his fellow KORE buddies, but absolutely jammed his run with features including three 360’s. His consistent and joyful skiing wasn’t precisely what the judges were looking for though. However, it landed him a 10th place in Andorra which means a 12th position in the total.

In the snowboard category British Swede Cody Bramwell came in on 4th (now 5th overall), the same result as his HEAD Snowboard colleague Núria Castán Baron but she’s now shared 3rd in the overall women ranking.

The top 11 men, and top 5 women, makes it through to the finals so there is still a good chance for all the KORE riders. Next stop in Golden BC, Canada planned for 12-17 February, is also the last stop before the two final rounds this year: Fieberbrunn, Austria and Verbier, Switzerland.