Above: Pau Riba. Image: M. Knoll.

In just ten days, Freeride World Tour 2022 kicks off with the season’s first event in Baqueira Beret, Spain. With that in mind, they’ve just announced the wildcards for this year’s tour: Nuria Castan (snowboard women-ESP) and Pau Riba (snowboard men-ESP).

“In just ten days, Freeride World Tour 2022 kicks off with the season’s first event in Baqueira Beret, Spain”

“Having this opportunity to be back on the Freeride World Tour and compete in the Pyrenees Mountains in Baqueira Beret feels very special to me. I wasn’t satisfied with my performance last season, and this Wildcard gives me another chance to show what I can do.” — Nuria Castan

“It’s awesome to be part of this event. Receiving this WildCard was crazy! Being able to ride amongst the best riders in the world, even the ones that I’ve idealized while growing up sounds incredible. I can’t wait to show everyone what the Pyrenees have to offer.” — Pau Riba

The new stop of Baqueira Beret is the first of the 2022 season, which means it is also the start of FWT22 Leg 1. Leg 1 includes the tour’s first three events—Baqueira Beret, Spain (22 – 28 January), Ordino Arcalis, Andorra (30 January – 5 February) and Kicking Horse Golden BC, Canada (12 – 17 February). The top-ranked riders after Stage 1 will be qualified to the FWT Finals, the last two events of the year, in Fieberbrunn, Austria (15 – 20 March) and Verbier, Switzerland (26 March – 3 April).

As for other big news for this year’s tour, FWT just launched The Freeride World Tour Podcast, hosted by Derek Foose and Mark Warner, which will give the public a fresh new way to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings from the tour.

Check out the first episode of the FWT Podcast here.