Photo from Revelstoke in Canada by Matt Georges
I have some exciting news to share with you all as I’m so excited to announce that I am one of eight women who gets to compete on the Freeride World Tour this season. I want to challenge myself in a different element, outside of the park to take my snowboarding and experiences to the next level. To me snowboarding is all about exploring potential and creativity, something I belive this terrain will provide!
Thus I will challenge myself in some of the most difficult faces in the world this winter I am not letting go of the park just yet. I will also compete in the biggest slopestyle and big air events this season, like XGames in Oslo, European Open and the Nine Queens.
Here is a quote from my national team coach Per Iver Grimsrud about my plans for the season: «This is huge. Kjersti is a candidate to win X Games with her frontside 1080, and will at the same time be taking on the gnarliest freeride competitions in the world. This is unique. She handled the transition from halfpipe to slopestyle and now it will be interesting to see how she handles the transition to freeriding To compete in both the freestlye and freeride world tour simultaneously has to our knowledge, not been done before.»
I want to thank the Norwegian National Team and support system and the Norwegian Snowboard Federation for all the back up I have gotten though out my career. It's amazing that they believe so much in the riders uniqueness and gives us thumbs up when we want to do something that is maybe a bit "outside the box".
It has always been attracting to me to compete because I give it all when the pressure is on. This is a huge challenge, where I will have the opportunity to use my experiences as a contest rider, in a unknown, exciting and natural element. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to go into a season with a beginners mind, where creativity, curiosity and spontaneity are key players. It is not often we get to do that, as when we practice something and get better at it, our mindsets tend to become more single tracked and maybe dominated by routines and predictability.
As a competitor on the Freeride World Tour I am guaranteed a spot in the three first events in Andorra, Chamonix and Fieberbrunn. If I perform well I will qualify for the season finales in Alaska and Verbier!
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who continuously is supporting me on my journey... everyone from sponsors and colleagues to friends and to strangers who has become friends along the way. I am so excited to embark on another adventure of a season, filled with "first" (as in I have never done before) and fun!