When Max Hitzig started competing on the Freeride World Tour several years ago, he got some advice from his friend, Austrian snowboard legend Florian Orley. “He told me, ski at 97 percent, not 100 percent,’” Hitzig recalls. At the time, Hitzig was going full throttle at all times, putting all of his energy into every run, and the result was that he’d either go big and win or he’d crash. Consistency wasn’t his thing. “I wasn’t a big fan of competing. It wasn’t easy for me,” he says. “I thought I didn’t have the mental strength for it. I would push too hard and crash.”
But once he heard Orley’s advice, he toned it back and got smarter with his line choice. “Now when I’m looking at the face, I’m looking for a line and thinking, find a line that’s 97 percent,” Hitzig says. “It makes no sense at all, it’s a silly number. But it works.” And that new philosophy isn’t half bad for Hitzig: Last season, he put down one of the most memorably consistent seasons in Freeride World Tour history, landing on the podium at every event to solidly secure his position as the overall champion in men’s skiing.