The Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North Face, featuring some of the best skiers and snowboarders on the planet, comes to Kirkwood Mountain Resort next week.

“With unmatched inbounds terrain and some of the deepest snow in the country, Kirkwood is an appropriate choice as the only U.S. stop for the Freeride World Tour,” said Casey Blann, Kirkwood’s general manager. “This event really solidifies our position as one of the premier big mountains in the country, and I personally can’t wait to see these athletes tackle The Cirque.”

Kirkwood’s big mountain venue, The Cirque, is comprised of exposed, steep and raw terrain, which is permanently closed to the general public, allowing for a unique and exciting North American freeride venue.

Athletes are set to arrive on Monday, and the opening ceremonies will be Tuesday. The first day of FWT competition is scheduled for Wednesday, with a weather window extending to Sunday, March 3.

Kirkwood will be the fourth stop on the tour, which started with 36 male skiers, 14 male snowboarders, 14 female skiers and seven female snowboarders. The 2013 FWT features five stops for male skiers and snowboarders, and four stops for female skiers and snowboarders before a cut will be made for the Swatch Xtreme Verbier in Switzerland.

After the fifth stop in Fieberbrunn, Austria, the top three results out of five events for men and the top three results out of four events for women will be used to qualify riders for Verbier and the 2014 FWT.

Next week’s tour stop will be a homecoming for Lake Tahoe’s Josh Daiek, the 2012 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour champion.

“I’m simply stoked for the competition to be at Kirkwood,” he said. ‟It has some of the most fun terrain and is one of the best competition venues in the world.”

For a live webcast of the competition, visit www.freerideworldtour.com. Here’s a video preview…