Last week, yours truly Onboard Magazine travelled to the Austrian valley of Montafon for an all-new event concept called Nike Snake & Hammers. Nike and the Montafon had conjured up a banked slalom cum slopestyle course that was open to everyone who felt like a few fast turns, slow spins, and slushy transitions. The aim was to snake down course as fast as possible while dropping their best „hammers“ along the way. The course was a combination of numerous turns and banks, the park included a stairset, side by side kicker setup, big bowl, a gap through a snow tunnel to a straight rail, a creative halfpipe and a small hip. In our humble opinion, it was the laid-back park design that made the event stand out, as punters, media, and pros alike were eager to get their edges dug into the banked turns and snake pipe walls.

Stephan Maurer on course! Photo: Cyril Müller

Despite the challenging weather on the first three days (snowfalls and high fog) the vibe was outstanding, as the course was as inviting and fun to ride as it gets. On the day of the finals the sun came out, many pros and legends alike turned up and made for an unforgettable day on the mountain. Nike pros like Peetu Piiroinen, Jamie Nicholls, Kevin Backström and Spencer O’Brien were joined by an illustre crew of riders like David Bertschinger Karg, Enzo Nilo, Stephan Maurer, Nico Droz, David Benedek and Steve Gruber.

Peetu Piiroinen is attracted to big kickers. Phto: Cyril Müller

When the judging was complete on the day of the finals, Christian Haller (SUI) showed he had the best mix of balance, speed and tricks winning him a share of the $10,000 prize purse. With a race time of 01:25,10, frontside lipslide on the gap downrail, frontside 720 tailgrab off the kicker and many other tricks he claimed a deserved win. Spencer O’Brien won the women’s contest by snaking down the course with her well documented power and style with the best hammer award going to Jamie Nicholls who threw a perfectly stomped backside 1080 off the kicker.

Snake & Hammers winner Christian Haller coming out of the tunnel of doom. Photo: Cyril Müller

MEN
1. Christian Haller / SUI 2. Stephan Maurer / SUI 3. Peetu Piiroinen / FIN

WOMEN
1. Spencer O’Brien / CAN 2. Nicola Thost / GER 3. Aline Bock / GER

BEST HAMMER: Jamie Nicholls / ENG

Further information about the contest and the complete ranking are published on www.snakeandhammers.com.

A bird’s eye view of the park. Photo: Cyril Müller

Check the video recap of what went down in Montafon when the Swoosh combined banked slalom with slopestyle. Hint: Radness.

Remember the rather sexy Nike Chosen Sessions around this time last year in Montafon? Well, the Swoosh crew revisited that zone again last week but spun the park in a new and novel manner, crafting a banked slalom/slopestyle ultra mega hybrid Frankenpark. Christian Haller‘s combined time x trick score was highest and he duly bagged the win ahead of Stephan Maurer and Peetu Piiroinen. This is probably what snowboarding at the Olympics should really look like.

The last of Sebi Geiger and co’s Different Direction webisodes of the season is live, and sees the crew getting their splitboard on in their home resort of Silvretta Montafon. POW!

“We’ve been filming this episode in our homeresort Silvretta Montafon with Manuel Bernert and local hero MFM (Marco Feichtner). We tried to search for new areas with our splitboards to shoot on new spots. Unfortunately we had to stop filming one week earlier than expected because Sebi hurt his ankle on the last spot.

This was the last episode for this winter and we want to thank you all for watching! It was a pleasure for us and we hope we will see us next winter again! Goodbye for a while.”

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This season, Nike are sponsoring the park in Montafon – aptly dubbing it the Nike Snowpark Montafon – and to kick off the winter they held a session on the well-known stairset. Check out the highlights, with your host Ethan Morgan – who’s mercifully neither drunk or naked in this.

The Nike Stairset Session kicked off the long park season on 15 December 2012. This jam session saw all riders shredding the various down rails including a double kinked rail and a high down pipe.

More innfos about the park is available on facebook.com/NikeSnowparkMontafon.

Hearing that Montafon had received a full on dump visited upon its inclines, the Rome European crew bolted straight for the Austrian valley to slash and stomp the pow. Check the edit!

Riders: Thomas Delfino, Felix Georgii, Kevin Bäckström
Filmed and edited by Julian Pintarelli

The gossip factory has worked overtime but now it´s official: for the first time ever there is a Nike Snowpark in Montafon for the 2012/2013 season. This new spot offers ideal conditions for a variety of different obstacles set in long lines. The large shaper crew is really stepping on the gas to open the park at Silvretta Montafon with the Nike Stairset Session on 15 December 2012.

