Logan Pehota Wins Freeride World Tour Alaska
The Swatch Freeride World Tour wrapped Monday's Haines, Alaska event under bluebird skies and with prime conditions. In what now comes as no surprise, Canadian ripper Logan Pehota ended up on the podium with a fast, stylish run, which was more than good enough for the top spot. Better yet, it went down in front of what might be the best fan club in the world: his father, legendary big mountain pioneer Eric Pehota, and a group of family that made the trip up from Pemberton to AK with an RV and snowmobiles in tow to watch young Logan crush it.
With the win, the Canadian rookie, who currently sits in 2nd overall, sets up a massive showdown at the final World Tour event in Verbier, where he’ll battle it out with French charger Loic Collomb-Patton, who currently leads the overall Tour standings by a mere 400 points.
On the heels of his victory, Forecast caught up with him to see how he feels about his first year on the Tour, what it’s like to be in Alaska and the upcoming finals in Verbier. —TOM WINTER
How does it feel to be in Alaska?
I'm pretty excited to be in Alaska, as anyone should be when they're here. It's my second time. I was here a few years ago with Poor Boyz.
With the win here and how close the scores are for the overall title, are you feeling any pressure?
No, I’m not feeling any pressure from anybody outside of myself, really. It would be nice to take the overall on my rookie year, that would be pretty sweet. But I’m not feeling any pressure.
Aside from the win today, tell us about some of your favorite moments on the tour this year.
Coming in second in Chamonix was really sweet.
Any personal connections you made that stand out with fellow athletes or people you’ve met while you’ve been on the Tour?
I got to link up with Fabio Studer, who I met five years ago while skiing on the Blackcomb Glacier in the summer, so it was cool to hang out with him all season and then becoming friends with the other Europeans. They’re good guys.
Are you going to do the Tour again next year?
Yeah, it’s looking like it; it’s been good, it’s been fun. You get to travel the world. Airports aren’t my favorite places [laughs], but you’re not going to see as many places without the Tour if I was just doing my own thing.
I saw a picture of the face a couple of weeks ago. It looks pretty gnarly, pretty full on. I don’t know how big it is, I’ve never watched any footage from it. It sounds big, big and steep. You don’t want to fall!
You came into this year as a wild card and now you’ve just won in Haines, what is that like?
I think I have made my wild card worthy. I’ve proven myself to myself and I think everyone else is pretty happy with how I am doing. I’m going to give it my all in Verbier.
