Wandering off away from the pack...

Blacksheepsports Skitest @Hintertux

2014-11-30T21:25:00.000+01:00

Testing testing and more testing was the moto of the day.

Less then a week after the Stubai Opening it was once again time to head out to Hintertux. Blacksheepsports, the expert powder shop from Munich was having there annual ski test. So we headed out to check how some of the more custom and exotic skis behaved on snow.

DPS one of the brands I was eager
to try.

It all started on a Wednesday. I was checking the weather forcast looking for some excuse to leave for Tirol again for the weekend. Halloween would be coming up and it was definitely going to be another fun weekend for partying out in Innsbruck. As the day passed Michi told me that blacksheepsports, the specialty powder retailer from Bavaria's capital Munich would be hosting a ski-test at Hintertux. Since a few of my buddies have a connection to the shop and I also had planed to do a short interview with the boys from the shop at the last ISPO, I thought it a good opportunity to pack my stuff into my trusted Opel Vectrajet2000 and head out to test some of the more exotic ski brands.

Arriving in the morning with Rafi and David we head up the mountain and the testing was on. Before I give you guys the low down on what skis I tested and my impressions first lets talk about the shop.

Blacksheepsports dudes always ready to help with
good advice !

What is blacksheepsports ?

By now you know it`s a shop with powdergear... but really it`s more then that... I`ll let the boys explain (turn up your headphones)

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If you don`t see the audio player click here to play.

Unlike in our little country, Germany is a big enough market for such a concept to work. The shop caters to the hardcore crowd who are willing to try more exotic and specialized equipment. I am talking skis that are very different to ride from brand to brand. It`s a long step away from the regular blend of skis. These beasts, as I have come to learn, have a certain character a flavor that needs to be sampled. Like a good wine or a special blend of whiskey. I was eager to get my hands on a few pairs to have a fine "tasting". Here a few quick-tests:

Testing Method

Since there would not be awesome powder to test and I did not want to cruise the slopes all day I already had an idea where to go. A south side run that in the winter is easy powder access would have to do. If the weather were to hold it would allow for a few nice turns in hardpack and a inch of something resembling powder in the shadows. To get back to the slope a few stones would have to be crossed. That ment taking the skis off.

The kind of conditions would resemble one of those days where it didn't go as you planed and you were stuck with a snow surface that was not exactly fun to ride but you would have to ride to get down the mountain... so it would make for a good test for basic ski stability and responsiveness in sub optimal conditions.

The skis:

Black Crows corvus

Black Crows came to my attention at the IF3 last year when they had a rather big showing in the brand saloon. From Chamonix in France developed by Bruno Campagnet and Camille Jaccoux these promise the real hardcore big mountain experience. And they do deliver. I tested the 192 model and I must say that this is a ski that is ment to be charged. A characteristic I found very interestind is the direct consequence of speed while riding. Ride it slow and it turns ok. Nothing special here. But put the peddal to the metal and bam ... like the TGV on rails.. acceleration is swift and stable .. no flutter. For my riding style a bit to stiff but I know a guy who would be perfect for this power charger ... right Gašper :P

Surface Daily

I had the opportunity to test a pair of it`s fatter 122 brother before last years ISPO at Zauchensee when sho-ziemlich.oarg Skibum Michi returned with them from his trip to Japan. I was skeptical.. a short very fat ski in European powder. How would they behave. Answer: They were awesome. 

Same goes for the Dailies. Like the name says, this is your daily can do it all ski. Of all the tested skis this was my favorite. I would go as far as to say I like them better then my go to Salomon Rocker2 108. Similar in handling... but you don`t need harder boots for them to be super snappy. If you can, give Surface a spin. You will be pleasently surprised. Good flow and stability... thou be ready for some flutter at high speed.

DPS Skis Wailer 112 rpc

Well if you haven`t heard of DPS skis and powder yet, I suggest you watch this first:

Now that were on the same page and you want to sell your last shirt to go hunt powder, you know what the brand is about. And so is this ski. I tested the 192 version of the ski. I would describe it as intriguing. It rode quite different from what I consider my style. The Pure version is full carbon. A bit too stiff for my taste and not exactly the ski I would use for these kind of conditions. It is marketed as a all mountain monster and it did really good on the slopes if you ride more of a super-g style. For final judgement I would reserve to test these babies on a day of powder after all before you spend 1200 bucks on a ski it should be exactly what you want. Fortunately they also come in a more pocket-change friendly hybrid version. As for pow my spider sense is saying "powder ripper".

Maier The Doc 2014

The day went on well and I saw these skis. Never heard of the brand before. Did not know what to expect but took them out for a spin anyway. The word to descirbe them would be that they work. As is normal for a formidable all arounder these were quite heavy and would probably suite a heavier rider better then they did me. Did quite well on the hardpack thou and had a good balance on the flex side. Not to fluttry at high speed yet not to bendy when slow. I`d call them the "safe bet of the day".

The last ski of the day.. the MEIER SKI

in action.

Sway skis

Michael Reifinger one of the

two cool dudes behind SWAY

Another interesting brand I came across was SWAY skis. A speciallty brand that does custom skis. With a lot of expirience and love of details the boys will get you ready with a weapon of choice. Think of them as the shaper you write to before you leave for your annual surf outing XD I`ll let them explain in more detail (again turn up your headphones :P

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To sum up the test, I was quite fascinated how different these skis were. It showed that there is still a lot of variety in the industry, when you know where to look, and we need specialty shops like blacksheep to give these a chance and present you with options that are fundamentally different as opposed to the conformity we came to be accustomed to with not much more character then a different "paintjob".

Stubai Opening 6 - Day 2 Let the sunshine in !

2014-11-12T23:43:00.003+01:00

On day 2 the DC Jib battle was on ! Would the Slovenians be as good as last time ?

So to continue where we left of yesterday it was time to move ourselves back to Innsbruck... after some pizza we where ready to rock.

One of the most exciting parts of being in the city of snow is the nightlife scene. Anyone of you who has spent a night I Innsbruck knows what I'm talking about. There is a ton of cool places where you can hang out until the sun rises in the morning.

We started off very
Russian.

As it so happens our party evening started with ambitious plans. A few drinks at home. Then take the free shuttle-bus to the venue at Neustift and have some fun with the super awesome Drunken Masters, my favorite party DJs. Unfortunately we didn`t quite make it that far. You see while we were "warming up" in Innsbruck a few more buddies from Bunterhund productions and schoziemlich.org joined up. Having a whole palette of Russian Bear Energy in my car we quickly started mixing a few additional drinks and before you know it we were at the Aftershave dancing the night away because we were just to late for the bus to Neustift :P Not to go into to much detail lets just say it was an awesome night to party in Innsbruck. At one point morning came.

Gabi was nice enough to lend us her bed.

And we would be off quite early again. Unlike the the day before, on day two the sun would be out and even a few more Slovenian snowboard shred buddies from the YuGo collective, who had recently premiered there new flick HETEROTOPIA, would be there to kill at the DC JIB Battle contest.

First thing we did was check out the Brandsaloon again. We learned about the MOVEMBER charity, got ourselves a few SIONYX socks, played some Playstation and found a few cool beanies with headphones called beatpack.

Also unlike the previous day it was crowded. I was told by the organizers that 500 packages had been sold for the weekend. Well on day two all of them were there... and at least half would be shredding the cozy jibpark. The wibe was excellent and the flow was superfun so even my lazy non jibing self just wouldn't stay idle. In short - I haven`t had so much fun in a Jib park for quite a while.

Before you start riding its good to stretch... and have chocolate milk.. always drink chocolate milk !

Then it was time for the DC Jib contest. As per usual I got out my camera and took a few nice snaps. The Slovenians also did quite well. Our buddy Žiga Rokavec managed to share second place with the German Christoph Schwarz. First place went to Raffael Kossmann also from Germany. In good spirit the dudes even split the winnings in equals I am told. Check out some of the pics:

But that would not be the last fun thing of the day. At the other side of the event, a little higher on the mountain our buddy Tobi from Bunterhund producitons had a interesting idea. You see, along he bought a speedglieder. After a quick shot planing discussion we came up with the idea for him to fly over the baordsaloon. Tobi tested the glider a bit and the lift would be tricky. It didn`t quite hold up to get him directly over the tents but it sure made for a cool spectacle and he even got a big cheer from all the folks chilling in front of the Eisgart.

From above comes Tobi.

For a quick turnabout.

And an icy landing.

As the day was drawing to a close and we headed to the parking lot something funny happend. You see last year we were spending some fun time at a snow iglu at Kühtai for a fun weekend at the end of the season. There we met Manu who I had not seen since. While some of us were it the park Jernej was social and meet a few of Manus friends. What I did not know at the time was that Manu had broken his foot a week earlier windsurfing. Being the chill dude he is he showed up with crutches so we had to get another beer and stop the bus with a human chain so he could make it back to the apartment :P Also the party going down at the Apreski at the Valley station was getting a little bit out of hand. It`s good that we had our friends and helpers.. the Stubaital police there to make us blow.. into a pipe... in case we were drunk. Apparently we weren`t XD

Cheers to the next Stubai Opening !

Human chain to stop the bus :P

As for our partying for that day.. after so much action and the insane night before we were pretty much toast. So after getting back to Innsbruck we quite literally passed out to conclude our adventure. Hope you had a few good laughs reading about it :)

And in the glacial waters you might also find a Russia Bear.

Next up on the blog... a week later it was time to return to Hintertux for the Blacksheepsports powderski test. More on that next week ! We tested Black Crow, Surface, DPS and Maier skis !!!

Stubai Opening 6 - Day 1 Bad Weather is not so bad !

