Verbier Apres Ski Report: 28th March 2013
Mind-blowing freestyle, descending ‘onesie style' and Waste live at Aprés
This week saw many fantastic events grace our mountain home. Pub Mont Fort organized onesie descent, the Freeride World Tour finals and Waste playing at The Farinet - probably the best après band ever – meant Verbier was the place to be this week. To top it off, after some fairly inconsistent weather earlier in the week, there’s now been a fresh dump of snow making some great conditions for the Easter weekend.
With a storm predicted for the Saturday, the finals of the 18th edition of the Swatch and North Face sponsored Freeride World Tour was moved to Friday. The resort was packed to the rafters with locals, holiday-makers and keen freeride followers and an inevitable buzz caused by such an awesome event swept through the village.
Pop-up bars and stalls from the likes of Faction and Scott were erected along the Rue de Medran and there was even a makeshift kicker and airbag constructed on the Place Centrale. A big screen enabled those who couldn’t make it up the mountain to still watch the competition, whilst enjoying a cold beer or a crêpe, and there was even a sweet shop, selling a wide variety of sugary delights. With a live DJ spinning tracks under the Medran lift into the early hours on the Friday and Saturday, it was pretty much a 48-hour party.
If you were one of the thousands lucky enough to make it up to the bottom of Mont Fort to watch the competition, it proved to be a mind-blowing spectacle. Kicking off in the morning with the women’s snowboard and finished with the men’s skiing, each category seemed to amaze and awe the excited crowd.
The sheer slope had no shortage of rock drops and people held their breath time after time as the athletes threw themselves off Bec de Rosses. They opted to either speed down the face with style and finesse or impress with some audacious trickery – points could be picked up for either.
Drew Tabke (USA) was hailed champion of the men’s skiing category, topping off a fantastic season, whilst Austrian Nadine Wallner (AUT) gave it all she had, despite already having already securing 1st place at Fieberbrunn-PillerseeTal. The men’s snowboard category was dominated by Ralph Backstrom (USA) who completed a next to flawless run down, whilst Elodie Mouthon (FRA) secured the women’s title on her first year on the tour.
The onesie descent on Wednesday was a spectacle to behold. Hundreds of Verbier locals dug deep into their wardrobes to fish out the most outlandish 80’s gear they possessed, resulting in hideous one-piece ski suits, outrageous hats, retro monoskis and even the odd wet suit. Meeting at the pub at half 12, the group ski took participants to the top of Olympique, up the Mont Fort Jumbo (via pop-up bars by Faction and Bluebird Seasonaires) and back down to Ice Cube for a mass party in the sun. Culminating in some Pub Mont Fort après, a bbq filled hungry stomachs and those that were still going descended on The Farinet to indulge in some Waste lead live music.
Audacity, attitude, talent and an inherent ability to get the crowd grooving seem to be the credentials necessary to be an après band. Waste have perfected all these attributes and with vibrant flair, some eye-boggling guitar solos and relentless passion, they provided bacchanalian punters with some of the best live music the resort has seen.
As the Easter holidays descend on resort, it looks like it will be a great week for skiing. The snow is falling and falling and the partying is set to rock your socks off, so don’t forget to check our events calendar for regular updates!
Happy Easter everybody!
