Image: freerideworldtour.com / David Carlier
FREERIDE WORLD TOUR VICE CHAMP.
Images: freerideworldtour.com / Dom Daher
Sam smoothy
At the end of the 2014 Freeride World Tour (FWT) season Sam Smoothy stood on the podium beside the newly crowned World Champion, LoicCollomb Patton. Sam had put together his most successful season on the tour to finish 2nd overall, but it hadn’t all been plain sailing. It had been a tumultuous rollercoaster of a year for both Sam and the FWT itself.
Snowbird, in the usually powder prolific Utah, things were thin. However, the North Baldy face assigned for the comp was looking good. That was until the morning of the event, when a ski patrol bomb ripped out a 300m slide with a 3m crown wall. This left the face stripped to the ground and ended any chance of holding a comp there.
Revelstoke, Canada was the tour’s first scheduled stop, back in December. However two weeks before it was due to start, it was postponed until March, the organisers citing avalanche conditions on the comp face as the reason.
So, for the third time, the FWT had to move to a smaller sub-par venue as their only option. The inbounds Silver Fox venue was chosen and the athletes ripped it up, giving the judges a few headaches trying to separate the field on such a small face. Luckily for Sam, his run impressed the judges enough to notch up another podium, with a 3rd place finish.
Back in Europe the tour eventually kicked off in Courmayeur, Italy in late January. However the thin European snow pack had again left organisers struggling for legitimate face options. Conditions on their usual comp face had been deemed too dangerous, and with the time window closing fast, they had no option but to opt for a smaller face with limited line options.
Onwards to Canada and the postponed Revelstoke leg. This ended up being a complete non-event. With backcountry avalanche conditions ruling out the Mac Daddy face, the decision was made to cancel the event as no other suitable venue could be found. So the top twelve male skiers headed to Verbier after only four tour stops, three of which had been held on small, back up venues. Sam was sitting comfortably in 2nd with the top spot within his reach.
Ten days before the event, Sam was taken to hospital with abdominal pains and had to have his appendix removed. Initially, this ruled him out of competing but as the comp day was pushed further back, Sam decided to risk it and ski. He pulled a good start number, skied smartly and within himself, scoring an 11th place finish, fifteen days after surgery.
The infamous Bec de Rosses was not immune to the snow drought either and was looking rather bare in the lead up to the finals. However a much needed snowfall a few days before the comp improved things enough to make it happen, albeit with limited options. Unfortunately the new snow caused problems for Sam, who crashed while out enjoying the freshies, badly injuring his back. At first his chances of skiing were very slim, but somehow he managed to recover and drag himself to the top of the Bec. Sam needed to beat the current leader Loic by three or four places in Verbier to take the title. It wasn’t to be, as Loic put down one of the runs of his life to take 3rd place. While Sam, obviously struggling with the pain, bravely limped down the face even hitting a sizeable air near the bottom.
Three days later in Chamonix, Sam was feeling stronger and although he skied a relatively conservative line, his trademark aggression looked like it had returned. The end result was a solid 6th place. The lean winter caused more problems in Austria, as the Fieberbruun leg of the tour had to be moved to the nearby resort of Kappl which, unlike Fieberbruun, had a suitable face that hadn’t been stripped of snow. It was a brand new venue for the FWT and, with only a visual inspection, it was anyones to win. At the end of the day it was our man from Cromwell who stood atop the podium, claiming his 2nd career FWT win. Sam was back skiing at his best and had flashed the Kappl face with a series of fast, fluid airs to take the win.
Sam had done enough for 11th place, which secured his 2nd overall position and the best ever FWT finish by a Kiwi. He had put his 2013 season behind him and returned to his winning ways. His body had been sore from surgery for the first two events, he podiumed at the next two and could barely walk for the tour finals and yet still stood there at the end as vicechampion. What a season!
The FWT circus headed across the Atlantic for the last two stops before Verbier. The Kirkwood stop had already been moved to Snowbird, as California was in the depths of its second driest winter on record. Even at 92
The crowd in the tram watch on as Sam prepares to send it off the Frenchie Air at Snowbird