Check out what happened when a bunch of groms got to ride with one of the world’s most promising supergroms on Ktzsteinhorn

Usually, the ‘chance’ to ride with a 13-year-old grom might have you rolling your eyes as you contemplate a day of babysitting, however in the case of doublecorking Norwegian phenomenon Marcus Kleveland it’s an opportunity to learn from a kid who’s been alive for less time than you’ve been snowboarding and is already better than you could ever dream of being.

Actually, though, this Ride with Kleveland day put on by Nitro and Kitzsteinhorn was a chance for other talented groms to rip the park with MK, get some pointers and show off their own emerging talents. Cue a day of park laps, pow slashes and sessioning a host of single hits.

Download yourself this sweet black & white of Markus Keller owning the Kitzsteinhorn pipe, set it as your desktop wallpaper and your Friday will be a little better. Scroll down for the links…

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The Austrian resort’s epic superpipe will be open for business of usual from December 15, so they’ve dropped the pipe edit from Nitro’s Hyped! to show how awesome it is. With Markus Keller and Jan Scherrer sending it, awesome it indeed is. Here are the deets…

Kitzsteinhorn superpipe opens December 15, 2012!

Early gift-giving at Kitzsteinhorn: the super-pipe season at Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn will kick off right before Christmas! The Kitzsteinhorn snowpark crew is working flat out to complete Austria’s largest pipe monster as soon as possible. Pipe master Alli Zehetner is responsible for the erection of the superpipe, which requires more than 25,000 m³ of snow. The 160-metre long half-pipe with its 6.30-metre high walls will be open daily between 9 am and 3 pm from December 15, 2012. The Easy Park will open on the same day.

Peter König. Backside Rodeo. Kitzsteinhorn. Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi.

Give your desktop a new coat of pixels this Friday. Download this free WALLPAPER  of Peter König sending a backside rodeo to the moon. Links below…

Bizarrely, this shot was the first that PK ever had printed in Onboard magazine despite the fact that he’s been one of Austria’s finest exports for the best part of a decade. We suck, Pete.

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Check out Marc Swoboda dropping bombs on this poor battleship jib feature in Kitzsteinhorn’s park. Ten tricks, all slayed. The boy’s a machine…

At our Send Off Session towards the end of last season, Marc Swoboda vanished for half a day. We were concerned he may have been carted off by one of the thong-wearing cougars that were prowling about the restaurant but we needn’t have worried – he was just knocking the back out of the battleship. Working his way up from mellow to mental, it’s insane the amount of control the boy has on his snowboard. Nice job, dude.

Winter is here! With the opening of the Glacier Park on Saturday, October 20, 2012, Kitzsteinhorn kicks off the 2012/13 freestyle season. Shortly afterwards, the first of many event highlights of this winter will follow: on November 11, 2012, the Nitro & Volcom Season Warm-up Session will be held. A fortnight later, the Cappuccino Club exhibition and “Sprungbrett“ talent session with Nicola Thost will provide the next action-packed weekend.

At the opening, the Glacier Park (2,900 metres) presents 2 jib lines with flat-down industry, flat rail, flat-down rail, single bar down rail and banana rail as well as a kicker line with 6-metre down riffle, 7-metre kicker and 9-metre wave box. The Easy Line offers flat box, rainbow box and mini kicker. In the course of the next weeks, the Glacier Park will be extended; you can find the current set-up at www.snowpark.kitzsteinhorn.at.

Shortly after the opening of the park, Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn kicks off with the first events. It all starts with the Nitro & Volcom Season Warm-up Session in the Glacier Park on November 11, 2012. At this open session for anyone, snowboarders can ride with Nitro and Volcom pros and take some tips for shredding the rails and boxes. At the Test & Chill Area, you can test the latest hardware by Nitro Snowboards.

The next event is Sprungbrett on November 25, 2012, a talent contest for snowboard kids from age 6 to 15, with Olympic Snowboarding Champion Nicola Thost (GER) and other pro snowboarders as well as photographers and cameramen. The Kitzsteinhorn event is the kick-off to a five-stop tour. Participation is limited to 20 riders.

