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The first-ever FWT stop in Georgia is confirmed for 29 February

February 28, 2024

The freeride world is looking with anticipation to Georgia this week. The first ever FWT stop in this county on the south side of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range promises to be a breathtaking event considering the amount of spectacular faces on offer, not to mention the usually abundant amounts of snowfall in the Svaneti region. As conditions are currently good and the weather forecast is rather mixed for the initially announced event window in the first week of March, the organizers decided to pre-schedule the competition which is now happening this Thursday, February 29. The local starting time is planned to be 12:00 pm GET which is 9:00 am CET.

Riders are currently in the town of Mestia and preparing for the competition which is going to be held on the slopes of 3,706 m high Kakhiani peak. The start will be at an elevation of 3,150 m and the competition face has a north-western aspect, 320 m vertical drop and an average steepness of 37°. The mountain is the second highest peak in the Gvalda Range towering above Mestia and not that easy to reach, hence the rather late starting time at noon in Georgia.

Some of the skiers and snowboarders are simply looking forward to take on the challenge on a new contest site while others will be a bit more tense as the stop in Georgia is the last one on this year’s World Tour before the cut is made for the final two events in Fieberbrunn and Verbier. Six women and eleven men in the ski categories will have the chance to fight for the overall title while the rest can have a go at the FWT Challenger events to re-qualify for the main tour in 2025. There are some big names on the line including former Verbier Xtreme winner Sybille Blanjean as seventh in the ski women’s ranking or her compatriot and former overall champion Maxime Chabloz as eleventh in the ski men’s ranking. Manon Loschi and Max Hitzig on the other hand are in a rather comfortable position as current tour leaders and will be looking to further bolster their reigning positions.

Snowboarders will go first—as seems to be the rule for this season—and the ski men will cap off the action as usual. If all goes according to plan, expect the ski women to start the show around 10 am CET. You can find all the event information including tour rankings, rider information, start lists and the comfortable live stream including current standings on the event website or you can tune in to the YouTube livestream here:

The marvelous mountains of Georgia. Dom Daher/Freeride World Tour