 It's time to drop in again. The first event of the 2021 Free Ride World Tour is about to get started. The world's elite male and female skiers and snowboarders are ready to conquer the most challenging big mountain faces in Europe. The first stop on this year's tour takes us to Andorra in the middle of the Pyrenees. The ski resort of Audino Arcalis is known as the most remote in the micro-state. The town of Audino has a history stretching back to the 9th century and today it has a population of just over 5,000 people. The Pyrenees create a natural border between Spain and France. This huge and rocky range reaches a height of 3,404 metres and extends for 491 kilometres. Before we get things started, let's give ourselves a little reminder of what happened last season. In the ski women's category, the Norwegian freestyler turned freerider, Hedvig Vessel, had to settle for second behind Ariana Trecomi, the Italian taking her third world championship title. In the men's category, the 2018 champion, Christopher Turdell, took the runner's up position because a new come-up took the tour by storm. Isaac Freeland not only won the Rookie of the Year award for his first ever freeride world championship title. Thanks to her first place finish at the first two stops, French rider Marion Haerti was again untouchable in the women's snowboard category. She is now triple world champion. The title in the men's snowboard category went to a wildcard rider. American Nils Mindenick left the collective jaw of freeriding on the floor as he lifted the first world championship trophy of his career. The riders are checking their lines one last time. Remember, there are no practice runs, just visual inspection. The challenge is to find a line that offers enough flow, technicality and individuality to catch the judges' attention. In the women's ski category, last year's champion, Ariana Trecomi couldn't make it to Andorra, offering a great opportunity for last year's runner-up, Hedvig Vessel, to chase the title. Roland Susanna Vittic made a great first impression on her freeride world tour debut run and took the hot seat. Switzerland's Elisabeth Gerritzen had a mechanical which saw her lose a ski. Luckily, she didn't hurt herself, but no doubt her ranking was stinging after the fall. Swiss skier Maude Bess back in the start gate after more than a year off due to an ACL injury sustained at just her second freeride world tour event. She charged down the top of the face, really lapping up the steepest part of the venue. She looked smooth and aggressive as she came into the middle section, where the snow really is quite variable. That led to a little bit of mid-run commentary. Apologies if you speak French. It was a lovely flowing technical line with a couple of nice bits of air installed for the judges to enjoy. You can see the remnants of that Saharan dust storm which turned most of the Pyrenees and the southern and western Alps orange. A solid run for Maude Bess. Definitely got her heart going. She held both her nerve and her speed, which really impressed the judges. The judges approved of her line with a score of 69.33. Juliette Willman of France. There are no lifts open in France, so she has been touring to get her legs strength up. She is as fit and strong as she's ever been, just like Maude Bess getting into that 50-degree section of the face. One of the steepest areas I'm lining up for that top cliff. Alpine racer turned free rider, really enjoying using her edges in this variable snow. They were able to set herself up for this double. She greased and then set up for this last drop. She got her teeth sunk into the steeps, meant that she'd be able to claim a decent score from the judges. The big question was, would it better Maude Bess? More speed and certainly more air and style from the judges. And the hesitation at the top of that drop didn't cost her. The run earned the Frenchwoman 78.67 a clear lead and the hot seat for Willman. The defending champion from Andorra in 2020 was desperate to start the 2021 season with a win. Hedwig Vessel dropped in again to that steepest section of the face. Dodging rocks, she found her way to the top of one of the biggest cliffs in the venue and set about backflipping it. Phenomenal control to get that speed checked and then to continue the rest of the run. So much salt and pepper of rocks in the run out of that cliff. A phenomenal achievement. Landed the backflip, she didn't back off at any stage on the face. She kept attacking knowing that this could be her best chance of taking the title or at least getting a march on her biggest rivals, Jackie Pollard and Ariana Trichomi in the 2021 season. Direct, powerful skiing, capped with that incredible backflip. Hedwig Vessel has made a serious statement of intent in the race for the 2021 Women's Freeride World Tour Championship. The score came in at 86.67 and made it two in a row for Vessel. So Hedwig Vessel takes the full 10,000 points for the win at stop one of the 2021 tour with her greatest rival from last season, Trichomi, languishing at the bottom of the table. Juliet Willman sits in second after her first ever podium finish. The ski category picks up where it left off in 2020, outstandingly progressive. The ski men's category is up next with a stacked field of talent including Sweden's 2018 World Tour champion Christopher Turdell and, of course, last year's winner Isaac Freeland, who now has to deal with the pressure of having a target on his back. Finishing in third last year, Andrew Pollard had the highest scoring run so far and sits in the hot seat. Next in the gate was the French rookie, Mayel Olivier, from the far south of the French Alps, Valdasso, it's his first ever Freeride World Tour event and yet he's got the style and power so synonymous with the French skiers who've gone before him. That left 360 into the hourglass shoot got the judges sitting up and paying attention at the very top of the face. He went