Less than two weeks before they’re set to come to Haines, the Freeride World Tour has canceled events in Europe and Asia — a reminder of the borough’s financial risk. 

The Freeride World Tour, a company owned by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, is scheduled to hold six events this year, with Haines as the tour’s lone U.S. stop. 

One event was scheduled for Kühtai, Georgia. But on Feb. 20, the company announced it was postponing the Kühtai stop because of “unstable snowpack conditions.” The event was rescheduled for the following week and relocated to Innsbruck, Austria. But that event, too, was canceled because of avalanche danger. 

A similar cancellation in Haines would be costly to local taxpayers. To bring Freeride to town, the Haines Borough is paying the company a $75,000 lump sum. 

According to the official event contract, if the competition is cancelled, the borough would still have to pay the full sum of money. If the event is rescheduled elsewhere, the borough would be on the hook for half its payment. 

The borough was originally responsible for an additional $25,000 worth of in-kind donations to Freeride, but it seems outside entities have now covered those costs. Palmer Project owner Viszla Copper has donated $25,000 to the event, First National Bank Alaska has donated $5,000, and Delta Western has donated $2,000. 

Alaska Seaplanes, The Aspen Hotel, AP&T, Haines Packing, Community Waste Solutions, Alaska Mountain Guides and Discover Deishú are also making in-kind donations, borough tourism director Reba Hylton said. Alaska Mountain Guides and Discover Deishú will also be compensated for providing busing. 

Risk Factors

The likelihood of the event being canceled is hard to pin down, and there are multiple factors at play.

In Haines, avalanche risk was elevated earlier this winter after a long, windy, dry spell in December followed by heavy precipitation and warming temperatures, said Jeff Moskowitz of the Haines Avalanche Center. However, time and more snowfall have covered some of those issues. 

“Right now there’s pretty decent stability,” Moskowitz said Monday. “The stuff that had caused a lot of the avalanches back in January is pretty deep down in the snowpack.”

Now, forecasters are more focused on avalanche risk brought about by recent wind.

But broadly, it’s impossible to say exactly what snowpack conditions might look like in two weeks, Moskowitz said. Avalanche risk factors like heavy precipitation, rapid warming or high winds could yet change the outlook.

Moskowitz and the Haines Avalanche Center will continue to issue forecasts for the Chilkat Valley, but will not specifically work with Freeride. 

Conditions in the air will also be a major factor, with helicopters flying skiers to the start of their runs. 

Freeride has scheduled a nine-day weather window for their single-day competition. Back in November, Alaska Heliskiing owner Sean Brownell told the CVN that Haines heliskiing operators generally have a 50% fly rate, meaning helicopters can get off the ground on roughly half the days of the season. Brownell’s company is the permitted operator for the event, but he did not respond to questions this week about what services Alaska Heliskiing will provide during the event. 

Staff at the Freeride World Tour have not responded to any questions from the CVN for the past year, including phone calls and emails last spring and fall, and questions this week. 

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Moskowitz works for the Haines Avalanche Center, not the Alaska Avalanche Center.