2014-11-11T19:23:00.006+01:00

The weather was not the best on day one but we made the best of it. Also one of my favorite shots of the day :P

Rain or shine
all is mine said
Mr. Dewinter.

Well it`s Tuesday here in Ljubljana and it`s gloomy. A few weeks have passed since the Stubai Opening and having had my hands full, I just managed to get the pics and some clips out on the unofficial blog, but could not find the time to write the story. Since the weather last Friday blew off any possibility of a decent first pow for the season, over the weekend in Tirol, I can finally look back and share our fun Stubai adventure. So tug yourself in a comfy seat and read all about it :P

Well where to start. Just four days had passed since the last opening, and having to work full time over the week didn`t leave much time to chill and regenerate. Jernej from GrabIt drove in from Maribor, the boys Danilo and Jaka from AsFly would join too so we would head out on a grey Thursday evening directly to Innsbrucklyn. Last minute Slovenian logistics complications included as per usual :P

Everyone was superpumed and motivated, after all for most it would be one of the first days of the season. We arrived in snowcity and as it is customary for any of your Innsbruck late evening arrivals, an hour later we were already dropping shots at THE HALTESTELLE. The result.. Mieke a friend of mine would be joining us on day 1.

At a certain point we were hungry ! The world is ment to have
food cupons XD

So the morning came. Super motivated the guys where already buzzing about when I was still in a bit of a morning haze. The webcams were looking really bad but that would not deter us. Picked up our Belgian gal and arrived at the Stubai parking lot. It was raining... and I'm not talking a few drops...

Our Leki skipole fighters at work .. who do you think won :P

On top the situation wasn't a lot better. A few days earlier we had gotten the word about immense lack of snow. That meant there would be just a jib park. Would it be enough to keep us satisfied ?

Jernej and myself headed out to the test tents and got ourselves a few pairs of LINE skis. As you all know by now LINE recently added Mr. Style himself Tom Wallisch to there riders roster. Sure that happend last weekend at the Stubai PRIME PARK sessions, but more on that in one of the upcoming posts next week. So we started off skating the ice on skis. Jernej and I tested two models:

SIR FRANCIS BACON

"Sure the conditions were utter BS but I liked this ski. I`d compare it to my standard ride the Salomon Rocker 108. Maybe a bit more stable on the hardpack. Felt a little heavier. All in all good grip.. somewhat flappy at higher speed. Would have to test it in powder but generally a fun to ride no compromise ski. Also doesn`t suffer from the "overspecialize and you breath in weakens" simptome of some of the never ski developements. That is probably the reason why it is one of freeksiers editors picks for 2015."

AFTERBANG

"Lines go to park ski. I tested the previous model in Kaunertal for the spring sessions. Liked the old one better. All in all for me this thing is to heavy for park and far to stiff compared to my current parkski a Stanston K7. On the other hand the stiffnes gives you more control so its probably better on kickers. Not my type of ski but my friend Gabi loves these babies and so does Jernej :P"

As the day was going bye and we were riding the jib park in the snow/rain it was soon time for me to pick up the other thing I do at these events and take a few nice snaps of the tricks for cash contest that was starting to heat up. Pictures turned out nice. And our friend Mieke also took a few nice once ;) Hell there is even one of me jibing XD

The guys at Stubai also made a cool recap edit so don`t forget to check it out bellow.

As for us after the contest we had to do a very "manly" thing. Eventually it seems after my visit to the Castore in the summer we have to show some skin when we are up so Mieke had the pleasure of taking this shot of us posing in the snowrain.. in the cold. Who has the best bod.. you decied XD..

The manly thing to do.. show some skin,
coz cold does not touch us

What happened on day two ?

Did we survive the mayhem that is the Stubai opening parties ?

Would there be sun ?

Would the Slovenians again dominate the contests like two years ago?

All of this and more fun at the base station of the gondola in part two ! Dropping tommorow !

Stubai Opening No.6 - Landing tomorrow

2014-10-16T09:53:00.003+02:00

The sixth edition of the MOREBOARDS Stubai Premiere is taking off tomorrow and we will be there! When the season starts at Austria’s biggest glacier ski resort from October 17th to 19th 2014, exciting contests, funny side events, a free material test in the Brand saloon with two galactic party nights await with prime acts like the "Drunken Masters" :)

Also since we have a really dire snow situation in the alps the planed big park will not be there at least until half a meter of fresh drops :( (aka mid to end of November).

To save the day the sharpers are hard at work and have put up a really cool jib setup that should keep us occupied for most of the day. Also all the contests are going to go down as planed and there will also be a expanded party area next to the Brandsalon with 42 brands, free drinks and BBQ. Cya all there !

Its not the Prime Park but it looks like fun :)

This was KTO29 - Less snow more fun !

2014-10-15T23:30:00.001+02:00

Schneestern made a whole Park ski resort out of nothing.

Sure you are going to say how can less snow be more fun. Well let me start at the beginning, oh and don´t worry the report will be more pictures and less text!

Thursday evening it began... I was off to Innsbruck..first snow of the season. I was looking forward to the Innsbruck crew... called them in Salzburg... I would be late... the ride was a bitch... first 1 hour of closed freeway followed by 30 minutes of Karavankentunnel wait up to hitting some spoiler from a truck on the fast lane... luckily no damage to the car... odd start... dinner would be ready... I arrived thinking of sleep and food... 15 minutes later .. we were of to the first party of the season... I knew I would not make it early in the morning..but

The Boardersalon was up with tons of new stuff to test !

FRIDAY

there was no hurry. Everyone was very much in a chill mood so I meet up with Michi, who most recently became a "self employed" skibum. He lives in a cool VW camper now :P. The others would join later. We headed up to the glacier. We were driving up.. damned the snow situation was dire I thought. But the weather was really nice. We came to the top... never seen the Kaunertal Glacier so barren. But Schneestern did the impossible... they build a park out of nothing and it was a super fun setup.. kinda like a park ski resort... u had a big line a medium one and a chilly learning setup as well as some pipes... all of it, like carpets on white snow, where there were there should have been none. We made a few runs and then decided.. trampolines and well if its warm, swimming in one of the glacier lakes. When we returned down the road we stopped at the first little lake and threw ourselves into the water... as I would later learn most of the people who drove down saw us... we would be "the guys that threw themselves into 6 degree water just for the fun of it" XD.

After the lake it was BlueTomato Barbacue time with chef Lars

Then it was party time. Picked up the rest of the crew with Michis van at the closest train station and some booz, food... started of in the house. Went to the tent.. as for the rest... I do remember the movie premier from the pirates movie.. and next morning there was a new sticker on the door of our apartment not to let people who do not live in the apartment into the house XD Also someone managed to spill bear on the stairs... Clari I don`t know how you did that while still sober :P hhh

Also in the three days slopestyle and jib contest were going down featuring riders like Pro Lisa Zimmerman etc. A few pics but more in the gallery lower

Riders at the ready.

Corking the super smooth 10m medium kicker

It was somewhat of a spin to win XD

More spinning more goodie winning :)

But now back to the story :P SATURDAY came. And with it the bad weather. We made the best of it and decided that it was time to take a scenic trip with the gondola to the Italian border in absolute fog... awesome. Short we didn`t last long that day.. went swimming and then it was again party time. Since I had a bit of a hangover from Friday there would be no mixing this day just vodka XD Also we got wind of a party in a little Bar called "Zappa Dello" at the end of town called "Teen Slut Party". There are a few girls from University in Innsbruck who organize random parties and we said that would be our destination. Michi had some confetti in the car... the plan was to crash that party XD and that we did.... The pics from our confetti antics can be found here.


We also thought we would win a GoPro4 ..

Ok I know I should keep it short, so for SUNDAY I`ll just say.. best parkday in a long time.. Love the setup, the wibe and the obstacles... also the kicker is super-smooth... wish I had more holidays to stay longer XD Gabi thought the girls there first jib skills at Gabis Freestyle Camp... I did a few laps on the kicker and played on the jibs.. then trampoline and as we couldnt resist swimming in 6 degree water.. at least I think it was 6 .. the air had 8 degrees and felt warm after so it might even have been less XD KNEIPKUR at it`s best :P

Matic.. beeing superstylish !!!

I took a few great pics on that day and also one of our Slovenian buddy and Filmer Matic Zavodnik *who I kinda did not even recognize* Check out the pics .. maybe I zapped you too if you were there :P

Also since the filming crews were super active check out the action in moving pictures from the fun KTO dayz... can`t wait for the 30th Anniversary next year !

Shameless plug :): I also threw myself into the water with the power of our latest energy provider ! Russian Bear Energy XD coz like a bear, even at water temperature 2 cm, we can swim !!!

No water temperature can stop me now !

Season starts with the Kanuertal Opening 2014 - KTO29 is on !

2014-10-07T00:53:00.001+02:00

Kickers are beeing built furhtur up to insure a smooth setup even if there is less snow.

Only a few days to go till the KOT14 goes down. The final phase for the last preparations for the 29th Kaunertal Opening has begun though the weather is giving us high temps, the opening will be taking place as planed. Due to the conditions the lifts will be limited to a special snowpark setup. This leads to fantastic packages for lift passes including the toll fare witch are available for 10 € per day for all three opening days.

Im looking forward to test the freshest gear of the upcoming season at the Mega Testival. The Testival provides a wide variety of the latest skiing and snowboard equipment witch can be discovered and tested in a relaxed atmosphere at the Blue Tomato Testival including Chillout Area, DJ Sound and Living Room Snowboard Museum. Unbelievable 74 brands offer their latest products for testing free of charge.

