With almost a meter of fresh powder, but up against variable weather, the 7th Red Bull Snow Thrill was held in Chamonix this weekend. Natanael Fresnois reports:

"Sometimes the mountain reminds you that you are a very small part of the world, and today was one of these days. We all know that the weather can change suddenly in alpine conditions, and today was the confirmation of that.

The 4 girls who qualified for the final started first, in reverse order from yesterday. They were more lucky than yesterday, light-wise. Marianne Brechu, who did 4th on the first run started the comp with her traditional fluid and solid style. Conny choose a more technical line, starting from the middle start. She skied very well the first couloir, but then tumbled once which cost her a lot of points.

Maegan Carney, yesterday 2nd , lost a lot today. She skied very well until she entered a snow patch totally untracked that slid as soon as she entered it. It was quite exposed because it was above some cliffs but she managed to get out of it. First run winner Andrea Binning confirmed her really strong skiing today, taking a technical line all skied under control. She stomped all her jumps and did a really nice run.

Then the men had there go. I was at the top by that time, so it's a bit hard to describe all their runs, but some of them entered some very technical sections. I could hear the crowd scream on every jump from the top, it was fun to see people so excited to see the guys skiing.But unfortunately, the good weather did not hold up - to the point that the judges could not see us anymore. The last guys went in very bad light, it's so hard to ski well when everything is white, you can not see the terrain, every turn is a mission. The jumps become epic cause you can not really see your landing.

At 2 pm after more half an hour of waiting for better visibility, the decision was taken to cancel the second run since not all the riders managed to take the start of their second run. A real shame.

The weather report for tomorrow, which is the "weather day", is not so good, so for guys, it was decided that the first run will be taken as the final result.

Big mountain skiing is an outside sport, sometimes we are lucky, sometimes we are not. Competitions are held on alpine terrain where weather stability is a real challenge. We are all a bit disappointed for today, but the Red Bull party coming tonight should help a lot to forget about it…

Red Bull Snowthrill Results

Men

1.Bruno Compagnet (France)
2.Nathanael Fresnois (France)
3.Hamish Acland (New Zealand)

Women

1.Andrea Binning (Australia)
2.Marianne Bréchu (France)
3.Conny Danzl (Austria)

For all updates, the very latest about the event and its contenders, keep checking Natives or view www.redbullsnowthrill.com

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