A BURGEONING competitive snow sport across the skiing and snowboarding world is in the extreme freeride sector, with its apex in the Freeride World Tour and its feeder series, the Freeride World Tour Qualifiers.
The daring, courage and skill is on full display as riders throw themselves down seemingly impossible terrain undertaking measured feats of athletic elegance.
What you may not know is the pedigree of skiers we currently have at Hotham that have competed in the upper echelons of the sport and are now planning to open opportunities to the next generation via a new program called ‘Higher Freeride’.
Run as full accommodation ‘camps’, Higher Freeride will be managed by three Hotham freeskiers: Jake Woods, Nick Higginson and Coen Bennie-Faull.
Jake is one of those understated skiers that doesn’t need to talk the big talk.
His actions and humility are his trademarks.
"Everyone is a freerider...unless they’re a racer," says Jake with a grin.
A highly accomplished ski instructor and current head coach of the Big Mountain Program with Team Hotham, Jake has competed at the higher levels of the Freeride World Tour Qualifiers since 2016, including last season in Valfréjus France, and Hakuba Japan.
He rates his best line, where he fully executed his plan, as being at an event in Les Arcs France in 2020.
Asked how he ended up skiing to get on the World Freeride Tour, Jake explains.
"My intention was never to be a Freeride World Tour athlete.
"It's always about being given permission to ski your hardest in a venue that's been deemed safe.
"The fun element was always for me the challenge of it and if a result followed then that would be awesome.
"But I always go in with the intention of skiing a line that I think looks cool and would feel amazing to accomplish.
"I never necessarily ski for points or ski for the judges.
"I just try and do my thing and if I happened to have fallen into the top echelons of that comp it would have been a happy accident."
Jake only started skiing in his mid-teens and recalls his first visit to Hotham vividly.
"First time I saw the snow was in 2016 when I was 15 or 16," he said.
"I turned up after the three-hour drive from home and thought, this has been here the whole time and Mum and Dad didn’t tell me or bring me here!
"After getting over that, for the next five days I didn't see a thing because it was a white out the whole time but I had an absolute blast."
What Jake loves about freeride skiing in competition is being allowed to ski your hardest on any given face.
"‘The terrain that I like to ride is backcountry terrain, or the funnest, steepest, technical things that I can find within a ski resort and to combine the backcountry with a controlled area, takes one major stress out of it and allows you to free up to express yourself down there and ski it as hard as can," he said.
And so, how does Higher Freeride translate from his competition experience?
Jake explains: "I got introduced to freeride by skiing with people that were better than me.
"It always lended itself to exploring more of the hill which required specific tools and to have your wits about you.
"Then once you know what you're doing, you can get through anything.
"Why wouldn't you then try and do what you can to increase the challenge of it and hence the satisfaction of it?
"The Higher Freeride Austrian Camp is an extension of what we've already been working with in Australia.
"It is about providing an opportunity for Australian kids and young adults to be coached in freeride skiing overseas.
"Our goal is to spend long stretches of time in very different areas to where these kids come from and ski in Australia, and give them a chance to learn the tools, and maybe excel in a competitive sense if they do well.
"But also, there's no pressure to go off and be world-beaters.
"We want to create a space for participants where they get that opportunity.
"To give them the keys to go and explore themselves.
"Self-reliance, problem solving, self-confidence."
Nick Higginson is a director at secondary education provider Higher Education, ski instructor and junior development coach at Team Hotham (amongst the many strings to his bow).
He has spent the last several seasons honing his coaching and educational experience to better manage the full day-to-day requirements of running a ‘camp’ of this nature.
Nick explains the Higher Freeride concept: "The plan is to take aspiring freeskiers out of the Australian skiing environment at Hotham and other resorts to do ‘camp based’ projects in Austria, specifically in the Zillertal."
The program will run from four to six weeks, starting in early January 2024, based around the local Austrian freeride competition schedule.
The program will include a host of skier improvement and development processes, skiing more challenging terrain and looking to improve the participants skills on the snow and in the air, to move faster and more confidently in what can be dangerous terrain, and explore the mountain in a different way.
Nick says, "We are basing the camps in Austria specifically to access more extreme environments that are on a larger scale than what we have access to here in Australia. "Then building the participants up to a point where they can compete at an event."
But it is more than just a freeride ski camp.
"We think 14 years old is a good entry point because the program requires a lot of independence," said Nick.
"But one of the things we really want to do, through the vehicle of the sport, is to help kids build independence, resilience, decision making skills, problem solving and critical thinking, all of which are super important for staying safe in extreme environments.
"Those skills are super transferable to all different facets in your life.
"And if you can do that through skiing, where the level of focus and interest is high, hopefully, you can build some broader life skills into the young athletes that they find that they can apply, into their life as they go forward as they go into exams, start businesses, or try to figure out what to do with the rest of their existence."
The third in the Higher Freeride trio is Coen Bennie-Faull.
A long time Hotham skier and program director at Mount Hotham Free Ski, Coen sports a healthy resume in extreme freeride in Australia and overseas.
His exploits in events like Buller X & the Kings & Queens of Corbet’s at Jackson Hole USA are legendary.
One look at a photo portfolio of Coen’s skiing feats will be instructive as to his freeride ability.
Higher Freeride’s Austrian Camp will be based in the ski resort town of Mayrhofen, located deep in the Ziller valley (Zillertal) not far from Innsbruck, Austria.
Mayrhofen provides exceptional access to an astounding array of world-class ski terrain, including trees, steeps, couloirs and upper alpine glaciers on the nearby Hintertux. Open to all skiers aged between 14 to 20 years old, the camp fee will include all ground transport, accommodation, meals, coaching, strength and physical training, mentoring, and pastoral care.
Accommodation will be in comfortable self-contained apartments.
Air fares to Munich, ski equipment and lift passes are not included in the tariff.
A topsy turvy season at Mt Hotham may have you thinking about opportunities to progress your freeride and life skills overseas.
Higher Freeride presents the perfect homegrown opportunity to do so.
Anyone interested in participating should email Nick, Jake and Coen at admin@higherfreeride.com or contact Nick Higginson on 0448 676 834 for all information.