Yes, it’s that time of year again – the fourth Red Bull Rampage is heading to Virgin, Utah on October 28-30, pitting thirty of the world’s best riders against the epic cliffscape of Kolob Reservoir.

For those unfamiliar with Red Bull Rampage, it’s a freeride competition. Which sounds like a contradiction in terms, but simply means that rather than time over a fixed course deciding the winner, it’s the rider that makes the most of the terrain that takes the prize. To that end, there’s no fixed course and a panel of judges scoring the competitors on control, “amplitude” (by which we assume they mean “bigness”), style, fluidity and difficulty.

Practice and qualifiers will be on 28-30 October with the finals on 31 October. The finals will take place on an all-new area, a quarter of a mile wide and 1,200 feet high, offering a whole new range of possible jumps and lines.

Last year’s winner, Cedric Gracia, will be returning to defend his title against a strong field including Kyle Strait and Britain’s Gee Atherton. And with $15,000 at stake, you can bet they’ll be going for it…

We’ll have a full report after the weekend, but in the meantime you can check out the terrain on the Red Bull Rampage Virtual Mountain – we can particularly recommend the Kyle Strait helmetcam footage which actually made us go “Woooooah!” in places. There’s a load of other stuff, including photos and video of previous events, at www.redbullrampage.com.