Crystal Wright, Snowbird Super Finals.2
Crystal Wright is the Freeride World Tour overal winner. This is her story.

THE U.S. TOUR and the World Tour were combined into one tour this year and I wanted the overall title. The only down point was the Europe stop was canceled due to planning and the economy.

I started out the year with the Canadian Nationals up in Red Mountain, B.C. This competition is not on the World Tour but is always a great warm-up for me and helps get my nerves in check for the season. I also love seeing all my Canadian girls that I usually only see at that particular competition because a lot of them do not venture down to the states. I placed second behind Janina Kuzma and was stoked about my finish. I then had some time off until the first stop on the world tour.

When Crested Butte started to approach I felt like I was definitely ready because I had skied a ton already in the season. I also had trained physically more and felt stronger overall. I could not wait to see everyone; our sport is a close-knit family and it is always exciting to see everyone at the first competition. This year, I feel that we all became closer especially the women. For most of us, it was our third year traveling together. I could not believe the camaraderie between all of us. To have all of us competing against each other, but able to show so much support is pretty amazing. Snowbird was my biggest accomplishment of the year and would not have been the same without all the support of the other girls on the tour. When I came through the finish line I was greeted by a pack of girls with hugs, which made the win that much better.

Kirkwood was the next stop and had really tough conditions, but I was able to place second which I was still very excited about and my friend Sonja Lercher took home the win, which she had been working hard towards. After Kirkwood I had some time to ski and prepare for Alaska.

When I arrived in Alaska, I found out that based off the points I had won the tour. I did not claim that and nobody said anything until the competition was over. I placed second in Alaska, which was my 5th podium for the year, and I finally was able to celebrate winning the world tour. This is something I have worked toward for three years and I could not actually believe that I had done it. Winning would not have been as amazing if I would not have had all the support from my family, friends, and boyfriend back in Jackson. Now I can say that I am a world champion, which is a pretty amazing feeling! I always wondered what it would feel like, and it's awesome!