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The cold rush is back

After a three-year hiatus, Red Bull Cold Rush is back.

Fusing backcountry slopestyle, big mountain, cliffs and alpine ski touring, Red Bull Cold Rush will return to Canada Feb. 2-5 at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

The event will see a handful of the world’s premier skiers invited to battle it out for a chunk of the $36,000 prize purse awarded in a peer-judged format. This year, fans will also be brought into the action with the new ‘People’s Choice Award’ that will be determined by online voting in the week following the contest.

Plans to bring back the event in 2015 were cut short by a less-than-ideal snow season that saw the first Red Bull Cold Rush since the 2012 contest in Colorado put on hold.

While relying on the weather can be frustrating, it also highlights the uniqueness of the event - a big-mountain spectacle that depends on the good graces of nature.

There are no carefully groomed runs, elaborate scaffolding, or cooling systems that would allow a more controlled contest to run in temperatures on the plus side of zero degrees celsius. Instead, it is a contest of athlete versus nature in its purest form. With more than 320 cm of snowfall in advance of Revelstoke’s Nov. 28 opening day, Mother Nature looks set to deliver in 2016.

“This seems like the strongest start to a season that I have seen in my five years experience,” says Uwe Gramann, senior meteorologist with RWDI AIR Inc. “It is always difficult to predict as nothing is certain, but there are two ways we look at an upcoming season average: one is through weather models, the second by studying El Nino’s history which can be a strong indicator. So far, it looks like we will have a slightly warmer than normal season by 1 – 1.5 degrees Celsius with precipitation dead on with normal averages. Last year, ‘The Blob’ (abnormally high water temperatures off the B.C. coast) was extremely abnormal, but we are already seeing it disappearing. This year is going to be quite a bit better!”

Along with a new location in Revelstoke, the event is being updated with fresh elements including innovative on-mountain features and a competition format that places a greater focus on alpine touring.

“Red Bull Cold Rush is the one and only top tier event that I, and all the other backcountry skiers, have to express our type of skills in a competition format. The fact that this amazing event is coming back to Canada just gets me all fired up! It’s where I spend my winter doing what I do, so I’ll be right at home this year,” says Sean Pettit, professional backcountry freeskier and two-time winner of Red Bull Cold Rush in 2010 and 2011.



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