Kirkwood, CA – The top Freeride World Tour 2011 skiers, men and women, are in the Lake Tahoe area preparing for all-time conditions at this weekend’s North American Freeskiing Championships Kirkwood 2011.nThe Freeride World Tour is collaborating with the North American Freeskiing Championships, an exciting event featuring many top riders from North America as well as the athletes competing in the Freeride World Tour. Sweden’s Henrik Windstedt is recovering from badly bruised ribs in hopes of protecting his tour lead. Another Swede, Janette Hargin, leads the women and hopes to continue her string of five consecutive podium appearances against some of North America’s best skiers. The North American Freeskiing Championships is a key event in the run for the 2011 Freeride World Champion title.

Weather permitting, qualifiers are set to begin on Thursday, with finals scheduled for Saturday. The Freeride World Tour athletes are automatically qualified into the finals.

The venue for the Kirkwood event is an area called The Cirque, which is a 260-meter face at the top of 2987-meter Thimble Peak. The face is heavily featured with the possibility for cliff drops of all sizes, multiple drops and fun rock hits.

Kirkwood has been receiving heavy snowfall from its current storm cycle, ensuring that the event venue will be well covered. The California ski and snowboard resort received almost nine feet of new snow last week. This abundance of fresh snow should provide the kind of soft landings that will allow the riders to launch big airs and throw down their best tricks.