We spotted last week that something called ‘Red Bull Formation’ was happening in the rock formations of Utah. It turns out that it was a women’s freeride camp, based at the old Rampage site, aimed at giving women a chance to dig and ride the kinds of terrain that Red Bull Rampage requires.
Last summer Casey Brown had been out there doing a bit of her own work there and producing a video, and at the time a few pro riders from the UK said how they’d liked to have seen that be an opportunity for a bunch of women, rather than just one. In discussion at Bike Park Wales, Katie Curd, Tahnee Seagrave and Veronique Sandler all said that creating a wider opportunity would be better for the sport and give the women’s freeride scene more of a chance of visibility.
Lucky for them, Katie Holden pulled together the ‘Red Bull Formation’ event – a week long camp of digging, guineaing and riding the kind of extreme lines that the Utah landscape offers up.
We’ve been waiting for Red Bull to release a nice media pack full of glossy images, but so far it’s all social media clips. We suspect there’ll be a video to come out, but for now, here’s a round of up the riding that’s been going down. And down. And down.
Vaea Verbeeck
Holy mackerel. It’s all quite erk, and then there’s a huge gap that mad us let out a yelp in the office.
Katie Holden
Organiser Katie Holden was injured and wasn’t riding, but posted this footage of Hannah Bergemann taking the first run down the mountain. As she disappears off into the distance, it gives you some idea of the scale.
Micayla Gatto
In case you were in any doubt about how narrow the ridges are, or how steep the drops are…now you’re not.
Rebecca Rusch
There’s that same drop from another angle… still doesn’t look any easier.
Katie Lozancich
Even the push up to the lines is enough to give you vertigo.
Tahnee Seagrave – The Line
Tahnee Seagrave – The Tricks
It’s not just about getting down a steep line – it’s about doing it with style too. Tahnee’s video from practice during the week shows her working on the kinds of tricks that make the difference between ‘getting down the hill’ and ‘showing off down the hill’.
Vero Sandler
No stranger to tricks – or digging – is Vero Sandler. She’s already released a documentary film this year about building her own dream line.
With a shake up in the women’s downhill race ranks – we’ve seen some big names retire in the last 18 months or so – and a few more freeride events appearing (we’ve had Crank Worx introduce new events this year, plus in the UK we had Air Maiden) perhaps we’re going to see a growing number of women riding for kicks and tricks?