Lots of laughs :)

We will be heading out there on thursday to start the season off with a bang. Hope to see all you guys there :)Oh and for the once coming in from Innsbruck there is also a shuttlebus this year with Rietzler Reisen at 7.30. Check the KTO page for details. Party is gonna be bananaz again ! So ETA 3 days :)

For up to date info go to the KTO facebook page and give them a like if you haven`t yet :)

Back to Bali II - The waves are calling

2014-09-08T13:07:00.000+02:00

Chengu int he Afternoon.

Well it seems that time flies to fast and the conclusion of the season recap will have to wait like a season cliffhanger after your favorite episode of show X :P

Summer was not to be this year in Europe so I am finally heading out to my favorite surf spot in east Asia... It`s time to go back to Bali for a third time so the blog will also be going into summer mode for the next month.

Be sure to check back for a few surf related articles or for more immediate fun follow the tumblr for some fun :)

Last Season - Part 3 of 4

2014-09-07T22:20:00.001+02:00

Even at the end of the really bad season for the resort Serfaus had some pow to offer.

After the in mid summer HighLab visit it is time to return to the season recap :) We continue were we left off last time in Zauchnesee:

It was quite the exhausting hike...

As I mentioned last time the accident with the dead German freerider at Zauschensee proved to be the start of a very bad day for our friends Anna and Sina. Ranja from Germany joined us last minute for a few more days of adventure. Gambling till the last second if we were going to stay local or go to Sillian laziness prevailed and we decided to go to Flachau. Sure it`s the Park resort with the clubhouse and Absolutpark but If you know where to go there are a few nice tree lines on the western side. And since it dumped like 50 cm over night we were eager to get deep into the trees. Boy the hiking that day was taxing. Deep in fresh up to your bellybutton moving in settled not so fluffy snow was hard.. but it payed off big time.


So much fresh had fallen... so seren.

Around midday we got a call. It wasn`t good. Anna and Sina went to Zauch and we wanted to meet up a little later, but as we learned, Sina had fallen and hurt her foot so Anna had to drag her down because the mountain rescue was so exhausted from looking for the now deceased german freerider the whole night earlier that they could not send anyone up. We packed our asses over to the other side but the girls had already managed to get down to the doctor and the diagnosis was official. Sina had torn her ACL on the last weekend of her time in the Schladming area :S. We got a few more good lines that day but it was with a bit of a bad aftertaste...

Rania deep in the wood with a smile :)

Finally ready yo go after a long deep hike.

The prize !

Chiemsee and Cirkus Ischgl

Tobi having some fun sniping.

A week passed and I got a call from Tobi. He asked for some "bro"-support for the last stop of the Chiemsee "Das beste Jahr deines Lebens" tour in Ischgl. I will be honest. Ischgl has tons for freeride potential... but it is for me also the best example of why there is something like a Masterplan when u make a resort. The resort itself to me is just revolting. The good thing is that you can always go over to the Samnaun side and get cheap booz... yay. Regardless of that we made a nice day out if it in the iced out twilight diffused, badly shaped park and I also took a few nice Fotos for their blog :), and If you accepted the fact that the landings were icy as hell, the kickers weren`t that bad :P

After a slow start we were having a great day :)

The Ischgl Kicker were quite fur.. but Icy !

Spring breaks - Mayerhofen and FISS have nice kickers

I love these kickers... they were just so good...so good.

Well now we were approaching end of March on the winter timeline so after the temps rose to 24 degrees even in Innsbruck I already had half burred my powskis... it was time for some fun in the park. I called up Aljosa... packed my ass from rainy Ljubljana and bum next day Penkenpark it was... the first day of park in a long time :P And so it felt. Kickers were really awesome but damned I couldn`t even ride switch for half a day...


The akward moment your binding releases for no reason.

That of course changed on the next day when we went to Serfaus/FISS. We went to the proline and were looking at the kickers... first we thought:"dude ... they are kinda big". Both of us skeptical... kinda intimidated.. not knowing speed or if we were even in shape to ride them... we almost gave up and wanted to go the to medium park on the north side.. when suddenly bam... we tried them... and bam... suddenly they were absolutely awesomeness XD Best park day of the season so hands down :P Of course my beloved park bindings were doing there regular release when you shouldn`t thing again.. That got me a nice big scar on my back since it was the only f****** day I had left my back protector at home in Slovenia.

Awesome days with an awesome crew :)

Of course since the kickers were so great we repeated the feat next weekend with a bigger crew and our "gone local" Slovenian buddy Pauli even treated us to a grand barbecue.

La storia di monte Castore 4228m

2014-09-02T21:39:00.000+02:00

The world at 4000m. Breathtaking :P

As you know form the last post Ferrino was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the HighLab. A high altitude laboratory Base Camp next to the Refugio Quintino Sella on the Italian side of the Monte Rosa at 3.585m, serving as a testing base for their top of the line HighLab products. I wanted to visit it for some while now, but either the weather or the timing did not work out. Since I was missing snow, sitting in the office and still having some time to kill until my annual Bali surf outing I decided that this year might be a good idea to go up there and see how camping out on the glacier in high altitude feels like and weather permitting get our first try at a 4K peak. The Castor, 4228m next to Polux both named after the stars would be the goal of choice.

Before you read on lets start of with a video. Since we were testing a lot of Ferrino gear we spontaneously came up with this idea for a funny viral and don`t worry it`s not another ice bucket video:

Now after you`we seen what high altitude air does to our creative minds I hope I have garnered your attention. Because this story is actually about getting to a peak... no not that kind... a mountain peak :P

The Crew:

LtoR: Podly, Corben9, Nina, CHouka

Nina - Mountain and ecogirl, now also actress
Luka "podly" - all around super fit pretty mountain good guy and freestyle snowboarder now also model XD
CHouka - Mountain Multipraktik and filmer
Myself aka Corben9 - powderhunter, surf and mountain obsessed and dragging far to much stuff with me just to have the right lens for the right shot photo kinda guy.

The Goals:

All the way up there behind the HighLab...
the Castor..our goal !

Visit the Ferrino HighLab at 3.5K

ascend the CASTOR - our first 4.2K

The Story:

DAY 1

The sun was up and we were on our way.

It was just 2 weeks ago that I was sitting at home. Just had gotten back from a very adventures weekend at the Dachstein massif, testing my new powder skis in the middle of the summer. My appetite for snow still unbound. The thought of visiting the Ferrino HighLab had been on my mind for a while. Questions on how we would deal with the altitude and how well we would adapt to sleeping out in the snow were crossing my bored mind. After a bit tit for that, and mostly because the date seemed to scream from the calender GO, I started to get a plan together.

Getting the right mix of people for a good trip is always important and and after a bit of who can and who would go we were set. On a late weekday, we meet up at CHoukas for a nice late pizza dinner, to hammer out the details. I had already gotten confirmation from Ferrinos Sara that we were good to go and that the camp would be ready.

The ascend to the Refugio is quite the ridge line :)

So a few more days of weather uncertainty passed and we were fixed on going. Thursday it was. 1700 hours. Work done. That`s when we threw all our gear into the Kegl Airlines Vectrajet2000 and off we were. Around midnight we arrived at the Valley the Gressoney-la-Trinite set up shop and slept till the morning hours. I like that about Italy. You can just park somewhere.. sleep in piece and no one terrorizes you like you as if you were some kind plauge.

Some clouds were starting to annoy us.

Morning came.. we woke up and bam. Perfect weather. We started our ascent. It takes a good 3.5 hours to get to the Plateu where the Refugio Quinitno Sella, our "base camp" destination was located from the highest gondola station. The way up is quite fun. The higher you get and the thinner the air is the sketchier it gets. At the end you are walking on a ridge with a rope. Cool but nothing for people who get dizzy from altitudes. So we arrived as planned. And the view.. wow. Some clouds came up and you knew that in bad weather this place could go from heaven to hell in an instant.

Taking a short brake... 1 more hour to go.

Enrico from the Refugio provided us with all the gear we would need for our base camp outing. Nina and CHouka would stay in the lovey dovey Snowbound2 tent, while Podly and myself would be trying the Legend3 model. We would all get to use the new Nightec800 sleeping bags that had all new 2D 3D micro fiber filling. So new tech. All looked cozy enough, but with temperatures forecast at -7 and some wind we really had no idea on what to expect. Also the lack of air was starting to show itself a bit. Would we adapt quickly ?

Arrival at the tent. This is the Legend3. Podly and I would
call it our crib

Then Hunger came. Since we didn`t know that the refugio had such a great kitchen with a Nepalese cook we dragged a ton of tai noddles and cooking gear with us. We made food. I don`t like these noodles but this time... man they were good :P

Making water.

Preparing our tai noodles. We brought quite a lot of food :P

Night came. I went into the tent. It was foggy as hell. Gladly the Legend3 tent has reflective materials on the straps so I could see where it was. Ten minutes later Podly joined. He said the stars are out. I got up.. DAVE IT`S FULL OF STARS. What a view, and also a reminder on how quickly the weather changes here in the high alpine.

Dave it`s full of stars !

It glows in the dark when Illuminated :P

We went to sleep... sorta. We started feeling the altitude. A headache came up. The sleepingbags where nice and warm... but the headache didn`t quite go away. Aspirin. Podly and I slept somewhat uneasy... anticipation for our ascent try on the next early morning was getting to us... Podly twisted and turned and so did I ... would we get up in a morning.. would we make it ot the top.

