It all looked perfect at the beginning: clear skies, brilliant sunshine … hadn’t there been the wicked wind. There wasn’t much of a choice and so the decision was made to do a jibcontest in the lower park area. Despite the suboptimal conditions, all the elements in the Easy Park were shredded without mercy.

A perfectly shaped setup, including an 18m monster kicker were waiting on Saturday morning in the Snowpark Lenzerheide to be conquered by the shred-hungry boarders. However, sometimes things take a different course: stormy gusts scotched the plans of the organisation team. Safety goes first and therefore it was decided to hold the contest in the lower park area. Massive jib-action instead of windy airs should become the alternative program.

More than 40 motivated snowboarders gathered soon after in the jib-park, ready to give their best for the CHF 3000.- prize money. The contest mode was easy: each rider had two runs with three options: jib-line 1 (rainbow box, jib-can, down-box, jib rockets, down-rail), jib line 2 (2 XL butter-boxes, elephant box, wave box) or 3 kickers in a row. To be judged was the overall impression, the performance in total so to speak.

Apart from chilled out beats from the Kapelle NeOn, the men, rookies and girls showed jib-action at its best: there was sliding, donking and jumping like there was no tomorrow. Only the wind couldn’t be impressed by the good mood and brought some more clouds in its tow. Eventually, the conditions were too fierce for a finale. Out of hand, the winners of the qualifications were also declared the winners of the Freestyle Madness 2011 – Snowboard.

In the category Snowboard Men, it was rail machine Aaron Berger (CH) winning ahead of Luca Kuppelwieser (CH) and Robert Zemp (CH). “Yeah, that was a really good day. It’s a pity that the contest couldn’t be held in the big park but it was also super fun to play around in the small park!”, said Aaron after his victory and was stoked about the sweet CHF 1.000,- prize money.

But also the rookies nailed it. First place and winner of CHF 2.000,- was Marco Paosut (CH). On second place came Lars Popp (CH), followed by Nicola Stecher (CH). With an impressive backflip on the the last kicker, Elena Könz (CH) secured her victory and CHF 200,- at the girls’ with Cosima Lang (GER) following her on second, and Fabianna Schmied (CH) on the third place.

Blown by the wind, but still sick freestyle jib-action in the Snowpark Lenzerheide; that was the Freestyle Madness 2011 – Snowboard! See you next year!

On 5 March 2011 popular Swiss retail chain Beach Mountain will hold a mini shred contest in the mini park at Lenzerheide. Apart from a low-key shred session there will be a raclette tent, a punch bar and juicy beats! The best snowboarders will score vouchers for the Beach Mountain shops and goodies from the sponsors.

Oh, Beach-Mountain gets hyphenated. Damn. Photo: Sebi Madlener

The Beach Mountain Mini Shred is not about 20 meter monster kickers or giant airs; it is a cool session with your friends. The smooth mini park on the Alp Stätz at Lenzerheide features everything you need for a mini shred session: Various rails, boxes and small kickers are ready for some jib action. Only creativity, style and passion will be judged!
Snowboarders can sign up for free at the Beach Mountain shops or via email (info@beachmountain.com) including name and birthday. Last-minute participants can sign up up until 11 o’clock on contest day.

Correct us if we're wrong but this looks like last year's podium. Photo: Sebi Madlener

Snowboarders will battle it out in the categories „kids up to 14 years“, „open“ and „girls“. Warm-up takes place until 11 o’clock, and afterwards the contest is on. Every participant will get raclette and one punch for free! The winners receive goodies from Zimtstern and Burton as well as vouchers for the Beach Mountain shop.

All photos: Sebi Madlener

Last weekend the March Madness found its culminating final. The whole event was so exciting, we had to delete about a hundred exclamation marks from the original press release. But then, what can you expect from an event that calls itself madness…

After the “Ralley to Madness” on February 13 last weekend the final event of the “March Madness” took place in the snowpark Lenzerheide in Graubünden and attracted a lot of riders as well as many fans and spectators. The setup consisted of a downrail, a 14 meters kicker, a kinked box and a big kicker with a 16 meter table. For the qualification the organizers chose the best-of-two format: The two runs were held in the categories men (over 18 years), girls and rookies (under 18 years). The five best men of the qualification runs met the five winners of the Ralley to Madness (13.2.) in the finals. At the rookies and girls, four riders each competed in the final round.

Before the big showdown and after the qualification runs the riders changed to the medium line where the rookies judging took place! The three winners (Klijnsma Marc, Nicolin Balzer and Matthias Harder – all from Switzerland) were stoked about their gift prizes and Beach Mountain vouchers.

In the rookies finals on the proline, the 15-year-old Joel Staub stood out with a stunning performance (50-50, Frontside 3 Melon, Frontside Noseslide, Backside 7) and won the first place. The impressed jury didn’t hesitate to give the special gift, a Nitro Board, as well as 150 Swiss Francs to the young talent. Jonas Bösinger (14 years) from Rickenbach came in second and Leandro Eigensatz (15 years) from Oberarth took the third.

“The girls rally left our mouths remained open” said QParks-organizer Stephen Pressler. Due to her consistent performance the 22-year-old Isabel Derungs could not just win the qualification but also the first place in the finals and 300 Swiss Francs. Her clean combination of Frontside 3, Backside 3 and a solid Frontside 50-50 to Frontside Boardslide moved her past second and third Vivien Gnehm and Carla Somaini and brought her a pair of Nitro bindings.

