Freeriders of MSU encourage students to embrace the send

While MSU skiers eagerly await chairlifts to open, those looking to push their freeride abilities this season or potentially enter into competition can work to realize their aspirations with help from the Freeriders of MSU club.

The club provides aspiring freeride competitors with the chance to earn themselves a place on the podium, as well as nurturing an inclusive and enthusiastic haven for freeride skiers of any ability level, regardless of their desire to compete.

“Our main club mission is to support athletes who want to compete for qualifier events, specifically giving them groups of people to ski with and talk to that have similar ideas,” Club Co-President Connor Doyle said.

Doyle recently took over the reins of the Freeriders of MSU club this year alongside co-president Bethannen Droll. Currently a senior, Doyle has been consistently competing in freeride events since his junior year of highschool. He looks forward to expanding the club and inspiring MSU skiers to share in his love for competition.

“Competing, you're around a bunch of different types of people with all sorts of different styles. You ski with just so many different people and learn different stuff and learn how to throw down a run that will matter,” Doyle explained. “A lot of people see competitive skiing as aggro and just not super fun, and we're just trying to make competitive skiing fun again.”

According to Doyle, freeride skiing and snowboarding is downhill riding that takes place on natural features. This distinguishes it from freestyle skiing and snowboarding, which occurs on rails and man-made slopestyle jumps.

The Freeriders of MSU club helps to arrange and finance club members’ participation in the International Free Skiers and Snowboarders Association’s Freeride World Qualifier (FWQ) events. According to Doyle, these events are arranged into tiers, beginning with one or two-star events, which are considered more entry level, and progressing to more competitive four-star events. Individuals that find enough success in higher tier FWQ competitions can become eligible to compete in the Freeride World Tour, the most prestigious freeride competition in the world.

Doyle said that last season, club members participated in FWQ competitions at Revelstoke Mountain Resort in British Columbia, Crystal Mountain Resort in Washington, Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming, Red Mountain Resort in British Columbia and Snowbird in Utah. According to him, the club will probably compete in the same events this year, but the competition schedule has not yet been released. 

According to Doyle, the Freeriders of MSU club hosts fundraiser events to help cover travel and housing costs for members entered in competitions. This past Sunday, Oct. 15, they held a mountain biking race at Felix Canyon. The club will be hosting a house show this week featuring live music from the band Last Call. On Nov. 4 they’ll be raffling off skis at The Filling Station, accompanied by more life music from the band Puddle.

Doyle explained that the club offers opportunities for all of MSU’s freeride skiing or snowboarding enthusiasts, including those with no interest in competitions.

“They don't have to be super keen on going to competitions but if they want to have a fun group of people to go ski with, we're always there,” Doyle said.

A club membership costs 30 dollars and members receive a variety of benefits that make this fee worthwhile, according to Doyle. These benefits include discounted tickets for all the aforementioned events as well as invitations to dryland training sessions — off-season workouts that take place twice a week into December and bi-weekly Bridger Bowl meetups during the winter time. 

“It's to spread the love, to share freeride skiing and snowboarding with anybody whether they've never competed or they have competed in the past and they want to compete. Maybe they don't want to compete, but they just want to go ski hard,” Doyle said.