Edit by Dutch video wizard Tim Schiphorst.

All photos: Till Reinken

From 26 July to 1 August 2010 the annual Summer Feast went down in Bispingen’s Snow Dome up in Northern Germany. And if I may say so according to the pictures the event kicked ass big time.

70 keen riders from Germany, Denmark, Poland and Austria had shown up for a week of beats, parties, and of course park riding at its best. The shapers around locals Till Reinken, Jonel Fricke and Benny Urban made sure the park was in mint condition throughout the entire week. The event was packed with numerous events like freestyle sessions, an outdoor jib park, highest ollie contests (Kane Holz’ 1.45 meter jump being the highest), barbecues, beergarden action, skate sessions, Nitro and Vee-Doo board tests, and too many more to list them all.

SO much fun.

Contest highlights included the Red Bull Waterslide Contest with a subsequent party that lasted until late in the night, the Drinx 4 Trix Rail Jam, and of course the big Summer Feast Finals on the weekend:

About 50 riders competed for gold in the categories Snowboard Men (16+), Snowboard Youth (until 15 years), Snowboard Girls and some other weird disciplines involving long white tees and poles to hold on to. The judges definitely had a hard task, because the riding level was off the hook, especially – as one would think – on the rails and boxes. After a 90 minute jam session the judges selected the riders that advanced to the finals.

In the finals the best „Kicker Run“ and the best „Jib Run“ out of three runs counted. In the category Snowboard Youth the two shred pals Jan Mauritz and Tjark Fritsch scored first and second place, with Benedikt Wagnitz coming in a close third. In the Snowboard Men category it was a close call. Simon Houlind from Denmark finally won the competition with stylish fs boardslides tailbonk out and technical fs bluntslides 270 out.

Getting ready for whatever.

In the evening the winners and runners-up were awarded with Pro Shape Boards from Santa Cruz and other nifty caboodle, for example day tickets for the new AREA 47 in the Ötztal valley, new back protectors from Booster and tickets for Sölden. In best Bispingen fashion the final party at the Dorfwirt lasted until the wee hours of the morning and continued on the camp site where all campers celebrated until sunrise.

To quote from the extensive press release: “What a week! Every day was a highlight itself. The setup was great and thanks to the shape crew always in top condition. So big thanks to the organizers, the shapecrew and the sponsors who made this gathering possible! But no worries the next event is soon to come! On the 25./26.09.2010 ist party time again when the legendary Fall Weekend will be held in the SNOW DOME Bispingen for the second time. See you there!”

Sunset shredding - so sick!

Results

Snowboard Youth

1. Jan Mauritz
2. Tjark Fritsch
3. Benedikt Wagnitz

Snowboard Girls

1. Sonkey Mamani Bath
2. Pia Gärtner
3. Laura Kunz

Snowboard Men

1. Simon Houlind
2. Marlon Boeger
3. Henry Wehr

Where: Neuss/Germany

With all the talk about the “Snowboard Olympics” (see last week’s post) it almost seemed the TTR was giving up its core skills of supporting regional and grass-roots events. Whoever thought so will be relieved to hear that our favourite association will continue to push events where you might actually stand a chance in entering. This German fridge comp is a good example:

In case anyone would ponder on stealing this shot: (c) Allrounder.de

Even far away from glaciers and Alpine summer camps the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour will continue. From 19 to 21 June 2010 the ONE BIG PARKZEIT goes down in the JEVER SKIHALLE, the indoor slope in Neuss/Germany. It is a new 3Star event on the tour and is suppose to bridge the dull period for riders waiting for the next winter to come.

The 3star slopestyle contest apparently already sees its sixth edition. So far it has always attracted a bunch of motivated local riders and we don’t know why this year should be any different. The project is organised in collaboration with ONE BIG PARK from Salzburgerland/Austria as well as many sponsors.

