LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Six athletes in the Truckee/Tahoe and surrounding areas are preparing to take a ride on iconic mountain peaks in the upcoming six-stop 2027 Freeride World Tour.
Ross Tester. Placing third overall last tour, the Team Palisades Tahoe alum skier is entering the tour’s deepest field, competing against 23 other skiers in the men’s division. The 2017 North Tahoe High School grad was named Freeride World Tour Rookie of the Year in 2021. In this tour, he faces four former tour champions, including the reigning FWT Champion and 2026 FIS Freeride World Champion, Ben Richards (NZL), Marcus Goguen (CAN, 2025), Max Hitzig (GER, 2024), and Maxime Chabloz (SUI, 2022).
Kai Morgan. The 21-year-old Palisades Tahoe skier won the 2026 Palisades Tahoe IFSA Qualifier. It was one of many podiums in the FWT Qualifier and Challenger series, earning his debut in the Freeride World Tour. The rookie enters the deep field of the ski men’s division alongside Tester.
Tyler Curle. Another regional men’s skier, Curle also joins Morgan as a rookie on the Freeride World Tour. The 28-year-old works at Moment Skis in Reno and rose through the Qualifier and Challenger divisions this year, earning his World Tour debut this upcoming season. His 2nd-place run at the 2026 Kicking Horse IFSA Challenger Stop solidified his spot in the pro tour. Curle grew up riding at Mt. Rose and considers it his home mountain. He also competed on the Palisades Tahoe freeride team.
Delila Quinn. A former Junior World Championships runner-up and Freeride World Tour skier in 2023, Quinn returns to the pro tour after setbacks and hard-fought persistence, working her way through the Challenger series. The Tahoe-born and raised skier also joined the Palisades Tahoe Freeride Team at an early age. The 23-year-old placed 1st at the 2026 Kirkwood IFSA Challenger Stop for her return to the pro tour. She will face reigning FWT Champion Lou Barin (FRA), two-time FWT Champion Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN, 2023 and 2025), and 2026 FIS Freeride World Champion Zuzanna Witych (POL) in the women’s ski division.
Shayne Blue Sandblom. The Tahoe-based snowboarder returns to the pro tour after entering the finals in his rookie year last season. Sandblom also took second place at the Val Thorens Pro while still healing from a sprained MCL. The Incline Village resident revolves between Sugar Bowl, Palisades Tahoe and Diamond Peak. The 24-year-old rose to the pro tour after a dominant year in the Challenger series in 2025, where he took first place at both Kirkwood, California and Arapahoe Basin, Colorado.
Mia Jones. The 21-year-old North Tahoe snowboarder returns to the pro circuit as the reigning FWT Champion in the women’s snowboard category, also achieving Rookie of the Year and FIS Freeride World Champion in her inaugural year. She also won three events in one of the most dominant rookie seasons in tour history. In this year’s field, she’ll compete alongside three former champions Noémie Equy (FRA, 2025), Katie Anderson (CAN, 2023), and Tiphanie Perrotin (FRA, 2022).
The regional athletes make up a significant portion of the 13 U.S. athletes on the upcoming tour’s roster in a total field of 53. Reigning champions are returning in all four categories, with a new generation of rookies joining this season.
The Tahoe region athletes were cut on the area’s renowned freeride terrain, evidenced by the multiple Freeride World Tour stops here, including at Kirkwood in 2011, 2013, and 2014 and Palisades Tahoe in 2009 and 2010.
Jones and Sandblom are featured in a five-part YouTube docu-series called Freeride: No Second Run. The series offers a behind-the-scenes look at top-level free-ride competition with personal stories and candid post-competition interviews. The first two episodes stream Nov. 8.
2027 tour destinations and dates have been released, beginning in January and running through March. Snowbird in Utah has been added as one of two finals. The competition is formatted so that all athletes compete in the first four stops, with their top three results counting toward finals qualification. The top 60% will advance to the finals, which are the last two stops at Snowbird and Verbier.
- Jan. 16-17 Baqueira Beret Pro
- Jan. 25-26 Val Thorens Pro
- Feb. 20-21 Georgia Pro
- Mar. 3-9 Fieberbrunn Pro
- Mar. 16-17 Snowbird Pro
- Mar. 27-28 Xtreme Verbier