At the same weekend, Kitzsteinhorn provides another highlight: the exhibition of the Cappuccino Club at the Alpincenter. Each year, the snowboarding crew produces a charity calendar – a unique blend of sport aesthetics and art. At the exhibition from November 24 to the middle of December 2012, the 12 pages of the calendar are shown in art prints. These are, just like the calendar, up for sale. All proceeds benefit charity projects.

Further events at Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn wait in December: Elooa Snowboardcamp (December 07–09, 2012), Marc Swoboda Ride With Me! (December 08, 2012) and Youngblood Freeski Camp (December 14–16, 2012). As soon as there is enough snow, the freestyle action on the Kitzsteinhorn will then relocate some 400 metres further down to Easy Park, Central Park and super-pipe. They will be gradually opened from December on and are all located near the Sonnenkarbahn. The parks are characterized by long, creative lines and high kickers. For this season, the beginners’ areas will be once again expanded. The highlight of Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn is Austria’s biggest super-pipe (160 m long, 6.30 m high), which is again taken care by “Pipe master” Ali Zehentner.

Saturdays only 10 euros for children and adolescents: The Power of Zehn!

This winter, children and youths (born 1994 to 2006) only pay 10 euros for the day ski pass every Saturday from November 24, 2012, to April 27, 2013. For further information, please visit www.kitzsteinhorn.at and www.snowpark.kitzsteinhorn.at

Snowpark Kitzsteinhorn

• NEW: Nitro Snowboards and Volcom Snowboarding as main partners
• 3 world class snow parks located between 2,500 and 2,900 m altitude
• Glacier Park on the glacier open from autumn
• During winter: Easy Park for beginners and Central Park for advanced learners & pros
• Austria’s biggest super-pipe
• Railgarden Lechnerberg in the centre of Kaprun

Glacier Park (Setup as of October 20, 2012, subject to alterations)
Easy Line
Flat Box 6 m, Rainbow Box 4 m, Mini Kicker 2 m
Jib Line A
Flat-Down Industry, Flat Rail 6 m, Flat-Down Rail 3 m – 6m
Jib Line B
Flat-Down Industry, Single Bar Down Rail 9 m, Banana Rail 7 m
Kicker Line
Down Riffle 6 m, Easy/Medium Kicker 7 m, Wave Box 9 m

Easy Park (3 Lines, subject to alterations)
Upper Jib Line
Lower Jib Line
Boxes Line
Easy Kicker Line

Central Park (3 Lines, subject to alterations)
Medium Line
3 jib features and 2 kickers (appr. 8 m and 14 m)
Pro Line
2 jib features and 2 kickers (appr. 18 m and 20 m)
Jib Line
Creative line all across the park, with special features (A-frame box, wall ride & snow obstacles)

Super-pipe

Kitzsteinhorn Inter@ctive:

Step-up special feature, 2 kickers (appr. 7 m and 13 m)
Rails, tubes, wall ride and multi obstacle (down rail, straight rail, down tube & more)
4 different boxes (straight, down, wave)
3 easy kickers (appr. 2 m, 4 m and 6 m)

Michael Schärer, Fridtjof Tischendorf and Rowan Coultas blew minds back at the end of last season when they dropped in on our Send Off Session. All are under 16, all ripped. Watch the future.

At our end of season Send Off Session in Kitzsteinhorn’s epic park, we invited three young bucks who’d placed well at the World Rookie Fest last season. They came, all shy and quiet as 15-year-olds can be, but once on the mountain they went ballistic, impressing us old hacks and the riders in equal measure. Watch them send it…

Apart from a crew of amazing snowboarders and a good handful of filmers, the Onboard Send Off Sessions at Kitzsteinhorn were also a perfect opportunity for photographers to hone their skills at park shoots. Some of the best shots can be admired in our current print issue, but our ed-in-chief/photographer Danny Burrows opened his archive and picked some of his favourite shots for an online gallery. Let us know what you think of his photography, as he is constantly battling with low self-esteem.

Now click on the full-screen symbol in the top right corner of the gallery and enjoy shots of Markus Keller, Levi Luggen, Sami Luhtanen, Peter König, Mario Kaeppeli, Werni Stock, Ville Uotila, Luka Jeromel, and Gerome Mathieu!