Tero Repo/Freeride World TourJess McMillan (left) and Crystal Wright at the 2010 Chamonix FWT event.

Dom Daher/Freeride World TourTwo-time champion Ane Enderud on Verbier's Bec de Rosses.

Now entering its fourth season, the Freeride World Tour (FWT) is a European-based big-mountain competition that attracts some of the best skiers and snowboarders in the world (not to be confused with the US-based Freeskiing World Tour, which goes by the same acronym). In an email that went out to FWT competitors on September 3, it was announced that a new platform for female riders would be introduced for the 2011 Freeride World Tour.

According to the email, female riders can compete in any of the Freeride World Qualifier (FWQ) events -- some 15 stops across Europe and the U.S. The top five female skiers and top three female snowboarders from qualifiers will be eligible to compete in the tour's final event in Verbier, Switzerland.

But, to the surprise of a number of pro female riders, women won't be competing in the five main events leading up to the finale. And unlike previous years, where the FWT picked up the tab for athletes' accommodation and lift tickets at each of the main events and provided lucrative prize money for the winners, this year, the women will only be covered in Verbier. At Verbier, the winning male skier will receive $10,000 and the winning female skier will receive $5,000.

Christophe Margot/Freeride World Tour"This is essentially a modern day, gendered Jim Crow law," says Elyse Saugstad, shown here in Tignes, France, about the changes. "We are separate but far from equal."

The Freeride World Tour says the change is meant to increase the number of female participants and make the tour more accessible to upcoming talent. "The previous seasons have seen a small number of female contestants, particularly female snowboarders," says Josefine Ås, spokesperson for the FWT. "Opening the field is necessary to make the sport evolve and grow. More women will have the opportunity to go for the Freeride World Title through qualifier events."

Some female athletes don't see it that way. "The FWT has done a lot for my career and many other women's careers. So I don't want to sound ungrateful," says Jess McMillan, who placed second on the 2010 Freeride World Tour. "On the other hand, I think the decision, regardless of how positive they would like to make it seem, is a blow to the women who have worked hard to be a part of the tour and to women's skiing in general."

Swatch is a title sponsor and partner of the FWT, and also a sponsor of two-time FWT female champion, Ane Enderud. Peter Mager, vice president of international marketing for Swatch, told ESPN Tuesday that he thinks the changes are positive. "The field of female riders gets much bigger when you take into consideration the FWQ events, bringing the best female riders to Verbier where women and men compete at the same time," Mager says. "The changes will result in a better balance between men and women on the tour."

David Carlier/Freeride World TourIngrid Backstrom, Jackie Passo, and Ane Enderud on the podium at the Squaw Valley FWT stop.

On September 6, Freeride World Tour founder Nicolas Hale-Woods sent a second email to the FWT's female athletes to clarify changes to the women's program. "We understand some of you may see this set-up as a 'regression' for women's freeriding. We firmly believe the contrary for different reasons," Hale-Woods wrote, citing the increase in female participants and the specific media exposure the women will receive at certain qualifiers with the new system. "During the past 2010 season, women's freeriding was in the shadow of men's freeriding. On-terrain comparison where in some cases (ex: Chamonix) having both men and women riding the same mountain one after the other was clearly not in the advantage of women's freeriding."

Elyse Saugstad, winner of the 2008 Freeride World Tour, says she completely disagrees with the organization on this point. "You will hear the organization use the Chamonix event as an example. However, what they fail to recognize for this particular event is that only one female competitor who was qualified for the FWT was present, and she won," Saugstad says. "On the contrary, at the Squaw FWT stop, the women's field was stacked with all the top women competitors, and the winning female line by Jackie Passo was the same as the men's winning line."