From Revelstoke to Chamonix
With a pow-filled Revelstoke now in this season’s rear-view mirror, Praxis skier Drew Tabke is on his way to the big mountain mecca of Chamonix.
Drew Tabke 3rd Place Revelstoke
From January 21-27 Drew Tabke will take part in the invite-only Freeride World Tour as a wild card selection. After his podium-standing result in Revelstoke last week, few would argue against his ranking amongst the world’s best. Last week’s competition in B.C.’s interior featured skiers from both tours (The Freeride World Tour and the Freeskiing World Tour) which allowed viewers to witness a truly international mixture of talent and style. In our opinion, which is certainly biased, Drew’s skiing and unique approach to the mountain and competitions give him an inside line to a podium in Europe. His experience with big mountain, mixed climbing ascents alongside speedy, hair-raising descents bodes well with the European approach to skiing, however, when this big mountain prowess is combined with his eagerness to turn a venue into his own personal skate park, Drew is in a class of his own (the judges in Revelstoke also seem to agree).
When asked about the differences between the two tours Drew had this to say, “Yeah, the two tours have different criteria, but it doesn’t affect my skiing too much. My style has always been to find features that I would like to ski even if it weren’t a competition.” And, as far as the judges’ ability to put the right people on the podium Drew comments, “Regardless of which system is being used I believe the cream always rises to the top.”
When traveling away from your home stomping ground and into new and foreign mountains, choosing the appropriate ski, or skis, for the conditions can leave even the most experienced traveler scratching their head. We talked to Drew about what skis he chose to fly across the pond with and why:
“Going to Europe this time I’ll bring a Concept and a Protest. The venue at Chamonix faces south so there’s a chance it could get sun and thus weird snow conditions in which case I’d ski the Concept. The Courmayeur, Italy venue is almost certain to be pow. Its a high, sheltered north-facing cirque so I’m pretty confident I’ll get to use the Protest. I considered only bringing the Protest since Europe is having such an epic snow year, but it seams like no matter how much they get the Alps are always capable of producing ice and funk up high so its nice to have the Concept along.”
And with that, the crew over here at Praxis Skis is wishing Drew the best! Stay tuned into this page for updates on Drew’s activities.
Also, keep your eyes on freerideworldtour.com for updates and videos…it should be a great show!
Revelstoke Top Runs Finals from Subaru Freeskiing World Tour on Vimeo.