Time for the Freeride World Tour to shine

Géraldine Fasnacht was only 25 years old and already had two Xtreme Verbier snowboarding victories under her belt when, in 2005, she and her husband Sébastien Gay decided to create the Mountain Line Foundation to support young mountain athletes. “We started bringing teens from the Val de Bagnes villages to go mountain climbing every Wednesday and we organized camp outs, always in a different location in Switzerland or Italy. We did the same thing in winter but made it a freeriding expedition. Then we decided we should help the most promising teens of the group who wanted to compete, like Jérôme Caroli, Estelle Balet, then Sybille Blanjean and Liam Rivera, to name just a few”.

Crowned with a third Xtreme Verbier victory in 2009, Géraldine was absolutely thrilled to find herself lined up for the Freeride World Tour circuit. Ever more invested in her expeditions, she soon found herself playing a crucial role in supporting her protégée, the late Estelle Balet, who succeeded her on the podium — and even went on to win the freeride world title in both 2015 and 2016. Géraldine could not have been more proud.

A duty to support
“I was given the chance to live my dreams and make my greatest passion my career, so I think we have an enormous role to play in assisting the next generation of young freeride talent, bearing in mind the central role Verbier plays in this discipline. Other ski resorts may have the Matterhorn or Mont Blanc, but we are so lucky to have the Bec des Rosses and an exceptional area for freeriding! In my own way, I’m still supporting several young people through my foundation, like Jordan Ray, who’s coming back to the Freeride World Qualifier this winter after recovering from an injury — and after having placed first in the Freeride World Tour Junior. We’re assisting these kids financially for the season, helping reimburse their expenses and offering training, all financed by a mix of income earned from doing conferences and from individual donations. We’ll also be organizing a raffle in the fall. We need to fundraise every year because there are always more young talents emerging, especially at the higher levels. From that perspective, I think the Freeride World Tour being integrated into the FIS calendar should help us obtain additional funding to support our mission”.

Over the past two years, Géraldine has also stepped back in to lead the Verbier Freeride Club/Team, which was created at the same time as her foundation, in 2005, by the former Director of Téléverbier, Éric Balet (Estelle’s father). “Thanks to financing from the ski lift company, the municipality and the tourism office, the association has grown a lot,” added Géraldine, “and it now supports over 30 riders who represent Verbier and the Val de Bagnesamongst the world’s best at the Freeride World Tour, the FWT Challenger, the FWT Qualifier and the FWT Junior. It’s the best represented team in the world!”

The 2025 FWT circuit, made up of six events (one of which is now at Val Thorens), kicks off on January 18th and will finish (as is customary) on the steep slopes of the Bec des Rosses on March 22-23, 2025. Everyone will be watching in anticipation of the first freeride world championships, which will take place in Andorra early February 2026.

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