DAY 2

5 AM ! Time to rise and shine ! Castor here we come.

My alarm went off. 5 AM it was. My head hurt. First thought... "How the hell are we gonna get to 4K if I am dizzy as shit at 3.5. Well no point in bitching"... Podly had the same expression on his face, but Nina was already getting ready. Move your buts she said... since we were that oozy it took us quite some time to get ready.. we weren`t gonna be the first. Crampons, roped up... ice axes... I poped another aspirin against the headache and off we were. Moving... after a short while.. the headache was gone.. weather.. absolute perfection. And on we went.

It had also snowed a little over night.

First exposed on the glacier. Chutes invisible because of recent snowfall. So much powder... such nice lines could be drawn into the white snow... but I could never have dragged the skis that high.. to heavy... next time... We were getting higher and higher... a Mezzalama ski mountaineer passed us swift and fast, then a steep part... ice axe in one hand, pole in the other every move nice and slow.

This part ment we had to be nice an safe.

Arrived at 4000m now only 200 more to go :P

The altitude was ok, but here and there one could grasp himself breathing harder for some extra air. We arrived at 4000m. At the bottom of the ridge line... from here it would be another 30 minutes. The physical drain and a moving cloud layer was making us think.. shall we turn back... or aim for the peak. We did after all already achieve our goal to pass 4K. We decided to press on. We wanted to reach the top. The closer we were getting on the peak the windier it was getting. The sun was coming higher more slab avalanches were triggering around. And then we made it ! We reached the top.

We made it to the top ! VICTORY :)

Meet a few swiss fellows who had ascended from the Zermatt side... congratulated ourselves unceremoniously and made our way back down. The cloud layer was creeping up on us so we needed to be fast. And we were. Arriving at the Refugio, now adapted to the altitude and full of energy from our victory it was time to eat, sleep and have some creative fun with all the photo stuff we dragged up before our final descent back to the valley.

And then it was time to go back all the way... skis.. next time !

DAY 3

Well technically you could say it was still day 2 late in the evening. In the meantime the Refugio got filled to capacity. Even dinner was served in two shifts. 160 people can sleep there. Wow I thought.. so many mountaineers.

Our little Ferrino corner at the hut.

Night came and we went to bed. Slept like a baby but I couldn't just let the opportunity fly. After all it was a clear night. Like out of one of those old romantic sci-fi movies. Stars everywhere.. even the moon shining making it look almost as if it was day in a galaxy far far away. Motivated I put my jacket on and spend two hours freezing my ass and my fingers off taking long exposure pictures form every angle I could think of.. and some of them really turned out well.

Such a view of the Universe... makes you feel small.

Then morning came. We were all in a very good mood. But one more thing remained to be done... Yes.. the video clip. Goofing around at the hut we made a quick little scenario. Podly would be sleeping in the Nightec 800 sleeping bag on the compfy matrace out in the open. It was so comfy he would sleep in so it would be day. He would get up and get caught by Nina who just happened to pass by as he would be getting up and his sleeping bag would slip :P two takes and it was done. Since we were goofing around and it was nice sunny and relatively warm... we also made another shot that I shall frame some day :P after all you don't get the chance to be naked on a glacier at 3.580m every day.

This one will be framed one day when we are very old :)

Epilogue

Our descent went relatively smooth with the exception of me slowing everyone down coz I managed to hurt my foot while running around in crocks form the refugio to our tent. Dumb little injury that had me biting my teeth all the way down. Even had to switch my heavy backpack with Podly... again thnx dude.

Thinking back it was an awesome trip and the Refugio is certainly one of those places that I have added to my favorites list right next to the Danau Batur lake on Bali, Tirol and a few other jems. Also our team worked well from the start with a awesome wibe and zero problems :)Another fun thing on our way back was our pit stops. On every station we stopped we meet some buddies heading back home for Slovenia.

20 years of Research by FERRINO on the Monte Rossa Plateau

2014-08-04T12:30:00.000+02:00

A room with a view

As some of you guys know I was lucky enough to be invited to the MEZZALLAMA Trophy by Ferrino in 2013. It was a great experience that you can read up on here. Last week I got great news that Ferrino is celebrating 20 years of cutting edge research at there laboratory on the Monte Rossa.

FERRINO HIGH LAB (like the line of Products based on its research) is Italy`s highest lab and is located at the Quintino Sella Refuge at Felik. It has been there for 20 years and even earlier before becoming official in July 1994.

The Refugio Quintino Sella next to the HighLab

“Those of us who actually make high-altitude equipment, field testing is the central element. And the field can only be the top of a mountain. But that doesn’t mean we don’t focus on other research and development stages” says CEO Anna, fifth generation Ferrino in the company

W.T.S. technology was tested and perfected at the HighLab

One such example of this high altitude research is W.T.S. (Welded Technical System) technology, which has replaced the use of sewn seams and was developed thanks to tests carried out in the HighLab field before being applied to the EMPEROR tent in 2010 (making this the first seam-free tent by Ferrino). These tests showed how taped seams on a tent, when subjected to UV rays for long periods, undergo changes that lead the taping to come away from the inside of the fabric, which may then lead to water leakages and a resulting need for repairs. On the other hand, W.T.S. technology, field tested at HighLab, was able to overcome this problem, allowing Ferrino to offer a cutting-edge product. The following year, the very same technology was applied to the line of HL Revolution W.T.S. sleeping bags, which has welded channels that as well as preventing heat dispersion, also stop the down filling from escaping, as it would through normal seams. This line of sleeping bags also has a patented technology that combines W.T.S. with the use of stretch thread to offer even better comfort (up to 15% more available space compared to a standard sleeping bag).

As it happens to be we are planing a little visit to the altitude camp soon from where we will give you a nice little inside look at how it is being up there at the “eagle’s nest” and scout the surrounding area before winter breaks in :)

Last Season - Part 2 of 4

2014-07-30T00:41:00.003+02:00

After Italy it was time to move somewhere where my Tirol Snowcard was valid. After all tickets are getting expensive as hell. We became creative and started checking areas that were close to Italy where all the major dumps were coming down.

Ostirol

And so we finally went to Ostriol. A few of the resorts around the border area like Defreggen, Sillian and Grossglockner have enormous freeride potential and the snow cover was so thick that it was hard to grasp that 50 km away from Lienz there was no snow in the Drava-Valley at all. In the end we went there quite a few times and even when I was still unable to ski I used a day off in perfect conditions and did a little edit. My Slovenian buddies had a lot of fun on that day. Well it was still fun to track then form the top of the mountain. Check it out above :P

Obertauern - Kite, Paraksiing and Park

Another nice adventure happened while chilling for a weekend with my buddy Michi from BT in Schladming. Tobi from Bunterhund productions called us up and said we should show up at Obertauern. Tobi was doing a shoot for Porsche`s next year campaign for a car *rest is NDAstuff*. We also had free tickets to do some PR stuff for Obertauern so after that Porsche thing in the morning we were free to have some fun. And so we did. The wather was awesome and we did a few lines doing speedriding freesking combo pics.

Supermotivated Tobi also had a few Kites in the Car so we had our first tries on handling a kite. I have to be honest, being a windsurfer/wavesurfer and never having tired riding with a kite before... I was somehat skepitcal. I remembered a bit from our first lession with Tobi at Rogla but it was fun and we even used the killerdrone for airial shots in wind :P.

On day two we concentrated our efforts on the park to get a few good areal shots and sequences for OT to use for PR and they did. :) If you haven't liked there Facebook page yet do it now ;)

Another unexpeced Flachauwinkl/Zauch

This season I unexpectedly spent quite a few days at Zauchensee. I do like the terrain there... but I don`t like the stress. Half of Slovenia is there and the other half is on Mölltal when the conditions are crap at home. Yet somehow it was not like that this year. Like the ISPO zauch day this one was again surprising. I actually had left Maribor, where it was 20 degrees and everything was blossoming...to arrive at Schladming to pick up Michi in heavy snowfall. As we pressed on I had to maneuver around a minefield of stranded German cars and a package delivery vehicle going backwards... to make it to the parking :P Its good that I bought those expensive winter tires hhh :P

Another thing that day and the next one was the snow. Sure it was nice and powdery... super light.. and super unstable... This day was probably the most unstable one I had all season. As you were gliding half of the closer snow mass was gliding with you... supersketcy... on that day also a 60 year old German freerider died in an avalanche... and that had a few problems for us in store for the next day... more on that in the next post.

Last Season - Part 1 of 4

2014-07-22T18:18:00.000+02:00

The connecting Funitur from Sella Nevea heads up toward Lopa and the Slovenian border at Kanin.

Well it has been a while since I had time to write something on the blog and after the awesome summershred weekend at Dachstein but before I leave for a month of Bali surf it`s time to catch up on some of our trips from 2013/14 season. If you have been following my "unofficial" tumblr you know that a lot was going on after the ISPO. For those of you guys who have not been following I decided to do a quick little recap since im already super motivated for the next season.

KILASKUTE NIGHT SESSION

After the ISPO the first thing that went down like it does every year was our local urban backyard session at the KILASKUTE club. Blaž has since been ramping up his activities and also put up a new webpage be sure to check it out. It was also a nice test for the "Keglkillahdrone" for some nighttime gopro footage. Granted.. not studio quality but still fun to fly :P

SKETCHY VOGEL

As you all know powder season was rather hard for us here in the southeast, Tirol was not that much better, and no, I am not talking Italy here. Italy was insane :P. But we also had a few good dumps, of course with obligatory nasty high temperatures. That meant u had to be there when it was dumping and so we did on the only day in Slovenia I had all season with our friends from Vertical Advantures. And boy it was the second most sketchy day of the season. Check the video and you will know why.

Next to everything being unstable we were also soaking wet like stray dogs in a summer rainstorm. But still a fun day.

