Taupō's Powell brothers' unexpected call-up to freeride world champs

Lach Powell (right) claimed third in the Freeride Junior World Championships in Verbier, Switzerland recently. Photo / Freeride Junior World Championship

From the top of their sport to nursing injuries back home in Taupō - it's been a real ride for Lach and Fynn Powell.

The twin brothers, 18, have just returned from Verbier, Switzerland after receiving a late invitation to compete in the Junior Freeride World Championships.

Freeriding, in a nutshell, is skiing off a cliff. The athletes ski over or along a mountain face and over drops, while also chasing points by performing some cool moves in the air.

They are judged on a range of criteria including aerial amplitude and style, fluidity, control, technique and line, and skiers will ideally try to get a good mixture of all of them for maximum points.

But the catch is that before the event, athletes may not enter the venue at all. They can study it from the bottom using binoculars to pick their lines. In the competition, they have to hike to the top carrying their skis and when they get there, rely on memory to visualise where they are and where the drops and features are that they have planned to ski. They only get one attempt.

This is the boys' second outing at the Junior Freeride World Championships after they competed in Kappl, Austria in January 2020.

At Verbier, in a field of 28, Lach secured third place and Fynn came in sixth after a group of people standing at the top of the face blocked the line he was intending to take, forcing him to come up with an alternative while on the move.

Lach Powell, 8, flying through the air at the Freeride Junior World Championship in Verbier, Switzerland on March 30. Photo / Freeride Junior World Championship

However, both boys' results are an improvement on their outing in Kappl last year where they say they both "crashed and burned", with Lach coming in at 22nd and Fynn not gaining any points.

This year's championship was supposed to have been held in Kappl again but due to Covid-19 was shifted to Switzerland. It was held on March 30 but the boys flew over six weeks beforehand to "get our ski legs back". They scoped out potential areas, trained by finding drops and practising their tricks, and were also able to watch the adult freeride competition.

Fynn had to put his competition result down to bad luck despite being quick-thinking enough to be able to improvise a different run and finish sixth.

"I felt there was definitely more I could have done but it went a little wrong and I just tried to put together the best I could."

Lach, who got third, says his run was "okay".

Fynn Powell, both 18, competing at the Freeride Junior World Championship in Verbier, Switzerland on March 30. Photo / Freeride Junior World Championship

"I chose a bit of a safer bit than what we originally planned but I skied it reasonably, I guess. I was quite happy with my run when I got to the bottom."

The pair qualified for the world championships in New Zealand last year but had not expected to be able to compete. However, in late January the event was confirmed and the boys received late invitations to attend.

"We had to get over there and get training for the event because we hadn't been skiing between the end of our season and when we got to Verbier. That was the biggest time we had spent off skis for five years."

Last year after the world championships, Lach and Fynn travelled to Whistler in Canada to compete in the Canadian Freeride junior nationals. Dad Rick, mum Mel and younger brother Jasper had all moved over too and the family were going to settle in Whistler permanently. But Covid intervened.

The Powells stayed on for a while hoping things would improve. Whistler's lifts closed on March 23 but undeterred, the boys kept skiing, hiking three to six hours up the mountain each day with their skis on their back for an 11km run down, which took around 10 minutes. But border closures meant they had to return to New Zealand on April 1.

Following the 2021 world championships, the boys had planned to go to the US to coach junior freeriders. But Covid also scuppered that plan and in any case, both boys are nursing injuries sustained at Verbier - Fynn's from going off a drop and having his ski pre-release, which resulted in an ankle injury, and Lach from a knee ligament injury suffered in a jump crash.

While Fynn and Lach are at present doing odd jobs and recovering, they hope to work as freeriding coaches in the South Island over winter as well as competing at New Zealand freeriding qualifying events.

Now that they are 18 they are no longer eligible for the freeride junior world champs and must qualify for the adults' open competition, which is extremely difficult to get into but allows competitors to do moves like flips, which the juniors are not allowed to attempt.

In the off-season the boys keep in shape for freeriding with gym work, mountain biking, strength workouts and perfecting their tricks on the trampoline.