Alaska is back! Photo: FWT
The FIS Freeride World Tour just announced a new stop for 2026: Haines, Alaska. The big mountain freeride world tour has not seen an Alaskan event since 2017, marking almost a full decade since the destination’s last appearance. Nicknamed “the dream stop” on the FWT previously, Haines is especially well-known in the freeride world for its skiing and riding, with technical spines, pillows, and steep, deep terrain. The event is scheduled for March of 2026, and for both freeride fans and competitors alike, it can’t come soon enough.
The FIS Freeride World Tour (FWT), features both skiing and riding, operating with a format similar to the WSL’s Championship Tour. Originally founded as a snowboard-only contest in 1996 called the Verbier Extreme, in 2008, the Freeride World Tour was born as the definitive, global competition for the best big mountain athletes in the game. The tour has garnered a cult-like following due to its unique characters from all skiing and riding backgrounds as well as each stop’s challenging, natural terrain.
However, the lack of North American stops has been on the forefront of Nicolas Hale-Woods’ mind since at least 2019, when the FWT CEO told The Inertia while in Kicking Horse that “if we’re not strong in North America, then something’s wrong.” Hale-Woods explained that the FWT, being a European-based brand with limited resources, faced challenges building events in North America, even operating on a break-even model.
Is there more contestable terrain in existence? Photo: FWT
However, it seems as though the FWT has overcome this challenge, perhaps due to the semi-recent merger of the FWT with the Federation Internationale du Ski, or FIS, or perhaps due to YETI’s new position as title sponsor for the event. Whatever the case may be, the FWT’s latest announcement has reinvigorated its North American audience and given us all much to look forward to in the coming season.
Notably, the upcoming event in Haines, Alaska, marks the only North American stop for the FWT in 2026, as the British Columbian stop at Kicking Horse from years prior was removed.
As of today, stops announced for 2026 include the Baqueiera Beret Pro by Movistar in the Spanish Pyrenees, the Val Thorens Pro in Val Thorens, France, the Georgia Pro at the Tetnuldi Resort in Georgia, the Fieberbrunn Pro in the Tyrolean Alps of Austria, the YETI Alaska Pro in Alaska, and the YETI Xtreme Verbier by Honda in the Swiss Alps.