BELLA ITALIA - Sella Nevea

After that amazing snowfall at Vogel we had to check out the conditions at Sella Nevea/Kanin. As most of you guys know the resort on the Slovenian side went bust last year so the connection ain`t working all to often. Promotour, the company that runs Sella Nevea and a few other resorts in the area like for example Forni di Spora (I dont like then, why check here) were apparently kissing up to TGR for their filming needs. Showing them hospitality that we are not used to... usually the lift people like to get into fights with other freeriders... talk about dubble standards... regardless as always the Sella Nevea terrain was great with the exception of me hitting a tree and being out for two weeks thnx to stretching my acl involuntary. Fortunately it was not a tear so I was back on my feet a few weeks later. More on that in part 2...

Next post drops in a few days so be sure to check back.

ISPO 2014: Icelantic

2014-02-05T19:03:00.002+01:00

All the way from Colorado... Icelantic is known for quality and durability

So the ISPO had begun and we only had a days time to go around, have a look, and even party a little. The previous day had taken it`s toll but we were eager to see the latest and greatest. As you guys know I had the unplanned pleasure of testing a pair of Icelantic Gypsy skis back at the Kauntertal "powder" opening, so I meet up Yves to see what our friends from Colorado had in store for 2014/15.

Anneliese , Icelantics CEO with a pair of brand new RANGERs

And as it turns out quiet a lot. Icelantic is well known for producing a very specialized palette of powder skis. High quality, handmade in Colorado, extreme powder machines. That said you won`t get them for 100 bucks on a season off sale! And that is good. You get what you pay for. Very rugged, extremely fun to ride and the top-sheet designs are so nice that people even order prints of them. I`d get one too if I had a house :P Without getting to technical the sidewalls are made out of P-Tex Material and they are constructed for abuse. So if you hit a rock on the side that won`t mean bye bye...ironically a friend of mine had that problem last week on Vogel...if it would have been one of these babies he would still be riding them.

So whats new shapewise:

The RANGER

Looking sweet.. the new ski for 2014/15

First off it`s the RANGER. This is a completely new model in the lineup. It is aimed at the skier who tours but also charges on the way down. So it`s not intended for the guys who just love to run up the hill and ride down snowplow. A lot lighter then the rest of the lineup thnx to Icelantics Octachroma core and "Bombproof" P-Tex sidewalls. These allow for extreme abuse. Also the graphic is pretty sick too. Also has an early rise tip.

La DA`NOLLIE

A all around park-ski that should
last you well trough a season or two :P

Icelandics park ski got quite the treatment for 2014-15. Now with a rocker-camber profile and broader under foot I would say that it goes more into the direction of the more classical park skis with more in mind that just hitting your first rail. I haven`t tested these yet but I think they would fall somewhere in between what something classic like the Salomon Foil would have been if it had a wood-core and more of the modern camber tech. Comes with the proven "Nollie Flex" core that allows for tons of abuse. Should also prove to be more stable then the too "urbanized" park skis.

SKNY Versions of the skis

Next to the big once the SKNY versions :)

Another new thing that you will see next season is the expansion of the Skny series. For this or last season, depending how you look at it :P, Icelantic tried to bring some of the fun of it`s superpowderskis to the lesser pow days and the riders that are not used to ride skis with big underfoot width. So they set out and created variations of the base 4 models that went up to 99 underfoot. They are intended for the riders that don`t ride uber-pow yet but would see themselves transition, or those who really like good skis that have "bigger" ski characteristics and also ride nice on groomed tracks. Since the series was so successful they decided to expand them to the rest of the main line so you get them for the scout, pilgrim, nomad rkr, keeper and the gypsy.

CLASSICS

Like the space-shuttle you should never change
working systems too much. Icelantic knows this :)

And as for the rest the skis remain what they are my favorites being the Gypsy and the Nomad. The Gypsy being a full reverse camber ski allowing a super-smooth and fun ride even at high speeds.

Talking to Yves, Rico and Annelise it was clear that this brand is definitely here to stay. Icelantic is proud to be able to produce such high quality products at home in Colorado. They know what it means to develop there own know-how and that they simply do it because they love skiing. In a market that is so cut throat and so over-saturated I think that that is the right recipe for success being a core brand and maintaining your uniqueness. Also the uncompromising attitude towards quality and love of detail with this brand are nice. No big business BS here my friends.

The brand itself is managed for Europe form Switzerland so don`t worry if you can`t yet find them in your local Slovenian shop :P Just hit up there webpage and they will help you out.

Next up well head up to Ferrino. Our Italian freinds have a lot of new freeride stuff ready for you to take to the mountain :)

Road to ISPO 2014 - Of Whirlpools and Champagne powder

2014-02-02T17:19:00.000+01:00

Powder Champagne and Whirlpools... I could get used to this XD

Last weekend was that time of the year again. The time we all do our annual pilgrimage to Munich for the ISPO, the biggest outdoor sports fare in the world. This time around I had quite the busy schedule. Thnx to the Olympics, the fair was set up a bit earlier, and even started on a Sunday. Keen to make to most of the weekend, and because of the fucked up weather conditions.. even on Friday noon I still didn't know how it would play out.

When we arrived visibility was zero and Anna and me
where having some technical difficulties with our ABS-es :S

I packed my freeriding stuff and headed out to Schladming to see Michi. Apparently a few of the Blue Tomato staff were eager to go to for a quick one day fix and the weather was looking shitty in Tirol. So I thought.. wtf.. in the worsted case well have some fun at the Tenne with my Schladming friends there chilling. It was late already.. Michi made pizza and we checked the Saturday forecast... it was gonna be cold... but not a lot of base.. and Saturday would be foggy as shit.

Quote the surpirse this Zauchensee day turned out to be !

Anna and Marcus Michi and myself were up for Obertauern .. and so in the morning after checking the foggy webcams.. we set out for ... Zauchensee XD. And boy were we in for a treat. Zauch is usually one of my least favorite destinations.. not because of the snow or the terrain. That is awesome... it`s just that with access to the Autobahn everyone from Ljubljana either heads here or Obertauern for a quick fix. So it`s super crowded and stressy... unless when it isn`t.. and that it was that day... And it was also 30 cm of Champagne, in the steep blown in coluars on the side we even went almost neck deep... the last run when I tested Michis new Surface Japan powdergun (courtesy of Blacksheep sports in Munich) rockied quite a nice smile on my face... Jackpot. It was a good day.

Are we rested or just to hot-tub hungover... Andis face sez it all:
"I hate my life since I left the hot-tub."

Fashion-fails from the bavarian upperclass... next stop Bogner.

Meeting good old friends is fun :)

And it was just starting. We head out to Munich after some home Burgers with Anna. Time for destination Munich. We were going to visit our friends from Bunterhund produciton for a chill evening before the grand event. Tobi was already heating up the Whirlpool. Yes after Champaigne powder we were up for some Hot-Tub Timemachine space dandy style.

The Volcom ramp contest was superfun again !

Lost of new freeride stuff at Ferrinos boots :)

A little memento.. signature singed by Jamie Lynn
thnx to the Lib-Tech booth :)

We arrived.. the beers started flowing and we chilled for hours. The butherhund jungs were busy adding the last touches for there ISPO commercial pitches in preparation for the coming fair days..

The hot tub universe is a dangerous place.. once you get in.. you never
want to leave again... never... never.. ever.. ever...
Photo by Bunterhund.

All the while we were all chilling.. and chilling and chilling in the hot tub... It started snowing.. it was getting white a few centimeters fell in Munich.. it was nice.. we were still in the hot tub... at the end Andi and I were to far gone into the Hot tub universe it was waaaaaaaay passed midnight when we finally got our lazy asses out of the tub and went to sleep for the next ISPO day.

Muster :P

Lets get the party started :)

And then the ISPO day came... again it would be just one day to do it all. Somewhat hungover from overrelaxing all night long... we arrived. As always ISPO was superfun with party and beers everywhere. I was running from meeting to meeting. It all went well. Even got a signature from snowboard legend Jamie Lynn. That will go on my wall today. I`ll go more into the details on the gear I got to check out in the coming posts. Si be ready for:

Damn good DY at the Build2Ride booth

Icelantic
Ferrino
Dynastar/Lange
Pieps

Tobi was also presenting one of the ISPO Brand new award winners that some of you have probably heard off.. the shark mitigation wetsuite.

Tobi presented the new camo tech that he
has been testing for a while now !

I`ll talk more about this in detail on a special post about the ISPO Brand New award. As usual we meet a ton of friends and had a lot of fun. Since it was only for a day we had to leave just when the parties started getting funky... oh well better luck with that next time I guess. Still we managed to get a bit of a preparty wibe at the Volcom ramp and the Bulid2Ride booth. When I came back next day right after work I was so done for that I just sleept for 12 hours straght.

Next up I will be taking a look at Icelantic skis for 2014. They look awesome XD

Lets find the car... Photo by Andi Schiefer

Best way to get around making 20 km on foot every day is
on a longboard ! Michi knows this !!!

Roland Emmerichs Powpocalypse

2014-02-02T11:24:00.003+01:00

Monte Rossa is beyond black !

The situation in the Alps has been extreme for the last few days. As most of you know we have a storm that currently somewhat defies logic. The amounts of snow fallen in Ostirol, where we originally wanted to head out to has reached ridicules levels. Even the Austrians have raised the avalanche level to five. Everything is going down in Italy and the temperatures are far to high.

My freeriding budy Luca Albrisi from
Trento sent me this one on thursday

In Innervielgraten, where we decended to a few weeks back an avalanche had smashed a clearing vehicle on the road in the valley... killing the occupant. Four tourers were swept away by a giant avalanche the same day not to far away... thankfully all of them are alive.

