How do you judge a freeski competition?

The basic rule is ICR 3311.1: a panel of 3 to 9 qualified judges plus a qualified head judge. The level of the event moves the floor up.

• Olympics and World Championships: 6 to 9 scoring judges and a head judge (3311.7.1).
• World Cup and other international events: at least 6 scoring judges and a head judge (3311.7.2).
• Continental Cup and lower FIS events: in special cases 3 scoring judges and a head judge, and only FIS can grant that exception (3311.7.2.2).
• Slopestyle judged section by section: at least 9 scoring judges at World Cups, World Championships and the Olympics (ICR 3403.3). Article 3311.7.2.1 still gives 8 for the World Cup, so the rulebook contradicts itself here.

A regional slopestyle with no FIS points on the line can run on three scoring judges. With three, every score counts.

Not on the strength of a snowboard licence. ICR 3311.4 says it plainly: "There is no combined SB/FK licence." A judge who wants to work both sports needs a licence in each.

Both licences have three levels.

• A: all FIS levels, and head judge anywhere up to the Olympics.
• B: World Cups and lower, head judge at Continental Cups and lower.
• C: Continental Cups and lower, and head judge at any national event. A World Cup may take at most one C-licence judge, a Continental Cup at most two.

Moving up a level takes an international FIS clinic and approval from the Snowboard & Freeski Judging Advisory Group (3311.4.1).

Overall impression is a ranking tool. The score only places a run above the worse ones and below the better ones, so the first numbers of the day matter more than any later ones.

The handbook (9.1) asks judges to watch practice and decide what a below-average, an average and an above-average run looks like on that course that day. A park with small jumps and a field of 14-year-olds will have its average run somewhere very different from a World Cup slope.

The first 5 to 10 scores become anchor scores. Every later run is compared with the anchored runs closest to it and slotted above or below them. The handbook calls this keeping an open range: the first scores should leave room above and below them for runs still to come.

Chapter 10.1 of the Judges Handbook is marked "Freeski Only". Snowboard judges work from the deduction tables in chapter 11, which is marked "Snowboard Only". A freeski judge places the whole run, crash included, in one band and does not subtract from a clean-landing score.

The handbook calls these ranges recommended and says they vary from event to event. Section-by-section judging has its own freeski table in 10.2, where a skipped feature scores 0.

The handbook's list of instabilities in chapter 11.5 has three entries marked FK, for freeski only.

• Wedging: a snowplough before a feature to scrub speed.
• Poling: the skier loses speed and pushes with the poles to get it back.
• Skating: the skier loses speed and skates to build momentum.

None of these is a fall, but each one tells the panel the skier was short of speed or control. Write them on the steno sheet next to the trick.

The head judge should preferably not score (ICR 3311.5). Their job is to check the judges' decisions, the memory boards and the results with the chief of calculation, and then confirm the verified results with the technical delegate.

Chapter 7 of the handbook sets the procedure. Each judge keeps a written record of the bib, the tricks and the score for every run. "The official score is the one on the judges Steno Sheet." At Level 1 events with a data system, a judge's score becomes official when the head judge approves and submits it. Judges work independently and do not discuss a score unless the head judge calls a meeting.

If a judge is unfit or ignores the criteria, the head judge may replace them, and with no qualified replacement can score in their place (handbook, chapter 3). When a run is queried, only TV replay or the competition's own footage counts. A coach's phone video does not.

In big air with two of three jumps counting, the two counting tricks must be different (ICR 3502.3.1). If a skier does the same type of trick twice, only the higher-scored one counts.

The team captains' meeting picks one of two definitions before the first training. One is clockwise against counterclockwise. The other is 2 of 4 directions, which for freeski means right, left, switch right and switch left. Men and women can use different versions at the same event.

ICR 3703.4 lets the panel give a repeated trick a DNI (Does Not Improve) score. The same status covers any run that does not beat the earlier ones when only the best run counts.

The 1-10 DEAL (big air) and DAVE (halfpipe) scores that appear on TV are for graphics only. They do not change the overall impression score (handbook 9.3, 9.4).

ICR 3405 ties the software to the level of the event. The head judge must be able to see the ranking after every run. The minimum is a spreadsheet that sorts the results correctly for the format, with scores typed in from the judges' cards.

From Continental Cup level up, every judge needs a keypad or a tablet for direct input. The system must also upload results in the FIS XML format.

At Junior Worlds, World Cups, World Championships and the Olympics two more tools are mandatory. A scoring gap alert flags when adjacent scores come within 2 to 5 positions, and a tie blocker accepts a tied score only after the head judge confirms it (3405.1, 3405.2).

Create a Freeskiing category and switch on "Head judge releases scores" in the scoring rules. Judges' scores then wait in a holding area, and the public board does not move until the head judge releases the run.

Before releasing, the head judge looks at the run in "Start order" or in "Standing". Two skiers on the same score show in red with a "Tie" label. If one tablet has died, "Release with gaps" publishes the run without that judge's score. Every release keeps a before-and-after log.

In a category with best or best-N scoring and more than one run, judges can mark a run "Does Not Improve" from run 2. Nothing sets DNI automatically, and one judge's DNI leaves the other judges' scores for that run in place.

For a youth contest with several age categories, "Invite judges" sends one link for all the categories you tick. "Add to categories" puts one person in as judge, head judge or speaker across several categories at once. Start from Create. The freeski video tutorial walks through the same setup.

High and low scores. The ICR drops them from 6 judges. JudgeMate's "Drop extreme scores" switch works from 5. On a five-judge panel, leave it off.

Decimals. FIS judges score whole numbers. The JudgeMate score field accepts steps of 0.1, so agree on whole numbers with the panel before the first run.

Ties. Under ICR 3503 tied skiers share the place. JudgeMate's board separates them on their other runs: best, second, best trick if switched on, then third. The head judge preview shows the tie before that countback. Write the shared place on the official list by hand.

Variety and DNI. JudgeMate does not check trick direction. DNI is available from run 2, so if a repeat in run 3 outscores the same trick in run 1, the head judge settles it by hand.

FIS formats and data. There is no FIS XML upload and no section-by-section judging with the 60/40 split. For events on the FIS calendar the official results go through another system. The FIS judging handbook guide covers the criteria themselves.