Over recent years, the NovaPark at Silvretta Montafon has been a central point on the European snowboard map. Inspired by the great success of the Nike Chosen Sessions in spring 2012, Vorarlberg’s biggest ski resort extends its snowpark onto new terrain in cooperation with Nike and Schneestern. Brand new for winter 2012/2013 season – The Nike Snowpark Montafon!

Park setup: more than 40 obstacles for each level

When it’s fully built up the versatile park is made up of more than 40 obstacles with various hits accesable to snowboarders of all riding abilities – a variety of boxes and rollers are available for kids and novice riders; advanced snowboarders can enjoy the kicker line, rails and pipes of different sizes as well as a mix of specially designed obstacles. The mini funpipe with small walls, kinks and corner jumps is fun to ride for everyone and underlines the progressive concept of the snowpark.

The whole setup is kept in perfect condition and maintained on a daily basis by the eight member shape crew. With the multitude of obstacles and the extensive park area there are lines with up to 18 hits per run.

Sitting on the side of the Fredakopf chairlift (park lift) the riders not only have a great overview of the whole park but also easy access to non-tracked backcountry in the immediate vicinity. At the base of the park deck chairs and a sound system welcome everyone who wants to chill.

Opening Day: Nike Stairset Session on 15 December 2012

The Nike Stairset Session kicks off the long park season on 15 December 2012. This jam session will see all riders shredding the various down rails including a double kinked rail and a high down pipe, although there will be plenty of other obstacles built and ready to ride on Opening Day.

Event Calendar:

15 December 2012  Nike Stairset Session

12 January 2012  Sajas Park Games / Wir Schanzen

09 February 2013 Nike The Rock Session

24 February 2013  Sprungbrett with Nicola Thost

09 March 2013   Shred Champs / Chill & Destroy

15-17 March 2013  Montafon Freeride Festival powered by Silvretta Montafon

24-27 March 2013  Nike Event

It must also be said that you should look out for Peetu Piiroinen hoofing off the big kicker. He went so big on a back 7 we thought he’d overrotate to 820 or something and explode, but he managed to arrest his spin using that little ball of muscle he calls his body and stomp it perfectly. he is a machine.

The Nike Chosen Sessions in Silvretta Montafon Austria is a wrap. Your votes helped file it down for the Pros to decide who was ultimately Chosen to Live Like a Pro.

Don’t forget to check out www.nikechosensessions.com for all the action all at once.

Nike Chosen Sessions: Practice Day: Felix Georgii

SUNDAY

On Sunday, twelve winning AMs from the Chosen Series and the 3 winning crews from the Video Chosen stepped into the incredible Nike Chosen park for the first time for a practice day.

“The park is so sick, it’s all new stuff, none of it’s ever happened in a park before and today I was just trying to work it out.” If by work it out you mean a 450 onto a down bar over a huge rock then Jamie Nicholls is doing ok… Andy Nudds

Nike Chosen Sessions: A subtle 200-ft Nike Swoosh

The video crews were like kids in a candy store hitting up the top section rails. Blaze Kotsenburg from This Must Be The Place seemed suitably stoked, “Today was awesome, a good day and we got more footage than we expected, the park is so so good, we’re looking to make a pretty straight up snowboard edit which I can’t go into too much, but we’re definitely serious about it!”

And the AMs? “Tomorrow I’m looking forward to putting down a line, something like rail, rail, jump, jump, boom, boom,” said Jorn Simmen Aaboe, the Series winner from Norway. ‘Nuff said!

GALLERY OF THE FIRST TWO DAYS

MONDAY

Best Line Session: Peetu Piiroinen going fucking big

Monday was the Best Line Session at Silvretta Montafon for the Nike Chosen Sessions.

The 1st day of the Sessions was all about followcam action for the AM riders as they hit up the top jib line before opting for either Wall ride features into the pipes or the kicker line.

Stephan Wimmer, the Austrian Series winner, decided to ride out of his comfort zone and make full use of the Park “We have so many opportunities here, so many things to get in our run, it’s easy to pick your line, but harder to get every trick!”

Best Line Session: Joel Anderson getting filmed

Keeping the other video crews guessing, the RockOnSB crew from Germany switched from their Vampire-esque Twilight spin-off edit that won them their place at the Sessions, for a retro 80′s Neon costume change as they assaulted the various stair sets with rail mayhem and haircut disasters….

With more of the Nike team showing up today to join the party Ethan Morgan ran us through the last two days “First day was cruising around, checking out the park and taking it mellow. Today really happened for sure, jumps, rails, everything was getting hit, it was great to watch and be a part of it, the weather came out as well and now we’re looking forward to the Bowl Session tomorrow, not much to complain about!”