The morning after the storm in Spital an der Drau that was
in the middle of the storm. more then a meter from Rene

We had to cancel all our plans and I am currently in Maribor preparing a few of the ISPO articles that will be dropping over the next two weeks. Its surreal here. It has been raining on what used to be half a meter of fresh... its so soaked that a 4 cm waterice layer is forming on the snow. It looks like a ice pixle-shader form a old DirectX9 computergame. Oh and when I was driving home late yesterday it was -2 .. raining full and freezing at the same time... my car now has an iceshield on it.

So I think its better to stay in, watch your favorite IF3 contenders and dream of pow... because the outlook is looking like crap. But first ISO !!! IF you are one of the very eager once... check out a sneak peak on the tumbler where I did some live coverage :)

Katzoskiing - Forni di Spora by PROMOTUR

2014-01-19T11:12:00.004+01:00

The face of a satisfied customer after 4 hours of driving for nothing. (Hint: Sarcazm)

Well here we have it. The first fail of a powdertrip of the season 2013/14. As the front moved in we were looking for interesting places to explore. I was still at work and got a text from Žiga. Check out "Forni di Spora".

The bottom station fo the resort.

Forni di Spora is a, what looked like nice friendly little resort in the north east of Italy in Furlania. It runs under the mantle of the Promotur company. They are also the once running the Italian side of the Sella-Nevea Kanin resort. There organisational graph seems to indicate private interest. Another thing to note for PROMOTUR, as a regional agency, on the border to two other countries, it would be nice to have a webpage that is in at least one foreign language. Just because you might have tourists looking for information from abroad :P

Regardless of that, and previous experience at Sella Nevea, where during a freeride competition off-day when we were exploring the Italian side of Kanin a friend of mine got attacked by one of the gondola staff because we were "evil freeriders" from the other side, they seem to have liked the attention Canin got back then for the contest. I did not think much of it back then. After all this resort looked nice and small. In hindsight I should have guessed that that is company policy here.

Miha getting ready with becaon and all.
Security is paramount !

The resort itself has 3 chairlifts that go up and a few babylifts at the bottom. The area according to the topography I studied that day indicated a few nice tree runs in the lift area and a good possibility if weather premit to descent to a platou on the east side and then either go into the valley via trees or hike a few runs from there direction Clap Savon. With all the new snow and high tempreatures at around -2 and cloudcover the latter was more of a distant possibility. But the tree runs for fun for a day seemed nice.

So we set out. 3 Cars - 1 from Maribor (almost 4 hours drive) and us from Ljubljana and Žiga with buddies for Begunje. We arrived just in time for the lifts to open. At the bottom the snow was wet. But there was lots of it ... It looked like one of those days where you find the highest treerun lift and keep there to stay safe and score a few faceshots. In regards to the conditions that seemed like a good thing.

What we didn`t plan on was the Italian (but not all of Italy) way of winter truism that we had experienced a few times before. I must sadly say that not all resorts are friendly to freeriders like, as a shining example the excellent passo de san pellegrino. No here it was a bit different.

Haven`t seen these in years :P so cute !

We were 9 people. Next to us on the resort there were a few kids with there local trainer and a few skiers from the Village. We were probably the only income generated there that day. As a resort operator you probably wan`t your customers to be happy and come back again.

Well as said, since the weather was warm at around -2 and we needed to get as high to the end of the treeline as we could our bet was on the last chairlift. Have some fun there all day. But guess what.

Well after this fail two options left. Pizza in Travisio or Coffe in Treiste...

We arrived at the top of the second chair. The third lift looked like it was starting to run. Great we thought. We took another run down to warm up... snow was not ideal but it was fresh and we had a few lines in waiting under the second lift.

Nejces happy powderface after comming down all the way
from Brussles for one weekend of pow...

We arrive up and waited for them to open the third lift. Lift is running.. the piste under the lift is paved and three employees stand there avoiding any gaze to us paying customers. Luckily Nejc is more of a stright up guy and goes to ask the guy whats up with the lift. It`s running, prepared but closed ? Well the answer we got was a nice fuck you in the face. Lets keep it official here and just say they said it was closed due to avalanche danger. Right . The report was saying level 3 for the day above 1800 on all expositions. Since we are in Italy the reports are usually a little on the go to high quickly side if compared to tirol. Also slope inclination on the highest lift never even comes cloes to the 45 % that were an alarming no go for that day...

Legally covered ?

Since there was no arguing here with unhappy staff trying to work and us being nothing more then a problem to deal with in there eyes *guys seriously you are in truism* we descended and asked if we could have some of our cash refunded or at least get a cupon for next time so that we do come again *and they don`t lose customers and money*. Again the answer was that is not our policy. I feel sorry for the lady at the counter that she had to call I don`t know how many people just to give us the @thnx for nothing suckers customer support@ answer.

I know that Italian lift operators have a problem with freeriding as there legal outlay of security in skiresorts is totally inadequate. But if you have all the securty equipment required to go riding off-piste and are seasond they should understand that you do it on your own accord. The service they provide for the money is the lift. Nothing more nothing less. In the only English thing in there brochure they exculpate themselves from all liability except to bring you up the mountain. So why again is the lift closed if the piste is prepare and the lift is running ....

I will actually forwarded this post to Promotur and am eager to see there answer. I will post it here if I get one for all of you to see.

So there you have it. Powhunting doesn't always work out but I sure haven`t finished a pow day at 10 a.m before...

Well it`s gonna continue to snow till Tesday and next Friday there is a dump also for tirol and we are heading to ISPO for the latest and greatest .. so stay tuned :)

Quite the scenic 5 hour drive trough Furlani...

There is lots of powder on the border to Italy :P

2014-01-16T09:36:00.005+01:00

At the top with the Dolomite's and the Italian border just behind the first mountain. Ostirol at least looks like winter has truly arrived.

Some of you have already seen the pictures. #powder - everything else is just noise. And for the first weekend of the new year Yuki Hime had listened. At least in Ostirol. Checking the forcast back in Ljubljana as I had to work for the 2.1 and 3nd thanks to our crap government taking away holidays, my senses told me that would be the place to be!

Breakfast before the bluebird day. We were at the lift at 8.00 !!!

I had the plan in the back of my head for two years now. Checking out some of the resorts around Lienz in Ostirol. Since powder was scarce in Slovenia and what remained was being rained away on Vogel I had the Slovenian troop assembled quickly. Žiga and the two Gašpers would head out with me. On the second day the Innsbruck troop with David, Aljoša and a few locals would join us. Some of us were to arrive from Ljubljana and the others form Innsbruck.

Žiga and Gašper looking at where
they just came down from :P

And boy did we hit the bulzeye. Saturday it was dumping so we left it out and arrived on Sunday morning. It was still dumping on the tons of snow that was there already. In fact there was so much snow that the villages in the Valley were without power for more then a day.

Powder riding in the trees in whiteout snowstorm made sure that the steeps and opens remained untracked for what was to become the best bluebird perfection day of the season yet. Sundays snowfall was so intense that we were white trough and trough. So much snowcaine :P

And then Monday came. A holiday in Austria. Perfect bluebird. The day after the storm. We did everything that day. Cliffdrops, couluars, steeps and for the grand finale we even descended into one of the Inneralpin valleys that have the tons of snow for more then 1200m verticals with almost no lines ridden finally finishing in a village tavern for a nice Frittatensuppe and Gulasch with some beer.

Aljosa, David and the others who were not so superkeen on hiking also found a nice BC kicker in the resort that was just the right thing for some back flip practice and were even able to pick us up so we did not have to ride the bus :P

My favorite line of the day :) Had to leave
the drop on the right to a filmcrew... grrr

Žiga cought me just when I dropped in !
Photo by Žiga Papler

And here the POV just for fun :P

Special thanks also go to our loving Tyrolean host family from our local buddy for there super accommodation ! "Gaud habts :)"

Our locals :) Bruno and his brother :)

As I am writing this back in Maribor the forecast for our part of the alps does not look good for the middle of January. Weird winter we are having. It`s 12 degrees here with green grass. That just does not feel right. I feel better in the whiteouts in tons of snow. Forcast is showing a dump in the southern alps for the coming days... time to go hunting again :)

And this is how we looked like on
the day of the dump before the
bluebird perfection :P
Photo by Žiga Papler

Also with all the recent footage I have from the fun trips of the last two weeks I will be dropping a fun little edit for you guys to enjoy hopefully berfore ISPO :)

No words to describe this... its just perfection and I wanna go back.

Exploring the Arlberg for Silvester with Claudia

2014-01-14T08:59:00.001+01:00

Walking will get you the lines you want at Arlberg :P
Photo by Žiga Papler

After the extensive Obergurgling Aljoša, David and the crew did take the Silvester day off while Magda was preparing the Endstation for the new years party. Žiga and myself on the other hand just couldn`t sit still. We had a nice parkday at Kuhtai with it`s PERFECTLY shaped pipe on the first day after the Obergugls (boy I wish I could ride pipe somewhat well :P), but that just wasn`t enough. So I called up a friend of mine I meet on Bali in September.

Žiga and Claudia waiting for me to finish my "Photo session" on the Nördlicher
Trittkopf before we descended into the shadows of the Oberalp Tal.

Claudia, a teacher and long term Arlberg local originally from Slazburg, had promised me that she would show us her playground in the winter and since there was no fresh in sight I figured why not. It was Silvester day and I did want to spend it on snow. Žiga was up for action as always :) and so we thought we would ride a few hours getting the scenic description of the local powlines and then head back to prepare for new years.