his way down comfortably through a couple of tighter features, talking to one of the photographers, getting him out of the way on that drop and then he lined up this incredible drop, a very, very short landing, he needed to get the speed perfect as well as the line. Finished off with the shady step down just before the finish, again a very, very short landing. The captain, an impressive debut for the young French rookie. Take a look at the drone footage here on this left tree into the hourglass shoot and you can see just how tight that is. And again here, you can see just how little landing space there was. So the judges rewarding Mayel with a score of 89, a very impressive opener for the rookie. Mike Marshall is unquestionably one of the most versatile skiers in the field but he was forced to improvise in Andorra after his luggage didn't make it alongside him. He's on Hedwig Vessel's second set of skis and one of the commentators' helmets. Kiwi weaved his way through that top steep section, the most exposed part of terrain. He found his way onto this cliff, opening up with a right 360 tail grab. Beautiful control, works as both the freestyle and free ride coach in the off-season in New Zealand. So it's now more than 200 days a year and it certainly shows this season that so many other people haven't had the opportunity to ski in the southern hemisphere. We took exactly the same approach to the bottom cliff and even managed to find a tiny bit more airtime than Mayel Olivier. The question was, would it be enough to beat the Frenchman? Is that 360 up at the top? Did he get the grab? It's up to you. He definitely found the landing here. Beautiful setup, zero hesitation. 83 points for the Kiwi. Rookie of the year and Tour Champion, Isaac Freeland melds freestyle flair with big mountain smarts like no one else we've seen on the Tour. He opened up his run, paying homage to Hedwig Vessel. He found the top of that big kicker off the cliff and threw in a backflip. Big diving board, paying big dividends for everyone who went near it. He picked his way carefully through that midsection of the face and kept his speed up as he approached the bottom. What did he have left in the tank? Breathing hard, he made his way out onto the edge of that nose with speed and managed to find a landing transition into a double, whether it was intentional was the subject of much debate, but the important decision would be made by the judges. Here's that backflip off the top kicker, certainly illustrates just how momentous Hedwig Vessel's achievement was and there's that debatable transfer at the bottom. Isaac scored an 81.67. Sweden's Christopher Turdell took a similar line to Freeland, tried the backflip as well but couldn't make it work. Iman Navarro had a great run, which saw him finish in sixth position. Next in was the 2017 Junior World Champion and winner of the FWQ in North America in 2020. Ross Tester at his first ever Freeride World Tour event and he had his foot pinned to the floor from the very start. He made his way across to the left hand side of that shoot for a huge 360 and then made his way down into this technical section in the middle of the face. Iman Navarro had come in here, snuck his way through, but at this point Ross Tester decides to turn left and in the process puts himself on a brand new drop. It was a flat landing but his legs were up to the challenge. Then made his way down to the same drop that the team Isaac Freeland take on, but Ross Tester wanted to add a little more flair, went for the backflip into the guts of the shoot and stomped it, popped out of the wind lip and it was a very, very impressive debut for the man from Squaw Valley. It would be a nervous wait to see if it was the fairytale start for the Rookie. You can see here just how much hangtime he got on that 360. Then the backflip, a very, very difficult line to thread, but he did it so cleanly, meant the judges had no choice but to reward him with a 92.33, so a fairytale win for the American in his first ever Freeride World Tour event. Family just to have fun with it, just land my run and just see how it goes from there and usually that's how it works, so stoked it worked out. Very relaxed, Tester not showing any nerves in his first outing on the Freeride World Tour, taking top spot on the podium and the overall lead. Last year's champion, Isaac Freeland, just missed the podium in four. Another spectacular display from the ski men, invariable snow conditions it has to be said, but it's still far too early to decide who may or may not be in the running for the 2021 championship. We move on now to the snowboard competition and as always, his ladies first. All eyes in this category are on the three-time champion, Marion Hayate. Big question is, will she be able to continue her dominance in the 2021 season? Despite arriving only the day before the contest, Erica Vikander was in no mood to take it easy. She attacked again that steepest section of the face where we'd seen so many riders before her make hay. The trademark of her riding has always been the strength of her turns. The power and control she's able to muster in variable snow like this is very, very impressive. While there were no big centerpiece drops, she was able to link a triple together at the bottom of the face. And it left the judges with something to think about, a nice frontside air to finish. And despite a very, very short amount of inspection time, she'd laid down a respectable run. Definitely the speed and control up at the top of the venue was the highlight of this run. The judges gave a respectable score of 75 to Vikander, very impressive considering how little inspection time she had. Katie Anderson, yet another rookie riding in her first ever Freeride World Tour event, struck out on a bold path to the rider's right. She was hunting for good snow and an original line. She certainly found good snow. She put in a decent drop off that wind lip and then cut