Three Sandpoint women vie for spots on Freeride World Tour

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

Sandpoint has churned out an uncanny number of talented snowsports athletes over the years, and it’s always thrilling to watch skiers and snowboarders raised on the slopes of Schweitzer go on to participate in some of the nation’s most prestigious competitive events.

Two local skiers and one snowboarder are currently vying for the Challenger Series, a multi-location competition where 18 of the country’s top skiers battle for two spots on the Freeride World Tour. Lindsey Anderson, 33; Emma Hall, 20; and Lydia Nelsen, 21, are hoping to earn enough points in their qualifying runs to participate in the national series.

Freeriding is a winter sport in which skiers and boarders explore the most challenging terrain on a ski resort, navigating through steeps and cliffs, powder and other difficult conditions with the goal of skiing a line down and link features while also pulling off tricks. It’s a judged event, with points scored for your line, technique, fluidity, style and energy.

Lindsey Anderson, left; Emma Hall, center; and Lydia Nelsen, right. Courtesy photo

“A lot of people call it racing, but it’s not racing at all,” Anderson told the Reader. “If you’re going to ski a line down a really challenging run linking up different features and ski it fast and fluidly all while making it look easy, that’s going to score higher by the judges.”

Anderson told the Reader she began freeriding because of the challenge. 

“I’ve been coaching freeride for five years with Caleb Mullen, and he competed in freeride for over 20 years,” she said. 

Anderson said she was impressed how many top-notch skiers come out of Schweitzer, thanks to coaches like Mullen leading the way.

“This area has a lot of really good athletes who have inspired younger generations,” Anderson said. “It’s not like Schweitzer has the most challenging terrain compared to other places, but I think it’s the people here and the way they’ve supported each other to push the sport. This is a great place to develop your skills and get comfortable and bring those skills to more steep or rocky terrain.” 

The Challenger Series is one step below the Freeride World Tour, an annual series of events that has been around since it was founded in 1996 as the Xtreme Verbier. The competition was snowboard only until 2004, when it opened to skiers.

To qualify for the FWT, participants must amass points won from entering competitions leading up to the series. 

“I decided I was going to do just one competition and started winning them, so now I’m here [in Kirkwood, Calif.] and it’s really intense,” Anderson said.

Anderson, Hall and Nelsen are currently battling along with more than a dozen other female skiers to earn their spots on the FWT.

“They only select two out of each Challenger Series,” Anderson said. “That means two from our region, which is all of North America.”

Currently, Hall has earned four first-place finishes this year in qualifiers. Hall was on the tour last year and got a wild card for the Challenger Series, meaning she didn’t need to go through the arduous qualifier process, but started directly in the Challenger Series. 

Because the event in Nelson, B.C. was canceled due to inclement weather, Anderson said she’s hoping for two competitions at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado on Wednesday, April 16. If any of the athletes place well at A-Basin, they have a chance to earn one of the FWT spots.

“Lydia and I lost skis in this last event, but we still have a chance if they do two runs at A-Basin,” Anderson said. “If we’d stayed on our feet, we’d be in the top five, but we’re still in it.”

Stay tuned to future editions of the Reader to see results for Anderson, Hall and Nelsen’s runs at Arapahoe Basin.