Smith Team week in Schnastal
Nice 720 by Andre Kuhlmann
Here’s a little diary:
Monday, 06.07.2009Slowly but continuous everyone arrived in our venue in the Schnalstal. Because of the G8 meeting, the journey was more stressful and had taken longer than everyone had thought. Thanks to border control for checking nearly every single bag…!
With me are Simon Gruber, Fabian Fasnacht, Clemens Jezler, Andre Kuhlmann, Gian Simmen, Stefano Munari and filmer Nicklas Löffler with his assistant as well as photographer Fizza. After such a day we abviously had to have some beers together before going to bed and praying for good conditions for the following day.
Gian Simmen killing the hip
Unfortunately our prayers were not heard, it rained in the valley and on huge snowstorm raged on top of the mountain! No sight at all…
But super motivated Simon Gruber and Andre Kuhlmann, accompanied by a fearless camera man, fought the conditions and made their way up to the top anyway. Though in fact no one really knows what they were doing up there, maybe they just had some boys pleasure in the snowstorm…
In the meantime the rest of the crew prepared for the first lifestyle collection shooting. The game was cloth on – cloth off and continued until lunch, which brought some serious fun for everyone!
Luckily it stopped raining after that, so we could hit the streets with some serious S.K.A.T.E action!
In the evening we had an amusing little hunt for free wireless spots in the hotel to at least check some e-mails. For some it worked out, for some it didn’t – right Mr. Simmen?!
Fabian Fasnacht spinning till the end – or till it’s a 10er
Again we woke to a cloudy sky before we made a run for the gondola.
But on the top it was freezing and the set up looked absolutely perfect, the shapers had done a pretty good! After warming up with some speed checks in windy conditions on the big kicker we were ready for killin’ it. Being back on the mountain just feels sooo great!
But the weather still wasn’t on our side and we had to take the chance for a shot at every minute of sun peeking out behind the clouds. Fabian Fasnacht was spinning FS 10s and working on perfect landings while the rest of the team had some fun with SW 7s, 9s and other spins in every direction.
The successful session ended around 1 pm and everybody got off the mountain really stoked befor it was time for lunch and another lifestyle shooting in the valley.
At 5pm, the park crew invited us to some fishing action and a great BBQ. Many thanks for that folks, it was awesome!
Catching trouts and grilling them was a great experience for all of us, but it was Mr Jetzler who made the catch of the day!
Clemens – obviously very proud of having made the biggest catch
No surprise, the weather conditions still hadn’t changed! But we were up for catching the early bird on the mountain anyway.
The night had been pretty clear so the whole park was icy – no more stories about summer snowboarding and slush please… We should better have brought some ice skating equipment with us!
With even less sun than the day before it took a while until the park got softer and we could start riding. But the Ftech Park crew sized up the big kicker once more and we were now facing a massive 24m table with take offs in 3.5 to 4m. That was what the team had wanted! Unfortunately the wind didn’t stop and it was a question of pure luck (at least almost) to find the right speed.
Gian and Simon nearly rocketed over that monster but somehow still they still managed to stick their tricks anyway. Big up on that guys!
Tired but happy we went back down to valley with the last gondola at 4.30 pm, where some of the riders already had to say their goodbyes.
Stefano Mauri – 360
On the last day conditions finally got really great. We packed the cars for the trip back home in the morning and prepared for great final day on the mountain and the final shooting.
When we entered the park, everyone was sure that this was going to be the best day of the week. The set up looked perfect, the in-runs were packed, the landings looked really smooth and finally we were spared of the hauling winds. The cameramen and photographer got in position on the crane immediatetly. And the team was on fire, spinning 5s, 7s, 9s and even 1080ies in front of a bluebird sky and the day was a huge success. Simon Gruber earned the most respect for nice double tail bs 720ies! Only Clemens, who had shown some great riding, had some bad luck and snipped his lip with the last FS10 and had to leave the park earlier than the rest of the crew.
After leaving the big kicker we decided to re-shape the hip to start session that baby again. But riding in the blazing sun the whole day slowly got at us and so at 3pm it was time to leave the park. To add some more bad luck, I nearly cut my fingers on the skidoo when I took it back to the gondola but fortunately I was still able to write this last day down as well.
Going down back to the valley everyone felt really satisfied with what we had achieved in that week.
Back in the parking lot we switched our outerwear to boardshorts and it was clear that the trip had come to an end here. After everyone had to split up in different directions I was feeling both happy and sad. Sad that the trip was over so quickly, but happy that we had so much fun, no one got seriously injuried and that I met a bunch of really nice people!
Thanks to the Fteck crew for the great support – without you guys this wouldn’t have been possible! We really had a great time…
See you soon at the Ftech Park!