Claudia speeding out of Žigas Coluar :P
Photo by Žiga Papler

But as it turned out, even thou Claudia had the same thought, we were all so motivated that it turned into another full day of hunting for pow that we thought was gone for sure. Started at 9 and finished at 17.30 with our last ascent to the Rüfikopf and back to the connection lift trough the Oberalp Tal next to the legendary Valluga in the sunset.

Quite the view - Photo by Žiga Papler

The terrain here is truly insane. If you know your way around all the German daddys with there brand new ABS bags and lacking riding skills, there is a lot of untracked to be found. Sure the standard lines are ridden to death before midday but if you are willing to hike a bit, you are gonna have an awesome time.

One lone RedBull in
front of the Roggspitze

After riding for a week without a brake for our last ascent I was so done for that It was like walking in a space suite. It reminded me of a experience I had on the Eiger where we went up with the train and I was able to go outside the Station Installation into a snowstorm at almost 4000 m. One move after another. Nice and slow. I really have to admit that I did have to drink a RedBull to get the sugar for my concentration. But after two turns in fresh untracked pow I was back as new on the way down.

Žiga also found a nice untracked culuar under the Flexenspitze. That one sure was fun. Thou the snow situation was bad on the first look it was really a lot better then we expected. Especially in the Oberalp Tal proving that if you look hard enough you will find. Also Claudia proved to be really a hardcore powder hunter and a super guide so we will definitely meet up again and do more powpow togehter :P the area there is huge and there are tons of lines just waiting to be ridden :)

Our well earned turns. Not bad for a day of mere scouting :) Photo by Žiga Papler

Also Claudia complemented us saying that this was the first time riding with two dudes who don`t need a food brake every two hours. A bit of Milka on the lift is enough, the adrenalin does the rest hhh.

Claudia our local powhuntress :)
Photo by Žiga Papler

After that without a second of a brake we headed out for Silvseter. For us it was a working one, but one that really payed off. Working for Silvester with once friends was an awesome experience and the shitload of cash we got covered the whole tripcosts :P I might do that again :)

PS: Oh and on the next day after 4 hours of sleep I still managed to do a few runs on Lizum before heading back to Ljubljana with a Pitstop in Spital for some architectural photography.. because as you know for the 1.1. of a year one needs to ride on snow to appease yuki hime :)

Obergurgling

2014-01-12T13:18:00.000+01:00

Obergurgl and Hochgurgl are definetly one of my favourite places on earth.

It has been two weeks since we went to the Naighbourhood snowpark with the GrabIt dudes but rest assured with the new year approaching and eager to put a few days on my Tirol Snowcard after a short pit stop at home in Maribor I was back in Innsbruck to spend some time hunting for powder with the Innsbruck crew.

There was only one little problem. The weather. The powdergods had heard the prayers of the south and The Piemonnte and Aosta Valley as well as parts of Switzerland and France were getting hammered. In Tirol on the other hand, the situation was dire. There hadn`t been a proper dump since our surprise powder opening at Kaunertal in October.

We took the direct path XD

Looking at the projection thou my powder sense was tingling. And like two years ago my bet was on the West southern side of the main Alpine range in Austria. Three destinations were in the game. Sölden, the Gurgls and of course Kaunertal.

Aljoša making one of the first powderturns in the 50 cm of fresh
we were blessed with :)

What can I say I am lazy but in the end I did have to take
of the backpack to get trough :P

David speeding of the Wurmferner above Hochgurgl
Photo by Žiga Papler

Then a nice little storm hit the north just in time before the new years week as projected and my powdersense seemed to be right. One thing thou still remained... I couldn`t decide where we should go in detail.. Sölden or Obergurgl. Ajloša was already joking about my last minute decisions but watching the Dopplmayr S3s terrain under the cable car in Sölden it was clear to me. It was Gurgl time again.

Hiking a bit pays of bigtime :P David straping himself in while
Aljoša curses that he needs to walk.. classic :P Magda
and Žiga on the other hand ready to go XD

And boy am I happy I made the call. Beeing called the Gurgl test Ober- and Hochgurgl are known for there sharky terrain. Even with a lot of snow the Gurgls are usually exposed to a lot of winds that transport lots of snow into the valley compressing the tree runs in deep and leaving the marvelous tops exposed with tons of sharks hiding beneath the surface. Sure it`s not avalanche sharks the movie but it does come close. So in that sense the Gurgls are always a gamble.

Another thing that had us on the conservative side *not only because Aljoša managed to destroy his board on his first line on day 2 on a invisible deadly subsurface shark on our second day* was the avalanche danger. The unstable situations in the Tirolean alps made my alarm clocks go up. Three plus to four, unstable snow pack, temperature fluctuations... looking into the direction of Schalfkogel the whole mountains S side had come down.

Me speeding somewhere at Hochgurgl
Photo by Žiga Papler

Photo by Žiga Papler

These two are from somewhere in the Königstal :P
such a surene place. No humans except us... peace
Photo by Žiga Papler

So for the first day we stuck to the regular fun in the Trees and a few of the standard lines we were familiar with from visits past.

Spotting some lines with my new Leki poles :)

On the second day thou the connection lift to Hochgurgl was working again and we could find tons of fresh in the Königstal that was finally somewhat safe to ride. We even got some reinforcements with Janik, Max etc. joining in. Hell on that day we were coordinating around 15 people or more all across the Gurgls XD.

Žiga on the west side of the Königstal just before we descend into
the tree time madness for our last run of the day :)

The trees that followed into the main valley were just insane fun:) Still even after two Gurgling days a lot of terrains remains to be covered and with the advent of freeriding as a "fun activity" we are going to have to start doing ascents on foot to get the feeling of riding completely untracked terrain. Well at least the Königstal remains mostly unclaimed thanks to the unstable steep entry from the Hochgurgl side. Question is just for how long.

Guess who made most of these lines on that day XD

A visit to the Neighborhood

2013-12-20T18:44:00.001+01:00

Jernej and Luka going oldschool XD

As the powder abstinence continues to ponder our side of the alps and I`m getting hungrier for powder more and more, I continue to visit parks I haven`t been to across the alps just to ride some snow. As you know we were at the RUSK snowpark the weekend before, and since that turned out to be so much fun I joined again with the grabit guys to go to Weinebene this time around.

The locals were chilling and we had a blast with our new equipment XD !

Weinebene is a small ski resort on the styria-carintian border at the north side of the Koralpen. It has a few nice lifts and, to my surprise, a awesome snowpark. The Neighborhood Snowpark. Like last week we had a lot of fun and Denis cut it all together.

As I am forced to work on my park skills again after neglecting them for so long I`m finding fun in riding rails and boxes again for some unexplained reason. Sure it`s not steep skiing of the west face of the Klein-Matterhorn but still with the right crew it`s super fun. I`m also beeing creative by doing sideflips off cboxes in an unprecedictable direction XD. Trick invention is a painful task... /sarcazm :P

The guys from the park did a really cool job and since the weather was so nice I was able to fly more quadrocopter this time with more footage that can bee demmed somewhat usefull for an edit :P Check the outakes here :

Another thing that was a super nice surprise for a change was some support. Thnx to the resort we were able to save some cash on tickets and we even got to test a few supercool LEKI Elements poles provided by the Slovenian matias2sport shop from my hometown in Maribor. It`s the place that I used to get replacement dyna-stoppers and bindings from :).

You could see all the way to our home resort Pohorje form the park.

So it was fun again but the recent forcast lets me have more powder dump doubt. Am I really going to just have to throw all my stuff into the car and head to the italian Piemonte for some powder lines. The snowbase around Innsbruck is utter crap and even if a meter were to fall it would still be just marginally useful... powder where arth thau... guess It`s gonna be more park riding for now !

Oh and did I mention it was almost full moon :)

Rusk Snowpark at Altes Almhaus

2013-12-10T09:18:00.005+01:00

At the top. Surprisingly.

Well I will keep it short and let the video tell you more. We planned to go to Zauchensee since it looked like a proper dump was coming in on Friday. Unfortunately the wind and less snow turned that plan to shreds, so we ended up at a little park I didn`t even know existed in Styria an hour away from my home town of Maribor with our grab-it and kilaskute friends.

Altes Almhaus is the name of the place and it has 3 lifts good tracks and a wicked supersmooth funpark run by the dudes at RuskSnow :). The people are supernice and the objects in the park are fun and not sketchy at all. I admit when we were driving up I had my doubts about the amount of snow but when we came to the parking we were pleasantly surprised. Check the pic and the clip.

Super awesome fun day in a rally cool little park and I even got to properly test my quadrokopter :) Also thnx RedBull for the extra flying power XD

From the top you can see a perfect sunset and another skiresort :P

A tale of snow and wind

2013-12-07T13:15:00.003+01:00

Sights like this one make all the noise disapear :)

Well first off the 100.000 GIVEAWAY found quite a few right answers. All of you who found the scho-ziemlich.oarg sticker on my quadrocopter box were entered int the prize draw. Then a random selector script on the Internet selected the winner. That was Alen Borak from Maribor. So congrats dude :) You were lucky and you will be getting the stuff next time im in Maribor :)

Last Wednesday, after checking the local reports, and knowing that not much would be going on around here in Slovenia, I quickly packed my stuff, picked up my local riding buddy and the winter Innsbruck migrant Aljoša, with a ton of his stuff and took off back to Tirol. I had already decided, that I'm going to change my original winter plan so it was time once again to get the TIROL SNOWCARD. It wasn't a tough decision, taking into account, that almost all ski resorts in Tirol are included in the card. 86. That`s quite a number. For 700 bucks. Now if you are a student it gets cheaper. Well, I was able to get the daily ticket price down to 13 bucks last year, so it was a no-brainer.