again out to the far right hand side and fed her into one of the most critical zones on the face. She held both her nerve and her speed, which really impressed the judges. No doubt a great first run for the rookie and it will fill her with confidence. It's that cornice drop off the top again. So clean, really powerful, confident turns into that drop with a high speed exit. 71.33, enough to put her into second just behind Vikander. From the rookie to the three time world champion, Marion Hayate, fresh from her second place at natural selection in Jackson Hole, came back and got her big mountain game face on. She barrelled into the face with the kind of confidence that only three world titles can bring it. She made her way down to the riders left on this very technical section where we saw Blake Marshall pull off his right three tail grab. She went for exactly the same drop. Wasn't able to get the grab, but the way she stomped the drop and then was able to control her speed in very, very difficult snow was very impressive. She kept her line direct and smooth through the midsection of the face. And the judges love seeing full line riding. This double, one of the highlights of the run looking back on the judges score. You can see that both the air and style and line scores. The two of the strongest of the day. There's that very technical drop up at the top there. She did so well to control that, managed to hold on to that landing even when it tried to buck her. So Marion rewarded with a score of 84, yet another first place for the all dominant French woman. The first three to start would ultimately decide the podium. Russian rider Anna Orlova went down. Michaela Davis-Meyen almost got stuck in the sketchiest line of the day. And even the 2018 champion, Manuel Amandov, had no say on the final podium and ended up in fourth. So it was yet another victory for Hayate. I tried to have fun and even if the snow was not the perfect, it was fun to ride, to be here with the friends. And I'm just happy to be here, you know. Marion knows how important a strong start can be to the season. 10,000 points for the victory, which puts her back in the top spot where it has to be said she's getting quite comfortable. The last category of the day, the snowboard men were ready in the gate. The only notable name missing from the start list was Gigi Ruff, who had to skip this one due to injury. Nils Midnick pulled at bib number one in the draw and so kicked things off. The defending world champion opened up the men's snowboarding, looking like he was just out having fun with his friends. He had a lovely transfer off the cornice, which wound him up into a backside 360. A trick that Nils made look deceptively easy, considering the snow conditions and the gradient. Like the Kiwis and the Scandinavians, the East Coast native doesn't seem in the least bit fazed by these kind of conditions. Big, strong turns and some solid drops. Nils was laying down a great marker on solid drop to finish and a nice air off the wind lip. No doubt Nils Midnick, given the rest of the field, a score to chase. That playful top section off the cornice and into the backside 360. And that lovely frontside transfer. Scooping around the corner of that tussock sticking out and the lovely 360 to finish. So a score of 76.67 for Nils Midnick. Cody Bramwell took second at this event in 2020 in his debut event. Could he go one better this year? That was the question on everyone's lips. Bramwell definitely had ambitions. He made his way out onto the same cliff, saw Hedvig Vessel and Isaac Freeland backflip. Seen it work for them? Could it work for him? The answer was a resounding yes. A phenomenal effort to shut down the speed in that variable snow on the run out there. But he wasn't done. Letting the board run again, he picked his way through the rocks in the middle of the face. For taking off way behind this blind drop, a double shifty into the pocket. And a very, very big run for the Brit. One thing backflipping a cliff of this size on skis where you've got two edges, but doing it when you've only got one to control your speed in these kind of snow conditions is quite frankly incredible. So a score of 85 for Cody Bramwell and he moves into first place. For now. Back in the start gate was the younger brother of freeride skier Griffin Moller. Blake is the prodigal son of North American freeriding right now. He won four of the five four-star qualifying events that he entered in 2020. The big question is whether he can now replicate that dominance at the highest level. And the answer appeared to be yes. The landing of the backflip maybe wasn't as clean as Bramwell's. But the ambitious triple line that he linked immediately afterwards through the middle of the face had everyone on their feet. Blake only just managed to stay on as he popped that ollie and got bucked by a death cookie in the runout. But he showed the face a clean set of heels and surely he would be rewarded by the judges with a big score. Here's that backflip. So laid out, managed to hold on to it just then the triple line sets his line at the top of that one. Sends it all the way through an 83.33 for Blake Moller. Men's second place behind Cody Bramwell. I'm overwhelmed. I can't believe this is actually happening. Man, yeah, I was so stoked. But yeah, like that backyard has been I'm that all day. And I talked to like David to leave and like the winner of head big from the women's as well. And she's just like, yeah, just go for it. Like it's easy. And then, yeah, it worked out like go around perfectly. And then that little weird gap at the end and that worked out as well. Yeah, I'm just I'm lost for words. A very, very tight decision between Moller and Bramwell. But the Brit took his first ever win and now leads the tour ahead of Moller and Minnick. A fantastic start for the young guns in the men's snowboard category. But ask any champion and they'll tell you this is just the beginning.