Verbier, Switzerland is home of the O’Neill Extreme. The O’Neill Extreme began in 1996. According to the organization it is,
“Considered the most prestigious event in the Freeride world. For the “grande finale” of the Freeride World Tour the elite of Freeride will tackle the mythical North Face of the Bec des Rosses, a dauntingly steep and frighteningly jagged 500 m rock-face. The Bec des Rosses presents in places some 55° sheer slopes. In an upright position one could nearly lean on the face with one’s elbow. With steep and narrow couloirs and high rock cliffs. Around 5000 spectators join the riders at one of the most beautiful natural arenas of the Alps, the Col des Gentianes in Verbier.”hanging snow and terrain, it asks the riders to be particularly skilled with top physical condition, thorough mountain experience, and top placements in the previous contests.”

The competition was scheduled for Saturday. I arrived on Thursday, which gave one day to scout the Bec de Rosses. The rules of FWT state that no competitor shall ski the contest venue on month prior to the event. So all of the competitors gathered across the valley from the Bec armed with binoculars and cameras to try to find a safe line. Many of us were concerned with the snow conditions. Verbier had just received a meter of snow in the last week and there was a lot of slide activity. Not only did we have to find a safe way to impressively negotiate the face, we had to be concerned with avi-danger. Not an easy task to achieve with a pair of binoculars.

It was difficult to tell how large all of the features were from across the valley, so a group of us decided to ski underneath the venue and get a feel for how large the bottom cliff bands truly were. As we skied underneath the venue, the entire face of the Bec de Rosses slid. We all straight-lined to safety. Luckily, everyone was fine, but the organization had to choose a new venue for the competition.

It was decided that Mount Gele would be the new venue for the competition. The morning of the competition we loaded the lifts at 7:00. I stood on top mount Gele and once again I was the only girl at my start. Instead of asking for some comforting words from the other competitors, I kept to myself and focused on the run I was about to ski. The crowd that was gathered at the bottom of venue was enormous. I could hear their cheers from 1000 meters up. I couldn’t see the other girls ski, but I could tell how well they skied by the cheers of the crowd. It sounded like everyone was kill’n it.

I was the last girl to ski. As I eased into the start, a helicopter buzzed over my head with cameramen hanging out all sides to film my run. Talk about pressure. The film crew was not the only pressure I felt for my last run on the world tour. I had to place in the top two in this competition to guarantee myself a spot on the tour for next season. This meant no falling and I had to ski well. I dropped into a 55-degree chute over heavy exposure. The snow pack was variable; pockets of powder and lots of bulletproof ice. At the end of the chute, I traversed across an exposed area into a wide-open chute with perfect powder. In the middle of the chute I hit a small cliff and ripped down to the finish. I skied a good solid line and placed second in the competition. I also finished second overall on the Freeride World Tour and guaranteed myself an invite for next year.

I did not get to ski the Bec de Rosses, but she will be waiting for me next year and I will be ready for her.