The Nissan Freeride de Tignes set for Thursday morning on the Grand Balme

The decision to wait until Thursday, March 12th to hold the competition paid off: with the heavy snowfall in Tignes over the past two days, around one meter of fresh snow has accumulated on certain faces. Thanks to these exceptional conditions and the thumbs up from the mountain guides in charge of security, the Nissan Freeride de Tignes will finally take place on the Grand Balme! With more than 500 vertical meters and perfect natural terrain, the Grand Balme face has already been host to numerous major freeride competitions since 2001. The world’s best athletes will thus climb this mythical mountain with the French leading the favorites: Aurelien Ducroz (ski) and Xavier de Le Rue (snowboard) are currently leading the Freeride World Ranking and are on the quest for their first victories to secure their Freeride World Champion titles. Guerlain Chicherit, the freeride champion from Tignes, will take on his home turf participating in only this competition and be one of the outsiders to look out for. He will be judged by one of the great French freeride champions of all time, Manu Gaidet, who has joined the team of judges for the Nissan Freeride de Tignes. The show starts at 9am at the foot of the Grand Balme. Here are some picts of the organization team going to check the contest venue: