Nendaz Backcountry Invitational 2021
4 Vallées, Switzerland
First edition.
SKI MEN
FINAL RANKING
Remco Kayser - CHE 🇨🇭
Theo Cheli - CHE 🇨🇭
Oscar Mandin - FRA 🇫🇷
Laurent de Martin - CHE 🇨🇭
Robin Darbellay - CHE 🇨🇭
Blake Marshall - NZL 🇳🇿
Enzo Scotto - FRA 🇫🇷
Wadeck Gorak - FRA 🇫🇷
Mikkel Brandt - DNK 🇩🇰
Lévy Loye - CHE 🇨🇭
Snow MEN
FINAL RANKING
Camille Armand - FRA 🇫🇷
Hugo Serra - FRA 🇫🇷
Gilles Nevens - BEL 🇧🇪
Florian Henriot - CHE 🇨🇭
SKI/Snow WOMEN
FINAL RANKING
Michaela Davis-Meehan - AUS 🇦🇺
Alisson Charmey - CHE 🇨🇭
Maude Besse - CHE 🇨🇭
Zoé Tavernier - CHE 🇨🇭
Nendaz Backcountry Invitational 2021. Photo by
Where It All Began
First edition. February 11th, 2021. A group of friends, a secret face, and an idea that would grow into something none of them could have predicted.
The world was shut down. So Nendaz Freeride did the only thing that made sense — they kept it secret, kept it small, and went riding anyway. Held behind closed doors in the Plan du Fou sector, under the strict health protocols of the time, the very first Backcountry Invitational was born not from a business plan but from a simple desire: to chase the perfect day with your crew when everything else had stopped.
Nendaz Backcountry Invitational 2021. Photo by
A face, some friends, and a feeling
There was no livestream. No crowd. No sponsors' tents lining the run. Just a hand-shaped face, a group of riders, and the kind of energy that only comes from doing something purely for the love of it. Exceptional conditions met a crew that was just happy to be out there — and in that low-key, locked-down session, the DNA of everything that followed was set.
Nendaz Backcountry Invitational 2021. Photo by
The first podiums
In ski men, Switzerland's Remco Kayser topped the field ahead of Theo Cheli and France's Oscar Mandin. In the combined ski/snow women's category, Australia's Michaela Davis-Meehan took the win, followed by Alisson Charmey and Maude Besse. And in snowboard men, France's Camille Armand led the way ahead of Hugo Serra and Nendaz Freeride's own Gilles Nevens.
Nendaz Backcountry Invitational 2021. Photo by
The seed of something bigger
Nobody knew it yet, but this quiet, secret day in the middle of a pandemic was the start of something much bigger — a journey that would grow from a local face in the Swiss Alps into an event chasing the perfect day in mountains around the world, drawing some of the biggest names in skiing along the way.
It all started here — with friends, a face, and the quest for the perfect day.
Shaping the perfect day with us
