Sunshine, snowboard prominence and great conditions made the end of season in Gastein a great success.

The sun, the smell of barbecue and of course the Finnish snowboard pro Joni Malmi allured numerous visitors to the snowpark Gastein. Following the motto “Step by and have fun” snowboarders strolled around the park all day and while QParks photographer Roland Haschka and cameraman Sean Balmer were in search of brave riders and awesome tricks, the folks in the chill area strengthened themselves with delicious sausages and fresh beer. Special guest Joni especially impressed at the Goodies-for-Trix session, where he and the rest of the contenders presented their skills on picknick tables, curved boxes and kickers.

The successful season was celebrated in appropriate style with a huge after party at the Haeggbloms Bar, where we met the infamous Finn Joni Malmi for a drink and a chat.

Is this your first time in the Gastein valley?
My first trip ever to the Alps was to Gastein. I went there with my mother when I was 6 and learned skiing here. This was in 1985. And I still know how to ski, I just went skiing last week.
Why did you decide to come back?
I came especially for this event as some Swedish guys from the First Decent store invited me. I thought it may be a good opportunity to promote my own clothing company Makia. It was founded 4 years ago with some friends. By now they are already doing other things and I kept going with it. Some things changed a lot since the last time I was here. But when I was walking through the city yesterday, I even had some flashbacks.

So how do you like the new park set-up?
I really like the set up, It’s fun to ride. There’s some cool jib stuff and special features, the pyramide box is great. I did some ollies over it. Unfortunately all my luggage got lost on the flight, so I don’t have my own board and it’s so not the same to ride with a borrowed board!

How did you like the barbecue sausages we’ve prepared?
I liked the sausages, combined with the Heineken it was maybe the highlight of the event…haha…
What’s the special thing about snowboarding for you?
For me it’s the combination of sports and freedom. You just get a good feeling flying down the mountain. I’ve been doing it for 21 years now.

What else did you do this season?
I worked on the movie Euro Gap 3. It’s a remake as in the late 90’s Paavo Tikkanen and me have done Euro Gap 1 & 2. The movie will be released in fall 2010 for free on the world wide web.

What are you further plans?
First I’m going back home and then head over to Sweden for some good powder runs.

And your last words…

Thanks for building up this nice snowpark! I appreciate it and also that people have come up here to the event! Maybe I’ll come back here next year and it’s even better then. And for now I’m looking forward to the After Party at Haeggbloms…

Thx Joni!

snowpark-gastein.com

Where: Gastein, Austria

Only a couple of weeks ago we ripped the mountains of Italy’s Piemont with the legendary Joni Malmi. He was down there shooting for the upcoming Euro Gap movie. Since he is such a laid-back dude and awesome rider we can highly recommend this experience to anyone. Of course we are well aware that things like that are usually not within the reach of the average shredhead. But sometimes they are: On 4 April 2010 Joni will attend the End of Season even in Gastein (Austria)! It’s very likely that this is the reason the whole event will be themed “Follow Joni!”.

The third “End of Season” (EOS) celebrates the advent of spring as well as Joni’s visit. Malmi is a snowboard OG and was a founding member of the Forum 8, and has since moved on to create his own fashion label Makia Clothing. This very guy will go ride the park with you. A Goodies-for-Trix-Session gives you the opportunity to score some decent prizes, too. BBQ, film- and photo shoot “and loads of freestyle mood” (whatever that means) await you as well!

Simon Masoner. Photo: Roland Haschka.