Nicolas Hale Woods conferences

Nicolas Hale-Woods is known as the co-founder of Xtreme Verbier, as well as the founder of the Freeride World Tour, the off-piste ski and snowboard World Cup, of which Xtreme Verbier is the grand finale event. With a team of 12, Nicolas’ company also manages the sport’s pyramid, comprising 4,000 licensed athletes and over 130 competitions worldwide, enabling juniors to progress on the Freeride Junior Tour before competing to qualify for the Freeride World Tour at the Freeride World Qualifier.

With an English father and a Swiss-born mother, originally from Neuchâtel, Nicolas spent time on the slopes at a very young age, accompanied by his grandmother. After attending schools in Switzerland, the UK and Belgium, he was awarded a degree in economics from the University of Fribourg. It was during his studies in the mid-1980s that Nicolas acquired a passion for snowboarding. His goal: as well as a taste for adrenaline off the slopes, in completely different environments (especially as a water surfer).

This led him to form the Swiss Surfing Association with friends in 1992, enabling him to compete in amateur world surfing championships. « For a country with no ocean, this was great, » he says. A bit like the Jamaicans forming a bobsleigh team…

It was then that he developed the Freeride competitions at Verbier, marking the beginning of his career.