Blake Moller, of Edwards, wins his first Freeride World Tour comp with finals on the horizon
Repping a “Wu Tang Forever” sticker on his snowboard along with promoting his other sponsors, Blake Moller stood atop the podium at the second stop of the Freeride World Tour in Europe earlier this week at Ordina Arcalis, Andorra. Earlier in the month, the Battle Mountain High School graduate took silver in the opening event. With his two best finishes of his career, Moller is sitting pretty heading into the remaining competitions.
The Freeride World Tour is an annual series of events attracting the best freeskiers and snowboard freeriders from across the globe.
“I was kind of unsure what the whole year would bring with Europe, so I took everything with a grain of salt,” Moller, 20, said from Europe on Thursday, preparing his dinner as skiers and snowboarders in Eagle County were waking up to a powder day. “Once I was here, it set in that it was going down. I am just fortunate to be over here as an American.”
Moller grew up in the valley frequenting Vail and Beaver Creek, as well as Copper Mountain. In his freeride bio, he represents Edwards as well as his “home mountain” of Beaver Creek.
“I’m the only boarder in the family, so I grew up following skiers around my whole life,” he said of his passion for freeriding.
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Stone Creek Chutes and football fields at Beaver Creek are some of his favorite runs, and Chair 11 is his go-to spot in Vail.
“I try to go everywhere but I end up lapping 11 all day,” he said.
In his silver-medal winning run in the opening event, Moller landed a backflip that was “kind of sketch, but it worked out,” he said. His gold-medal run in the second event was highlighted by a triple move that featured a 180-to-180 in the double section of the course, as well as a backside 360 at the top and a transfer below.
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Moller and the rest of the riders are heading to Fieberbrunn, Austria, for the next event March 6-12, followed by the Xtreme Verbier in Switzerland March 20-28. With his podium finishes in the first two races, Moller has already qualified for the finals in Verbier.
“Not too stressed over here, which is good,” he said of his success setting up the rest of the circuit.
With events like Natural Selection in Jackson Hole earlier in the winter and other big-mountain, freeride competitions growing in popularity, Moller is excited for what’s to come in the sport.
“That’s just something I aspire to so much, using the mountain how it’s properly made, how Mother Nature wanted it to be,” he said.
In 2020, Moller moved to Salt Lake City with some friends and looks forward to the rest of this Freeride World Tour in the coming weeks, and more competitions likely to come. Follow him on Instagram to see his travels, competitions and more at bmo_83.
Assistant Editor Ross Leonhart can be reached at 970-748-2984 and rleonhart@vaildaily.com. Follow him on Instagram at colorado_livin_on_the_hill.
