Words by Rob Embling. Cover Photo: Morgan Bodet.

Last week saw Avoriaz host an all-new edition of Red Bull Infinite Lines on March 28-29. The event is a unique competition held on the Fornet Combe face, combining natural features like wind lips and cliff drops with loads of man made kickers and hips, offering a near infinite number of lines.

With it's unique take, combining slopestyle and backcountry elements, the competition brought together a lineup of world class athletes from across the big air, slopestyle, halfpipe & backcountry game. Going into the event, it was clear everyone was excited to see who would come out on top on this unique playground. The 12 invited skiers (8 men and 4 women) were paired up into head to head battles, competing in a 2-run format and the best run going through.

Enhanced by heavy snowfall the night before and perfect bluebird conditions on the first day, which saw the heats go down, the conditions allowed competitors to exploit every inch of the face and showcase the immense variety of their talent.

In the first heat it was Alex Hall up against Nico Porteus. Unfortunately Nico managed to pick up a small injury giving A-Hall a clear win after he landed a super fluid and creative line straight down the middle of the face hitting both jumps and natural hits on his way down.

In the second heat, Magnus got a bit squirly after going massive on a flat 3 handing the win to Jules Bonaire who stomped his run including a bonkers flat 7 screaming seamen.

In the third heat, Anti Ollila landed a smooth clean run but was narrowly beaten by Colby Stevenson whose nose butter 7 off a natural cliff was a particular highlight.

The final heat saw Thibault Magnin go through to the next round after landing what was arguably the best run of the day, his huge double back flip was without doubt the standout of his run getting a huge cheer from the crowd, the riders and the judges.

The following day we were all excited to see how the riders would step it up for the finals. Unfortunately the weather had closed in and the conditions were just not good enough to run the event. With the finals being cancelled, the judges were left to choose their overall winners from the best runs in the opening round. In the end it was Colby Stevenson taking home bronze, A-Hall with Silver and Thibault Magnin taking home the W.

In the women’s event it was Meghan Oldham who stood out, the Canadian, who is the current X-games Slopestyle and Big Air champion was going bigger than anyone else and stomped all her landings. Kiwi Ruby Andrews and Canadian Olivia Asselin finished 2nd & 3rd respectively with a smooth, stylish approach to the comp face.

Overall, these kind of events are hard to pull off. The reliance on good conditions and high build time are a big challenge, but you only need to look, and talk to, at the riders who showed up to see how appreciated they are. As an Avoriaz local, it was awesome to be able to see a face I ride regularly given a new lease of life, and then get absolutely destroyed by some of the best in the game. Fingers crossed Infinite Lines returns for years to come.

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Ski men highlights:

Thibault Magnin, Alex Hall + Jules Bonnaire (Winner of most creative line)

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1068257/Infinte-Lines-mov

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Ski Men's Podium

Thibault Magnin (ESP)

Alex Hall (USA)

Colby Stevenson (USA)

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Ski Women's Podium

Meghan Oldham (CAN)

Ruby Andrews (NZL)

Olivia Asselin (CAN)