Elyse Saugstad, Henrik Windstedt, Ruth Leisibach, Xavier de le Rue Pic: Jancsi Hadik / freerideworldtour.com

The thirteen Xtreme in Verbier was held on Saturday at the west face of Mont Gelé, in the heart of Verbier ski resort. The world’s 37 best freeride skiers and snowboarders turned out to take part in the fifth and final contest of the Freeride World Tour.

Today, the snowboarders started after the skiers, which made their riding more difficult with the skied-out snow. The Swiss snowboarder Cyril Neri chose a different line where there were less tracks and it paid off. All smiles for Cyril, who took his first victory of the Freeride World Tour today.

“I won the Xtreme ten years ago [and 2006], and now I am back!” he said after his win.

“I opted for good snow, clean jumps and fast riding. It was a good exercise to change face today. As for the other contests of the World Tour this year we had to change the originally planned contest face due to difficult conditions. It demands a lot of us riders, we progress when we have to be flexible and adapt. It pushes the level even higher.”

French snowboarder Xavier de le Rue has impressed all season with his extremely fast and powerful riding. With one win and two second places he is the Freeride World Champion 2008 in the snowboard category, tightly followed by Swiss rider Alex Coudray and Austrain Flo Orley.

Xavier de le Rue has an impressive background as a four times boarder cross World Champion, winner of the Xtreme and the Swatch O’Neill Big Mountain Pro 2007, and is already looking forward to next season.

“During the whole tour we were quite unlucky with the conditions, it has been difficult for the organisers but it was still a success,” he said. “It can just get better for next year and I am really motivated to push my abilities even further.”

Swiss local rider Ruth Leisibach is one of the most aggressive female riders and won the Xtreme for the fifth time – taking the World Champion title with it. She overcame a back injury early in the season to win the top prize.

“I am really stoked for the World Champion title but the most important for me is to enjoy,” she said.

“We have ridden beautiful mountains during the tour. The competitions are interesting and a real kick of adrenaline. It is where you give it all and push the limits for the female freeriding.”

The first Freeride World Tour started in mid January and took in mountains around the world - in Mammoth USA, Sochi, Russia, The Alps, in Tignes, France and finally in Verbier, Switzerland.

During the events the riders have been judged based on three criteria: choice of line, control and fluidity, which can be summed up to one criteria: General Impression.

Head organiser of the Freeride World Tour and the 13 Xtreme contests in Verbier, Nicolas Hale-Woods, is thrilled to have successfully completed the first tour:

“It has been a great challenge to organise the first ever Freeride World Tour with the best skiers and snowboarders in the world, in some of the most well known resorts. The feedback from the riders is great,” he said.

“They are happy to see the progression of their sport both from a sportive point of view and with the growing public interest internationally as well as media wise. Some of the biggest challenges have certainly been to organise events at numerous locations around the planet, and the difficult snow and weather conditions this winter.

"The winter is very short, we organised seven events from mid January to mid March and travelled from one venue to the other. But meeting other cultures is also very motivating. We really look forward to organising next year’s tour and go to new exciting destinations around the world.”