In the Men’s category the final was just as exciting with a high level of riding among the last ten riders. In the end the 25-year old Robin Jäggi took the first rank, followed by Julian Fürsinger (19 years from Stans) and Stefan Ackeret (20 J.) from Winterthur.

Yet another highlight was the Goodies-for-Trix-Session held on a downrail and a downbox. Many snowboarders met near the chill-area to shred the obstacles. The best performances were awarded with goodies from Beach Mountain and Lenzerheide t-shirts! Special guest and pro rider Marc André Tarte came right from Canada to work as video host and as always he stirred up the crowd!

After the prize giving at 4 p.m. almost every rider showed up at the Obertor Bar at 10 p.m., where the DJ duo Radioaktiv kept things going wild all night long!

More infos, pictures and videos on www.lenzerheide.com!

Martin Ziegler's sequence shot by Sebi Madlener.

On a Friday in February the QParks media crew pilgrimaged to the Snowpark Lenzerheide to get some shots in a unique atmosphere. Sebastian Funk, a big video camera in his backbag, and Sebi Madlener with his photo camera came to capture the tricks of the snowboarders Kurt Auer, Joris Doorn, and Raphi Hagen. “It was pretty cold for body and technique. Although it had minus 20 degrees we had a lot of fun. We started the shooting at 7.30 pm and finished at 10.30 pm,” remembers Sebi.

After work was done the crew stayed in Lenzerheide to enjoy the March Madness ceremonies and to continue the park shooting on Sunday. Kurt Auer, snowboarder and also headshaper in the Sajas Diedamspark, was delighted about the happenings in the park and the whole weekend: “The floodlight shooting and also the party were really cool. The park is awesome! Especially the kickers are perfect to do some Corks and Rodeos. On Friday it snowed a little, this made the atmosphere even more unique and fairy tale like.”

Floodlight shooting? There ya go!

Raphi Hagen. Photo: Sebi Madlener

All photos: Sebi Madlener

Themed “Rallye to Madness” the first contest of the March Madness event series took place last Saturday in the Snowpark Lenzerheide. The perfect mixture of party and park convinced all present. Almost 40 riders as well as a lot of snowpark visitors celebrated the beginning of the March Madness 2010, which will continue on the 13^th of March 2010 with the big March Madness Final!

The contest was carried out on the pro line, consisting of a brand-new 9 meter downrail, an 11 meter table top, a 12 meter flat down box with three different take-offs followed by a 15 meter step-down kicker. Because of the different level, the Rookies (<18 years) were carried out in two separate categories: Riders of the first category gave their best over the pro line; the other showed its tricks over the medium line. Among the last group the judge appointed the best rookies out of three runs. Winner of the rookies at the pro line was the Swiss Luca Calabrese, followed by his compatriots Lou Staub and Lars Mulle. The medium line brought the victory to Lars Popp (SUI) and his colleagues Nicolin Balzer (SUI) and Simon Coco (SUI) the second and third place.

In the finals it was Swiss Martin Ziegler who was just a little ahead of the competition. Silver went to the Austrian Jooris Dorn, bronze to the Suisse Stefan Ackert. Additionally to the first three places, Ralph Heeb and Mathias Widmer (4^th and 5^th place, SUI) were glad about the direct entry into the March Madness Final on the 13^th of March. Swiss Isabel Derungs won the ladies competition, followed by her compatriot Stefanie Elmiger. At the prize giving the winners received gifts such as a snowboard and bindings from Nitro, vouchers and goodies from Beach Mountain. The three best men as well as the two winning girls will also take part in a QParks-photo shooting at the Snowpark Lenzerheide in the coming weeks.

After recharging the batteries with a barbecue and cold drinks in the chill area, the “Open Goodies-for-Trix Session” kicked off. Partners Beach Mountain and Oakley threw in many prizes and got the riders going. After a long and intense day on the mountain, everyone got together in the evening for the well-deserved After Party at the Cinema Music Club at the Hotel Kurhaus Lenzerheide. The DJ crews kept the crowd shaking till dawn.

More information and photos on www.lenzerheide.com and www.qparks.com!

Okay it’s called ‘March Madness’ but the event series in Lenzerheide already starts on February 13th (that’s the ‘madness’ part probably) and gives a come back on March 13th.

Turning the park upside down it gives freestyle freaks the ultimate shred-experience, party freaks a brilliant possibility for endless mayhem and winterblues-afflicteds the opportunity for unfreezing.

February 13th kicks off with the “Rally to Madness” where 5 boys and 3 girls can qualify for the big final in March. The competition takes place at the pro kicker line and rails. Not only non-cash prices of the sponsors but also QParks-Fotoshoot in Lenzerheide are waiting for the 3 best boys and the best girls. The side programme is not too bad either: besides the barbecue and chill-out area, live DJ’s and a presenter are going to let it rock in the park for the riders and spectators.

Extremely motivated riders can even take part in the Open Goodies-for-Trix Session, where the best tricks are rewarded with non-cash prices.

From 10pm it’s partytime in the Cinema Music Club with DJ Loo & Pacido (F) and Electronic Popstar Killers (Support: DJ B. Gahan).

Photo: PACO QParks

On March 13th the March Madness Final is upping the ante with the slogan “Let the madness continue…”. After two qualifying runs the best riders compete in the big final and 2.500 CHF are waiting to be handed out! After the award ceremony in the park, people meet in Parpan in the Obertor Bar, where the après-party will start at 1opm.

More info about the Snowpark Lenzerheide and the March Madness event series here: www.lenzerheide.com , www.qparks.com