The ticket to bliss and it was nice to ride with my tirol crew again.

So Friday came, the weather was super sunny, very cold, and windblown. We headed out to Sölden, to have some fun. Sure it wasn't powder day, but it was super fun to hang around with my good buddies and just enjoyed skiing. When we arrived at the glacier, we saw a giant kicker being constructed. First we thought, that they might be moving the Park, to the Glacier, but we were mistaking.

Aljoša likes to ride in the back so he can hide from the cops
when I get pulled over...

As it turned out a few days later, the whole thing was a setup for an ad, that Samsung would be shooting at multiple locations in the Alps. Aerials were being shot by Slovenian Kopterworx in Innsbruck, and additional footage in the morning we hours at Molltal in Carintiha. Samsung is the official technical sponsor for the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, but apparently since there is no snow there yet the ads that will be used are being shot right here in our beautiful Alps.

Lizum twilight

Well, then Saturday came with a bit of a crappy forecast, which turned out to be quite the best of the three days. David and I met up with a few other buddies at Lizum resort. They had there opening day, and it was a lot less crowded than I had originally anticipated. It is the local go to for a quick powder run and while being in the cloud in the morning, clearing up in the afternoon we could find a few lines. Nothing special, but still fun. And the Misty Mountains with the rainbows, and the glow looked truly unreal.

So while being pumped from that, I had another little toy and a big plan for Sunday. A while back I bought a little Quadrocopter, capable of carrying a go pro. Just the thing for a few aerial filler shots and maybe a follow cam or two.

I give you the magnificent Stubai parking lot with no winds.

Draging this all the way up to the ridge.
Then to much wind :(

Sunday, was picking up to be a nice sunny day with little wind. We decided, in light of my planned test, that we would go to Stubai. I wanted to get some filler footage of a few mountain ridges that I had been on the previous season. So I dragged all the equipment up to the top of the mountain just to find out that unlike the projection, it was super windy. A little demotivated, in the end I had to be satisfied, by filming the dumb parking lot at the bottom of the valley. It was fun though terrorising bystanders with my little UFO. And I must say that as far as architectural photography goes, it's a perfect shot of a parking lot. So the wind screwed up my test, and the snowfall was not all that it was cracked up to be, but still being in the middle of the Alps in perfect sunshine makes one feel blessed and happy to have gone all the way to Tyrol again.

Clari was already in winter spirits so she got a Christmas tree early.

You might be asking yourselves, why the game of thrones reference in the title. While basically because it comes down to snow and wind and inspiration from the recent southpark episodes XD. As the openings are behind us mostly, winter it hit the Alps with are very persistent snow cover. The temperatures, thanks to a few "retur the est" and cold air coming from the North, are staying low and the snow is staying good. But, as that perfect that that might sound, it's not quite so rosy. You see, with the low temperatures, the Sun, and very stable, I'd almost say constant snowfall on most of the Alps, the snow cover has turned to windblown hardpack with dangerous slab areas of lots of fluffy stuff. It might be perfect weather, for doing your laps in the parks and skiing the pists, as well as light touring,but the number of powder days with face shots is still limited. It's true that we might be expecting too much at this point, as we should not forget that December has barely started. But first off for the next 10 days well see more sun and less snow... cross ur fingers and write santa about the christmas dump we need. Most Midtree resorts need at least another 50 cm to be ok to ride.

Just the stuff for keeping the stoke up before bed ;)

CELEBRATING 100.000 GIVEAWAY :)

2013-11-25T21:26:00.000+01:00

100.000 thnx for reading :) And for the winner the backpack with a few goodies :)

Yes it is hard to believe. I started this project not long ago. It was January 2012. The idea was just to keep a little chronicle about powder adventures with my friends and share my views on gear I get my hands on *read mostly buy myself XD*. A lot has happened since then and I would have never ever even dreamed that the page would be seen 100.000 times. Sure it is just a murky blogger statistic but still.... it feels kinda nice :)

Since I feel a little bit like celebrating I will have the FIRST EVER WANDERING OFF AWAY FROM THE PACK GIVEAWAY.Since my main sponsor is my bank account don`t expect Oakley goggles or a pallet of Monsters or Red Bulls. But still contrary to custom I will have a prizedraw :)

The prize shall be a little backpack from the cablecar producer Dopplmayr with a Lineyard and a little pack of ski, snowboard and surf stickers.

To be eligible I will give you a little riddle. As you know I also have a unofficial blog part page with stuff that happens behind the scenes and a new facebook fanpage. Now to participate You will need to solve a little riddle connected to one of the more recent pictures on the first and then like the facebook page if you have not already, since that number needs improvement. So here is the riddle:

"A case there is shiny and new, for a flying thingy with a sticker in 80s form to chew. The answer is hidden in the text below. Either way the sticker itself will shout it in it`s neon glow."

So riddle away and send the answer to corben9@gmail.com. I will do a random draw of the winners by the end of the week and send you the backpack by post or if you live somewhere close deliver it in person :)

Next big thing when it reaches a million :P cheers :)

The perfect D-Stone day

2013-11-20T21:45:00.000+01:00

Chilling by the sunset.. perfection.

The weather gods had granted us some twists and so snow was still missing in Slovenia in useful quantities. Debating what to do we decided on a last minute skirmish to get our snow fix. Jernej my buddy from my home hometown Maribor then came up with the idea to head back to Dachstein. Beeing snow obsessed as I an, I couldn`t let the weekend of bluebird pass in Austria while it was sure to poor rain at home. I sat in my car in Ljubljana and dozed off direction Maribor. A few sleepy hours later with Jernej and our two Grab-It buddies Alen and Denis we were already heading to the Dachstein. Park riding it would be.

His name is Snickers.

And that it was... the perfect day *if you ignore the fact that it was freaking packed to capacity*. Everyone was there... Slovenians, Austrians the Maribor people, the yugos, Marinja, TK, Grilo filming more Grilosodes, Pahntoms were quadcoptering eventhou I left mine at home XD... The kickers were great fun, even thou my bindings were not cooperating with my landing for a few runs, and we sure could use more speed. But it did eventually, work so after the park closed we were superstoked to go and...

feed the birds. Yes. You see there is a native species on the Dachstein. The madarei it is called, according to allmighty google. It has gotten very used to humans. As a matter of fact, the things have gotten rather fat and large in recent years, thnx to us freestylers giving them....

snickers. And after chilling out at on of the outlook ramps on a bench, we decided to name this movie star that u see in closeup video Snickers. Denis became quite the birdman controlling 5 of these critters at a time. They did manage to steal an ginormous amount of snickers thou. A costly game being birdman.

High above the clouds.. the day was almost to kitch..

After getting some tan and waiting for the new gondola cabin *which is hideous if u ask me - no pun intended* we stopped for a beer at michis in Schladming... long story short .. friends from germany, norwegan or swedish birthday, praktikantenhaus, hohe tenne... it ended like my last visit... well not quite playing SSX with Sina and making toast at 5 am, but kinda like that... we still played some pong and Jan filmed it... again XD :P ah funtimes... and more material for the inevitable Schladming party edit XD.

Braketime.

So the next morning of our unintended stay Jernej enthusiastically dragged us up to the maountain agian at 8 am.. and at the parking lot we found an awfully nice bench and couldn`t move any further. When a few of our friends from home came up I remember Pucko asking "Why we look so beat up?" the answer was simple... another weekend at Dstone.

Wallpaper.

O'Neill Pleasure Jam 2013 - Results

2013-11-14T21:26:00.000+01:00

The sun sets after a great fast-forward contest.

Well O`Neill Pleasure Jam came and went. What was to be a last minute event coverage thing for me unfortunately, I missed. Since the weather was turning into crap *read snow and rain* the event gut fast tracked to Friday... Yes the Friday that I wanted to arrive. So I missed it. Because the weather situation was looking to bad to fly my killer drone for a few aerial shots we decided that it just woudn`t be... so after seeing a post of a ton of beers from my dachi modri paradajz locals... I sat into my car and drove... back home to Maribor. Sometimes it just don`t happen.

I did almost killerdrone a friend of mine in a sci-fi made of boredom viral the next day :P check it out at the bottom of the page :P

But next to my aerial mastery of the more destructive kind there was a ton of awesome areal destruction going on on Friday at Dachstein. I am told of an epic showdown. With no wind in the Semifinals and an epic run of the Swiss Markus Mathias.

Tim Kevin smiling after his 4th place.. or was it before :P

As for the finals our Slovenian bread to ride machine Tim Kevin Ravnjak killed it into 4th place.. not bad for someone who turned 17 a day before the event :P. I asked him what he felt after his run and he surprised me by saying:

"I didn`t even know I was 4th till I got down in the valley, so I pretty much missed the prize giving, which is a bummer. But when I found out the result I was very happy and surprised." - Tim Kevin Ravnjak

As for the podium that went to the north.. aye winter is surely coming and the people of the north are already swinging with Sven Thorgren. David Hablützel from Switzerland was second and Brage Richenberg was third.

The girls also ripped super hard with gold going to Switzerlands Isabel Derungs who ended Aimee Fullers two year reign. Amiee slipped to third place. Second came local Anna Gasser with a ton of backsides.

Isabel Derungs wins 1st place.

The party seems to have been epic as usual judging from the stuff that showed up on Facebook the next day and on Saturday I was actually kinda pissed at myself that my last minute planing didn`t work out. Guess you can`t have it all... but surely again next year !!!

Oh and here my drone attack just for fun XD