7 Reasons Why Skiers Should Watch Red Bull Rampage

1. Watching Freeride Mountain Biking is Not That Different From Big Mountain Skiing

Virgin, Utah is to mountain biking as Alaska is to skiing. The terrain is larger than life and watching people navigate makes you question if they're mere mortals or not. It's an incredibly majestic landscape and to see humans travel it is a bit otherworldly. Another reason it's so darn fun to watch people ski Alaskan spines is that it's tough to comprehend how steep and gnarly that terrain is. Virgin is the same. You'll never understand the magnitude until you're standing on top of it. Sure, there may not be powder flying everywhere, but watching Casey Brown or Brendan Fairclough pick their way down that mountain is an adrenaline-filled experience all the same.

2. Digging a Line at Rampage is Kind of Like Choosing a Line to Ski

The terrain at Rampage doesn't just look like Alaskan spines, riding it takes a similar creativity and head game. For one, the riders build their own lines. Each athlete gets the help of two diggers and they spend the week before crafting a line down the venue's face. Just as skiing has folks who are like artists with a snowcat to build park features, there are diggers who have made features that are pure art. The creativity used to find these lines in the landscape is also not unlike that used by skiers when choosing a line down a face.

3. It Gives Perspective on Normalized Risk in Sports

If you've ever chatted with someone who doesn't do the same sports as you, you might have had a conversation that sounds like this:

"Dude, [insert sport] is so crazy. I can't believe you guys [insert scary/risky aspect of sport that is normalized to participants]."
"Bro, no way, [aforementioned scary thing] is way more chill than [insert scary/risky aspect of a DIFFERENT sport that is normalized to participants]."

Maybe as a skier, you watch ski films and think; "No way I'd ever do that," but still, as a skier, you understand the risks the world's best are willing to take. If you're not a mountain biker, watching Rampage will blow your socks off. Skiing spines may be in your wheelhouse, but what about riding one on two wheels and if you fall, there are rocks, not snow? Heck, it'll blow your socks off even if you are a mountain biker. After all, most mountain bikers aren't riding Rampage level terrain anyway.

4. We're All in it Together

Unfortunately, action sports are the underdog.

As bougie and elite as skiing has gotten, at the end of the day, skiers, mountain bikers, surfers, climbers, and so on, are a bunch of dirtbags trying to get their thrills playing outside. There is not nearly as much monetary support, however, in action sports for media, athletes, events, and all the other things that bring us together and keep our culture alive. Google told me that the average NFL player makes $3.2M per year while the average professional skier makes less than $50K.

So, even if you're not a mountain biker, think of all those other underdog sports like cousins. You may not buy bike layers from a brand, but they do make your favorite ski jacket. Or maybe your favorite skier is teammates with mountain bikers because they share an outerwear sponsor. Supporting the many brands, media outlets, creatives, and athletes who don't just work in skiing but other sports too, supports the whole sports industry and that's a win for all of us.

5. Your Favorite Ski Photographer Might Shoot Biking Too

Are you someone who spends hours drooling over the photos in print issues of POWDER or other ski magazines? Is your Instagram feed miraculously filled with more high quality ski photos than sh*tty iPhone clips?

Lots of your favorite ski photographers and cinematographers also shoot mountain biking, and often shoot Red Bull Rampage. If you want to see freeride mountain biking through the lenses of folks like Christian Pondella, Dustin Lindgren, Robin O'Neil, Peter Wojnar, and more, watch the livestream and check out Red Bull's social media as well as the athlete social media pages.

6. Red Bull Rampage Is Helping Put Female Athletes at the Forefront of Progression

Last year was the first year a women's category got added to Red Bull Rampage.

There were eight women slated to compete, and they built gnarly lines and put on a darn good show during finals. This year, the rider field has expanded to an absolutely stacked field of twelve women, and even the alternate list is stacked. Just the expansion of this roster is a huge vote for the confidence in women in freeride.

It's taken a heck of a long time for bike events to include women's fields, but the women riding are showing up and proving that they have every right to be there. Like I said before, Rampage is probably the biggest event in freeride mountain biking, so to give women their own venue, own livestream, and own roster creates an incredible stage for these female athletes.

7. You Might See Me Do Something Dumb on the Livestream

I mean, we're technically not supposed to get in front of the broadcast cams, but it wouldn't be the first time*shrugs*.

When Is Red Bull Rampage 2025?

The Red Bull Rampage women's finals will be live-streamed at 9 a.m. PDT on Thursday, October 16th, and the men's finals will be live-streamed at 9 a.m. PDT on Saturday, October 18th, both on Red Bull TV.