Speaking of which, apart from 400 Swatch TTR points riders can score many prizes from Rome SDS, Brunotti, Nitro, Vans, Zimtstern, Deeluxe, and Atomic as well as a trip to the Salzburgerland, including the ONE BIG PARK programme, whatever that means. There’s actually some weird skiing stuff going down during the weekend. Snowboarders should concentrate on Saturday, 19 June, if they want to avoid getting surrounded by people swinging metal sticks. Recent international news showed us how this might end…

Unidentified snowboard pros will judge the rookies’ action and join the action for a park session later on. Apart from the mandatory board test area you can watch the graffiti artists from the ONE BIG PARKZEIT 2009. And the “Chill&Grill” after the contest makes for some DJ beats and more jibbing action.

Go to www.allrounder.de to register for the ONE BIG PARKZEIT. Please remember to bring a helmet as you’ll have to wear it in the park at all times.

All photos: Till Reinken, including this banger over a tractor wheel!

Just the other day I was asked where to shred a decent in the hottest summer months, like July and August. Sure, there is Zermatt and Saas-Fee, and maybe the Hintertux glacier as well, but that is not that many options considering we are talking an entire continent here. Living close to some big ass mountains makes us sometimes a little neglectful regarding our lively fridge scene. Before I digress any further here’s a slightly condensed version of the press release from the Spring Weekend at Bispingen’s Snow Dome fridge. This is proof that they are laying it down hard up there…

Last weekend the time had finally come: After a ten-days-reshape of the Snowpark Bispingen (a QParks piece of work, by the way), the first freestyle event of the summer season was celebrated in a fresh atmosphere from 7th to 9th May 2010 in the SNOW DOME Bispingen. Besides a thrilling snowboard contest and the pro coaching also the afterparty at the Dorfwirt created a lot of fun and good vibes among the 100something visitors!

The reopening of the indoor snowpark at Bispingen was commemorated by a relaxed park session with some good shred and relaxing in the chill area. A lot of people suffering from snow withdrawal already showed up at the reopening day of the SNOW DOME. The new park and its setup exceeded everyone’s expectations.

It's 500 miles to the mountains, we got a full building of snow, a decent snowpark, it's dark, and we're psyched.

The good atmosphere of the opening day was even surpassed, when on Saturday the Spring Weekend kicked off Local MC Jonel Fricke MCed the shit out of it, NITRO and BURTON brought more than 100 boards from next year’s board line. At 2pm, the pro coaching started with the Nitro team rider Benni Urban, who revealed some of his tricks. Afterwards, the FREERIDER Jam Session went into its first round, where riders could qualify for the next day’s final. However, the highlight of the event was definitely the Rail Jam going down at 7pm, where all snowboarders presented their best skills in short runs. Jonel Fricke cheered up the riders and motivated the participants to show their most spectacular tricks. Each trick was conveniently awareded with drinking coins for the subsequent riders party. Speaking of which, it was there that the great successes of the event were celebrated to sounds ranging from hip-hop to electro. In short, the party crowd totally freaked out and the Dorfwirt bounced until the early morning hours!

The next morning started smoothly into the second contest day. The riders’ brunch recharged some of the participants’ batteries, something that came in handy for the following goodies-for-trix-session and the contest final. At the goodies session, all participants sweeped up the board with awesome prizes, you know that kind of stuff, caps, tees and whatnot. Anyhow, the audience was then quite keen on the final. The high level was impressing, even though last year’s winners had turned to be the judges for whatever reason. To put it in a nutshell, Marc Stamer from Hamburg became the new Snowboard Champion of the Spring Weekend 2010. Congrats on his performance!

More information under snowpark- bispingen.de!

Woop! Woop!

RESULTS SPRING WEEKEND

Snowboard Women
1. Pia Gärtner
2. Johanna Blum
3. Andrea Lettau

Snowboard Teens
1. Henry Wehr
2. Jan Mauritz
3. Tjark Fritsch

Snowboard Men
1. Marc Stamer
2. Christoph Hick
3. Jan Schmitz